I’m giving a talk at Agile 2012, entitled “How Much Will This Project Cost?” It doesn’t seem to matter what life cycle your project has, someone wants you to predict the cost. The problem is, it’s the wrong question. But, that won’t stop people from asking it anyway.

People want to know the cost so they can use cost to predict the project portfolio. But you want to use value for the project portfolio. Or, they want to use cost so they can predict date, but cost is only part of what you need to predict the date. And, if you really are using agile, you don’t need to predict cost or date. You keep going until you get to the end of the decreed cost or date.

But, you should come hear me speak if you’re coming to the conference. I’m much more entertaining in person than I am in writing. I’ll get all excited and rant and rave. I’m sure I’ll say something totally outrageous. I usually do when I speak. They’re going to video my session, so I’m not supposed to wear something sparkly like I normally do, but I’m not sure I’ll let that stop me.

I hope you join me.