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Johanna’s Books
Category Archives: risk
“But It’s Just a Small Change”
I had the pleasure of speaking with two different colleagues today, both with the same dilemma. They are near the end of their projects. They don’t quite have enough time for one round of final testing–but if they’re lucky … Continue reading
Implement the Most Valuable Features First
Scott points out Software Product Delivery – 20 Rules? that you should do the riskiest part of the project first. (He explains that you modify that given what’s most important.) I’d add a further refinement: that what’s most important … Continue reading
Unanticipated Events Screw Up Schedules
So after I posted the Probabilistic Scheduling post, I was working merrily away. I had made some small progress on the book, but was still finishing up other things. Finally, Wednesday I had cleared the entire day to work … Continue reading
Reducing Infrastructure Risk
It’s been quite the Monday so far. My office toilet started spewing water, a cabinet door fell off one of the cabinets in the kitchen, and I’m trying to back up and duplicate my hard disk because both latches … Continue reading
Do Engineers Use Their Software?
My friend and colleague, Stever Robbins, has started a blog, and one of his early posts is Are engineers living on another planet? Don’t they use their software? Unfortunately, not always. It takes self-discipline and the desire to look … Continue reading
Degrading Gracefully is an Oxymoron
I changed ISPs last Friday. At some point Friday, my ISP bounced my email with a strange (to me) message. This is the same ISP that had problems just a few months ago, so I was done. I need … Continue reading
Project Complexity is Really About Your Project’s Risks
One of my students emailed me recently, asking about how to assess project complexity. He said, “I think it would be pretty neat and also quite useful if you could define a project as say a .60 Apollos or … Continue reading
Managers and (Disaster) Planning
I’ve been watching, reading, and listening to the Katrina coverage over the past week. And the one thing that stands out for me is my perception that there was a lack of disaster planning. I’m not going to play … Continue reading
What’s the Worst Thing that Could Happen?
At Boston SPIN last night, Tim Lister of “Waltzing with Bears” fame gave a talk about recognizing and managing risk. It was great. If you ever have a chance to see Tim speak in person, do so (Yes, Tom … Continue reading
Preparing for Risks
I’m supposed to be on the other coast right now. But since I start from Boston, and this Nor’easter has taken over, I’m going nowhere fast. When I planned the trip and the client work, I’d allowed about a … Continue reading
