There are many reasons why software applications and systems are often rejected by the users they are intended to support. In some cases, the users are not involved early in the development of the requirements. In other cases, IT puts forward technical features it thinks the application should support, with little knowledge of what the business really needs.

There are many reasons why software applications and systems are often rejected by the users they are intended to support. In some cases, the users are not involved early in the development of the requirements. In other cases, IT puts forward technical features it thinks the application should support, with little knowledge of what the business really needs.

Empathy-based software design makes sense, but like many apparently sensible ideas, most will miss it. The right way to start is to put yourself in your customers' shoes, look at the world from their perspective, and feel for yourself the delight and frustrations your end user might feel. Listen and understand the reasons why users will want to engage, will want to use this application, and what their context and intentions are. You then focus on creating an effortless and situationally appropriate experience. Respect the consumers' preferences.

Imagine you are at a networking event filled with experienced IT professionals. In all likelihood, you would probably not need to walk more than three steps before bumping into an IT leader who has had a miserable experience trying to implement one of the major ERP or CRM packages. It does not matter whether you mention SAP, Oracle, or even one of the trendy cloud-based products; every one of these systems can be challenging to implement in a manner that truly has a tangible, positive, and transforming impact on the desired business and IT operations.

Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?

— Henry David Thoreau

We are analog beings in an increasingly digital world. This presents a design conundrum -- the more we crave empathic design to enrich our lives, the less capable we are of producing it.

Jack Stark is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in performance psychology. He works with Fortune 500 corporate executives and college, professional, and Olympic athletes employing an approach that is detailed in his highly acclaimed book The Championship Formula.

The product owner plays a key role in Scrum. This role has migrated to most Agile practices whether grounded in Scrum or not. The product owner provides key stakeholder representation, ensuring an Agile project remains on track in meeting user needs and expectations.

The painful truth is 75% of enterprise-wide change efforts fail. Failure includes not getting the results expected or wanted. This inability to make effective changes across the organization is defined as "organizational immaturity." In this Executive Update, Martin Klubeck looks at why leaders insist on enterprise-wide change when they continue to fail and some possible reasons for this attitude.

Any doubts that US Internet, telecom, and cloud companies might have an image problem were shattered with the German government's recent decision to terminate its deal with Verizon Communications due to lingering resentment about National Security Agency (NSA) spying and electron

Any doubts that US Internet, telecom, and cloud companies might have an image problem were shattered with the German government's recent decision to terminate its deal with Verizon Communications due to lingering resentment about National Security Agency (NSA) spying and electron

The level of hype surrounding the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Industrial Internet is ramping up. A key point to keep in mind, however, is that most companies outside of the industrial or engineering realms have little experience building and operating sensor-enabled applications and products.

The level of hype surrounding the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Industrial Internet is ramping up. A key point to keep in mind, however, is that most companies outside of the industrial or engineering realms have little experience building and operating sensor-enabled applications and products.

This Executive Update discusses some of the critical skills enterprises are short on and how they should go about meeting the demand.

This Executive Update discusses some of the critical skills enterprises are short on and how they should go about meeting the demand.

This Update examines a key reason why the application of these and other architectural patterns is not as widespread as we would like and uses successful examples from industry to discuss how to address the problem.

If you only adopt one practice of Agile, adopt retrospectives. The rest will emerge from that.

The architecture of many enterprises is designed to perpetuate existing capabilities by maintaining the status quo.

Enterprise patterns are increasingly being used by EA teams as an essential planning tool, bridging the gaps between strategic thinking and tactical investment priorities, between business capability needs and supporting technology solutions, and between organizational performance and enabling enterprise architecture.

Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) means allowing the use of personally owned devices to access enterprise architectural assets and public networks of functionality and data.The emerging Semantic Web and the related changes in Web and social technologies introduce a change that is widely called the "consumerization of IT."

Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) means allowing the use of personally owned devices to access enterprise architectural assets and public networks of functionality and data.The emerging Semantic Web and the related changes in Web and social technologies introduce a change that is widely called the "consumerization of IT."

As I write this, General Motors (GM) has announced its 49th through 54th recalls of the year, involving some 8.5 million vehicles. Overall, GM has recalled a staggering total of 28 million cars and trucks worldwide so far in 2014, or nearly the equivalent to all of its worldwide vehicle sales since 2011. And GM is letting it be known that yet still more recalls may be on the horizon.

As I write this, General Motors (GM) has announced its 49th through 54th recalls of the year, involving some 8.5 million vehicles. Overall, GM has recalled a staggering total of 28 million cars and trucks worldwide so far in 2014, or nearly the equivalent to all of its worldwide vehicle sales since 2011. And GM is letting it be known that yet still more recalls may be on the horizon.

As I write this, General Motors (GM) has announced its 49th through 54th recalls of the year, involving some 8.5 million vehicles. Overall, GM has recalled a staggering total of 28 million cars and trucks worldwide so far in 2014, or nearly the equivalent to all of its worldwide vehicle sales since 2011. And GM is letting it be known that yet still more recalls may be on the horizon.