Signs Point to Yes

I thought of this last night after deciding I wanted to do a strip about gathering requirements. As I wrote it, I tried to find a clever way to incorporate more of the Magic 8-Ball answers, but they did not lend themselves to sounding like they fit in the conversation. Then, as I wrote the final panel, I knew that I would just have Mr. Blue consult his own 8-Ball for an answer.

We All Scream For It

Somewhere recently, I heard the word custard and thought of the name of this establishment. From there, I decided to serve the ice cream in a Little Big Horn, and only this morning thought of having one of the characters get messy to look like Custer. Of course, Mr. Blue would do that before Mr. Green.

RIP Neil

I had a special request from the mother of a coworker to do one about Neil Armstrong. So, obviously, I needed a way to use his famous phrase from the first step on the moon. I mean no disrespect by implying that someone kidnapped him instead of him dying nor by changing one letter in the word 'leap.'

A Minor Inconvenience

True, today's title does include the key word from the comic. True, I did use the correct spelling of the word that Mr. Green meant in the first panel, even though I made Mr. Blue misunderstand for the sake of the joke. However, I trust my readers to recognize the homophonic nature of this CoV and how such a misunderstanding is easily possible (especially with Blue).

Metrics Must Be in the 50s

I was working on some metrics the other day and thought about on-time projects as Projects - On Time Completion. Well, that, of course, sounds like Potsie if you verbalize the acronym. From there, it was just finding ways to make official-sounding acronyms of the other key names in the TV program. I also did not want to mention the name until panel four, although I did give a hint by mentioning Richie in an earlier panel. Did you figure it out? The title might have helped you, also.

At This Rate, You'll Either Succeed or Be Fired

I started thinking about how to measure a project manager's success at work and came up with some ideas, and some metrics need to go up while others need to go down. So, I wondered how people would interpret numbers if they did not know what the acronyms stood for and only saw the current value. Is above 1.0 good or bad?

Three Occularly Occluded Small Mammals

This has been in my backlog of ideas for a while, but I kept finding more timely references that I needed to cover first. Nothing caught my ear on my morning commute, so I went to the well and pulled this out.

HPM

You might guess that I watched Hell's Kitchen last night. It is amazing that he chooses chefs with equally colorful language to his own. That does not diminish from the fact that he may be an accomplished chef. Don't you wonder what he thinks of his kids if they talk that way? Anyway, I decided that might not work the same way in the project management world.

My Bible is ORB

I must have heard something about Health and Human Services being concerned about childhood obesity. I am not sure what got me on this topic, but once I did, I new I would use 'vegetables of the spirit' as one of the changes in the ORB.

Eyeful Tower

Since this is a play on words, it needed to come from a child who might mistake one word for another. None of my relatives have ever said this (that i know of).

Apoca-What Now

I heard on the radio yesterday that it was the anniversary of both Woodstock and the release of Apocalypse Now. So, I decided to commemorate them in a silly exchange between the two main characters. Then, I needed to decide which one would be the better joke for multiple panels. The movie won out.

Olympics are Over

I jotted the Triple-X vs Roman Numeral XXX during the Olympics, but just now decided to use it. I originally envisioned that this would drive all four panels but it felt more like an ending comment today when I wrote the CoV. I have heard stories about how the characters in a novel actually affect how the author creates the story. I guess something like that happened here.

But Where's Your Flowbee?

I was shaving this morning and thought about those who actually shave as they drive to work. I guess it save 2-3 minutes at home, but seems like an easy way to get distracted. From there, I wondered what else a person could do that would save time at home because they could do it in the car. I ran out of room before I could write about a Flowbee, so I made it part of the title.

One is Enough

I was talking to my boss this weekend and came up with this joke when he said he was going to see the new Bourne. All I had to do today was find a clever ending retort and choose a title that would not give away the joke before someone read the comic.

Less is More

No, there was no one named Hope that left our office, but Ruth did leave last week. So, thinking of that brings back the old joke about ruthless meaning we have one less Ruth in the office. From there, it was just thinking of more words that end in -less and bending the conversation around that.

Why Ninja PM Is So Good

I wanted to bring Ninja PM back, but I was not sure about a clever situation. Instead, I decided to review his outfit/tools to see what makes him effective. I had to research a little to find the proper names for some of the weapons/tools. And because the legs I found for him had one knee bent, I chose to place something beneath his right foot, a lunchbox.

PM of the Month

The challenge here was I needed a lot of words to explain why Blue got the award and his cavalier attitude towards the parking pass. I originally had him saying that his building doesn't even have covered parking, but that boxed me in on clever comments when he trades it. I also toyed with having the PM of the Month be a pre-printed award that the boss bought at Costco, but I couldn't find a clever way to end it.

It's Only One Letter

Sometimes, I have to be creative when I am naming a comic. For today's title, I did not want to have the whole joke in the name, so I decided to make it more like a description of the problem. I found a large number of duck drawings online, but decided this was enough to carry the joke. Why did I think of this? I honestly cannot say. Just another weird thing that popped into my head as I sat down to create a CoV.

My Wife is Hot

I had been thinking about a comic to make fun of the heat in Phoenix during the summer. Then, my Preacher Bro and his family came to town last week and I decided to include that in the comic. However, since it is my anniversary, I added that in and excluded mention of the family visit and changed it to an anniversary trip. As far as the title of today's CoV, you are welcome to interpret that however you choose. I know what I think it means, and she is hot.

Running Rings Around Madison Avenue

I have been drawn to the Olympics every night. Much of it has been to see if Phelps and Franklin keep winning. So, I see a lot of the Olympics logo. I am glad they have not replaced the rings with other round things in order to gain sponsorship.

Does PM Stand for Phoropter Machine?

I saw an TV ad for a local vision correction company this morning including that big machine they use to test your eyes. You have probably already guessed that is called a Phoropter. For some reason, I wondered if we could use that in the project world. So, I made it so the questions asked by the person running the machine were project-related. This comic is probably only funny to those who have ever been to an Optometrist.

The Bad in Badminton

What? A scandal in the Olympics? It seems that some teams in badminton decided to throw their match in hopes of being in an easier match later in the round robin tournament. So, I could imagine that, if they were going to throw a match, why not do it in comfort?