A cynical senior manager said, "It feels as if I'm stuck between the traditionalists and the agilistas. We can't use phase-gate anymore, because it's not `agile' enough. And the last time, when that multisite project tried Scrum, they failed miserably. Isn't there a right approach to our projects?"

The adoption of agile concepts, principles, and approaches in many sectors is rapidly transforming project management practice. Crucially, agile methods focus on managing -- and speeding up -- development activities and can therefore offer new ideas and significant improvements for project-management-in-the-small.

How do you manage a remote development team that needs to deliver functions in a graphically rich environment with a technology that is new, virtual, and evolving? Our answer: go agile!

The old models of how people interact and collaborate have been radically transformed in recent times. People are using blogs, wikis, and collaborative planning tools to work together. All these applications represent a significant opportunity for organizations to create new social and Web-based collaboration. Project management is also undergoing significant changes due to the introduction of the new technologies for managing project teams.

Project management (PM) technologies and methodologies must change. Not only has the environment for projects in the enterprise become more complex, but the assumptions underlying most PM tools may not be valid with today's projects.

Project tools were initially built for large linear projects and for the people managing those projects. Today, however, most people who manage projects are not professional project managers, and many people have begun to realize that projects are often anything but linear.

Agile software development promises to build -- in a faster way -- quality software that closely meets the customer's needs. Hence, the methodology is a customer-centric way of doing business rather than simply a process to be followed. As such, agile software development requires a strong partnership with the customer, one that affects every decision in a project's lifecycle.

Agile software development promises to build -- in a faster way -- quality software that closely meets the customer's needs. Hence, the methodology is a customer-centric way of doing business rather than simply a process to be followed. As such, agile software development requires a strong partnership with the customer, one that affects every decision in a project's lifecycle.

In the first two Executive Updates in this series (Vol. 5, Nos. 1 and 3), I described in general terms what an ombudsman is and provided a description of what a privacy ombudsman does.

In the first two Executive Updates in this series (Vol. 5, Nos. 1 and 3), I described in general terms what an ombudsman is and provided a description of what a privacy ombudsman does.

The outsourcing of innovation is evolving rapidly as companies seek to decrease research costs and extend the discovery of new products and new ways of doing business into uncharted territory. The consumer electronics industry has been most heavily affected to date, but IT is likely to be next. This Executive Report by Brian J.

The outsourcing of innovation is evolving rapidly as companies seek to decrease research costs and extend the discovery of new products and new ways of doing business into uncharted territory. The consumer electronics industry has been most heavily affected to date, but IT is likely to be next. This Executive Report by Brian J.

The outsourcing of innovation is evolving rapidly as companies seek to decrease research costs and extend the discovery of new products and new ways of doing business into uncharted territory. The consumer electronics industry has been most heavily affected to date, but IT is likely to be next. This Executive Report by Brian J.

The outsourcing of innovation is an increasingly important phenomenon that can yield substantial benefits, but it requires careful management. Innovation is critical to business, and getting it wrong can be expensive. Outsourcing makes it possible to draw upon the expertise of researchers around the globe on a just-in-time basis.

The outsourcing of innovation is an increasingly important phenomenon that can yield substantial benefits, but it requires careful management. Innovation is critical to business, and getting it wrong can be expensive. Outsourcing makes it possible to draw upon the expertise of researchers around the globe on a just-in-time basis.

The outsourcing of innovation is an increasingly important phenomenon that can yield substantial benefits, but it requires careful management. Innovation is critical to business, and getting it wrong can be expensive. Outsourcing makes it possible to draw upon the expertise of researchers around the globe on a just-in-time basis.

Indian IT outsourcing firms are moving out into the world -- and to a location near you.

Indian IT outsourcing firms are moving out into the world -- and to a location near you.

IT industry

The decades-old trend of computing and datacom hardware becoming "faster and cheaper" is about to change to just "faster." This change will affect how users approach IT budgeting, the way vendors approach hardware and software product lifecycle planning, and could ultimately spark a renaissance of software engineers who actually care about the efficiency of their code.

IT industry

The decades-old trend of computing and datacom hardware becoming "faster and cheaper" is about to change to just "faster." This change will affect how users approach IT budgeting, the way vendors approach hardware and software product lifecycle planning, and could ultimately spark a renaissance of software engineers who actually care about the efficiency of their code.

From time to time, we have all experienced the frustration associated with managing an individual or a team not performing up to its capabilities or to our expectations. A project is overbudget, or the software deliverable is late again. Our inner desire may be to rant and rave in an expression of anger and frustration. However, if you had restraint and found another way of handling the situation, chances are you were using a high level of emotional intelligence, otherwise known as EQ.

From time to time, we have all experienced the frustration associated with managing an individual or a team not performing up to its capabilities or to our expectations. A project is overbudget, or the software deliverable is late again. Our inner desire may be to rant and rave in an expression of anger and frustration. However, if you had restraint and found another way of handling the situation, chances are you were using a high level of emotional intelligence, otherwise known as EQ.

As technology continues to improve and advance, businesses are using software applications, components, and other technology tools once reserved for IT use in ways that IT departments sometimes have no control or even knowledge of. This ubiquitous adoption of technology at many levels within a company -- as well as the increasing complexity of internal systems, external partnerships, and shorter application-development cycles -- has left IT executives scrambling to find a solution to manage the enterprise technology roadmap.

We have been working with public sector and commercial clients in upgrading their IT investment prioritization processes. While doing so, we have found it helpful to apply a prioritization maturity model to establish the company's goals and outcomes. Clients of Cutter's Business-IT Strategies Advisory Service are no doubt very familiar with the concept of maturity models in software development.

I've been talking for some time now about why Business Rules Management Systems (BRMS) should be considered an important part of an organization's service-oriented architecture (SOA) initiative.1