Cutter Consortium Surveys

New Survey: IT Budgeting 2009

8 Jun 2009 22:27:57 GMT

Respond to our survey on Personal Productivity Tools and Systems and get a free copy of "Outcomes, Not Outputs: Why We Need Portfolio-Level Performance Metrics."

http://www.keysurvey.com/survey/258380/1dbc/

New Survey: Corporate Adoption of On-Demand BI and Data Warehousing

31 Mar 2009 22:27:57 GMT

Respond to our survey on Corporate Adoption of On-Demand BI and Data Warehousing and get a free copy of "Analytics in the Cloud: Products, Issues, and Considerations."

http://www.keysurvey.com/survey/254637/1486/

The Quasi-Service Provider Model: Exploding the Holy Grail

17 Jun 2009 19:59:01 GMT

Allen, Paul | E-Mail Advisors | 17 June 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

The idea of running IT as a business has gained much traction in recent years -- especially with the continued upsurge in all things IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). The holy grail of business-IT alignment will only be achieved, so this argument goes, when the internal IT department acts as a quasi-service provider that is subjected to the same principle of service-level management that we apply to our external providers.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090617.html

Is Your Perimeter Secure?

17 Jun 2009 19:58:09 GMT

Rosen, Mike | E-Mail Advisors | 17 June 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

Is your perimeter secure? The answer to that is simple: NO. As business has become more distributed, outsourcing has gone global, supply chains are more connected, employees have become teleworkers, customers demand better information, and so on, we have systematically punched holes into perimeter security until it now resembles Swiss cheese.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090617.html

Emotional Consciousness and Its Impact on Agility

17 Jun 2009 19:57:07 GMT

Sampath, Kalpana | E-Mail Advisors | 17 June 2009 | Cutter IT Journal

When all resources are well in place, what is it that stalls a project, drawing extra time and energy? Why so managers have to remind teammates so often to keep their emotions in check? Most leadership workshops seek to understand emotional intelligence and to teach a whole set of emotional management skills. Is there truly clarity on what emotions are and how to live with them?

http://www.cutter.com/content/itjournal/fulltext/advisor/2009/itj090617.html

Greenplum's Enterprise Data Cloud

16 Jun 2009 19:56:17 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 16 June 2009 | Business Intelligence

Data warehousing database vendor Greenplum has launched what the company calls its "Enterprise Data Cloud" (EDC) initiative. EDC builds on Greenplum's flagship massively parallel data warehousing database -- optimized for analytics and dynamic scalability -- and the concept of self-service provisioning.

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/advisor/2009/bia090616.html

BI Information Interoperability: From the Database to the Data Stream

16 Jun 2009 19:54:29 GMT

Di Maio, Paola | Executive Updates | 16 June 2009 | Business Intelligence

The capabilities delivered by BI technologies, which provide computational power, speed, and capacity, do not always address and resolve the issues derived from the lack of interoperability of disparate data sets. While information at the core is always some form of data, enterprises understand the importance of capturing intelligence from unstructured information where it is known as "knowledge," which by definition comes from disparate, unsorted, and nonhomogeneous sources.

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/updates/2009/biau0908.html

Keys to a Smart Innovation Process

16 Jun 2009 19:53:19 GMT

Dooley, Brian J. | Executive Updates | 16 June 2009 | Innovation

It has become increasingly evident that companies that fail to establish adequate innovation processes are likely to suffer in the current recession. As economic conditions bite deeper into revenues from existing products, new products will not be available to replace them, and ultimately, the company will fall behind the competition. While discussion of innovation tends to focus on idea creation, the real source of new opportunities lies in the processes that further innovation and bring ideas forward to completed new products, new services, or new ways of doing business.

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/updates/2009/ieau0906.html

Agile and SOA Together: Explore -- But Specify

16 Jun 2009 19:52:20 GMT

Allen, Paul | Executive Updates | 16 June 2009 | Agile Project Management

One of the greatest strengths of agile methodologies is that exploratory techniques involving collaboration between people -- the very fabric of software development -- take center stage. At the same time, from a service-oriented point of view, rigor is needed in specifying services and the components used to implement them. All too often we see unhelpful division between agile and service-oriented architecture (SOA) camps. Once we get beyond the rhetoric of methodology, we find a much more basic problem is at work. Two quite fundamental modes of human activity -- exploration and specification -- are commonly divorced or, worse, still muddled. In this Executive Update, we provide advice for avoiding this pitfall, for getting the best out of exploration and specification techniques, working alongside each other.

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/updates/2009/apmu0911.html

The Barriers to Innovation in Outsourcing Relationships

11 Jun 2009 19:51:19 GMT

Ertel, Danny | E-Mail Advisors | 11 June 2009 | Innovation

Outsourcing is no longer a novel or innovative strategy. It has evolved into just another choice a manager can make as he or she thinks about how to do more and better with less. As the industry has matured, its actors have gotten better at defining sourcing strategies, crafting deals, surviving transitions, and putting in place the capabilities to manage complex, multiyear relationships. Yet in survey after survey, we can still see significant levels of dissatisfaction, in particular with regard to the value realized after the initial cost savings:

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/advisor/2009/iea090611.html

Wolfram|Alpha and the Future of Mathematics

11 Jun 2009 19:49:00 GMT

Orr, Ken | E-Mail Advisors | 11 June 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts

After a number of years of near-total dominance of the Internet search space by Google, there suddenly are a number of major new announcements. Microsoft, for example, has just introduced its new search engine called Bing, which is intended to be a more "semantic" search with greater focus on presenting the results to make them more relevant and useful to the user. And Wolfram Research has announced a tool called Wolfram|Alpha that I believe will change the face of mathematical teaching and research -- as well as science and engineering -- for perhaps decades to come.

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/advisor/2009/btt090611.html

No Magic Bullet for Framing IT's Value Proposition

10 Jun 2009 19:44:56 GMT

Benson, Robert J.; Bugnitz, Tom | E-Mail Advisors | 10 June 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

Over the past few months, we have talked with IT leadership in large and small companies. The discussion focused on how well IT is performing for their company. Following are the main points common to all the companies with which we've been involved lately:

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090610.html

Are You at the Controls? Do You Know Where Your Data Is?

10 Jun 2009 19:43:38 GMT

Rosen, Mike | E-Mail Advisors | 10 June 2009 | Enterprise Architecture; Business Intelligence; Enterprise Risk Management & Governance

Perhaps you remember the public service campaign from 1960s television that went something like, "It's 10 pm. Do you know where your children are?" For IT, we could rephrase it as; "It's 2009. Do you know where your data is?" You probably don't, especially if it's in the hands of your partners or outsourcers. So, the answer to the question in the title of this Advisor is most likely, "I don't know."

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090610.html

Companies Making Cautious Moves to Social Networks

10 Jun 2009 19:42:35 GMT

Coleman, David | E-Mail Advisors | 10 June 2009 | Cutter IT Journal

People seem to have an innate need to be social -- to connect to each other and be part of the herd, both for safety and productivity. Today, the herd is much more geographically distributed and may consist of a social network, an online community, or other ongoing collaborative interactions.

http://www.cutter.com/content/itjournal/fulltext/advisor/2009/itj090610.html

Mining Social Media Via Sentiment Analysis

9 Jun 2009 19:41:27 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 09 June 2009 | Business Intelligence; Business Technology Trends & Impacts

I've been researching the state of the art in mining social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Yelp, CNET Reviews, Epicurious, IMDb, TripAdvisor, Yahoo! Finance, Amazon, and WebMD. Today, cutting-edge organizations -- especially their marketing and PR departments -- are struggling to make sense out of what's being said about their companies and products on a variety of social media sites, sites that are now responsible for incredible amounts of user-generated content. Basically, you can consider these sites interactive forums offering a wealth of information expressing consumer sentiment, preferences, and trends, which, in effect, are helping to shape consumer behavior.

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/advisor/2009/bia090609.html

Open Source Java Frameworks: Development/Testing, Middleware, and Comprehensive Frameworks

5 Jun 2009 16:21:10 GMT

Welsh, Tom | Executive Updates | 05 June 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

In Part V, I move on to the findings for development/testing, middleware, and comprehensive OSJFs. Then, before summing up the series and to put the OSJF findings into context, we take a look at the non-Java frameworks that respondents have been using.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/updates/2009/eau0911.html

Service-Oriented Agile Projects -- Contradiction or Necessity?

4 Jun 2009 16:20:12 GMT

Allen, Paul | E-Mail Advisors | 04 June 2009 | Agile Project Management

A harsh economic recession calling for renewed cost reduction with an emphasis on tactical solution-delivery projects causes concerns over the effectiveness of enterprise service-oriented architecture (SOA) and puts agile methodologies back in the limelight. SOA and agile are commonly seen as opposites, but opposites that don't attract. On the one hand, agile emphasizes a short game that is about human interplay, simplicity, speed, and transparency, while SOA is inherently a long game that is about discipline, commonality, formality, and specification. Each approach has its camps of followers and -- it must be said -- is not without some success.

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/advisor/2009/apm090604.html

No More Gorilla Dust: Autopsy of GM

4 Jun 2009 16:19:18 GMT

Charette, Robert N. | E-Mail Advisors | 04 June 2009 | Enterprise Risk Management & Governance; Business-IT Strategies; Business Technology Trends & Impacts

So long to the gorilla dust at GM. That's what billionaire entrepreneur founder of EDS and ex-General Motors executive Ross Perot called the annual optimistic projections of GM executives during the 1980s, as it continued to lose market share. "When gorillas fight, they throw dust in the air to distract one another," Perot said.

http://www.cutter.com/content/risk/fulltext/advisor/2009/erm090604.html

When It Makes Sense to Throw Caution to the Wind

4 Jun 2009 16:18:25 GMT

Andriole, Stephen J. | E-Mail Advisors | 04 June 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts

Technology adoption depends on context. When a company is in trouble, it tries lots of things to regain its competitive edge. When an industry sector is in trouble, it reinvents itself. But when trouble fails to distinguish among companies, sectors, or even continents, then drastic steps are necessary to right the ship. These days we find ourselves in a major economic crisis. Some companies are fighting themselves as they try to adapt to falling revenue and shrinking profits. Technology acquisition, deployment, and support are in the crosshairs of many companies. With technology budgets ranging anywhere from 2% to 10% of gross revenue, companies are understandably looking for ways to reduce technology costs -- despite the cultural idiosyncrasies that sometimes keep them from helping themselves.

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/advisor/2009/btt090604.html

Why Vendor Management Is an Oxymoron

3 Jun 2009 16:17:24 GMT

Andriole, Stephen J. | E-Mail Advisors | 03 June 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

In the world in which we live, a world that changes almost daily, there are truths and untruths. There's hype, and there's reality. There are technologies that work, and there are technologies that stay forever in the trough of disillusionment. There are subtleties and nuances. There are smart people and nasty people. Let's look at one of the perceptual anomalies of our world or, if you prefer, a dirty little secret. Vendor management.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2009/src090603.html

Managing the Complete Product Lifecycle, Part II: The Technical Product Manager

3 Jun 2009 16:16:32 GMT

Rasmussen, David N. | E-Mail Advisors | 03 June 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

One of the roles of a product manager is to ensure the technical integrity of the product. The product manager should focus on verifying the product's conformance to the design specification for functionality, performance, reliability, service, and support. All are vital attributes of a new product and are key to the future acceptance of the product by users.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090603.html

The Cloud Machine: Some Tips to Get Behind the Haze

3 Jun 2009 16:15:40 GMT

Seiden, Mark | E-Mail Advisors | 03 June 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

"The cloud" is important, yes, but in my view it isn't rocket science (or even atmospheric science). I think of it as just another step in outsourcing and pushing everything into a commodity, which for me creates only "modified rapture."

