Warfare is like hunting. Wild animals are taken by scouting, by nets, by lying in wait, by stalking, by circling around, and by other such stratagems rather than by sheer force. In waging war we should proceed in the same way, whether the enemy be many or few. To try simply to overpower the enemy in the open, hand to hand and face to face, even though you might appear to win, is an enterprise which is very risky and can result in serious harm. Apart from extreme emergencies, it is ridiculous to try to gain a victory which is so costly and brings only empty glory. BYZANTINE EMPEROR MAURIKIOS, A.D. 539-602
Chunking is the art and science of creative grouping – means breaking down something big into smaller more accessible “chunks”.
Assessment Functions
- Monitoring the ongoing process of tracking budget and schedule – making tactical adjustment
- Evaluation – examine impact and cost-effectiveness
- Review – Occasional process to challenge design and invite change in plans
- Checkpoints by law of Schmidt
- 1-month project: 1 to 2 milestones per week
- 6-month project: 1 milestone every week
- Questions for commitment
- Why do they want us?
- What role would we like to have?
- What might this role develop to?
- What do we have to give up to be involved?
Assumptions
- Always exist, make them explicit
- Make contingency plans
- How much capacity to – control / monitor/influence/nudge?
- What ways to influence?
- Is it a reasonable risk?
- Design for irrlvant ?
- How to design a project, to moot this assumption?
- What are just-in-case plans?
If one overshoots the goal, one cannot hit it. If a bird will not come to its nest but flies higher and higher, it eventually falls into the hunter’s net. He who in times of extraordinary salience of small things does not know how to call a halt, but restlessly seeks to press on and on, draws upon himself misfortune at the hands of gods and men, because he deviates from the order of nature. THE I CHANG, CHINA, CIRCA EIGTH CENTRY B.C.