There is nothing like the prospect of getting hanged in the morning to focus one's attention.

There is nothing like the prospect of getting hanged in the morning to focus one's attention.

Participants in a recent Cutter Benchmark Review survey who indicated that their organizations are not using or testing social networks cite a lack of perceived business value as the main reason (see, "Unlocking the Organizational Potential of Social Networking," Vol. 9, No. 5). What can organizations do to make sure their investments in social networking applications pay off? First, organizations need to make sure that their social networking applications are aligned with their corporate strategy.

Participants in a recent Cutter Benchmark Review survey who indicated that their organizations are not using or testing social networks cite a lack of perceived business value as the main reason (see, "Unlocking the Organizational Potential of Social Networking," Vol. 9, No. 5). What can organizations do to make sure their investments in social networking applications pay off? First, organizations need to make sure that their social networking applications are aligned with their corporate strategy.

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.

-- General Dwight D. Eisenhower

In project management, as long as things move the way they are envisaged, there is no problem. If there is a hurdle, however, the project manager is expected to respond in the least time possible. This hurdle may be either technical or human, and in either case, arriving at the best alternative or finding the exact error requires absolute openness and being in the present moment.

A project manager's inability to be open and receptive can become a block in finding creative solutions to the problems that crop up. It's like the following story:

Your IT organization has certain skills and capabilities that you deploy to solve various business technology problems. Ideally, you market these skills and capabilities to your internal clients (as well as your external stakeholders -- vendors, partners, etc.).

Your IT organization has certain skills and capabilities that you deploy to solve various business technology problems. Ideally, you market these skills and capabilities to your internal clients (as well as your external stakeholders -- vendors, partners, etc.).

Slightly fewer than half of the organizations using on-demand/cloud-based BI and data warehousing solutions have had to modify their business processes in order to use the on-demand software. This finding comes from a Cutter Consortium survey conducted in May-July 2009 of 79 end-user organizations based worldwide.

The waves of the business cycle are becoming ripples. The recent American combination of minimal inflation and very low unemployment may not be an aberration, but the beginning of a new worldwide trend.

The waves of the business cycle are becoming ripples. The recent American combination of minimal inflation and very low unemployment may not be an aberration, but the beginning of a new worldwide trend.

In my last E-Mail Advisor ("Hidden Pitfalls of Agile: User Contact," 12 November 2009), I talked about a potential pitfall you may encounter when transitioning a traditional organization to agile: the impact of direct user contact. This Advisor is about another pitfall: transparency.

The other night, fellow Cutter Senior Consultant Mike Rosen and I just missed each other in New York City at a conference where we were speaking. As I was coming into the hotel, Mike was leaving to fly to San Francisco for another gig. I had wanted to chat with Mike, but our schedules made that impossible.

The other night, fellow Cutter Senior Consultant Mike Rosen and I just missed each other in New York City at a conference where we were speaking. As I was coming into the hotel, Mike was leaving to fly to San Francisco for another gig. I had wanted to chat with Mike, but our schedules made that impossible.

An evolution in the nature, methods, and motivation behind perpetrating security breaches has had a profound impact on the business environment. This shift has caused a fundamental altering in the way that an enterprise views information security, privacy, and compliance. The ever-growing compliance framework being built around those concerns fuels the need for the convergence of these disciplines within the enterprise in a more holistic manner than previously imagined.

An evolution in the nature, methods, and motivation behind perpetrating security breaches has had a profound impact on the business environment. This shift has caused a fundamental altering in the way that an enterprise views information security, privacy, and compliance. The ever-growing compliance framework being built around those concerns fuels the need for the convergence of these disciplines within the enterprise in a more holistic manner than previously imagined.

For most companies, business transformation is usually linked to strategic activities, such as entry to a new target market segment, introduction of a new service or solution offering, attainment of competitive advantage, and improvement of customer satisfaction.

Yesterday, I participated in a "virtual trade show" called "Pragmatic BPM and SOA: Strategies That Work." I was a bit surprised when I was invited to participate because I thought BPM/SOA was basically old news. It's been four years since I wrote about the relationship between these, but based on the comments and questions, it seems that most people haven't been paying much attention.

Starview Technology has introduced the latest version of its Complex Event Processing (CEP) platform. Until recently, Starview has kept somewhat of a low profile and didn't always immediately appear on the radar when it came to CEP software vendors. This is unfortunate, because Starview has been shipping products since 2003.

IT is separating as we speak. For some, IT is about desktops, servers, and networks. For others, technology is about data, customers, and revenue. These two perspectives represent entrenched cultures about technology's primary role. Once you identify the dominant culture, you can determine the kind of technology your company wants.

IT is separating as we speak. For some, IT is about desktops, servers, and networks. For others, technology is about data, customers, and revenue. These two perspectives represent entrenched cultures about technology's primary role. Once you identify the dominant culture, you can determine the kind of technology your company wants.

As I flew out of Los Angeles International Airport on my final leg of a late evening flight back home to the Midwest, I gazed in awe at the sprawl of the second-largest city in the US unfolding outside my window. At 5,000 feet, now circling, now climbing, I observed millions of tiny points of lights as far as the eye could see.

As I flew out of Los Angeles International Airport on my final leg of a late evening flight back home to the Midwest, I gazed in awe at the sprawl of the second-largest city in the US unfolding outside my window. At 5,000 feet, now circling, now climbing, I observed millions of tiny points of lights as far as the eye could see.

One of the most difficult parts of project portfolio management is deciding how to rank the projects -- that is, determining which should be done now, later, and, most important, never. There are several ways to rank a project portfolio. Each is useful in specific situations and not so useful in others.

Three years ago in June, Toyota and its Lexus brand took the top spot in 11 out of 19 vehicle categories in the J.D. Power and Associates' automotive quality survey. Yet less than a month later, Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe bowed deeply in front of the world's press, publicly apologizing for the numerous quality problems that had been plaguing Toyota automotive products.