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090603.html

Enterprise Collaboration Architecture Webinar

3 Jun 2009 16:14:46 GMT

Rosen, Mike | Webinars/Multimedia | 03 June 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

Collaboration is a hot topic within Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 technologies. It seems that everybody wants it, but what does it really mean for an enterprise? How can collaboration help improve internal processes and development? And how can it improve interactions with customers and partners? In this Webinar, Mike Rosen, Director of Cutter's Enterprise Architecture practice, first looks at what we mean by collaboration and why we do it. Then, he looks at the impact on traditional business transaction processing when we try to add collaboration. Mike will discuss a detailed example of an extended business transaction and the benefits it can deliver, and finally he'll take a look at the application architecture necessary to integrate Enterprise 2.0 technologies into real business transactions at an enterprise level. Join Mike Rosen for this hour-long, interactive webinar. Ask questions, get answers. Discover the opportunities opened by Enterprise Collaboration Architecture, consider some approaches, and anticipate the obstacles.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/webinar/2009/enterprisecollaborationarchitecture.html

Key to Encouraging Planning Lies in Communication

3 Jun 2009 16:13:53 GMT

Phillips, Dwayne | E-Mail Advisors | 03 June 2009 | Cutter IT Journal

Plans are important to me; they are not important to everyone. The same is true of many intellectual products in our workplaces. One challenge for managers is to arrange situations where the right people become interested enough to think and communicate their thoughts.

http://www.cutter.com/content/itjournal/fulltext/advisor/2009/itj090603.html

Consider Casting Into the System S Stream for "Perpetual Analysis"

2 Jun 2009 16:12:53 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 02 June 2009 | Business Intelligence; Business Technology Trends & Impacts

IBM has announced the availability of what the company is calling "stream computing" software that can analyze high volumes of continuously streaming data -- both structured and unstructured -- in real time. "System S" is for implementing what IBM developers call "perpetual analytics." It uses a new streaming architecture and mathematical algorithms to create a forward-looking analysis of data, and to continuously refine its findings as additional data is made available.

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/advisor/2009/bia090602.html

Adopting the SaaS Model for Business Applications

1 Jun 2009 16:11:01 GMT

Xin, Mingdi | Executive Reports | 01 June 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

The software as a service (SaaS) model has matured as a viable strategic alternative to conventional software service options. This Executive Report by Dr. Mingdi Xin elaborates on the distinct technical and managerial characteristics of SaaS and the implications of these differences on a client’s adoption decision. Propositions are derived, and subsequently verified using survey data, that connect customers’ business and technical needs with their benefits from adopting SaaS. The report concludes with implications of SaaS adoption on IT strategy.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/reports/2009/06/index.html

Adopting the SaaS Model for Business Applications

1 Jun 2009 16:10:10 GMT

Xin, Mingdi | Executive Summaries | 01 June 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

The software as a service (SaaS) model has matured as a viable strategic alternative to conventional software service options. This Executive Report by Dr. Mingdi Xin elaborates on the distinct technical and managerial characteristics of SaaS and the implications of these differences on a client’s adoption decision. Propositions are derived, and subsequently verified using survey data, that connect customers’ business and technical needs with their benefits from adopting SaaS. The report concludes with implications of SaaS adoption on IT strategy.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/summaries/2009/06/index.html

Software Product Support: Part II -- To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade

1 Jun 2009 16:09:18 GMT

Bennatan, E.M. | Executive Updates | 01 June 2009 | Agile Project Management

Consider this: if you could upgrade all the software on your computer for free, would you do it? It's not a trick question -- give it some thought for a moment. I posed the question at a forum in Chicago earlier this year, and some of the responses were quite intense. That was not what I had expected.

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/updates/2009/apmu0910.html

Variation: Friend or Foe to Innovation?

28 May 2009 16:07:46 GMT

Austin, Robert D.; Ellyn, Lynne | E-Mail Advisors | 28 May 2009 | Innovation

Most people know that innovation requires time to think, reflect, experiment, fail, revise, and explore. But many have likely not contemplated how directly cost pressures can impact innovation efforts. Psychologist Donald T. Campbell developed a model of innovation in 1960 that can help us understand just what's at stake. The Campbell model was inspired by Darwinian evolution. It portrays innovation as a two-step process, as follows:

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/advisor/2009/iea090528.html

Reduce Costs the Agile Way: Keep Value in View

28 May 2009 16:06:40 GMT

Highsmith, Jim | E-Mail Advisors | 28 May 2009 | Agile Project Management; Enterprise Risk Management & Governance

The Agile Triangle way of measuring performance can be useful in looking at business goals in new ways (the triangle involves value, quality, and constraints -- as introduced in my Advisor, "Flex Your Agile Triangle and Add Value," 30 April 2009). If the goal is reducing schedules, for example, metrics from agile projects have shown that improving quality has a great impact on schedule reduction. Focusing directly on schedules often has the direct opposite impact on schedules. Admonitions to "go faster" result in cutting quality corners, which in turn ends up lengthening schedules. So ironically, focusing on schedule yields longer schedules while focusing on quality yields shorter schedules.

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/advisor/2009/apm090528.html

For Hybrid Clouds, Fog of Confusion Is Burning Away

28 May 2009 16:05:28 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 28 May 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts; Sourcing & Vendor Relationships; Enterprise Architecture

Most of the attention being paid to cloud computing has focused on public cloud providers, such as Amazon and Google, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendors, such as Salesforce.com. However, based on my research, including feedback I've received from readers, I believe that the future of corporate IT, especially when it comes to larger companies, will be based on "hybrid clouds" -- those employing both public and private clouds to meet business goals.

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/advisor/2009/btt090528.html

Economic Crunch Offers Agile, Enduring Lessons

27 May 2009 16:04:32 GMT

Kellen, Vince | E-Mail Advisors | 27 May 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

The waves of the business cycle are becoming ripples. The recent American combination of minimal inflation and very low unemployment may not be an aberration, but the beginning of a new worldwide trend. Smarter government policy, globalization, changes in employment, advances in information technology, and emerging markets all cushion shocks and dampen the familiar boom and bust. The consequences for world politics and prosperity will be profound.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090527.html

EA and SOA: A Marriage Made in Heaven?

27 May 2009 16:03:30 GMT

Allen, Paul | E-Mail Advisors | 27 May 2009 | Enterprise Architecture; Business-IT Strategies

While EA and service-oriented architecture (SOA) have their own advocates and camps of followers, recent developments have seen many of the EA approaches and frameworks looking to offer increasing support for SOA. The fact that business is increasingly conducted in a collaborative fashion, using distributed Internet technologies, makes this very welcome. While I review these developments and more in an upcoming Executive Report ("EA Meets SOA in a Challenged Global Economy"), right now I want to offer some general observations on extending your EA to support SOA.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090527.html

Part of the Process: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

27 May 2009 16:02:22 GMT

Andriole, Stephen J. | E-Mail Advisors | 27 May 2009 | Cutter IT Journal

It's not the technology, stupid; it's the processes. Processes are good, bad, ugly, or indifferent depending on how well -- or poorly -- you provide incentives to promote their efficacy. Let me repeat: it's not the technology. In fact, among the triumvirate of people, process, and technology, technology is the least likely case of failure. Then comes people. But at the top of the list are the processes we anoint as our problem-solving saviors.

http://www.cutter.com/content/itjournal/fulltext/advisor/2009/itj090527.html

The Real Benefits of BI Search

26 May 2009 16:01:28 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 26 May 2009 | Business Intelligence

Last week, I discussed SAP AG's new Business Objects tool that combines BI reporting and analysis with functionality that is like an Internet search engine: SAP Business Objects Explorer (see "SAP Business Objects Explorer: BI Search Meets ERP, But Will It Accelerate Adoption of BI Search?," 19 May 2009). I also said that I thought the introduction of Explorer would lead to the greater acceptance of BI search tools among end-user organizations because it will help to validate the technology. Judging from the number of people who've contacted me regarding BI search, I think that Explorer is definitely generating increased interest in the technology.

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/advisor/2009/bia090526.html

Outsourcing Strategies to Weather a Recession

1 May 2009 15:55:28 GMT

Cullen, Sara | Journals | 01 May 2009 | Cutter IT Journal

Even under normal circumstances, outsourcing presents many challenges for buyers and sellers. In the current economic climate, when the value-for-money proposition of outsourcing becomes skewed toward the money side of the equation, existing outsourcing deals and prospective ones face new and different challenges. Buyers will want to reduce the costs of current contracts and obtain substantial savings in new ones. Sellers can't afford to reduce existing prices given projections of decreased revenue plus the bigger discounts required to win new work. Can both parties achieve their financial goals while maintaining a good long-term relationship?

http://www.cutter.com/itjournal/fulltext/2009/05/index.html

Unlocking the Organizational Potential of Social Networking

1 May 2009 15:52:43 GMT

Piccoli, Gabriele | Journals | 01 May 2009 | Cutter Benchmark Review

Is there any opportunity for organizations seeking to benefit from their customers' use of social networks? How can organizations take advantage of the explosive growth of social networking? Here the answer is not so simple. For this reason, we focus this issue of Cutter Benchmark Review on this important and timely topic: organizational uses and opportunities in social networking.

http://www.cutter.com/content/benchmark/fulltext/2009/05/index.html

Cloud Computing and Software as a Service: The Hyper, the Hype, and the Facts

1 Apr 2009 15:53:54 GMT

Piccoli, Gabriele | Journals | 01 April 2009 | Cutter Benchmark Review

This issue of Cutter Benchmark Review represents a classic example of what we attempt to do every month with this publication. We identify emergent, emerging, or consolidating trends of great interest to IT shops around the world, and then we bring to bear the many components of the "CBR machine" to benchmark them and provide tangible guidelines that our readers can immediately implement in their day-to-day operations. There are two critical components to our operation here at CBR: our expert contributors and the Cutter Consortium office. The office manages the madness that is putting together the monthly issue of a survey-based journal that benchmarks current trends with fresh data, including managing the survey creation process, collecting and organizing the questions produced by our experts, computing results, and editing and publishing the issue.

http://www.cutter.com/content/benchmark/fulltext/2009/04/index.html

Architectural Challenges in Transforming to SaaS Solutions

22 May 2009 15:50:46 GMT

Markande, Krishna | Executive Updates | 22 May 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

To fully understand the advantages and challenges in software as a service (SaaS), we must analyze the emerging model thoroughly from the viewpoint of customers and independent software vendors (ISVs). The aim of such scrutiny is to reap the benefits and mitigate possible risks of SaaS.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/updates/2009/eau0910.html

Implementation Strategy for Portal Adoption

22 May 2009 15:49:44 GMT

Mutha, Mohit C. | Executive Updates | 22 May 2009 | Business Intelligence

Portals provide a common user interface (UI) platform for federating varied content and applications. In addition, portal server products offer out-of-the-box features such as personalization, security, and administrative control. The portal server also provides several customization hooks for layout, themes, skins, security, and so forth. Compared with building a custom Web application having these features, portal servers are an attractive choice for decentralized content and module management, configurable UI, personalization and customization, short time to market, and maintainability.

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/updates/2009/biau0907.html

Managing Change Orders: Understanding Fixed Scope, Fixed Capacity

21 May 2009 15:48:50 GMT

Highsmith, Jim | E-Mail Advisors | 21 May 2009 | Agile Project Management

At the Cutter Summit 2009 conference in early May, I was talking with an executive from a company that contracts for large government projects. This company has been doing agile development but has often run into a common problem: governments and others often want vendors to be agile and adaptable, but also sign contracts with a fixed price and schedule. During development, when they ask for changes and the vendor tries to mitigate the impact of the change request, the agency staff responds, "You aren't being agile; isn't this an agile project?" I've run into this before. Customers want to push agility too far -- they don't want to make tradeoffs; they want something for free.

