“When will it be done?”

That is probably the first question your customers ask you once you start working on something for them.  Think about how many times you have been asked that question.  How many times have you ever actually been right?

We can debate all we want whether this is a fair question to ask given the tremendous amount of uncertainty in knowledge work, but the truth of the matter is that our customers are going to inquire about completion time whether we like it or not.  Which means we need to come up with an accurate way to answer them.  The problem is that the forecasting tools that we currently utilize have made us ill-equipped to provide accurate answers to reasonable customer questions. 

Until now.

(You can also find out more at  https://www.actionableagile.com)

If you have ever been asked “When Will It Be Done?” (WWIBD) then you have been asked to make a forecast. My guess is that when you were asked that question, you struggled mightily to answer it. You struggled because there are so many possible things that could go wrong (and go right) when trying to forecast the completion date an item. I am even going to guess that whatever prediction you made ended up being wrong. The fact that you were wrong was not because you were incompetent or because you did not try hard enough. You were wrong because we think about forecasts incorrectly. This book clear up that confusion and will give you all the tools you need in order to make accurate forecasts. Your customers demand predictability from you and you demand predictability from your teams. Isn’t it time you started to deliver on your promises?

(You can also find out more at  https://www.actionableagile.com)

The only reason to collect data is to take action. We take action because of our relentless pursuit of improvement.  That is what professionalism is all about.  Taking action, however, requires a considered and deliberate analysis of the data at hand.  We don't take action for action's sake but rather we take action based on how our data speaks to us.  Unfortunately, our data speaks to us through the garbled language of variation.  Few even recognize the language of variation.  Far fewer even understand it. This book will act as a translator.

Once variation is controlled, the next step is turn our process data into meaningful forecasts about what can or cannot be done. But how do we forecast when we have complicated work-breakdown hierarchies, spiraling WIP, and excessive dependencies? This book will help with that too.

(You can always find out more at  https://www.actionableagile.com)