Top 10 lists, year-in-reviews, and predictions abound at this time of the year. Since we don’t like to miss any of the fun, we asked Cutter Senior Consultants and Fellows to share their predictions for the business-IT landscape in 2013. 

I have recently confronted a need to revisit these topics. To remount, if you will, my hobbyhorse. Industrial thinking and methods, never quiet for long, seem poised to make further advances in the ongoing struggle to standardize work (of the many) for the convenience of those in charge (the few). I believe we should resist whenever we can.

A few months ago, I was asked by a colleague who graduated from the Paris School of Mines to contribute an article to the school's alumni journal on the topic of the impact of "new technologies" on the work of consultants.

A few months ago, I was asked by a colleague who graduated from the Paris School of Mines to contribute an article to the school's alumni journal on the topic of the impact of "new technologies" on the work of consultants.

A few months ago, I was asked by a colleague who graduated from the Paris School of Mines to contribute an article to the school's alumni journal on the topic of the impact of "new technologies" on the work of consultants.

My practice tends to be a little bifocal with respect to the size of the clients. On the one hand, agile, technical debt, software governance, and devops engagements tend to be of significant scale and scope. On the other hand, technical due diligence engagements I carry out for various venture capitalists are typically concerned with startups.

For years I have been expecting a new device to come along and impact the way we design enterprise applications, and I think that era is upon us now. But let's take a step back for a minute and review what we have done to prepare for this inevitable evolution.

With the US presidential election now being over, the results have been dissected by the pundits, political analysts, pollsters, and politicos. One of the most significant elements to emerge is the use of sophisticated analytics and Big Data -- in every aspect of both the Obama and Romney campaigns.

Business intelligence and analytics are becoming increasingly important in creating an agile approach to business process/performance management.

Business intelligence and analytics are becoming increasingly important in creating an agile approach to business process/performance management.

"If you still believe that agile and CMMI don't work well together, then what you'll learn in this issue is that, to put it plainly, you're wrong."

-- Hillel Glazer, Guest Editor

Agile or CMMI. Agile and CMMI. AGILE AND CMMI! AGILE AND CMMI?!?!!#%&***@^@!!

Let's own up to it. For most organizations, focusing on agile, CMMI, both, or any other methodology is still not producing the desired outcomes.

At first glance, agile and CMMI seem like oil and water. Agile, used for developing small projects with small teams with the least amount of process practically possible, would appear to be in direct opposition to CMMI.

Paul McMahon exposes "the real underlying obstacles" to agile CMMI and also shows us what can be done about them. He further describes innovative ways to interpret and apply CMMI so that its practices actually make sense in agile settings. McMahon's real-world experience is recast to protect the guilty in a series of accessible cases of actually making it work.

When searching for inspiration, I turn to Charlie Parker.

Contrary to what you may have heard, organizations around the world are applying agile and CMMI together, and some are doing it effectively. Sadly, some are not as successful as they would like to be. In this article, I start by sharing some important results from several surveys that I've run over the years that explore how people are applying agile and CMMI in practice.

The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) has a long history of process improvement research, and -- like almost everyone who has proposed a model or method for software -- a long history of fighting misperceptions. Chief among these is the idea that picking the "best" model or method and checking off a series of boxes will fix whatever ails you, indefinitely.

In this series of Advisors ("What's a Knowledge Worker to Do? Part I" and "What's a Knowledge Worker to Do?

Last January, I discussed the respective pros and cons associated with the BYOD and enterprise-supplied device strategies for adopting mobile capabilities in the enterprise.

I regularly receive emails like this from procurement departments of large companies or public authorities: "We ask you to offer your proposal for the development of system XYZ that is specified in the 700 pages attached. Please provide your proposal by Friday next week, 0:00 UTC." I have stopped answering these requests.

One would be hard pressed to decide which incident represents the worst example of enterprise risk (mis)management practice since 2010 given the surfeit of eminently eligible contenders in which to choose. Among the nominees is BP PLC.

One would be hard pressed to decide which incident represents the worst example of enterprise risk (mis)management practice since 2010 given the surfeit of eminently eligible contenders in which to choose. Among the nominees is BP PLC.

There has been a lot of discussion surrounding what's better for mobile development: building native apps designed to run specifically on select mobile platforms and OSs (e.g., Apple iOS, Android-based devices, BlackBerry, Windows 8) or using dynamic Web-based technologies (e.g., HTML5, JavaScript, mobile Web frameworks) to bu

There has been a lot of discussion surrounding what's better for mobile development: building native apps designed to run specifically on select mobile platforms and OSs (e.g., Apple iOS, Android-based devices, BlackBerry, Windows 8) or using dynamic Web-based technologies (e.g., HTML5, JavaScript, mobile Web frameworks) to bu

A man that flies from his fear may find that he has only taken a short cut to meet it.

-- J.R.R. Tolkien