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/advisor/2009/apm090521.html

The Risks of Banking on Risk Certifications

21 May 2009 15:47:51 GMT

Pritchard, Carl | E-Mail Advisors | 21 May 2009 | Enterprise Risk Management & Governance; Agile Project Management

With the ongoing proliferation of certifications available to business professionals of every type, it's no surprise that risk management has popped into the picture in the cost, IT development, and project management communities. The Project Management Institute came first, last year unveiling the PMI-Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP®) certification as a new addition to its laundry list of professional marks. The Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering is not far behind, as it is currently in the throes of putting the finishing touches on its version of such a credential.

http://www.cutter.com/content/risk/fulltext/advisor/2009/erm090521.html

10 Trends in Rethinking IT Management in a 2.0 World

21 May 2009 15:46:53 GMT

Andriole, Steve | E-Mail Advisors | 21 May 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts

Regardless of a company's objectives, it must invest in operational and strategic technology. Operational technology has obviously become commoditized as prices have dropped and the industry has consolidated, but if acquisition, deployment, and support best practices are ignored, all of the advantages of commoditization disappear. Strategic technology is discretionary technology -- the technology of choice -- that's selected based on specific business objectives. Good decisions here enable strategy; bad ones undermine it. Good management enables the business value of technology; bad management undermines IT.

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/advisor/2009/btt090521.html

Retendering an Outsourcing Contract: Attracting New Entrants

20 May 2009 15:44:02 GMT

Cullen, Sara | E-Mail Advisors | 20 May 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Many client organizations nearing the end of an outsourcing contract start to consider whether they should retender the deal. Yet for most, these deliberations are largely about whether or not to do so; very few go beyond the simple yes/no proposition to consider the "how." This is important because the odds are stacked against new entrants (bidders other than the incumbent provider) unless your organization does something about it, and your organization risks expending time and resources on what ends up being a pointless exercise.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2009/src090520.html

What Employees Don't Know About Information Security Can Hurt Business

20 May 2009 15:43:05 GMT

Herold, Rebecca | E-Mail Advisors | 20 May 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

Businesses depend heavily on use of the Internet to perform their activities. But have business personnel received enough training and ongoing awareness communications about how to use the Internet securely? Has your staff received any training or awareness communications at all?

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090520.html

Processes, Clear and Messy

20 May 2009 15:42:19 GMT

Andriole, Stephen J. | Executive Updates | 20 May 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

It's not the technology, stupid; it's the processes. Processes are good, bad, ugly, or indifferent depending on how well -- or poorly -- you incentivize their efficacy. Let me repeat: it's not the technology. In fact, among the triumvirate of people, process, and technology, technology is the least likely case of failure. Then comes people. But at the top of the list are the processes we anoint as our problem-solving saviors.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/updates/2009/bitu0907.html

Aiming for the Big Picture, EA Goes Beyond 3D

20 May 2009 15:40:43 GMT

Orr, Ken | E-Mail Advisors | 20 May 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

For a long time, I have been advocating that the right analogy for enterprise architecture is urban/transportation planning versus building architecture. Now, while designing and building a single large building is a complex, difficult problem, what large IT organizations everywhere are faced with is not just developing or replacing individual systems, regardless of how difficult that that may be. Rather, they are managing networks or systems; in some cases networks of networks of systems. Enterprise architecture, like urban/transportation planning, is involved with trying to understand and shape the really big picture.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090520.html

Real Virtuality: Preparing for a Long-Term Paradigm Shift

20 May 2009 15:39:53 GMT

Sivan, Yesha Y. | E-Mail Advisors | 20 May 2009 | Cutter IT Journal

IT managers need to have a split personality: they must be both conservative and innovative. On the one hand, they have to maintain older systems and keep current processes working smoothly. On the other hand, they have to continually examine new IT technologies that can alter the business. Around 1990, a "game-changing" technology, the Internet, emerged. New businesses that embraced the Internet in innovative ways -- such as eBay, Amazon, and Google -- thrived. However, companies that failed to embrace the Internet early -- such as Tower Records, Barnes & Noble, and Rand McNally -- were less fortunate. Tower closed, Barnes & Noble missed the online business that now belongs to Amazon, and Rand McNally failed to capture the online mapping business.

http://www.cutter.com/content/itjournal/fulltext/advisor/2009/itj090520.html

Sourcing Criteria for SaaS

20 May 2009 15:38:57 GMT

Gangadharan, G.R. | Executive Updates | 20 May 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Traditionally, software has been perceived as a product, requiring possession and ownership in order to receive the desired performance. The transition from software as a product to software as a service (SaaS) is reflected in the distribution of software, where an application is offered as a service to customers through the Internet. The SaaS approach can be viewed as a combination of application service provision and outsourcing.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/updates/2009/srcu0905.html

Dirty Little Secrets

20 May 2009 15:38:02 GMT

Andriole, Stephen J. | Executive Updates | 20 May 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts

In the world in which we live, a world that changes almost daily, there are truths and untruths. There's hype, and there's reality. There are technologies that work, and there are technologies that stay forever in the trough of disillusionment. There are subtleties and nuances. There are smart people and nasty people.

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/updates/2009/bttu0907.html

SAP Business Objects Explorer: BI Search Meets ERP, But Will It Accelerate Adoption of BI Search?

19 May 2009 15:37:01 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 19 May 2009 | Business Intelligence

SAP/Business Objects' representatives bill its new BI search tool as a way for companies to disseminate BI functionality throughout their organizations to business users -- a sort of "self-service" BI tool for nontechies that makes finding and analyzing information as easy as using Google or Yahoo! search. Business Objects Explorer is an impressive tool. But to date, use of BI search by end-user organizations has been limited. So will SAP throwing its weight behind Explorer lead to increased acceptance of BI search? Before attempting to answer this question, I first need to explain Explorer in more detail.

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/advisor/2009/bia090519.html

Leading for Competitive Advantage

14 May 2009 15:34:59 GMT

Davis, Christine | E-Mail Advisors | 14 May 2009 | Innovation

A business needs outstanding leadership to successfully navigate through today's complex, competitive world. Identifying and understanding the strategic orientation of your business toward customers and innovation is one thing; however, it is quite another to successfully reorient the organization in another direction. The organization will need a vision and someone to follow who will be brave enough to take on the risks of changing the status quo. The leadership has to be able to interface in a more sophisticated way with its employees, customers, and suppliers if it wants to empower them to become more involved in the value creation for their business. The executive leadership is responsible for guiding the organization through the strategic planning that will define the actions needed to achieve competitive advantage. The leadership has to involve the right people in this process and develop a vision that will inspire those involved to make the changes needed to be successful. The executive leadership will need to clearly communicate its expectations to employees so that they understand the role they are expected to play in the innovation process.

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/advisor/2009/iea090514.html

The Immaturity of Maturity

14 May 2009 15:33:44 GMT

Coldewey, Jens | E-Mail Advisors | 14 May 2009 | Agile Project Management I remember a time when I was deeply interested in maturity. I was a teenager in the 8th grade and my classmates and I talked a lot about who in our class already was "mature." Our metrics were indicators such as having been on vacation without parents, having thrown a party without parents at home, and having dared to resist teachers, in addition to physical indications such as pitch of the voice. I think most Western teenagers share similar experiences.http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/advisor/2009/apm090514.html

Obama Brings Internet Communications to World Diplomacy

14 May 2009 15:32:45 GMT

Orr, Ken | E-Mail Advisors | 14 May 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts

Throughout history, major shifts in communication technology have brought on major changes in politics and business, exploited by imaginative politicians and businesspeople. In the 1930s, for example, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Adolph Hitler reached out via the radio to far more people than had ever heard directly from politicians. Businesses quickly began to use radio to advertise. In the 1960s, John F. Kennedy did the same thing by grasping the power of TV to reach huge audiences. And in the last US presidential election, Barack Obama created a new kind of political campaign that made up for his lack of experience and deep pockets by exploiting the Internet in all its dimensions: e-mail, instant messaging, social networking, video over the Internet, and so on. Now we are just beginning to see the possibilities of using this new technology to change governing and foreign policy as well.

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/advisor/2009/btt090514.html

Your Move: Client Options for Vendors That Have Raised Annual Support Fees

13 May 2009 15:31:37 GMT

Simon, Phil | E-Mail Advisors | 13 May 2009 | Business-IT Strategies; Business Technology Trends & Impacts

Vendors such as Lawson and SAP have recently announced increases in their annual support fees to many already struggling clients. In any economy, organizations would meet these increases with skepticism. This article details options for organizations in response to these potential increases.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090513.html

COBIT Primer

13 May 2009 15:30:20 GMT

Rosen, Mike | E-Mail Advisors | 13 May 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

There are so many different frameworks with which architects work -- TOGAF, Zachmann, FEAF, ITIL -- to name just a few. All have different goals, strengths, weaknesses, audiences, and so on. The one that I find to be the least well known among architects is COBIT. Yet I find that many CIOs and executives are familiar with this framework and that it is important in communicating up to the C-level. COBIT, originally released in 1996, is currently at version 4.1 (you can download the guide from www.isaca.org).

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090513.html

The Challenges of SOA Governance

13 May 2009 15:29:09 GMT

Allen, Paul | E-Mail Advisors | 13 May 2009 | Cutter IT Journal

Despite the promises of service-oriented architecture (SOA), many organizations are increasingly encountering difficult governance issues as they start to ramp up their early SOA efforts. SOA governance tends to get approached in primarily two ways: as a technology or as a cultural phenomenon. The most fruitful approach lies somewhere in between. Pragmatic approaches to governance blend and balance the two with respect to the needs of the particular organization.

http://www.cutter.com/content/itjournal/fulltext/advisor/2009/itj090513.html

On-Demand, Cloud-Based BI and Data Warehousing: Prime-Time Players in a Down Economy or Over-Hyped Technologies?

12 May 2009 15:19:15 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 12 May 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts; Sourcing & Vendor Relationships; Business Intelligence

Organizations today may choose from a broad range of on-demand and "cloud-based" BI and data warehousing options, ranging from reporting, dashboards, and focused analytic applications (offered as licensable services) to hosted data integration services and full-blown managed data warehouses. These on-demand providers hope to benefit from a down economy by offering organizations a way to forgo having to implement costly data warehousing and BI applications inhouse, in effect offering to "rent" them a "solution" to help with their data integration, data management, and reporting and analysis needs.

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/advisor/2009/bia090512.html

Open Source Java Frameworks: GUI, Web, Web Services, and Persistence

12 May 2009 14:52:03 GMT

Welsh, Tom | Executive Updates | 12 May 2009 | Enterprise Architecture
This is the fourth in a series of Executive Updates in which I analyze the results of a recent Cutter Consortium survey on the subject of open source Java frameworks (OSJFs). Part I1 explored Java EE's perceived strengths and weaknesses, to find out whether there is good reason for developers to look for alternatives. In Part II,2 we saw that nearly three in four respondents think that OSJFs always or often offer good solutions to Java's shortcomings, though there was some concern about the risk of lock-in, uncertainty over future plans, and lack of standardization.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/updates/2009/eau0909.html

Fostering Innovation and Learning -- On the Cheap

12 May 2009 14:50:27 GMT

Hunt, Andy | Executive Updates | 12 May 2009 | Innovation

Your training budget is gone and your staff may be downsized, but promising new technologies keep coming, and the need to innovate is relentless. So how can you improve your software developers, get your team to learn more effectively, and improve creativity in today's challenging business environment?

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/updates/2009/ieau0905.html

Opening the Door for Agility with Lean and Six Sigma for Growth Practices

11 May 2009 14:49:07 GMT

Valente Pereira, Ana Paula | Executive Updates | 11 May 2009 | Agile Project Management

The Eclipse Process Framework (EPF) is an open source initiative that aims to produce a customizable process engineering framework that supports a broad variety of project types and product development styles and takes open source collaboration to the process-authoring domain. The framework allows collaboration around any process definition, associated practices, and method content. It is a central community that intends to provide a communication framework to facilitate convergence of best practices across domains.

