The chairman of a large manufacturing conglomerate, a Fortune 500 company, was troubled by several major software failures of projects terminated before completion. He was also concerned with the dissatisfaction expressed by customers in the quality of the software the corporation produced and by the inability of software executives to explain why the problems occurred and what might be done to eliminate them.

The chairman of a large manufacturing conglomerate, a Fortune 500 company, was troubled by several major software failures of projects terminated before completion. He was also concerned with the dissatisfaction expressed by customers in the quality of the software the corporation produced and by the inability of software executives to explain why the problems occurred and what might be done to eliminate them.

The chairman of a large manufacturing conglomerate, a Fortune 500 company, was troubled by several major software failures of projects terminated before completion. He was also concerned with the dissatisfaction expressed by customers in the quality of the software the corporation produced and by the inability of software executives to explain why the problems occurred and what might be done to eliminate them.

If you're trying to start an EA group, immediately after you've discussed what the EA organization is going to do with your boss, the discussion immediately turns to people: What kind of skills should they have?

In this on-demand webinar, Cutter Fellow Ken Orr addresses what you should be looking for in an enterprise architect: What should the architect know? What kind of experience and organization skills should the ideal candidate have?

Prediction has long been the holy grail of advanced business intelligence.

In this on-demand webinar, Cutter Fellow Ken Orr addresses what you should be looking for in an enterprise architect: What should the architect know? What kind of experience and organization skills should the ideal candidate have?

Business intelligence does not refer to a product you can buy or to an application you can build. Instead, it is a new way of delivering and managing the decision support function in an organization.

Business intelligence does not refer to a product you can buy or to an application you can build. Instead, it is a new way of delivering and managing the decision support function in an organization.

Put a person in China and he'll know that he can't behave as though he were in Kansas.

We back our qualitative work as Cutter consultants with plenty of quantitative data. We measure and report on productivity through the Productivity Index.

The late management theorist Peter Drucker once said that everyone in an organization has to ask him or herself, "What information do I need to do my job? How am I going to get it, and from whom? And how do I know that it is true?" Furthermore, each person must also ask, "What information am I responsible for?

We back our qualitative work as Cutter consultants with plenty of quantitative data. We measure and report on productivity through the Productivity Index.

Enterprise architecture is grossly misunderstood. It's not an IT issue; it's an enterprise issue for the following reasons:

The fact of the matter is, often times you are at loss as to how to improve your software. You know it needs improving because you can identify the symptoms -- perhaps poor business results, late delivery, inadequate quality or low productivity -- but their root cause is not so clear. What's more, the cause is often the subject of ruthless debate amongst your superiors, peers, and subordinates.

Just a couple of years ago, we were witnessing -- and some of us were deploring -- the "irrational exuberance" as well as the uncontrolled fears of many customers and decision makers about cloud computing. But a strange thing has happened since then: the discussion has quickly become much more reasoned, with a surprisingly good balance of proactive concern for the risks and a genuine desire to experiment with new solutions.

Just a couple of years ago, we were witnessing -- and some of us were deploring -- the "irrational exuberance" as well as the uncontrolled fears of many customers and decision makers about cloud computin

One of the biggest complaints leveled at Hadoop is that it is intended mainly for batch processing and doesn't do real time very well.

One of the biggest complaints leveled at Hadoop is that it is intended mainly for batch processing and doesn't do real time very well.

When done well, IT's role is easy to explain. IT serves the business by enabling its current goals and strategic ambitions while enlarging its plate of future opportunities. In effect, business and IT are an ecosystem.

The corporate world is littered with the carcasses of enterprises, large and small, wounded -- some mortally -- by failures of the "Siamese twins" of leadership and risk management. Why are these two concepts referred to as "Siamese twins"? Because neither can function without the other.

The corporate world is littered with the carcasses of enterprises, large and small, wounded -- some mortally -- by failures of the "Siamese twins" of leadership and risk management. Why are these two concepts referred to as "Siamese twins"? Because neither can function without the other.

For 23 episodes, I have listed the many types of problems and misconceptions I have seen at our clients, at conferences, or in user groups. The biggest trap, however, is what I have saved for the last Advisor in this series: being afraid of pitfalls.

The table below summarizes the main differences that I typically see.

[From the Editor: This week's Cutter IT Advisor is from Cutter Fellow Robert N. Charette and Brian Hagen's introduction to the July 2012 issue of Cutter IT Journal, "Fixing ERM: From IT Security to Human Behavior" (Vol. 25, No. 7). Learn more about Cutter IT Journal.]