Nonfunctional requirements is an overly simplistic view of hyperliminal coupling that arises from transposing the idea of functional requirements and contract certainty to the hyperliminal reality of a system’s behavior in its environment. If we let go of the idea of nonfunctional requirements and focus instead on hyperliminal coupling, we have a greater chance of actually building something that can respond to its environment, as is explored in this Advisor.

Knowing the competitive environment of your company, division, department, or unit is the first step in ensuring you're solving the right problems. This Advisor explores four styles of competitive environments — classical, adaptive, shaping, and visionary — and provides guidance on determining which styles best fit your current situation.

The application of advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), are increasingly being used to detect wildfires before they grow out of control, predict a wildfire's path, and assess the risk and potential damage caused by wildfires. This Advisor explores the application of AI and machine learning technologies to mitigate the impact of wildfires.

As the pandemic unwinds, what lasting lessons can companies carry from the moments of “What now?” to successfully respond to “What’s next?” What makes the journey toward AI ethics so difficult? Get answers to these questions and more in this issue of The Cutter Edge.

As the pandemic unwinds, what lasting lessons can companies carry from the moments of “What now?” to successfully respond to “What’s next?” What makes the journey toward AI ethics so difficult? Get answers to these questions and more in this issue of The Cutter Edge.

Commoditization has evolved as expected for end-user IT, as solutions embrace simplicity. But behind the scenes in IT there is chaos that has existed for at least 25 years. Though things may be cheaper, they are just as complex. Explore how the focus needs to shift in order for IT to experience its industrial revolution.

Take a minute and write an answer to the question, “What is technical debt?” Then read this Advisor and reread your answer — and see if it still makes sense.

Take a minute and write an answer to the question, “What is technical debt?” Then read this Advisor and reread your answer — and see if it still makes sense.

Companies have been scrambling to respond to the upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 18 months since it began, many organizations still wonder what the post-pandemic future holds. The challenges are far-reaching, ranging from resolving daily employee work modalities to existential digital business model transformation. In this Advisor, Noah Barsky provides his perspective on the most pressing challenges awaiting business and the “future of work” and identifies some fundamental business issues that should be taken into consideration by leaders to navigate the “next normal” of the business world.

When contemplating transformation, you should test your assumptions in a pilot project before betting the farm on them. Such a project should be chosen to have minimal impact on the company in case of failure, should be realistic to build with a small team, and should have high potential for growth.

A common denominator behind failed ML projects is the anthropomorphism of technology. This Advisor explores how, through our tendency toward anthropomorphism, we fail to make a critical distinction in the way humans and machines interpret the world.

Today’s decision support tools are useful but limited — and running algorithms can be computationally expensive. We need statistical shortcuts that simplify incredibly complex equations so that they can run on today’s hardware. This Executive Update highlights the “quantum leap” and how it will end estimating and solve equations in their full complexity. Instead of waiting 24 hours, the solution might only take a second. Within the next 10-20 years, the quantum computing era can lead us to a fully intelligent enterprise.

When cultivating great innovation teams, impactful visioning addresses the central need for purpose, the strategic foresight for leveraging emotional intelligence, the balancing of goals and mission, and mindfully organizing the teams. This Advisor explores the role of impactful visioning on innovation teams.

Myles Suer and John Wills address how to ready data for analysis and competitive advantage. They compare and contrast how legacy companies differ from startup enterprises in terms of data history, governance processes, and management experience. They explore in great depth the importance of properly cataloging data for eventual strategic use. An important lasting lesson of their article is the importance of people in maximizing the business results from any data strategy and technology investment.

Understanding what the transition to sustainability means for the organization is as important in the overall transition as developing the list of what to do. In this Advisor, we explore how leveraging an architectural approach for the initiative begins with understanding the business motivation and translating the motivation into new business and operating models, strategies, objectives, and tactics. The next step is to understand how the newly articulated models, goals, tactics, and so on, fit in the overall enterprise. This is one place that an architect’s big-picture view is invaluable.

Alanah Mitchell offers a five-step model to help firms successfully transition to post-pandemic hybrid work arrangements. Her recommendations for leaders include specific guidance about identifying purpose, accommodating needed flexibility, integrating IT, heightening employee experience, and incorporating substantial employee input. Her insightful ideas and central framework pinpoint the critical questions organizations must credibly answer in managing the indispensable human elements of the emerging workplace.

This article identifies resilience as the most prominent and lasting lesson of the pandemic. The authors point to the ingenuity, adaptability, and perseverance of the human spirit during times of challenge as a hallmark that can bolster organizations in the future. The piece explores the value of boosting employee resilience and includes detailed actions leaders can take to invest in employee well-being, enhance workplace culture, and drive performance.

Cutter Consortium Fellow Steve Andriole opens the issue with a fundamental question of the times, "What's different about pre- versus post-pandemic technology adoption?" He addresses the timeless imperative for technology leaders to be effective both strategically and operationally.

Cutter Consortium Fellow Steve Andriole opens the issue with a fundamental question of the times, "What's different about pre- versus post-pandemic technology adoption?" He addresses the timeless imperative for technology leaders to be effective both strategically and operationally.

To help leaders navigate the "next normal" of the business world, the four articles in this issue focus on key lessons learned during the pandemic that will have lasting and substantive effects on business for the intermediate and longer term.

This Advisor considers a few qualities that an enterprise architect must have. The goal is to provide a starting point for using the framework of architecture quality attributes to understand desirable traits in an architect.

In Part I of this two-part Executive Update series on business architecture and sustainability, we provide an overview of the circular economy and the strategic challenges it presents and demonstrate how business architecture provides the means for a formal, robust transition to the circular economy.

This edition of The Cutter Edge explores how data demands a deep understanding of the trade-off between ethical business behaviors and unrestrained competition, three specific sources of organizational stress and the strategies for alleviating this stress, and more.

This edition of The Cutter Edge explores how data demands a deep understanding of the trade-off between ethical business behaviors and unrestrained competition, three specific sources of organizational stress and the strategies for alleviating this stress, and more.

According to findings from Cutter Consortium’s recent survey on intelligent process automation (IPA) in the enterprise, a fairly high amount of interest exists among end-user organizations for using cognitive systems in their IPA efforts, with approximately one-third indicating they would like to do so. In this Advisor, we take a closer look at cognitive computing systems and how their use can support organizations' process automation efforts.