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/updates/2009/apmu0909.html

Information Security and Privacy Training and Awareness for Business Partners: Their Lack of Knowledge Will Be Your Pain

8 May 2009 16:07:45 GMT

Herold, Rebecca | Executive Updates | 08 May 2009 | Enterprise Risk Management & Governance

In Part I of this three-part Executive Update series,1 I covered why smart business leaders need to provide their personnel with regular training about information security and privacy as well as ongoing awareness communications. In Part II,2 I described 14 mistakes that organizations consistently make that undercut training and awareness programs, which are often detrimental to information security and privacy efforts. I have seen the majority of organizations make a 15th mistake, which I will cover in-depth in this third and final Update. That mistake is not providing information security or privacy training and ongoing awareness to outsourced vendors and business partners.

http://www.cutter.com/content/risk/fulltext/updates/2009/ermu0905.html

Defining Agile Software Development for Portfolio Management

7 May 2009 16:06:34 GMT

Ambler, Scott W. | E-Mail Advisors | 07 May 2009 | Agile Project Management

The goal of portfolio management within an IT environment is to help improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of IT efforts within an organization. You do this by ensuring that all projects and existing systems are visible, planned for, and aligned to the goals of your organization. Critical activities within your portfolio management discipline include project identification and selection, project monitoring and governance, and IT inventory management. Enterprise disciplines, such as portfolio management, are important because successful IT departments look beyond the needs of a single system. Studies have shown that organizations that manage their IT investments must successfully generate as much as a 40% higher return than their competitors.1 Portfolio management is arguably one of the most misunderstood aspects of IT activities, perhaps because of its cross-system scope and because there is so little written about it at the practitioner level.

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/advisor/2009/apm090507.html

A Flu Pandemic: To Risk or Not Risk -- That Is the Question

7 May 2009 16:04:14 GMT

Charette, Robert N. | E-Mail Advisors | 07 May 2009 | Enterprise Risk Management & Governance; Business Technology Trends & Impacts

As I write this Advisor, the news about a possible swine flu pandemic is changing almost by the hour. As of today, World Health Organization (WHO) officials and medical specialists in Mexico and the US are cautiously optimistic that the new strain of swine flu -- now officially called influenza A (H1N1) -- may turn out to be a mild form with health effects more typical of an influenza B-type virus.

http://www.cutter.com/content/risk/fulltext/advisor/2009/erm090507.html

Whole New Dimensions of Interaction: Microsoft Surface, Nintendo Wii-Fit, and Apple

7 May 2009 16:03:15 GMT

Orr, Ken | E-Mail Advisors | 07 May 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts; Innovation

Recently, I was in Tampa and Chicago during the same week to speak at data management and business process conferences. It gave me a chance to find out what some of the best and brightest in the business were forecasting for the future of technology. I would imagine that all told there were more than 1,000 technology folks at these conferences. The numbers were down from last year, but still impressive. Despite the brainpower at these conferences, however, I was most taken by the breakthrough technologies that I stumbled onto in a hotel lobby and in a friend's exercise room.

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/advisor/2009/btt090507.html

Security Is Only As Good As the Weakest Link

6 May 2009 16:02:28 GMT

Christie, Scott S. | E-Mail Advisors | 06 May 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

It started innocently enough. A US educational institution (which we shall call WhoU) was looking to update and standardize the PII of current and former students in its electronic database and upgrade its software to automate much of this process on a going-forward basis.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2009/src090506.html

Managing the Complete Product Lifecycle, Part I

6 May 2009 16:01:35 GMT

Rasmussen, David N. | E-Mail Advisors | 06 May 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

This Advisor is the first in a series that will examine the role of the product manager in an IT business along with some of the alternatives for defining that role and its ultimate contribution to the corporation.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090506.html

A Capability Trilogy, Part III: Triage Comes Into Play

6 May 2009 16:00:35 GMT

Allen, Paul | E-Mail Advisors | 06 May 2009 | Enterprise Architecture; Business-IT Strategies

While the notion of core/context capabilities is central to the whole capability-driven approach, it is sometimes quite difficult to take a strictly binary view. Graduating capabilities in terms of their degree of commoditization can help, and it is possible to use several classifications along a spectrum from high to low commoditization. At the same time, it's important not to overegg the pudding.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090506.html

As to What Really Matters, How Does BI Stack Up?

6 May 2009 15:59:45 GMT

Di Maio, Paola | E-Mail Advisors | 06 May 2009 | Cutter IT Journal

Although a relatively new practice in modern IT management, business intelligence (BI) has turned out to be central to achieving and maintaining competitiveness in enterprise operations. Yet the more the BI culture develops and becomes adopted by contemporary organizations, the more obvious the challenges and limitations of some BI approaches become.

http://www.cutter.com/content/itjournal/fulltext/advisor/2009/itj090506.html

RDBMS Versus MapReduce -- Why the Feud? Just Integrate

5 May 2009 15:58:22 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 05 May 2009 | Business Intelligence

A schism has been brewing between traditional RDBMS (relational database management system) fans and proponents of the MapReduce data-crunching technology pioneered by Google and made popular by the open source Hadoop framework. This feud is apt to intensify with the upcoming publication of A Comparison of Approaches to Large-Scale Data Analysis; MapReduce vs. DBMS Benchmarks, a report slated for the June issue of the Association for Computing Machinery's SIGMOD RECORD journal on data management.

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/advisor/2009/bia090505.html

Frames: How to Treat Software Components as Capital Assets -- and Why You Should

1 May 2009 15:55:06 GMT

Bassett, Paul G. | Executive Summaries | 01 May 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

The key technical barrier to capitalizing software components is our insistence on defining them as use-as-is, encapsulated executables. A proven technology -- known as "frames" -- breaks this barrier by shifting from use-as-is parts to "smart parts" that customize each other as needed. Independent auditors confirm that these capital assets deliver hard-to-believe ROIs. They also enable major improvements across software's entire lifecycle, from requirements gathering to so-called maintenance. As with any paradigm shift, it's fraught with nontechnical barriers. This Executive Report by Paul G. Bassett explains how to overcome the barriers and why you should.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/summaries/2009/05/index.html

Case Study: GHDOnline Aims to Break Ground Sharing Health Data

30 Apr 2009 15:54:15 GMT

Sullivan, Erin | E-Mail Advisors | 30 April 2009 | Innovation; Business Intelligence

The Web, in the last couple of years, has changed dramatically. Tens of millions of people are now -- for the first time -- actively participating in online communities. Social and professional networking sites, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, have attracted millions, and the average age of users continues to rise. Scores of people are participating in community-driven news sites where like-minded users, not the Web site publishers, determine what news is most interesting and important on any given day.

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/advisor/2009/iea090430.html

Flex Your Agile Triangle and Add Value

30 Apr 2009 15:53:25 GMT

Highsmith, Jim | E-Mail Advisors | 30 April 2009 | Agile Project Management

I have been thinking about measuring performance, again. Part of this thinking results from reading Implementing Beyond Budgeting: Unlocking the Performance Potential by Bjarte Bogsnes. I also went back to the numbers in the Standish reports that have been quoted for years indicating poor software development performance. According to these "Chaos" reports, in 1994 82% of software projects were challenged or failures, while in 2001 that improved to 72%. As a reminder, these reports defined results in the following terms:

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/advisor/2009/apm090430.html

Harnessing Your Architecture Repository to Value

30 Apr 2009 15:52:20 GMT

Rosen, Michael | E-Mail Advisors | 30 April 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts; Enterprise Architecture

As more and more enterprises realize a need for architecture, the vendors of tools that support architecture are jumping on the opportunity. I'm seeing a growing trend in the acquisition of enterprise architecture repositories. Unfortunately, I haven't yet seen most organizations realize the value that these tools can bring. As always, technology itself does not provide business value; it only enables solutions. It is how you use the technology that brings value, and repositories are no exception.

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/advisor/2009/btt090430.html

Information Security Training Boosts Business

29 Apr 2009 15:51:29 GMT

Herold, Rebecca | E-Mail Advisors | 29 April 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

How much effort and planning has your organization put into information security and privacy training and awareness efforts? Do you know who does your information security and privacy training? Have you taken a look at it lately? Is it effective, or just a token act to barely meet legal requirements? And do you have ongoing awareness communications about information security and privacy? Are they engaging and actually read by your personnel? If not, maybe it's time for a change.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090429.html

Take Iterative Steps: Start Small, Empower Team Via Vision, Value

29 Apr 2009 15:50:35 GMT

Berglove, Dan; van Tyn, Jeroen | E-Mail Advisors | 29 April 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

The iterative and incremental approach to software development has become a well-established best practice, as evidenced by its centrality to any number of software development methodologies, including agile and variations on the Unified Process.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090429.html

Mobile Technologies: Still Capturing Attention Despite Shrinking Budgets

29 Apr 2009 15:48:11 GMT

Piccoli, Gabriele | E-Mail Advisors | 29 April 2009 | Cutter IT Journal

Mobile technology, its applications, and the services that are delivered over the wireless channel continue to evolve. A recent survey by Cutter Consortium spans from consolidated hardware form factors, such as the laptop, to evolving applications, such as Twitter and location-based contextualized messaging services exploiting the capabilities of such devices as the smartphone (for more on this survey, see Cutter Benchmark Review, Vol. 9, No. 3). According to our analysis, the importance of the mobile platform as a tool in the arsenal of modern organizations is undeniable, but there is no clarity as to how firms should incorporate mobile technology in their overall infrastructure.

http://www.cutter.com/content/itjournal/fulltext/advisor/2009/itj090429.html

Oracle Buys Sun: So What Happens with MySQL?

28 Apr 2009 15:47:04 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 28 April 2009 | Business Intelligence; Business Technology Trends & Impacts

In a strange twist of fate, the annual MySQL Conference was just getting underway in Santa Clara, California, USA, when news hit that Oracle Corporation was acquiring Sun and, along with it, MySQL. That the most aggressive enterprise software company was buying the world's leading open source database struck like lightning. After all, it had been only about 16 months since Sun had acquired MySQL for US $1 billion, and proponents of the open source database were still griping about Sun's efforts to steer and develop the technology. So it's quite understandable that MySQL fans should be a bit apprehensive about what Oracle might have in store for the database. Here's what I think will happen with MySQL under Oracle's stewardship.

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/advisor/2009/bia090428.html

The Myth of Software Reuse

24 Apr 2009 15:45:34 GMT

Rooney, David | Executive Updates | 24 April 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

I've been developing software professionally since 1988, long enough to have encountered multiple fads and movements within the software industry. A goal that has endured from my first few months as a developer to the present day: software should be reusable. Object orientation promised it. Component-based software promised it. Now, Web services and service-oriented architecture (SOA) promise that holy grail of substantially reduced costs through the reuse of code.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/updates/2009/eau0908.html

Innovation in Flight

24 Apr 2009 15:44:43 GMT

Andriole, Stephen J. | Executive Updates | 24 April 2009 | Innovation

On more than one occasion in my career, someone has used the metaphor about changing an engine in flight. Yes, it's hard to fix things in motion or to be creative when budgets are tight. But when times are tough, we need to innovate (cheaply and quickly) more than when things are good. But how?

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/updates/2009/ieau0904.html

Software Product Support: Part I -- The Lesson of Victor's Russian Car

24 Apr 2009 15:43:52 GMT

Bennatan, E.M. | Executive Updates | 24 April 2009 | Agile Project Management

Several years ago, according to BusinessWeek,1 Victor Tsernialov, a 36-year-old Moscow software consultant, scraped together enough money -- $6,050 -- to buy a new car. He chose a 1999 Russian Lada and has regretted it ever since. He complained of Soviet loutishness, poor-quality spare parts, and high prices. The car even had engine trouble on the drive home and cost him $1,800 in repair bills during the first year alone.

