WSC 2026: We're All in This to Get There

Waterfall

Step by step process where each phase/task must be completed before the next one begins. However, once it’s started it’s very difficult to change. Focuses on prep & documentation

Agile Manifesto

1. Where unlike the waterfall method limitations it focuses on flexibility, teamwork. It prioritizes individuals & interactions over process & tools.

1. working software over comprehensive documentation

2. customer collaboration over contract negotiation

3. responding to changes over following a plan
   Instead of making the whole thing in one go, make it in small parts at a time, get feedback, then improve it & add to it over time & better product

Lean and Six Sigma

 Where there’s 2 types which is DMAIC & DMADV. Which is define, measure, analyze, improve, control & define, measure, analyze, design, verify. It identifies & removes causes of defects & minimise it to improve manufacturing quality

Gantt Chart

Made by Henry Gantt in 1910. Where the task is set horizontally & time on top, it shows the time it starts & ends. It’s used in the construction of Hoover dam to manage tons of workers, tasks & materials. It’s to manage deadlines, making it easier to track progress

Command control

Hierarchical method that tasks are passed down. It uses carrot & stick as a motivation. If the worker does good receives a carrot & if bad behaviour get stick

Toyota production system

 Aims to provide best quality with lowest costs & min lead time thru elimination of waste. Made by Taiichi Ohno & Eiji Toyoda. “Just in time” implies that production is produced & delivered only with no overproduction at the specific time. Jidoka is when there’s an error in the process, they will stop the process to fix the error. Kaizen where small changes is added to make small improvements. Muda is where it removes add ons that barely add value to the final product. Mieruka (visual factory) using green/red lights to signal problems to improve continuously

Chaos Engineering

Deliberate & in a disciplined way of implementing faults like server failures, break up consumption under production to see how the system works without it. It’s to observe & improve how the system works without that part to improve

Sashimi Model

Like pieces of sashimi overlapping on a plate similar to the waterfall but it allows overlapping. It also speeds things up & faster than waterfall because it can overlap. However it’s harder to track progress, miscommunication & results in inefficiency

The 3 ways

 Three ways: 1st way systems thinking, 2nd amplify feedback loops, 3rd culture of continuous experimentation & learning.
1st way emphasise the performance of entire system helps understanding the system & cause & effect so decisions are more informed & comprehensive
2nd feedback goal of improvement is to shorten & amplify feedback loops so corrections are continuous
3rd emphasises learning, taking risks & experiment then learn from failure

The Phoenix Project philosophy

 Where “Bill” a worker promoted to a lead IT department as a new partner where he is assigned to a failing project & his mentor “Erik” shows him tricks to solve it using the 3 ways. 1st: keep work flowing fast by reducing “WIP” & less tasks pile up. 2nd: catch & fix problems. 3rd: improve by experimenting & learning to improve

Iron Triangle

Used since 1960s, it states every project is limited by 3 things: scope, time, & cost. Scope is what you try to deliver, time is how long you have, & cost is how much money you can spend. Where u can’t max all 3 in one example if you want scope to be more, more time & money

College Triangle

 Where you can only have 2 as a student from study, social life, enough sleep. Where if the student chooses study & social, student will not sleep enough. Academically focused = grades & sleep, balancing & success limits social life & sleep

Kanban

 Means “signboard” in Japanese. Developed by Toyota in 1940s to improve efficiency & reducing WIP. It’s like a board that shows the stages (To Do, Doing, Done). It limits how many tasks can be in progress, prevents overload & help people focus on handful of tasks

Harmonogram

Polish word for schedule/project timeline. Invented by Karol Adamiecki. It shows tasks to be done, start/finish, the order, and dependencies. It’s an alternative version to Gantt chart, it’s easy to change by hand & spots delays by just looking. However it’s not useful for big projects

Dependencies

1.  Relationships in tasks, where they depend on each task. Some tasks cannot be started before the previous one finishes. There’s 4 types dependencies:
   a) finish to start – task B can’t start until task A finishes
   b) start to start – task B can’t start until task A starts
   c) finish to finish – task B can’t finish until task A finishes
   d) start to finish – task B can’t finish until task A starts

Risk Register

 Document for risk management tool. It acts as a storage for the risks identified & information & potential of each risk. Shows probability & impact of risk. Basically a live tracker for risks & see when you can do about them

Stakhanovite Movement

Soviet campaign in 1930s to increase workers productivity. It’s named after Alexey Stakhanov, a coal miner who mined 14 times more than his quota in 1935. The government encouraged other miners to do it & rewarding but however it can be tiring. However many workers were reluctant to go to the extreme. It increased productivity but stress too

Critical path method (CPM)

