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Six Reasons Why Managers Make Poor Decisions

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This is a long one! You may wish to go get a cup of coffee before reading. Better yet, bring the whole coffee pot! Recently, a friend and I sat talking at a café. We talked about Science-Fiction, Fantasy, a bit of geology, and eventually, we began talking about management. Specifically, my friend asked me if I have any idea why managers so often make very bad decisions. After pushing my management rant button, my friend sat back, and watched me go off on a long lecture, waving my arms, talking a bit too loud, and much too intensely for a café environment. Luckily, we sat in a corner, so I do not believe I made too much damage to the reputation of the place. (There used to be a café in Gothenburg, Café Sirius , where passionate discussions about odd topics were part of the normal entertainment. I miss that place!) Enough rambling! This article is a somewhat consolidated, and tidied up version of my impromptu lecture. I gave six different reasons, from six different perspectives, why...

Is Timeboxing Bad for Software Development?

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I recently made a video, An Introduction to Reference Class Forecasting , where I show how to use a simple, yet reliable, alternative to estimates in software projects. In the video, I touch on the topic of timeboxing , and why it can have the opposite of the desired effects in software development. Timeboxing is generally accepted as a good, even indispensable thing. It is an integral part of Scrum, and other Agile methodologies. (Even the ones I like a lot.) It is worth going into a little bit of  detail about how, and why, timeboxing can backfire. What is timeboxing? Timeboxing is a project planning technique where a fixed time period is allocated to an activity. For example, in Scrum, Sprints, Sprint Planning, Sprint Review, and Daily Scrum, are all timeboxed. If we look at other Agile methodologies, like Extreme Programming, Lean Software, Development, and Dynamic systems Development Method (DSDM), they use timeboxing in some shape or form. Kanban is an exception. Note t...