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/updates/2009/apmu0908.html

In Time of Testing, Remember Values, Communication, Slack, Part II: Tips to Stay Afloat

23 Apr 2009 15:42:50 GMT

Spica, Daniel | E-Mail Advisors | 23 April 2009 | Agile Project Management

My last Advisor (see "In Time of Testing, Remember Values, Communication, Slack, Part I," 26 March 2009)1 raised this question: how do you perform in such difficult times while maintaining the company's values? Is it possible at all? The answer is "yes," and the evidence can be found in history. People and their companies can stay well despite difficult times, as have many ancient armies. Let's look at what practices should be implemented. Remember these three rules:

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/advisor/2009/apm090423.html

Some Tips on Leading in a Time of Scarcity

23 Apr 2009 15:41:47 GMT

Pritchard, Carl | E-Mail Advisors | 23 April 2009 | Enterprise Risk Management & Governance; Business-IT Strategies

With the current state of the economy, there has been a seemingly endless stream of articles about scarcity and the natural human reactions to it. Almost to a one, the articles examine the propensity of individuals to focus on what they might not have if the situation doesn't improve, prompting the reaction of thrift. People save. People hoard. People limit their consumption. In some instances, this sense of thrift is blamed as the cause of many of our economic woes. If only people would go back to their spending, everything would be fine, we are told.

http://www.cutter.com/content/risk/fulltext/advisor/2009/erm090423.html

Googleplex, We Have a Problem!

23 Apr 2009 15:40:26 GMT

Orr, Ken | E-Mail Advisors | 23 April 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts; Business Intelligence

Before you do anything else, please go and read the Boston Globe article headlined "Electronic Health Records Raise Doubt" (13 April 2009). It is the story of one fellow who decided to take advantage of Google's vaunted Google Health free health records systems -- and it is not encouraging. The Globe's story revolves around one Dave deBronkart, who decided to transfer his medical records from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to Google Health. When he went to look at his records, he was shocked to find a large number of serious mistakes:

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/advisor/2009/btt090423.html

Design Your Next Contract to Go Beyond "Cheaper"

22 Apr 2009 15:39:10 GMT

Cullen, Sara | E-Mail Advisors | 22 April 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

As so many clients have told me, the number one thing they would do differently if they could start over would be to design their contracts better -- not from a legal point of view, but from the business perspective. In the current economic climate, the business perspective will have a heavy financial emphasis; thus, it is worth exploring how you might go about measuring a bit more than just "cheaper" from a financial perspective.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2009/src090422.html

You Can't Manage Without Data About Value

22 Apr 2009 15:38:26 GMT

Benson, Robert J. | E-Mail Advisors | 22 April 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

I met with several CIOs recently and discussed their approaches to cost containment. In the discussion, one made the interesting point that cost containment is merely the current crisis. CIOs have regularly faced others: innovation (last year), alignment (the year before), demonstrated value of IT (the year before that), and so forth. And, he assured us, we'll certainly have new crises next year.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090422.html

Getting to the Root of Corporate Change -- Motivation

22 Apr 2009 15:37:03 GMT

Rosen, Mike | E-Mail Advisors | 22 April 2009 | Enterprise Architecture; Business-IT Strategies; Agile Project Management

As an architect, I'm constantly challenged to help organizations come up with better ways to do things. Unfortunately, in IT, we don't usually bring in architecture before there is some kind of mess to clean up. The typical scenarios include: complexity has gotten out of control, costs are too high, it takes too long to do anything, systems are brittle and can't be changed, a change in one place breaks something somewhere else, and on and on. You know the litany of problems.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090422.html

Making Management Manage Metrically

22 Apr 2009 15:36:07 GMT

Gilb, Tom | E-Mail Advisors | 22 April 2009 | Cutter IT Journal

Every time I am asked to look at a suffering project, I see the same very basic failing: all the project objectives are vague.

This applies to projects costing more than US $100 million and ongoing for eight years, as well as smaller projects. In fact, I have concluded that management everywhere has not got a clue as to how to set clear objectives for projects. The problem is management's vague, nice-sounding phrases: though not in deadlines, sales targets, and budgets.

http://www.cutter.com/content/itjournal/fulltext/advisor/2009/itj090422.html

Kick-Start MySQL Data Warehouses with Kickfire

21 Apr 2009 15:35:09 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 21 April 2009 | Business Intelligence

Silicon Valley startup Kickfire, Inc. has developed a new data-warehousing appliance based on the open source MySQL database. Kickfire is a "true" appliance. By which I mean it packages both software and hardware designed specifically to support data warehousing and BI applications (as opposed to just providing specifications or reference architectures for various hardware/software bundles).

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/advisor/2009/bia090421.html

Receptivity in Crisis: How Art Helps Diagnose the "Now" to See the "What Now?"

16 Mar 2009 15:06:14 GMT

O'Donnell, Shannon | E-Mail Advisors | 16 April 2009 | Innovation; Enterprise Risk Management & Governance

In a recent discussion among international members of the Centre for Art and Leadership at the Copenhagen Business School, we considered the broad question: "What can art do for business in the current financial crisis?"

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/advisor/2009/iea090416.html

Some Tips on Assessing Certification for Agile Practitioners

16 Apr 2009 15:05:28 GMT

Coldewey, Jens | E-Mail Advisors | 16 April 2009 | Agile Project Management

When the times get rough, competition gets tougher; that's a general law. Software companies have dozens if not hundreds of employees on their "underutilized" lists. The companies that view their employees as assets and not as cost fight to keep their jobs. This is good news for the employees, for the society, and I think for the companies, too: they protect the investment they've made in the education of their people and expect loyalty in return. The increased competition also leads to innovation, which is good news, too -- at least in theory.

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/advisor/2009/apm090416.html

As the 'Net Kills Newspapers, Who Pays for Free?

16 Apr 2009 15:04:35 GMT

Orr, Ken | E-Mail Advisors | 16 April 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts

I am, by all accounts, a news junkie. I take two papers every day and three on Sundays. I subscribe to a number of magazines and any number of news feeds. My startup page on the Internet is "Google News." I have the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor, the Wall Street Journal, and the Economist as my favorites. I watch CNN, MSNBC, and CNBC on a regular basis. Earlier in my life, I contemplated moving to a college town with a good library for my retirement. Not anymore; I have the world's greatest library at my fingertips and better yet the world's greatest library index system: Google.

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/advisor/2009/btt090416.html

"The Web as Platform": What Does It Mean? -- Part III

16 Apr 2009 15:03:46 GMT

Feller, Joseph | Executive Updates | 16 April 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts

This is the final Executive Update in a series exploring the idea of "the Web as platform," one of the cornerstone concepts of Web 2.0.1 In Part I,2 I discussed what it means to view the Web -- in its entirety -- as a platform. Then, in Part II,3 I presented the idea of individual Web sites as platforms.

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/updates/2009/bttu0906.html

My Body, My System

15 Apr 2009 15:02:40 GMT

Kellen, Vince | E-Mail Advisors | 15 April 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

The argument was getting heated. At one end of the table stood the Linux bigots, banded together and angry. At the other end were the Microsoft bigots, standing stalwart and snooty. At stake was the future of operating systems for a new business intelligence platform. Neither side would retreat from its position that its product was superior. Both sides believed that the dire fate of the world demanded their undying defense of their patch of green and their obstinate opposition to the other side. There I stood on the sideline reflecting on the famous quote that politics can be so brutal when the stakes are so low. I could conjure no Wisdom of Solomon to help ease the pain of the losing side. Both sides argued as if they were about to lose an arm.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090415.html

Best Practices for Minimizing Harm from Layoffs and Downsizing

15 Apr 2009 15:01:46 GMT

Jones, Capers | Executive Updates | 15 April 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

Editor's note: This Executive Update is an excerpt from Chapter 1 of the author's book Best Practices in Software Engineering (McGraw-Hill, forthcoming 2009); Chapter 1 discusses 50 best practices. Here, we present the first topic: best practices for minimizing harm from layoffs and downsizing. As the recession deepens, layoffs, downsizing, and bankruptcies will increase in number. Past recessions indicate that these activities are often handled so poorly that they result in loss of operational efficiency for a period of years. There are no perfect solutions for downsizing, but cautions are provided for common problems.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/updates/2009/bitu0906.html

The Convergence of Information Security, Privacy, and Compliance

1 Apr 2009 15:09:14 GMT

Herold, Rebecca | Journals | 01 April 2009 | Cutter IT Journal

There has been much talk recently regarding a convergence of information security and privacy. Not that this is anything particularly new - convergence has been happening ever since privacy became a concern. After all, privacy requires the implementation of robust information security controls and appropriate safeguards. There are at least 46 privacy breach notice laws in the US alone; understanding and complying with their multiple requirements (to say nothing of the growing number of other national and international privacy laws) will require privacy and information security areas to work together for effective enterprise-wide management.

In this issue of Cutter IT Journal, we'll examine the critical - and overlapping - areas of information security, privacy, and compliance. Security expert Ron Woerner will tell you how collaborative risk management can bring the right groups together to find your organization's privacy and security "sweet spot." From attorney Bill Zucker and his colleagues, you'll hear four (often rollicking) stories about the costly information security, privacy, and compliance mistakes their clients have made, "in the hope that from these cautionary tales, you, like us, will develop good judgment from experience - with the understanding that, unfortunately, experience comes from bad judgment"! And security/privacy professional Ilene Klein will show you how to create an effective and thoroughgoing security awareness program, which she calls "the first line of defense against security's weakest link" - your own people. Be sure to join us as Cutter Senior Consultant Rebecca Herold, one of Computerworld's "Best Privacy Advisers" of 2008, leads the search for a safe path through one of IT's most mine-filled areas.

http://www.cutter.com/content/itjournal/fulltext/2009/04/index.html

Mobile Technologies: Harnessing the Potential of the Anytime/Anywhere Future

1 Mar 2009 15:08:03 GMT

Piccoli, Gabriele | Journals | 01 March 2009 | Cutter Benchmark Review

With last month's issue of CBR, we took a bit of a chance, peering into the future and into a trend that has yet to consolidate (digital data genesis). Conversely, this month's topic is perhaps overdue. The importance of the mobile platform as a tool in the arsenal of modern organizations is undeniable. What is less clear is how firms should incorporate the potential of mobile technologies into their IT and process infrastructure. That's the challenge I seek to contribute to solving with my work on customer service systems, and that's the challenge that our authors in this installment will help you meet in your own organization.

http://www.cutter.com/content/benchmark/fulltext/2009/03/index.html

A Capability Trilogy, Part II: The Nine Dimensions of Capability

15 Apr 2009 15:00:44 GMT

Allen, Paul | E-Mail Advisors | 15 April 2009 | Enterprise Architecture; Business-IT Strategies

As discussed in the first Advisor in this series (see "A Capability Trilogy, Part I: The Politics of Capability," 25 March 2009), capability-oriented thinking is becoming increasingly influential in methodologies, enterprise architecture frameworks, and business strategy. A business capability (capability for short) is a combination of capacity and ability to perform a coherent family of functions in terms of what must be done to achieve stated outcomes (see my Business-IT Strategies Executive Report, "Business Capabilities: Realizing the Potential" Vol. 12, No. 2).

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090415.html

Coming Out the Other Side: Keeping Your Head Up in Bad Times

15 Apr 2009 14:59:46 GMT

Orr, Ken | E-Mail Advisors | 15 April 2009 | Cutter IT Journal

Make no small plans for they have no power to stir the soul.

http://www.cutter.com/content/itjournal/fulltext/advisor/2009/itj090415.html

Hadoop, MapReduce, Cloudera, EC2, and BI

14 Apr 2009 14:58:16 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 14 April 2009 | Business Intelligence; Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Recent developments have brought together parallel processing and cloud computing technologies in such a way that they are set to change the way organizations look at analyzing massive amounts of data. In fact, I believe that these developments hold the promise of ushering in a new era in high-end, affordable data analysis. And the cool thing about it is that this era isn't a few years "down the road"; it's here, now. I'm referring to the commercialization of the open source Hadoop and MapReduce distributed processing framework, Amazon's cloud-based version of these tools -- now available on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) platform for anyone to rent -- and the rise of new startups, such as Cloudera, to help businesses apply these tools to data mining and other enterprise BI applications.

