Quotes About Uncertainty

The best laid schemes o' mice an' men/Gang aft agley" (En iyi planlar? farelerin ve insanlar?n/S?kça ters gider)

Many things happen between the cup and the lip.

An estimate is not a number. An estimate is a distribution.

We programmers simply do not know how long things will take. This isn't because we are incompetent or lazy; it's because there is simply no way to know how complicated a task is going to be until that task is engaged and finished. But, as we'll see, all is not lost.

If only we could pull this off one more time. If only we could just say we were done with implementation. But we can't, because the thing about implementation is that is actually has to be done. Analysis and design are not binary deliverables. They do not have unambiguous completion criteria. There's no real way to know that you are done with them. So we might as well be done on time.

Indeed, most of us realize that the requirements are the most volatile elements in the project.

Analysis and design are not binary deliverables. They do not have unambiguous completion criteria. There's no real way to know that you are done with them.

LEAVING OPTIONS OPEN

Some folks think that Agile is about going fast. It's not. It's never been about going fast. Agile is about knowing, as early as possible, just how screwed we are.

Trust is not bound up with knowledge so much as it is with freedom, the openness to the unknown.

All trust involves vulnerability and risk, and nothing would count as trust if there were no possibility of betrayal.

In troubled times the last thing you want to do is to stick your money into a film. It's such a gamble.

I was east of Skepticism and north of Faith, with an unsettled compass and variable winds. But I could offer up a prayer as well as the next man, and leave it to Heaven to judge the result.

The Spin's not just some abstract phenomenon—you guys made them look the beast in the eye, and good for you, I guess, but if your project goes wrong you steal that courage away again, and now it's worse because they've seen the thing. And they will not love you for failing, Tyler, because it will leave them more frightened than they've ever been.

Turk had family in Austin, Texas. But they hadn't heard from him lately and wouldn't expect to.

Don't be upset. The world is full of surprises. We're all born strangers to ourselves and each other, and we're seldom formally introduced.

And even if by chance he were to utter the perfect truth, he would himself not know it, for all is but a woven web of guesses.

If the world doesn't come to an end in the next thirty or forty years,' he said, 'we may be facing disaster.

don't know how to fix it. I don't have spare parts. Or the right tools. I'm not even sure what the right tools are.

The problem in trying to prove a point or gain a victory through argument is that in the end you can never be certain how it affects the people you're arguing with: They may appear to agree with you politely, but inside they may resent you.

Maintenez votre entourage dans l'incertitude et le flou en ne révélant jamais le but qui se cache derrière vos actions. S'ils n'ont aucune idée de ce que vous prévoyez, ils ne pourront pas préparer de défense. Guidez-les assez loin dans une autre direction, enveloppez-les d'un écran de fumée et quand ils perceront à jour vos desseins, il sera trop tard.

One of the most important elements in the rhythm of drama is suspense

In moments of uncertainty and danger, you need to fight this desire to turn inward. Instead, make yourself more accessible, seek out old allies and make new ones, force yourself into more and more different circles. This has been the trick of powerful people for centuries.

You can never be sure who you are dealing with. A man who is of little importance and means today can be a person of power tomorrow. We forget a lot in our lives, but we rarely forget an insult.