When an organization is considering outsourcing in any of its "shore" forms (offshore, nearshore, onshore), rumors will spread like wildfire, fueled by rampant speculation regarding motive.

When an organization is considering outsourcing in any of its "shore" forms (offshore, nearshore, onshore), rumors will spread like wildfire, fueled by rampant speculation regarding motive.

This is the final Executive Update in a three-part series exploring Tim O'Reilly's statement that Web 2.0 applications must go "beyond the page metaphor of Web 1.0 to deliver rich user experiences." 1

This is the final Executive Update in a three-part series exploring Tim O'Reilly's statement that Web 2.0 applications must go "beyond the page metaphor of Web 1.0 to deliver rich user experiences." 1

I am growing very tired of solving the same old problems over and over again.

The first priority in all wars is to live to fight another day. The economic war faced by most companies will be replete with reminders that survival is the near-term, full-time agenda. This is true for the IT department and for IT professionals, too. Being part of the survival plan requires a laserlike focus on eliminating any waste, frivolous activities, and all of the "nice-to-haves." Start by getting rid of the toys and hip trophies (e.g., BlackBerrys, iPhones, pagers).

The first priority in all wars is to live to fight another day. The economic war faced by most companies will be replete with reminders that survival is the near-term, full-time agenda. This is true for the IT department and for IT professionals, too. Being part of the survival plan requires a laserlike focus on eliminating any waste, frivolous activities, and all of the "nice-to-haves." Start by getting rid of the toys and hip trophies (e.g., BlackBerrys, iPhones, pagers).

Counting by numbers, Scrum is currently the leading agile methodology.

Like many people, I grow increasingly unhappy with the level of public discourse. In an age of "in-your-face politics" and "hardball" discussions in which two extreme positions are posed as the way to present public policy, it is difficult to imagine what the future of the world may be like. Then, the other day, I had a discussion that made me think that all was not lost.

Like many people, I grow increasingly unhappy with the level of public discourse. In an age of "in-your-face politics" and "hardball" discussions in which two extreme positions are posed as the way to present public policy, it is difficult to imagine what the future of the world may be like. Then, the other day, I had a discussion that made me think that all was not lost.

Increasingly, we find business processes that are offered in alternative ways using different channels. For example, purchasing vehicle highway tax in the UK over the counter or online over the Internet. At the same time, as well as offering a process in its entirety over one channel, the same process can be supported by different channels at different points in the process.

Increasingly, we find business processes that are offered in alternative ways using different channels. For example, purchasing vehicle highway tax in the UK over the counter or online over the Internet. At the same time, as well as offering a process in its entirety over one channel, the same process can be supported by different channels at different points in the process.

In a recent interview, Mike Culver, the cloud computing evangelist for Amazon.com, clearly stated the cloud computing value statement for his company: "Amazon's goal is to take the fixed cost out of computing!" That's pretty simple. There has been a great deal of discussion of the TCO of one thing or another over the years, but rarely is the entirety of the operational overhead really factored in. We can learn what the TCO is for a desktop or a server or an Oracle product, for instance, but nobody goes to the trouble to include all of the factors involved.

Enterprise mashups increasingly are becoming part of companies' toolkits when it comes to integrating data for BI and other decision-support applications.

Enterprise mashups increasingly are becoming part of companies' toolkits when it comes to integrating data for BI and other decision-support applications.

Today's business-IT divide reminds me forcibly of an anecdote about the automobile market at the end of the 19th century. At that time, it was widely held that the total market for automobiles in Europe could only be around 50,000 because that was the probable number of chauffeurs that were going to be available at any one time.

Cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS) are two very strong "disruptive" innovations that are changing the IT landscape forever by providing services to a large number of independent customers. SaaS and cloud capabilities are a best-fit model and an attractive option for companies that look to deploy state-of-the-art technology while conserving capital resources. A robust, trusted software infrastructure offers key technical elements that deliver these assurances. One key requirement is to enable multi-tenancy.

Like most agile-lean enthusiasts, I regularly attend interest group meetings in my area. When discussing test-driven development (TDD) at some recent gatherings, some folks commented that they have very senior developers within their teams who claim to have become so proficient with TDD that they can actually skip the test-coding step. These developers go straight to implementing the feature because the discipline is so well imprinted in their heads that they can do it all mentally.

Como muchos entusiastas en agile-lean con frecuencia atiendo juntas de grupos de interés no lejos de casa. En algunas de las juntas recientes hubo discusiones sobre TDD (del Inglés test-driven development: desarrollo basado en pruebas), donde algunas personas comentaron que sus equipos cuentan con desarrolladores tan expertos en TDD que hasta pueden saltarse el paso de escribir pruebas primero y en su lugar programar la característica directamente porque tienen la disciplina bien metida en su cabeza y pueden hacerlo mentalmente.

As a friend of mind was fond of pointing out, jobs are self-selecting. Accountants go into accounting because they like numbers, surgeons go into surgery because they like to cut, and psychiatrists go into psychiatry because they ... have issues.

As a friend of mind was fond of pointing out, jobs are self-selecting. Accountants go into accounting because they like numbers, surgeons go into surgery because they like to cut, and psychiatrists go into psychiatry because they ... have issues.

As a friend of mind was fond of pointing out, jobs are self-selecting. Accountants go into accounting because they like numbers, surgeons go into surgery because they like to cut, and psychiatrists go into psychiatry because they ... have issues.

All businesses go through phases -- from birth through growth and maturity to decline. However, businesses rarely die; instead, they evolve into something new and different through mergers, acquisitions, strategic regeneration, or other phenomena. That desire for business continuity is a major difference between business and project plans.

Enterprise architects often ask me why the Business Enterprise Architecture Modeling (BEAM) EA approach is based on an "urban/transportation model" rather than the "building architecture model" favored by many organizations and groups. The short answer has to do with the similarity of the model to actual enterprise architecture in both change and complexity.