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/advisor/2009/bia090414.html

Don't Blame It All on Release Management

14 Apr 2009 14:57:14 GMT

Konkol, Sebastian | Executive Updates | 14 April 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

After the publication of Part I of my two-part Executive Report series1, 2 on release management, I received some comments. Some of the issues mentioned could be seen as symptomatic of each organization that deals with release management. In light of these comments and from a recent consulting project at a mobile operator struggling with release issues related to its IT and VAS platforms environments, I decided to revisit release management and provide another perspective in this Executive Update: how release management helps uncover problems that can directly be attributed to software development, architecture, and collaboration.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/updates/2009/eau0907.html

Scaling Agile: Choosing Key Components

9 Apr 2009 13:21:34 GMT

Highsmith, Jim | E-Mail Advisors | 09 April 2009 | Agile Project Management

Preparing for a couple of conference presentations recently, I started thinking about a graphic to illustrate the key components of scaling agile projects, many of which have been discussed in prior Advisors. Visualize a house structure with a roof, a foundation, and three pillars (see Figure 1). The roof is business goals -- the rationale for implementing agile methods and scaling to larger agile projects. The foundation is agile values or principles -- principles that need careful interpretation as to how to apply them to larger teams. And finally, the three pillars: organization, product backlog, and process/practice. Each of these pillars then has three levels (the graphic has three levels, but the actual number on projects or programs depends on the project size).

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/advisor/2009/apm090409.html

To Keep Flying, Consider Decision-Focused Dashboards

9 Apr 2009 13:20:47 GMT

Charette, Robert N. | E-Mail Advisors | 09 April 2009 | Enterprise Risk Management & Governance; Business Intelligence

Recently, I had a conversation with Julie Zawisza, director of communications for the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). We spoke about the problem of food and drug safety risk communication for a story I wrote for Government Executive magazine on the role of risk management in government ("On the Look Out," Government Executive, March 2009).

http://www.cutter.com/content/risk/fulltext/advisor/2009/erm090409.html

In Today's Economic Jungle, Time to Take on BPR Tiger Again

14 Apr 2009 13:19:59 GMT

Kellen, Vince | E-Mail Advisors | 09 April 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts; Business-IT Strategies

It's déjà vu all over again. The cycle has repeated. The economy is and will continue to shed jobs. Businesses are trying to get leaner. Again, IT is expected to not only shrink itself, but help other units in the firm shrink themselves. A key approach for doing so involves reengineering the business process (BPR).

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/advisor/2009/btt090409.html

What's at the Intersection of Agile and Offshore?

8 Apr 2009 13:19:10 GMT

Cottmeyer, Mike | E-Mail Advisors | 08 April 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships; Agile Project Management

Companies today are trying to lower costs and increase staffing flexibility by taking some, or even all, of their development activities overseas. Many of these same organizations have teams that are using agile development practices to increase quality and improve project performance. What happens when these two trends in our industry intersect?

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2009/src090408.html

Pulling Rank: Use Your Mission to Determine Project Portfolio Priorities

8 Apr 2009 13:18:29 GMT

Rothman, Johanna | E-Mail Advisors | 08 April 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

One of the most difficult parts of project portfolio management is deciding how to rank the projects -- that is, determining which should be done now, later, and, most important, never. There are several ways to rank a project portfolio. Each is useful in specific situations and not so useful in others. But all share the same goal; namely, arriving at a single ranked list of projects.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090408.html

What Doesn't Kill You ... And Other Lessons About Support

8 Apr 2009 13:17:36 GMT

Rosen, Mike | E-Mail Advisors | 08 April 2009 | Enterprise Architecture; Enterprise Risk Management & Governance

They say "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," and perhaps this is true for architects as well. I recently went through an experience that all architects and IT professionals should go through occasionally, but not too often. An insipid virus infected my computer, having evaded the defenses of my firewall/security product and, slowly but surely, rendered my laptop useless. Since I had also fallen prey to application bloat over the years and laptop performance had slowed to the speed of a pig stuck in molasses in January without a paddle, there was really nothing to do but rebuild the OS.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090408.html

Seeking a Balance: Neither Pure Art Nor Pure Science

8 Apr 2009 13:16:54 GMT

Brosseau, Jim | E-Mail Advisors | 08 April 2009 | Cutter IT Journal

The March 2009 edition of Harvard Business Review has an excellent article titled "When Should a Process be Art, Not Science?" by Joseph M. Hall and M. Eric Johnson. The article contains many great insights, but there is a sense in the article that we need to choose; that the answer be one or the other: art or science. This appears to be true with most things that we try to categorize.

http://www.cutter.com/content/itjournal/fulltext/advisor/2009/itj090408.html

Business Performance Management Outlook: Some Scale Back; Majority Move in Increments

7 Apr 2009 13:16:13 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 07 April 2009 | Business Intelligence

At the beginning of the year, I said that the most important BI-related initiative for organizations in 2009 would remain business performance management (see "Business Performance Management Tops '09 Strategy List," 6 January 2009). I said in that Advisor that more organizations than ever before consider business performance management a strategic application. I added that, even with a souring economy, I believed that most organizations were going to continue their performance management initiatives. As I mentioned, one of the main reasons organizations will stick with these initiatives is that the primary sponsors of most organizations' business performance management initiatives are top executives and functional unit executives, thus making it difficult to routinely cut these projects.

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/advisor/2009/bia090407.html

Making SOA Work by Shedding IT's Anorak

7 Apr 2009 13:15:27 GMT

Allen, Paul | Executive Updates | 07 April 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is often approached as very much a technology-centric initiative. However, while SOA infrastructure and technical design both have vital parts to play, they must be judged at the end of the day as enablers of business improvement. A good SOA is only as good as the business knowledge that goes into its construction. Eliciting this business knowledge depends on developing and sustaining a good business case, which requires significant raising of the business-IT communication bar. This Executive Update considers the results of a recent Cutter Consortium survey showing that we remain well short of this bar. We present some short, sharp guidelines for improving this situation. The bottom line is that IT must shed its anorak1 and operate within the context of organizational change management. This Update offers guidance for you to apply on this difficult journey, with particular reference to the impact of SOA on the business case for IT projects.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/updates/2009/eau0906.html

A Systems View of Agile Methodology Adoption: Part II -- Guiding Principles

7 Apr 2009 13:14:33 GMT

Brenner, Rick | Executive Updates | 07 April 2009 | Agile Project Management

In Part I of this two-part Executive Update series, I presented a variety of issues that arise in large organizations that attempt to deploy agile software development methods across a broad range of such projects.1 I categorized these issues as emphasizing people, culture/politics, or process. Here in Part II, I outline seven guiding principles for successful efforts to adopt agile methodology. These principles serve to limit the incidence and consequences of phenomena like those described in Part I.

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/updates/2009/apmu0907.html

IT Outsourcing: Building Requirements

7 Apr 2009 13:13:44 GMT

Sánchez Ferreiro, Rafael | Executive Updates | 07 April 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Once a decision has been made to outsource one or more IT services -- to reduce costs, improve service quality, provide adequate technical support, or for other previously identified reasons and always as an integral part of the business plan -- it is crucial to clearly delineate the requirements that will shape the depth and responsibilities of the contract. To do that, it is useful to establish a baseline for the initial conditions under which the service is provided.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/updates/2009/srcu0904.html

Building Metrics: Solving a Key Piece to the Innovation Management Puzzle

2 Apr 2009 13:12:59 GMT

Berry, John | E-Mail Advisors | 02 April 2009 | Innovation

Organizations committed to the development of a measurement program to track and improve innovation efforts have at their disposal several off-the-shelf metrics commonly adopted by companies whose measurement programs are more mature. Where do managers turn, however, when they need to complete an innovation management program with internally developed measures unavailable on a store shelf?

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/advisor/2009/iea090402.html

With IT, You Can't Just Horse Around

1 Apr 2009 13:12:22 GMT

Kellen, Vince | E-Mail Advisors | 01 April 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

Now that I am in Lexington, Kentucky, USA, the horse capital of the world, my thoughts have predictably wandered over to horses. I thought I might want to own a horse. So I called the family horse expert, my sister. She rode competitively in college and has owned and trained many horses. Currently, her daughters are riding competitively, and she is helping to teach them all about horses. So I called her mobile phone.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090401.html

Managing Technology in a 2.0 World

1 Apr 2009 13:11:14 GMT

Andriole, Stephen J. | Executive Reports | 01 April 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

Operational technology will persist with hierarchical management structures, centralization, and standardization -- though the sourcing of infrastructure will change dramatically through "X as a service" delivery models, open source software, and thin-client architectures, among other infrastructure opportunities. Strategic technology will completely decentralize into the business, where applications will be created and deployed with new tools and methods, such as mashups, widely available APIs, and interoperable service-oriented and event-driven architectures. The two worlds will officially divorce. This Executive Report by Steve Andriole explores this split and the rethinking, planning, and strategizing that will drive the management of business technology in the 2.0 world.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/report/2009/04/index.html

Review: TOGAF 9 Takes Key Steps Forward

1 Apr 2009 13:10:32 GMT

Rosen, Mike | E-Mail Advisors | 01 April 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

It's been five years in the making, and perhaps a few years later than promised, but TOGAF 9 was finally released to the public in mid-February 2009. You can download a 744-page, PDF evaluation copy, subject to license restrictions, from The Open Group's Web site (www.opengroup.org/togaf), purchase a downloadable version for US $40 (free to Open Group members), or spring for the nicely bound hard-copy version for €75.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090401.html

The Curse of COTS

1 Apr 2009 13:09:39 GMT

Phillips, Dwayne | E-Mail Advisors | 01 April 2009 | Cutter IT Journal

COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) products are great. Someone else does all the research, development, design, and manufacturing; we just read the spec sheet and buy the products. What could be better? Beware, however, the curse of COTS.

http://www.cutter.com/content/itjournal/fulltext/advisor/2009/itj090401.html

Open Source BI in the Cloud: A Look at Pentaho 3.0

31 Mar 2009 13:08:49 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 31 March 2009 | Business Intelligence; Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

In a recent BI Executive Update (see "Open Source BI and Data Warehousing: New Directions," Vol. 9, No. 2), I discussed the possible impact on the BI market caused by end-user organizations adopting open source BI tools. Basically, I wrote that the commercial BI vendors are also offering alternatives to standard software licenses for BI products. The most important are BI tools, applications, and services in the form of software as a service (SaaS) or on-demand (i.e., so-called "cloud-based") BI offerings. In short, I wrote that some end-user organizations are undoubtedly going to consider SaaS/on-demand BI offerings in place of open source BI software in order to take advantage of the benefits afforded by the on-demand model. I added that, in some sense, SaaS/on-demand BI could be seen as a competitor to the appeal of open source BI. But what about giving end-user organizations the choice of deploying open source BI applications in the cloud? That's exactly what open source BI vendor Pentaho is offering.

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/advisor/2009/bia090331.html

Corporate Adoption of Web 2.0 in Support of Collaborative BI

31 Mar 2009 13:07:52 GMT

Hall, Curt | Executive Updates | 31 March 2009 | Business Intelligence

Web 2.0 has been one of the leading buzzwords in the IT media and press over the past few years. But the question on everyone's mind is: to what extent are end-user organizations actually adopting Web 2.0 techniques, such as blogs, wikis, social networks, IM, and other technologies? In particular, I'm especially interested in the extent that organizations are applying Web 2.0 to support their BI users with better collaboration and ways to disseminate information.

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/updates/2009/biau0906.html

Reconfiguring the Business

31 Mar 2009 13:06:50 GMT

Gat, Israel | Executive Updates | 31 March 2009 | Agile Project Management

This Executive Update applies agile thinking to various critical aspects of strategy and execution for companies who produce software, embed software, or use software as an integral part of their business processes. The essential point to remember is simple: agile principles are indivisible. To succeed, agile principles must be applied not just to R&D but also to the customer and the company simultaneously.

