Don't be surprised if your agile adoption is going south after your next company reorganization. Many agile implementations I've observed will not survive company or division reorganizations. Unfortunately, many of these agile adoptions enabled teams to exhibit truly breakout performances.

Winston Churchill once said, "We make our buildings and afterwards they make us. They regulate the course of our lives." We make technology and our technologies shape us.

— Sherry Turkle, Simulation and its Discontents (The MIT Press, 2009)

Winston Churchill once said, "We make our buildings and afterwards they make us. They regulate the course of our lives." We make technology and our technologies shape us.

— Sherry Turkle, Simulation and its Discontents (The MIT Press, 2009)

In designing and documenting architectures, be they business, data, application, or technology architectures, enterprise architects are prone to focus first and fore­most on the objects that compose the architecture in question. This is both human nature (nouns before verbs) and a logical approach to design. For example:

Back in December, when I offered predictions concerning important BI trends I saw for the New Year, I said that adoption of data mining and predictive analytics would experience steady growth in 2011, just as it has over the past 10 years or so (see "What Lie

A customer-centric approach to business puts the customer at the center of activities, with business operations orientated around customers rather than operations in support of internal business structures. This approach applies to external customers, particularly the customer-supplier relationship within processes and between areas of a business.

Such a approach starts with an understanding of the customer and a resolution of the following questions:

The Adaptive Project Framework (APF) is an umbrella framework that encompasses all project management methodologies. APF has two distinct parts. In the project setup, a decision is made as to what is the best-fit management methodology and how it needs to be adapted for the project at hand.

The accompanying Executive Report establishes the Adaptive Project Framework (APF) as an umbrella framework that encompasses all project management methodologies.

Anyone who's surfed the Internet in the last few years has likely run across an online ad that started like the headline, above. Generally, the ad is a front to some "silver bullet" so-called "solution" to a nagging problem.

There was a fascinating article in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend titled "Why We're Not Listening to Alien Chat Shows" (22 January 2011).

There was a fascinating article in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend titled "Why We're Not Listening to Alien Chat Shows" (22 January 2011).

Smart mobile devices (SMDs) have become widespread among employees in organizations in all sectors of the economy. In contrast to the recent past, SMDs are not only for executives anymore. In the last two years, we have witnessed a rise in the demand for SMDs among all levels of employees. Despite resistance on behalf of IT professionals and especially information security professionals, there is a great deal of pressure by senior managers to synchronize their new smartphones to their work e-mail.

Smart mobile devices (SMDs) have become widespread among employees in organizations in all sectors of the economy. In contrast to the recent past, SMDs are not only for executives anymore. In the last two years, we have witnessed a rise in the demand for SMDs among all levels of employees. Despite resistance on behalf of IT professionals and especially information security professionals, there is a great deal of pressure by senior managers to synchronize their new smartphones to their work e-mail.

In my last Advisor (see "Understand the Value Equation," 12 January 2011), I talked about the architecture value equation and the role of architectural views in creating value. To refresh your memory, the equation says that if you make it easier for someone to do their job using architecture, then they’ll use it. To achieve that requires the appropriate view.

In my last Advisor (see "Understand the Value Equation," 12 January 2011), I talked about the architecture value equation and the role of architectural views in creating value. To refresh your memory, the equation says that if you make it easier for someone to do their job using architecture, then they’ll use it. To achieve that requires the appropriate view.

"And therefore ... though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!" (Charles Dickens)

In my last Advisor (see "Understand the Value Equation," 12 January 2011), I talked about the architecture value equation and the role of architectural views in creating value.

"Backsourcing" is the general term used to describe the "repatriation" of IT or other outsourced services. The term first gained prominence about five years ago with two much-publicized failures. Frequently quoted is the decision by Sears to back out of its megadeal in 2005, a year after it had signed. There is also the JPMorgan Chase backsourcing case, also announced in 2005 [1].

"Backsourcing" is the general term used to describe the "repatriation" of IT or other outsourced services. The term first gained prominence about five years ago with two much-publicized failures. Frequently quoted is the decision by Sears to back out of its megadeal in 2005, a year after it had signed. There is also the JPMorgan Chase backsourcing case, also announced in 2005 [1].

One of the biggest concerns among organizations when it comes to adopting mobile BI is security [1]. This is hardly surprising, given that security has always been a major concern of any mobile corporate application, particularly the fear of unauthorized access to, or loss of, sensitive corporate data.

One of the biggest concerns among organizations when it comes to adopting mobile BI is security [1]. This is hardly surprising, given that security has always been a major concern of any mobile corporate application, particularly the fear of unauthorized access to, or loss of, sensitive corporate data.

This issue of Cutter Benchmark Review is the sixth installment in our annual series forecasting technology trends. As faithful readers know, in this issue we examine the range of IT developments that have either surfaced or endured in the past year and look back across previous years to see how the technology landscape is evolving. We also reflect on the multitude of contributing factors that will influence your decision-making processes as you consider your options for change (or staying the course) in the near future. We believe the two sometimes-opposing viewpoints of our contributors will give you much to think about as you come to your own conclusions. We hope that you find this annual IT trends issue of CBR interesting and useful and that it gives you plenty of food for thought as you evaluate your technology use and priorities for this year.

As CBR's annual survey on IT trends tells us, there are positive signs that IT organizations are positioned for renewed growth, and many companies expect to be hiring IT professionals in 2011.

As you know, we revisit this survey each year, keeping some questions to enable trend analyses and introducing others as new technologies gain prominence and new trends emerge and strengthen.