Many agile teams do their estimations in abstract measures, such as story points or complexity points, rather than using effort or time. Though the difference is subtle, abstract measures allow a self-adapting estimation process, decrease wish-based planning, and increase realism.

In far too many organizations, bureaucracy is an inherent impediment to success.

I was reading an article today that claimed that parallel computing is the next big thing [1]. I heard a similar refrain in an interview with someone from Intel. The premise behind this idea is that the first age of Moore's Law is ending and the hardware guys are beginning to panic.

I was reading an article today that claimed that parallel computing is the next big thing [1]. I heard a similar refrain in an interview with someone from Intel. The premise behind this idea is that the first age of Moore's Law is ending and the hardware guys are beginning to panic.

Necessity is not only the mother of invention but apparently the father of invention offshore. A gaping need for domestic technical talent is causing US technology-driven organizations to site product development and R&D functions where there exists an abundance of engineers.1 Not surprisingly, this flavor of strategic sourcing has little to do with offshoring's historical allure -- saving money.

Necessity is not only the mother of invention but apparently the father of invention offshore. A gaping need for domestic technical talent is causing US technology-driven organizations to site product development and R&D functions where there exists an abundance of engineers.1 Not surprisingly, this flavor of strategic sourcing has little to do with offshoring's historical allure -- saving money.

How many times have you left your office at the end of the day reflecting, "I spent the entire day in meetings"? And then wondered to yourself, "When do I find time to get some work done?" You also possibly didn't remember to think, "I wonder what's happening elsewhere in the organization." Does this scenario sound familiar?

Practically everyone has started down the path toward software-oriented architecture (SOA). Industry surveys show that 80% or more of enterprises have already adopted, or are in the process of adopting, some kind of SOA. We're told we need to for a variety of reasons, although the ones we use are often not the best reasons for us to consider it.

BI and business performance management vendors have offered facilities that give mobile users the ability to view and interact with performance-related information -- managed by their BI tools and analytic applications -- via such wireless devices as smartphones and PDAs for years.

We think of agile methods as a family of approaches aimed at dealing with uncertainty. If there is a high level of uncertainty about what exactly you will end up building, then the agile approaches (all of which call for multiple short iterations with ongoing customer feedback) make enormous sense. With the agile methods, we incrementally steer our way to a useful system.

In the first Executive Update of this two-part series,1 we set out a financial model that companies can use to evaluate potential investments in virtualization technology. We worked through the first two steps of the model -- data collection and financial analysis -- for our example company, Big Host, which is based on composite data from our recent work.

Everyone has a perspective about return on investment (ROI). Lots of calculations, models, and algorithms allegedly precisely measure the impact of alternative technology investments. There is strategic ROI and tactical ROI; there is "soft" ROI and "hard" ROI. There are as many ROIs out there as there are RBIs in the major league. What do we make of the ROI smorgasbord?

Everyone has a perspective about return on investment (ROI). Lots of calculations, models, and algorithms allegedly precisely measure the impact of alternative technology investments. There is strategic ROI and tactical ROI; there is "soft" ROI and "hard" ROI. There are as many ROIs out there as there are RBIs in the major league. What do we make of the ROI smorgasbord?

A quick Google search tells the story. Value networks are "hot" -- hot enough for the term to generate 15.5 million hits. The same search two years ago yielded about 30,000 hits. Narrow it down to a discrete term, and it still pulls 250,000. Want a bigger number? Try "social networks," clocking in at 35 million. Or "business networks," at 15 million.

A quick Google search tells the story. Value networks are "hot" -- hot enough for the term to generate 15.5 million hits. The same search two years ago yielded about 30,000 hits. Narrow it down to a discrete term, and it still pulls 250,000. Want a bigger number? Try "social networks," clocking in at 35 million. Or "business networks," at 15 million.

A quick Google search tells the story. Value networks are "hot" -- hot enough for the term to generate 15.5 million hits. The same search two years ago yielded about 30,000 hits. Narrow it down to a discrete term, and it still pulls 250,000. Want a bigger number? Try "social networks," clocking in at 35 million. Or "business networks," at 15 million.

Hannibal of Carthage was one of the greatest military strategists of ancient times, and his methods are still studied today. He is probably best known for the herd of elephants he drove into Italy in the third century BC, which he used to terrify the Roman legions.

The advantages of collaboration in furthering product ideas, responding to challenges, and extending corporate or departmental capabilities are now well known. Much recent attention has been fostered by new technologies and new capabilities falling under the general heading of Web 2.0 or Enterprise 2.0.

The advantages of collaboration in furthering product ideas, responding to challenges, and extending corporate or departmental capabilities are now well known. Much recent attention has been fostered by new technologies and new capabilities falling under the general heading of Web 2.0 or Enterprise 2.0.

Last month, I had the privilege of being one of four keynote speakers at the Better Software Conference in Las Vegas. I'm not a gambler, so I didn't partake at the card tables or roulette wheels, but I do watch software project managers gamble all the time, so it seemed to be a fitting place for a technology conference.

Ever since the private sector's recent discovery that meaningful technological innovations didn't necessarily include a price tag, we've had open source innovation. While "free" overstates and misstates the value of open source innovation (OSI), the characterization does not miss by much. So far.

Ever since the private sector's recent discovery that meaningful technological innovations didn't necessarily include a price tag, we've had open source innovation. While "free" overstates and misstates the value of open source innovation (OSI), the characterization does not miss by much. So far.

Ever since the private sector's recent discovery that meaningful technological innovations didn't necessarily include a price tag, we've had open source innovation. While "free" overstates and misstates the value of open source innovation (OSI), the characterization does not miss by much. So far.

As I write this Advisor in the spring of 2008, the need for enterprise agility is once again a topic on the minds of executives everywhere. Stock market gyrations push prices down 3% one day, up 4% the next. Firms that months before had record profits struggle to stay alive.

As I write this Advisor in the spring of 2008, the need for enterprise agility is once again a topic on the minds of executives everywhere. Stock market gyrations push prices down 3% one day, up 4% the next. Firms that months before had record profits struggle to stay alive.