To make something new, you have to decide when it's done. If it's really new, it's unique, and you don't have anything to base a decision on but the thing itself. So you're in exactly the same position as an artist deciding on closure.

While I am normally not one for tilting at windmills, I do have to take on the October 2008 Cutter Council opinion against the "cheaper, better, faster" (CBF) philosophy. In their 7-0 opinion (see "The Cheaper and Faster Tailspin," Vol. 9, No.

There are four critical areas in managing large projects: people, product, plans, and tools. In a previous Advisor, I discussed the collaboration aspect of people in teams (see "Help Agile Scale by Fine-Tuning Collaboration," 11 December 2008), and in another I covered organization and management style (see "Scaling Agile: People and Organization," 24 December 2008).

Headlines in just about every city right now are about economic meltdown. While the economy still deserves top billing, the backstory to those headlines is about IT. The proposed solution to the meltdown is more standardization and regulation, forcing companies, organizations, and government to evolve their IT in a stressful situation. What would Darwin do? How did land-living animals evolve from fish? The transformation required in many companies is no less than the transformation from the fins of fish to the arms and legs of human ancestors.

Headlines in just about every city right now are about economic meltdown. While the economy still deserves top billing, the backstory to those headlines is about IT. The proposed solution to the meltdown is more standardization and regulation, forcing companies, organizations, and government to evolve their IT in a stressful situation. What would Darwin do? How did land-living animals evolve from fish? The transformation required in many companies is no less than the transformation from the fins of fish to the arms and legs of human ancestors.

As it was two millennia ago, today a decimation of sorts remains a distressing part of our cultural experience.

As 2009 brings dramatic change to the economy, politics, and IT, some consistency might be in order. So, as I have in the past, I've devoted my first Advisor of the year to suggestions for New Year's resolutions.

BI and data warehousing appliances -- prepackaged offerings bundling software and hardware designed to support specific data warehousing and BI applications -- continue to garner strong usage. This trend is expected to continue through 2009 as end-user organizations look for ways to cost-effectively advance their data management and analytic needs.

Challenges abound in every enterprise, but the success of most major initiatives requires that all relevant parties understand the breadth and depth of the problem, the current environment in which the problem exists, and the impacts and implications of potential solutions.

Business-IT alignment is a broad vision that has been debated endlessly since the 1960s. It embraces a wide range of areas and, although other terminology has been suggested, the debate remains the same. The business environment continues to evolve and, as part of that evolution, the relationship between business and IT processes must also change.

Consider for a moment what would happen if you lost all your critical information.

Agile application development methods have demonstrated improved quality and timeliness of results, but they have not been successful in scaling to large projects. In large projects, the collaboration and agility of small teams are eroded. Because the effort is large, the number of people involved becomes large, and considerable attention must be given to coordination, consensus, and resolution of issues. Changes ripple through the development organization resulting in consequential effects and requiring planning and change control on a broad scale.

Open source BI (e.g., query, reporting, OLAP, dashboards) and data warehousing tools (e.g., data integration, data cleansing) have generated considerable industry buzz over the past few years. But the $64 million question remains: to what extent are end-user organizations actually adopting these tools to build and deploy BI and data warehousing applications?

How much architecture does an agile team need up front? Most agile methods are surprisingly silent when it comes to this question. Scrum regards architecture as an issue the team has to deal with on its own discretion -- and thus does not include any advice.

The beginning of 2008 started off with the French bank Société Générale reporting that a low-level employee, Jérôme Kerviel, had executed a series of "elaborate, fictitious transactions" that cost the bank more than €4.9 billion, the largest loss ever recorded in the financial industry by a single trader.

The beginning of 2008 started off with the French bank Société Générale reporting that a low-level employee, Jérôme Kerviel, had executed a series of "elaborate, fictitious transactions" that cost the bank more than €4.9 billion, the largest loss ever recorded in the financial industry by a single trader.

The beginning of 2008 started off with the French bank Société Générale reporting that a low-level employee, Jérôme Kerviel, had executed a series of "elaborate, fictitious transactions" that cost the bank more than €4.9 billion, the largest loss ever recorded in the financial industry by a single trader.

Among other things, 2008 was the year that models died on Wall Street. After decades, the "quants" were just as surprised as everybody when the market started down and, instead of pulling out, just kept on going south. For years, the idea of "program trading" has gained a bigger and bigger foothold in the world of high finance.

Among other things, 2008 was the year that models died on Wall Street. After decades, the "quants" were just as surprised as everybody when the market started down and, instead of pulling out, just kept on going south. For years, the idea of "program trading" has gained a bigger and bigger foothold in the world of high finance.

The beginning of 2008 started off with the French bank Société Générale reporting that a low-level employee, Jérôme Kerviel, had executed a series of "elaborate, fictitious transactions" that cost the bank more than €4.9 billion, the largest loss ever recorded in the financial industry by a single trader. However, Kerviel's escapade pales in comparison with those of investment advisor Bernie Madoff, who admitted in early December to defrauding his clients of upward of US $50 billion in a "giant Ponzi scheme" for years.

The beginning of 2008 started off with the French bank Société Générale reporting that a low-level employee, Jérôme Kerviel, had executed a series of "elaborate, fictitious transactions" that cost the bank more than €4.9 billion, the largest loss ever recorded in the financial industry by a single trader. However, Kerviel's escapade pales in comparison with those of investment advisor Bernie Madoff, who admitted in early December to defrauding his clients of upward of US $50 billion in a "giant Ponzi scheme" for years.

The beginning of 2008 started off with the French bank Société Générale reporting that a low-level employee, Jérôme Kerviel, had executed a series of "elaborate, fictitious transactions" that cost the bank more than €4.9 billion, the largest loss ever recorded in the financial industry by a single trader. However, Kerviel's escapade pales in comparison with those of investment advisor Bernie Madoff, who admitted in early December to defrauding his clients of upward of US $50 billion in a "giant Ponzi scheme" for years.

This Advisor looks at debriefing the unsuccessful bidders after a competitive bidding process has closed. This is often treated as an optional process -- and is usually one to be avoided. However, if done well, with the right intent, it is a valuable exercise for all, and can also create support for your future bidding opportunities.

This Advisor looks at debriefing the unsuccessful bidders after a competitive bidding process has closed. This is often treated as an optional process -- and is usually one to be avoided. However, if done well, with the right intent, it is a valuable exercise for all, and can also create support for your future bidding opportunities.

This Advisor looks at debriefing the unsuccessful bidders after a competitive bidding process has closed. This is often treated as an optional process -- and is usually one to be avoided. However, if done well, with the right intent, it is a valuable exercise for all, and can also create support for your future bidding opportunities.