The critical path method is the longest sequence of dependent tasks in a project, developed in 1950s by company DuPont to manage complex industrial processes. Where you have to do the tasks with longest sequence first or it impacts the rest of the tasks. If one task is delayed, the whole project is delayed

Project Evaluation & Review Technique (PERT)

When you identify which task has to be done before the others, it has a certain & exact time use critical path method (CPM) but if uncertain use PERT by optimistic, most likely & pessimistic time. Then at the end, it finds the path with the longest sequence & determine the total project duration

Taylorism / Frederick Taylor principles of scientific management

 Worker thought believed that there’s one best way to do each task. So instead of letting workers decide to work, managers would analyse every movement, measure time, find the fastest & most efficient method, then force everyone to follow it. 2nd pick the right worker for the job & train them to follow the exact method. 3rd workers follow instructions & managers guide & monitor 4th managers think, plan & organise, while workers execute tasks

Max Weber’s idea of bureaucracy

Bureaucracy system that works where important decisions are made by state officials. He believed that bureaucracy is the best efficiency way for organizing large organizations, should run on clear rules, hierarchy so everything works consistently. Characterized by hierarchy, division of labour, etc

Remote work monitoring

A drawback in hybrid many bosses worry in hybrid teams. Because in hybrid, bosses can’t see workers anymore, so the increased initiative of personnel & developers stress where companies are going to surveil employees, collecting data. Most agree that more monitoring is damaging & workers think it could be used badly if unregulated

Ford assembly line

Invented by Henry Ford & inspired by meat packing plants. Instead of having workers move around, conveyor belts where products come to workers & each worker repeats one small step. Example: engine, 2nd, panels. It shortened the process to build from 12hrs to 90mins, faster production, less movement & waste time. However workers might get bored of it, tiring, repetitive

Total quality management (TQM)

Where everyone in the company is responsible for the quality. It involves the whole organization or the sales, marketing, finance etc. It treats the customer as the main & involves continuous quality & process improvement. They focus on quality & common is improvements. It relies on trial and error data & experiments. Its pro shorten & cost

Hawthorne effect

Where people reacts by changing/modifying their behaviour when they are being observed. They wanted to know what makes workers more productive so they ran experiments. They put workers in a room with an original or dimmer light. The group with brighter light had increased in productivity, meanwhile the control room also had an increase in production because they felt like they were being observed

Hofstadter’s law

Invented by Douglas Hofstadter in his book Gödel, Escher, Bach. It means that “Hofstadter’s law: it always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s law”. Where complex tasks always take longer than expected. People thought computers would beat world chess champions in 10 years however it took much longer. It seems simple at first but then appears as things depend on other things

The 90–90 rule

It states that first 90% of the code takes 90% of the developing time, the remaining 10% takes the other 90% of development time. In 100% of expected time, this means the developing time is overrun. It causes attention to the project is significantly overtime

Parkinson’s law

Proposed by Cyril Northcote Parkinson, when work expands to fill the time available. Where if more time is given, people take longer to complete tasks

Peter principle

Proposed by Laurence J. Peter, when people are promoted to their level of incompetence. When someone excels at their job, they are promoted until they reach a role they’re not good at

Conway’s law

The way that a company is organized shapes the product it builds. Named after Melvin Conway. For example if a company wants to change the reporting feature, backend & frontend team needs to work together by coordinating, communication is needed

IIlich’s Law

Where productivity starts high, decreases at negative at a very worrying too much. Named after Yerkes & Dodson. It’s based on human brains have a natural limit. If you have no motivation you won’t try, when increasing, you get tired & stress. If you work too long, you make mistakes, less efficiency

Laborit’s Law

 Named by Henn Laborit, it’s also called “law of the least effort”. It suggests most humans prefer to carry out simple tasks that give immediate satisfaction. His theory is that the prevention of action when behaviours become possible near so our instincts make us avoid stress & naturally prioritize easy, enjoyable & quick tasks & delay longer tasks. It is our brain is wired for us to do the tasks that makes us happy first & by doing easy wins, it reduces the risk of getting overwhelmed, achieve satisfaction

Brook’s law

Invented by Fred Brooks in 1975, however it only applies to late projects. Where adding people to a late project just makes it later. This is bc the ppl still need to get familiar w the project. Number of communication channels & errors required to make sure all ppl are on track increases. Training slows it down, more ppl = more communication

Pareto principle

Founded by Vilfredo Pareto, where 20% efforts leads to 80% total output. He found out that 80% of land is owned by 20% (income inequality). Joseph Juran concluded that reducing remaining 20% of problems, structure & prioritise & emphasise on important parts results in improved productivity & decision making. However, misuse leads to tunnel vision.