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/updates/2009/apmu0906.html

New Metrics for Managing Turbulent Times

1 Mar 2009 14:37:16 GMT

Mah, Michael C. | Journals | 01 March 2009 | Cutter IT Journal

The current economic downturn has cut a deep gash in the economies of virtually every country and industry, affecting people's lives in ways not seen in over 50 years. There is no doubt that we are now firmly on the scarcity side of the abundance/scarcity continuum, so the question is, where do we go from here? For many, cost cutting is now the order of the day. Others may see opportunity. In the last economic downturn, as their competitors slashed investments, companies such as Intel and IBM famously invested in R&D, thereby generating record profits in technologies like Wi-Fi once the economy recovered. Will organizations try to cost-cut their way out of this crisis, or can they find ways to invest through the downturn? How will IT managers make tough decisions in light of the economic conditions their companies face?

What they need is reliable information with which to navigate these turbulent waters. In this issue of Cutter IT Journal, we explore metrics that can help IT managers make sound decisions in hard times. If your cost-cutting efforts include offshoring, you'll discover financial measures to help ensure your sourcing contracts deliver not only lower costs but project success. Hear how you can demonstrate the value enterprise architecture offers both to initial projects and later initiatives, enabling your organization to "make it through the current problems and be ready to compete when times improve again." If, as Cutter Fellow Tom DeMarco famously said, "you can't control what you can't measure," join us to regain a measure of control.

http://www.cutter.com/content/itjournal/fulltext/2009/03/index.html

Corporate Adoption of Web 2.0 in Support of Collaborative BI

31 Mar 2009 16:54:30 GMT

Service-Oriented Architecture: Foundational Elements

1 Mar 2009 14:35:26 GMT

Maitra, Amit K. | Executive Reports | 01 March 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

"Service-oriented architecture" (SOA) is a powerful term regularly abused by its constant reference to developmental technologies rather than its architectural approach. This Executive Report by Dr. Amit K. Maitra discusses SOA in the context of "services" as the term applies to architecture and to "architecture" as it applies to exposing the services. The new service concept is revolutionizing and accelerating the way enterprises accomplish business integration by providing a foundation for business agility with minimal cost and full potential for application reusability. This report first defines the foundational elements of SOA then argues that just as the Enterprise Service Bus connects applications to services in an SOA, a similar approach with the potential benefits of architecting a messaging foundation for the functionality of "information as a service" could and should be undertaken.

http://www.cutter.com/architecture/fulltext/reports/2009/03/index.html

Lessons in Learning: The Story Behind the IT Sector's Chronic Training Gap

1 Mar 2009 14:34:26 GMT

Goatham, Robert | Executive Reports | 01 March 2009 | Agile Project Management

Tapping into the full potential of an organization's human capital, especially in a project environment, remains a difficult challenge. In this Executive Report by Robert Goatham, we look at the cognitive processes by which individuals develop expertise and the educational roadblocks that prevent organizations from maximizing the contributions of their resources. By outlining alternative learning processes, the report challenges organizations to reconsider the effectiveness of their educational infrastructure and consider alternate models for learning.

http://www.cutter.com/project/fulltext/reports/2009/03/index.html

Negotiating in Hard Times

1 Mar 2009 14:33:22 GMT

Cohen, Moshe | Executive Reports | 01 March 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

Negotiations become more challenging during economic hard times. This Executive Report by Moshe Cohen discusses three crucial factors for negotiation -- negotiating styles, the drivers of negotiating strategy, and the emotional competence of negotiators -- and examines ways in which negotiations shift relative to these factors during stressful economic climates. During such periods, negotiating styles become more avoidant, competitive, and less collaborative, while strategies focus on short-term personal interests at the expense of relationships, communication, and commitments. In addition, the ability to recognize and manage your emotions as well as the emotions of others becomes more limited. The report also provides strategies to help negotiate effectively despite today's challenging environment.

http://www.cutter.com/alignment/fulltext/reports/2009/03/index.html

In Time of Testing, Remember Values, Communication, Slack, Part I

26 Mar 2009 14:31:40 GMT

Spica, Daniel | E-Mail Advisors | 26 March 2009 | Agile Project Management; Business Technology Trends & Impacts; Business-IT Strategies; Innovation

It is sad but true that the economic crisis has now also appeared in Poland. Somehow, many of us here in Poland have been under the mistaken assumption that we would be undisturbed by the current economic crisis; that this was only an American and Western European problem. Of course, it couldn't remain that way. The unfortunate side of globalization is that the entire globe experiences the good with the bad. No one can predict how long the current crisis will last, just as no one was able to predict that the catastrophe would occur. The experience shows, however, that we should not count on the economic wizards or at least not to worry too much about their words. In my opinion, the best solution is to work hard and wisely. And while you are working, continue to think about a few rules that remain true.

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/advisor/2009/apm090326.html

Systems Approach Deals with the High-Risk Team Member

26 Mar 2009 14:30:29 GMT

Pritchard, Carl | E-Mail Advisors | 26 March 2009 | Enterprise Risk Management & Governance; Agile Project Management; Business-IT Strategies

What do you do when a team member is actually creating higher risk for the team, and yet you need that person and/or the organization insists you keep him or her? This is actually a far more common quandary than we care to believe. These instances exist because organizations often have policies that allow no "easy out" for employee dismissal and don't really invest themselves at getting to the root of the problem. Instead, they assume that such issues will work themselves out over time (which actually exacerbates the problem).

http://www.cutter.com/content/risk/fulltext/advisor/2009/erm090326.html

Reality Mining: Analyzing Data About Everything

26 Mar 2009 14:29:26 GMT

Berry, John | E-Mail Advisors | 26 March 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts; Business Intelligence

The biggest trend to hit business intelligence (BI) since the days of executive information systems may not be an innovation in the technology itself but in the kinds of data the technology analyzes. The new BI foreshadows a time when, for example, a disease epidemic will be stopped because data can reveal to health officials the movements of infected people. Welcome to the world of "reality mining."

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/advisor/2009/btt090326.html

Choose Your Organization's Negotiating Stance

25 Mar 2009 14:28:40 GMT

Cohen, Moshe | E-Mail Advisors | 25 March 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

You can measure the effectiveness of your IT sourcing professionals by the prices and terms they get from their vendors, by the quality of the products and services they obtain, by their ability to develop relationships and integrate your company's objectives into their vendors' actions, by the time it takes them to close deals, by the wisdom of their choices as to what vendors to consider, and more. Much of the choice of criteria depends on your time orientation and the balance between long-term value creation and short-term value distribution based on price. In this Advisor, we'll look at the choices you have in your approach to negotiations and what each means to your buyers.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2009/src090325.html

IT Cost-Containment Principles: A View of Supply, Demand

25 Mar 2009 14:27:49 GMT

Benson, Robert J. | E-Mail Advisors | 25 March 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

I recently conducted a workshop on IT cost containment at a national conference (note that I will give an overview and discussion at this year's Cutter Consortium Summit 2009, 4-6 May, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA). In the workshop, I present several critical principles. I separate them into the "supply" and "demand" principles. The supply principles relate to the ways the IT organization responds to business IT requirements. The demand principles relate to how IT manages the development of IT requirements. These, of course, are mirror images; the principles applying to the "supply" are the response side to the "demand" for IT services. Yet addressing them separately leads to better understanding of the cost-containment opportunities.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090325.html

A Capability Trilogy, Part I: The Politics of Capability

25 Mar 2009 14:26:34 GMT

Allen, Paul | E-Mail Advisors | 25 March 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

Organizations continue to recalibrate their business models in order to cut costs in challenging economic circumstances. At the same time, cuts that are spread evenly across business units and departments may seem democratic but can be a very shortsighted strategy. Breaking an organization down into component capabilities can allow an organization to focus its investment where it has the greatest benefit.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090325.html

Bold CIO -- It Is SOA Time!

25 Mar 2009 14:25:55 GMT

Cohen, Pini | E-Mail Advisors | 25 March 2009 | Enterprise Architecture; Cutter IT Journal

A lot has been said lately about service-oriented architecture (SOA). Still, I would like to take a look at another angle of SOA adoption in the light of the current economic turmoil.

http://www.cutter.com/content/itjournal/fulltext/advisor/2009/itj090325.html

Why Adoption of BI Search Remains Limited

24 Mar 2009 14:25:04 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 24 March 2009 | Business Intelligence

In last week's Advisor, I discussed findings showing that the adoption of BI search (i.e., tools and applications combining BI reporting and analysis with Internet search enginelike functionality) remains limited (see "Adoption of BI Search Remains Limited," 17 March 2009). In that Advisor, I cited surveys we've conducted over the past few years; the most recent (October 2008) shows that only approximately 11% of organizations use tools combining BI and search functionality. This compares to a similar survey we conducted in 2007, which found that approximately 6% of end-user organizations were then using BI search solutions. I added that use of BI search is expected to remain limited for the next 12-18 months. Several readers contacted me to ask why I thought BI search adoption remains where it is. Here's what I think.

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/advisor/2009/bia090324.html

Rethinking Application Delivery in the Age of Complexity

23 Mar 2009 14:23:14 GMT

Troan, Erik; Johnson, Michael K. | Executive Updates | 23 March 2009 | Innovation

Application developers are achieving productivity gains by using a wide variety of sometimes eclectic tools, and virtualization and cloud computing are introducing more flexible options for deploying applications. The result: an application delivery environment that is more complex than ever for IT operations. At the same time, corporate resources are under the strain of aggressive cost-cutting mandates. This is forcing IT leadership to rethink today's application delivery models.

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/updates/2009/ieau0903.html

Avoiding Common Mistakes in Information Security and Privacy Training and Awareness Programs

23 Mar 2009 14:22:14 GMT

Herold, Rebecca | Executive Updates | 23 March 2009 | Enterprise Risk Management & Governance

Here in Part II of this series, I describe the 14 mistakes organizations consistently make that render training and awareness programs ineffective and often even detrimental to information security and privacy efforts.2

http://www.cutter.com/content/risk/fulltext/updates/2009/ermu0903.html

IT's Role in Aligning Innovation and Strategy

19 Mar 2009 14:20:38 GMT

Davis, Christine | E-Mail Advisors | 19 March 2009 | Innovation

The IT organization must simply align itself with the strategic orientation of the business. It is inappropriate for IT to define a strategic orientation in an independent manner. IT should not simply react to the business strategy with the given strategic orientation. IT needs to actively participate in the organization's strategic planning process. I could not imagine conducting a strategic planning process for any business today without the CIO and his or her key technologist sitting right next to me along with the business executives and their key technologist. IT is the competitive advantage in so many products and services; it should not be an afterthought. It should be the strategic framework for the future business model. The CEO and IT organizational challenge is to build an IT organizational structure and expertise that is capable of playing such a critical role in the business.

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/advisor/2009/iea090319.html

Semantics Is Hot; Data and Objects Are Not, Part I: The Emergence of the Semantic Web

19 Mar 2009 14:13:32 GMT

Orr, Ken | E-Mail Advisors | 19 March 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts; Business Intelligence; Enterprise Architecture

(This is the first in a series of Trends Advisors that will deal with the complex landscape of content, unstructured and structured, that confront organizations and individuals as we move from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0 and beyond. Future Advisors will deal with the growing schism between developers and database experts.)

