Part of every profession is the jargon practitioners adopt. Having a language links people together and creates a sense of community. It also creates private gardens: a profession set off from those around it. Jargon is a form of secret handshake. Jargon is a two-edged sword, both gathering and excluding people. Be wary! We also have a visit from Susan Parente and her Not A Scrumdamentalist column. We discussed her recent mini-sabbatical. Stepping back has the power to clear your mind. Slay Work Intake Chaos: Become a Master in 5 Weeks! Based on Tom Cagley and Jeremy WIllet's new book Mastering Work Intake, learn to diagnose and solve work intake anti-patterns to stop drowning in work. Work intake is the biggest challenge facing organizations today. If you don't get work intake right, you won't be in business for very long. A 5-week cohort-based course, meeting weekly for an hour, includes teaching, peer feedback & discussion, feedback from the authors, time for Q&A, templates, and an electronic copy of our book, Mastering Work Intake: From Chaos to Predictable Delivery. Are you ready to commit? Join our cohort-based workshop. The first cohort is starting on March 1st, 2024. Details at https://bit.ly/3HEsKK7 Re-read Saturday News This week we tackle two chapters of Actionable Agile Metrics Volume II, Advanced Topics in Predictability. We begin with Chapter 9 - VoP, VoC, and Predictability which sums up Section I, Variability and Predictability. Chapter 10, titled Monte Carlo Simulation, Revisited begins Section II, Advanced Monte Carlo Simulation and Predictability. Buy a copy and get reading – Actionable Agile Metrics Volume II, Advanced Topics in Predictability. Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Preface – https://bit.ly/4adgxsC Week 2: Wilt The Stilt and Definition of Variation – https://bit.ly/4aldwGN Week 3: Variation and Predictability – https://bit.ly/3tAVWhq Week 4: Process Behavior Charts Part 1 – https://bit.ly/3Huainr Week 5: Process Behavior Charts Part 2 – https://bit.ly/424O5Wc Week 6: How Much Data? – https://bit.ly/47GVP24 Week 7: Detecting Signals – https://bit.ly/3SjwfdO Week 8: XmR Charts and the Four Basic Metrics of Flow – https://bit.ly/48j5AU9 Week 9: Myths and Other Considerations – https://bit.ly/3SvfgVU Week 10:VoP, VoC, Predictability, Monte Carlo - https://bit.ly/3UGdxzT Next SPaMCAST The Software Process and Measurement Cast 796 our conversation with Roger Turnau. Roger and I will delve deeply into prioritization using the cost of delay. Every organization and team I have ever worked with has a backlog of work and lots of people screaming that their piece of the backlog is the most important. Cost of delay is an important tool to filter out the noise.