A common aphorism suggests that "good project managers always get projects done on time and on budget." This is simplistic and propagates a destructive and dangerous misconception. Imagine a project manager working on a project that is likely to complete on time and on budget.

Although offshoring has existed in a variety of forms for decades, its controversy continues unabated. The debate includes whether offshoring actually saves money or not, what activities are and are not good candidates for offshoring, and most controversial of all, its effect on employment in the consuming countries. This Executive Report discusses the offshoring phenomena in an historical context, investigates whether offshoring has actually resulted in IT-related job losses, and examines its effect on IT-related occupations in the US and Europe.

Although offshoring has existed in a variety of forms for decades, its controversy continues unabated. The debate includes whether offshoring actually saves money or not, what activities are and are not good candidates for offshoring, and most controversial of all, its effect on employment in the consuming countries.

A New York Times op-ed column by Thomas Friedman told of risk managers using a model to assess financial companies' net positions under different assumptions about mortgage interest rates and housing market factors.1 One of the parameters the managers were allowed to enter was year-over-year percentage growth in single-family home value.

At the end of Part I ("The BP Oil Spill: Could ERM Have Helped Avoid It?" 15 July 2010), I asked whether BP PLC Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward -- or at least BP's risk management committee -- should have been made aware of the significant operational risk incurred on the company's behalf by his operational managers

At the end of Part I ("The BP Oil Spill: Could ERM Have Helped Avoid It?" 15 July 2010), I asked whether BP PLC Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward -- or at least BP's risk management committee -- should have been made aware of the significant operational risk incurred on the company's behalf by his operational managers

At the end of Part I ("The BP Oil Spill: Could ERM Have Helped Avoid It?" 15 July 2010), I asked whether BP PLC Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward -- or at least BP's risk management committee -- should have been made aware of the significant operational risk incurred on the company's behalf by his operational managers

Things are changing -- again. But this time the changes are more profound and definitely more permanent. We're entering a new era of partnership between technology and business. These two camps are inseparable now, and business models and processes cannot be implemented without operational and strategic technology.

Things are changing -- again. But this time the changes are more profound and definitely more permanent. We're entering a new era of partnership between technology and business. These two camps are inseparable now, and business models and processes cannot be implemented without operational and strategic technology.

Two decades ago, I moderated a panel discussion of CIOs interested in better understanding the challenges IT faces and initiatives they might take to successfully address them. During the panel discussion we agreed on six basic themes as being critical to successful IT management. The question is: have things changed much since?

Two decades ago, I moderated a panel discussion of CIOs interested in better understanding the challenges IT faces and initiatives they might take to successfully address them. During the panel discussion we agreed on six basic themes as being critical to successful IT management. The question is: have things changed much since?

In many companies and in US government agencies, enterprise architecture (EA) governance is already considered as a consensus-driven framework to guide and direct significant architecture decisions related to IT assets and resources that may make significant architectural impacts to the business operations.

In the last few years, agile methodologies have rapidly gained acceptance and moved into the mainstream. Currently, it seems like a majority of companies are running at least one agile pilot program and many large organizations have converted completely to agile methods.

There are many opinions about what constitutes an IT strategy. In my view, the IT strategy has to start from a deep understanding of the short-, mid-, and long-term goals of the company. In the absence of clearly stated corporate goals, the CIO does not get a pass; he or she must make some assumptions based on observation. Assuming there are stated corporate goals, the CIO must have some specific artifacts to create a grounded, purposeful strategy that aligns IT actions to company needs and whose value is clear. One of these artifacts is the company culture.

There are many opinions about what constitutes an IT strategy. In my view, the IT strategy has to start from a deep understanding of the short-, mid-, and long-term goals of the company. In the absence of clearly stated corporate goals, the CIO does not get a pass; he or she must make some assumptions based on observation. Assuming there are stated corporate goals, the CIO must have some specific artifacts to create a grounded, purposeful strategy that aligns IT actions to company needs and whose value is clear. One of these artifacts is the company culture.

High-performance analytic databases1 are receiving increasing interest by end-user organizations. This is understandable, given the ever-increasing amount of data that organizations are accumulating -- causing a data glut that is, quite simply, putting a strain on organizations' data warehousing and BI activities.

SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language), a product of the OASIS Security Services Technical Committee, is an XML-based standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between security domains. At a concept level, SAML defines how an opaque structure with no discernible identifiers can be used among providers to represent a security principal.

The Indian IT industry has long been associated with outsourcing. This in turn is frequently referenced in a half-derogatory tone of implying work on the low-end of the value chain, often eating into engineering jobs from client countries. As the Indian IT services industry has grown, especially in the last decade, such characterizations are no longer just offensive, but they are entirely detached from reality.

The Indian IT industry has long been associated with outsourcing. This in turn is frequently referenced in a half-derogatory tone of implying work on the low-end of the value chain, often eating into engineering jobs from client countries. As the Indian IT services industry has grown, especially in the last decade, such characterizations are no longer just offensive, but they are entirely detached from reality.

A firm that manages golf courses in 26 US states wanted to streamline its operational costs in support of its M&A business model. To address that, its CEO envisioned a virtual "library" serving as a data repository with unlimited shelves of business information. How that vision became reality is the subject of this Executive Update.

A firm that manages golf courses in 26 US states wanted to streamline its operational costs in support of its M&A business model. To address that, its CEO envisioned a virtual "library" serving as a data repository with unlimited shelves of business information. How that vision became reality is the subject of this Executive Update.

Social media represents an incredibly important opportunity to leverage new (and existing) technology onto internal and external strategic and operational business objectives of all shapes and sizes. Who, for example, would have suspected that new product lifecycles could be affected by wikis, blogs, file sharing, and opinions? That focus group in Peoria is forever gone, replaced by blogs open to customers from Illinois to California to New York to Paris to Shanghai. Innovation is now a contact sport played by a globally distributed team.

Social media represents an incredibly important opportunity to leverage new (and existing) technology onto internal and external strategic and operational business objectives of all shapes and sizes. Who, for example, would have suspected that new product lifecycles could be affected by wikis, blogs, file sharing, and opinions? That focus group in Peoria is forever gone, replaced by blogs open to customers from Illinois to California to New York to Paris to Shanghai. Innovation is now a contact sport played by a globally distributed team.

Fully prioritize your tasks, estimate them, skim them off the top until your current velocity is met, and you’re done. Agile planning is that easy ... but is this really easy?

A couple of months ago, I wrote an Opinion for the Cutter Trends Council titled "The Book Is Dead, Long Live the e-Book” (Vol. 10, No. 9).