https://babarda.com/papers/ Writing on information design under complexity, project-controls practice, and Primavera P6 schedule data. en Mon, 12 Oct 2026 00:24:27 GMT https://babarda.com/papers/bj4-index/ https://babarda.com/papers/bj4-index/ Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT I exported a 200 MB WhatsApp chat with a friend, coded the 256 things he said about coins over 33 months, and bought $1,000 every time he said buy. The BJ4 Index: 0.59x against 1.00x for Bitcoin, one call in 54 ahead of BTC, and the five biases that explain it. Random https://babarda.com/papers/commissioning-skyline/ https://babarda.com/papers/commissioning-skyline/ Wed, 16 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT The hand-coloured Excel commissioning skyline drifted every week of a phase that only lasts months. A step-by-step guide to the computed one: one sheet in, every subsystem box carrying its RFC status and ITR progress, in the browser and in Power BI. Project controls and XER https://babarda.com/papers/mathmodelagent/ https://babarda.com/papers/mathmodelagent/ Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT The agent behind the Bitcoin paper: six plain-text skills, a verification gate that fails the run when a number is not in a results file, what its 2026 release changed, where it fails, and whether you should use it. Random https://babarda.com/papers/btc-cycle-bottom/ https://babarda.com/papers/btc-cycle-bottom/ Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Too busy for the noise, I put the question to a mathematician agent: five model families, a backtest on every top and bottom since 2013, one chart, four points, and a scorecard with the dates that prove it wrong. Random https://babarda.com/papers/progress-is-not-planning/ https://babarda.com/papers/progress-is-not-planning/ Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT A project can earn percent every month while its finish date goes nowhere. Why chasing easy progress starves the one path that decides the end, with a live two-strategy simulation, a float demo, and the merge-bias trap. Project controls and XER https://babarda.com/papers/the-chart-gantt-didnt-invent/ https://babarda.com/papers/the-chart-gantt-didnt-invent/ Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT The bar chart every planner uses carries one man's name. He was fourth, not first: from Priestley's timelines to Adamiecki's harmonogram, with the original 1922 charts and an interactive schedule. Project controls and XER https://babarda.com/papers/transparency-without-transparency/ https://babarda.com/papers/transparency-without-transparency/ Wed, 21 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT Josef Albers showed that flat opaque colours can make the eye see one transparent layer over another. That illusion runs every chart that overlaps, shown with interactive demonstrations. Information design https://babarda.com/papers/simplicity-and-complexity/ https://babarda.com/papers/simplicity-and-complexity/ Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT Edward Tufte's test for great information design: simple on the surface, dense underneath. Shown with a sparkline, small multiples, a chartjunk teardown, and a real broadcast chart caught lying with a truncated baseline. https://babarda.com/papers/interaction-of-color/ https://babarda.com/papers/interaction-of-color/ Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT Josef Albers said a colour is never what it is, only what sits next to it. What that means for anyone who picks a chart palette, shown with live demonstrations. Information design https://babarda.com/papers/reading-xer-with-mpxj/ https://babarda.com/papers/reading-xer-with-mpxj/ Thu, 16 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT The technical companion: the XER format's grammar and relational model, and how to parse, convert and manipulate it with MPXJ in Java or Python, including the traps that corrupt a naive read. Project controls and XER https://babarda.com/papers/your-xer-is-not-a-schedule/ https://babarda.com/papers/your-xer-is-not-a-schedule/ Tue, 14 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT An XER file holds a complete Primavera P6 schedule, and almost no one on the project can open it. What the format is, why it is locked to one planner, and how to hand the plan to everyone. Project controls and XER