Says Who?

… in every problematic situation there is a set of relevant facts of the case. Some of these usually appear to be obvious. The more obvious such a fact appears to be, the more intensely its truth should be investigated. Russell Ackhoff “This system must...

So What's the Problem?

George called this week. The systemic solution loop in Shifting the Burden has taken over and he’s making the modifications requested by the users. Along the way, he’s read about himself, and has this to say about How Did This Happen? and Shifting the...

Problems with System Health

Can knowing how one system works help you understand how other similar systems work? Do software, project and physical health have much in common? This thread started as software health, and wandered through project health and personal health. What do they have in...

All Problems are not Equal

Head Down and Headed for Cover I’m an adrenalin junky. I keep agreeing to work with projects in trouble with incredible time pressure. Last Wednesday I agreed to help a project that HAD to be completed by Friday. The team was scheduled to fly home. We made good...
Shifting the Burden – Whose Monkey is it?

Shifting the Burden – Whose Monkey is it?

© Don Gray, 2005 – 2006 “Repeatedly curing a system that can cure itself will eventually create a system that can’t.” – Marvin’s Second Great Secret, Jerry Weinberg “Don, the software’s locked up again! Can you come up...