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/advisor/2009/btt090319.html

Mutualism and Competitive Advantage: Smart Trends in Intelligence Research

18 Mar 2009 14:12:33 GMT

Kellen, Vince | E-Mail Advisors | 18 March 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

A company is a collection of distinct units that are supposed to collaborate well with each other in order to deliver a superior product or service. But do all the parts work together well? In times of transition and significant change, how firms do things can also change significantly, requiring the units within the firm to learn how to realign and collaborate in new ways. But how well do the different units learn from each other and improve each other? Do managers of these separate, often competing, units stop to consider the possible benefits of learning together? Are all parts of the firm performing in a superior fashion? Before I explore these questions further, I want to refer not to the study of group performance, but individual cognitive performance, which may help us look at the problem differently.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090318.html

Six Key Capabilities on Road to EA Success

18 Mar 2009 14:11:27 GMT

Berglove, Dan; van Tyn, Jeroen | E-Mail Advisors | 18 March 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

A key objective of enterprise architecture (EA) is to deliver to business strategies and imperatives. This is also the basis for measuring the success of EA investment. While architectural models, specifications, standards, and so on are, of course, important; they will not, in and of themselves, enable this on their own. A foundational set of organizational capabilities must be in place that enables businesses to realize architecture-based solutions on a sustained basis.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090318.html

Business Intelligence Optimization

18 Mar 2009 14:09:18 GMT

Dooley, Brian J. | Executive Updates | 18 March 2009 | Business Intelligence

Business intelligence optimization can result in considerable savings across the enterprise, as well as yield more efficient operation and stronger analytic capabilities. Current BI infrastructures have been strained by the increasing challenge of managing terabytes of data, which are doubling every year. At the same time, ad hoc queries and scheduled reports are growing increasingly complex. Meanwhile, the value of business intelligence is becoming better known, which increases usage. This places ever greater demands on the BI infrastructure. As business moves into real-time operations, the required response time is also getting much shorter, and an immediate answer is often an imperative. All these factors have made optimization essential.

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/updates/2009/biau0905.html

Zen and the Art of Agile "Motorcycle Maintenance"

18 Mar 2009 14:08:30 GMT

Sampath, J.M. | E-Mail Advisors | 18 March 2009 | Cutter IT Journal

The term "agile" has been used extensively over the years. "Agile leaders," "agile teams," "agile projects": these are some of the common phrases we get to hear often in the context of agile project management (APM). When a new concept takes birth, the core understanding behind it also evolves over a period of time. With time, however, it also presents a danger of getting camouflaged and of being taken for granted. Hence, revisiting the same from time to time can bring a deeper level of understanding and clarity to the existing concept and keep its essence intact. This Advisor is an attempt to explore the possible meaning of the term "agile" using the "5W 1H" process (what, why, when, where, who, and how).

http://www.cutter.com/content/itjournal/fulltext/advisor/2009/itj090318.html

"The Web as Platform": What Does It Mean? -- Part II

18 Mar 2009 14:07:37 GMT

Feller, Joseph | Executive Updates | 18 March 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts

This is the second Executive Update in a three-part series that explores the idea of "the Web as platform," one of the cornerstone concepts of Web 2.0 popularized by Tim O'Reilly,1 among others. In Part I, I argued that we could divide and conquer by looking at the concept from three perspectives:2

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/updates/2009/bttu0905.html

Adoption of BI Search Remains Limited

17 Mar 2009 14:05:42 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 17 March 2009 | Business Intelligence

BI search (i.e., tools and applications combining BI reporting and analysis with functionality like Internet search engines) has received a fair amount of attention over the past few years. The selling point is that such solutions would allow nontechnical business users to locate information in BI environments much the same way that consumers do when using popular Web search engines, such as Google or Yahoo! Although corporate interest in using such solutions certainly exists, our research indicates that current use of BI search is low and is expected to remain so for the next 12-18 months.

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/advisor/2009/bia090317.html

Learning More with Less Webinar

12 Mar 2009 14:03:20 GMT

Dublin, Lance | Webinars/Multimedia | 12 March 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

In this recessionary market your training/learning programs are most likely being intensely scrutinized, if not cut altogether. This can have a tremendous, negative, both short and long-term impact to maintaining the skills and morale of your staff, as well as your ability to attract talent and for future new-hires to quickly add value to the organization. In this hour-long webinar, Cutter Senior Consultant and learning expert Lance Dublin will provide you with ideas for how you can reduce the costs to train your IT staff as well as help reduce the expense of learning programs throughout your organization. Join Lance for this interactive session and get immediate answers and tips on how to press forward with learning under today's budgetary pressures.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/webinar/2009/morewithless.html

Scaling Agile: Architecture, The Product Side

12 Mar 2009 20:00:53 GMT

Highsmith, Jim | E-Mail Advisors | 12 March 2009 | Agile Project Management; Enterprise Architecture

There are two broad categories of topics related to scaling agile projects: organization and product. Several previous Advisors have focused on organizational scaling; this one will begin to focus on the product side, including such topics as architecture, roadmaps, backlogs, and multilevel release planning.

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/advisor/2009/apm090312.html

The Vexed Files: Sharing a Web of Insecurity

12 Mar 2009 19:59:41 GMT

Charette, Robert N. | E-Mail Advisors | 12 March 2009 | Enterprise Risk Management & Governance; Business Technology Trends & Impacts

The past week saw several news stories that remind us how fragile IT security has become and how the opportunities created by the tremendous power of the Internet to share information can also create major risks.

http://www.cutter.com/content/risk/fulltext/advisor/2009/erm090312.html

iPhone Rocks, BlackBerry Rolls, but Usability Matters

12 Mar 2009 19:58:34 GMT

Kellen, Vince | E-Mail Advisors | 12 March 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts

I have been using two devices since they launched: the BlackBerry (since 1999) and the iPhone (since July 2007), and neither has left my side since its launch, except for a five-month trial separation from my BlackBerry. As I write this, two devices -- the BlackBerry 9000 and the iPhone 3G -- are charging.

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/advisor/2009/btt090312.html

A Systems View of Agile Methodology Adoption: Part I -- The Issues

12 Mar 2009 19:57:30 GMT

Brenner, Rick | Executive Updates | 12 March 2009 | Agile Project Management

The success rates of adopting agile methods on a large scale have been disappointing. We have made good progress at the project level, but from portfolio to enterprise, success has been elusive. Even when we have somehow skirted resistance, delays, politics, and bureaucracy, results have not met expectations.

At the project level, we've developed truly sophisticated processes for agile teams to use. We have even addressed the physical elements of the working environment. It is now fair to conclude that when operating as intended, agile teams are unsurpassed in productivity and output quality.

What then is happening? What prevents us from scaling up? What accounts for the unmet expectations at the portfolio scale and the enterprise scale?

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/updates/2009/apmu0905.html

Fiefdom Syndrome: Reconciling Global Initiatives with Local Circumstances

12 Mar 2009 19:55:52 GMT

Goodwin, Van | Executive Updates | 12 March 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

IT managers face logistical problems in balancing global standards with local needs in increasingly globalized organizations. While many people in business and government repeat the mantra "think globally, act locally," applying this ideal entails a host of challenges ranging from coordinating communication across disparate time zones to determining technical standards implemented on top of wildly differing infrastructures. From the perspective of a central office, these issues manifest themselves in the apparent rise of "fiefdoms." These local offices are part of the global organization but often appear to centralized managers as if they're operating under their own rules without respect to the investment in decisions made by the organization as a whole. The fiefdoms, however, view global standards as irrelevant to their business or simply feel that their local practices are irrelevant to the organization as a whole.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/updates/2009/bitu0905.html

Cost-Saving Sourcing Initiatives Revisited: Yesterday's Learning Applied to Today's Cost-Cutting Goals

12 Mar 2009 19:54:28 GMT

Berry, John | Executive Updates | 12 March 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

In the past couple of years, organizations have sought sourcing value beyond cost savings. Access to talent and business process innovation are two examples of these more strategic aspirations. Yet, as the economy goes, so go sourcing priorities. Cost-saving sourcing projects are likely the highest priority again this year. While saving money proved elusive for some organizations in the past, those disappointing efforts arm managers today with a deeper understanding of the levers influencing sourcing costs, increasing the likelihood of success.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/updates/2009/srcu0903.html

IT Trends Show 25% Hiring, Outsourcing on Rise

11 Mar 2009 19:53:35 GMT

van Tyn, Jeroen | E-Mail Advisors | 11 March 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Staffing has taken an expected hit, according to our recent research on IT trends for 2009.1 While still about half of companies thankfully remain in a stable IT hiring situation, only a quarter of companies are currently hiring, and the remaining 25% are downsizing. In parallel with this movement, we found that project management as a hiring category has dropped by nearly half, indicating fewer IT projects are being undertaken. Outsourcing has continued an upward trend; overall, 22% more companies are outsourcing now as compared to 2007. Companies continue to use nonemployees to provide needed skills while preserving the ability to quickly shed staff as a cost-savings strategy.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2009/src090311.html

How IT Financial Managers Should Deal with Difficult Times

11 Mar 2009 19:52:38 GMT

Benson, Robert J. | E-Mail Advisors | 11 March 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

This month I gave a cost-containment workshop at a national conference on IT financial management. While there, I spent three good days listening to a variety of speakers who mostly focused on how better to manage IT investment. I've written about some of the highpoints and my impressions here.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090311.html

Desktops in the Cloud? They're on the Horizon

11 Mar 2009 19:51:47 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 11 March 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

We are beginning to hear more serious thought given to the concept of third-party providers managing desktop environments via the cloud. For example, as reported in a recent Computerworld article,1 at the recent VMWorld Europe 2009 conference in Cannes, France, Jocelyn Goldfein, general manager of VMWare's desktop business unit, said she believes the desktop is an area that's ripe for moving to the cloud. Having spent about one and one-half years dealing with Microsoft's Vista operating system, I'm beginning to think that she may be onto something. But is widespread use of cloud-based desktops really on the horizon?

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090311.html

What It Takes To Be an Informed, Competent Enterprise

11 Mar 2009 19:50:35 GMT

Wiig, Karl M. | E-Mail Advisors | 11 March 2009 | Cutter IT Journal

Enterprises need to be competent to perform well and succeed. However, it is often less clear what enterprise competence means. In our context of knowledge management (KM), we focus on ways in which knowledge contributes to competence and how KM-related initiatives must be considered to maintain and build it.

http://www.cutter.com/content/itjournal/fulltext/advisor/2009/itj090311.html

Data Warehousing, Virtualization, and Vertica: A Review

10 Mar 2009 19:49:38 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 10 March 2009 | Business Intelligence

Virtualization is one of the hottest IT trends today. But when it comes to data warehousing, you'd hardly know it, because virtualization has made little impact in the data warehousing space. There's a good reason for this, which I'll get to in a minute. However, Vertica hopes to steer this trend in another direction with a new version of its high-performance analytic database packaged to run in virtualization environments.

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/advisor/2009/bia090310.html

Value from the Intersection of Business and Technology Architecture: Part II

8 Mar 2009 19:47:49 GMT

Bess, Charles E.; Mullis, Philip S. | Executive Updates | 08 March 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

In Part I of this two-part Executive Update series, we explored the value of architecture and the function of the architect.1 Here, we discuss the various stages and domains of architecture and why enterprise architecture (EA) is good business.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/updates/2009/eau0905.html

Toward a Calculus of Innovation (or How Silence Sounds)

5 Mar 2009 19:46:39 GMT

Devin, Lee | E-Mail Advisors | 05 March 2009 | Innovation; Business-IT Strategies

Making an innovation, like making anything else, begins at conception, proceeds through closure, and ends with delivery. Pretty straightforward. Simple, even, though perhaps not easy. The thing is, each of these processes, so far from being discrete and pure, interpenetrates each of the others and the entire process. We need a tool that will allow us to sort them out and think of them one at a time, a tool that will keep us mindful of their combination. Imagination, not intellect, does this work.

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/advisor/2009/iea090305.html

Seeking the Wind Beneath Agile's Wings

5 Mar 2009 19:45:38 GMT

Augustine, Sanjiv | E-Mail Advisors | 05 March 2009 | Agile Project Management

Agile methods (Scrum, XP, Crystal, DSDM, Feature-Driven Development, etc.) have moved into the mainstream over the past few years. Earlier in their adoption cycle, industry leaders such as BMC Software, British Telecom, Capital One, DTE Energy, and Yahoo! discovered that, when implemented appropriately, agile methods accelerate project delivery times, increase customer and employee satisfaction, and enable flexible changes in business requirements. These companies adopted agile methods and, as a result, realized faster throughput and higher business customer satisfaction on individual projects. Based on this evidence and growing success, the move toward agile methods is now a widespread industry phenomenon.

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/advisor/2009/apm090305.html