Getting a group of people to move together toward a common objective is never easy. As a project manager dealing with teams of people, each of whom represents different constituents, comes from a different point of view, and is trying to pursue a different set of interests, your task is formidable indeed.

Getting a group of people to move together toward a common objective is never easy. As a project manager dealing with teams of people, each of whom represents different constituents, comes from a different point of view, and is trying to pursue a different set of interests, your task is formidable indeed.

In the first Executive Update of this two-part series (Vol. 9, No. 4), I presented a case study that illustrated the challenges a company implementing agile methodologies might face if it did not consider three specific implementation objectives:

Organizational support

Despite an organization's best efforts to create a positive experience with their customers, patients, and employees, and to provide the most effective safeguards possible for personally identifiable information (PII), there will always be issues and incidents that occur to create dissatisfaction and friction.

Despite an organization's best efforts to create a positive experience with their customers, patients, and employees, and to provide the most effective safeguards possible for personally identifiable information (PII), there will always be issues and incidents that occur to create dissatisfaction and friction.

As China rapidly emerges as the new frontier of global IT offshoring, the country's IT outsourcing industry is undergoing a profound change: many vendors are strategically shifting their client bases from Japan and Korea to the US and Europe.

As China rapidly emerges as the new frontier of global IT offshoring, the country's IT outsourcing industry is undergoing a profound change: many vendors are strategically shifting their client bases from Japan and Korea to the US and Europe.

China is rapidly emerging as the new frontier of IT offshoring. While the image of China as a leading IT service provider may be new to some Western managers, this country is far from being a newcomer to the global IT outsourcing arena. In fact, China has been providing IT services to East Asian markets since the early 1990s and is now Japan's largest outsourcing base.

China is rapidly emerging as the new frontier of IT offshoring. While the image of China as a leading IT service provider may be new to some Western managers, this country is far from being a newcomer to the global IT outsourcing arena. In fact, China has been providing IT services to East Asian markets since the early 1990s and is now Japan's largest outsourcing base.

Industrial manufacturers depend on streamlined supply chains to build products. Retailers live and die based on their optimal supply chains. Likewise, manufacturers of electronic products -- such as mobile handsets, consumer electronics, communications equipment, and other intelligent devices -- rely heavily on distributed developers, outsourcers, software vendors, and even open source. Then, why not treat this software ecosystem as an embedded software supply chain and try to optimize it?

Industrial manufacturers depend on streamlined supply chains to build products. Retailers live and die based on their optimal supply chains. Likewise, manufacturers of electronic products -- such as mobile handsets, consumer electronics, communications equipment, and other intelligent devices -- rely heavily on distributed developers, outsourcers, software vendors, and even open source. Then, why not treat this software ecosystem as an embedded software supply chain and try to optimize it?

IT strategy

IT professionals strive to work with business partners and engineer businesses for efficiency. It is unclear that the challenge of delivering a resilient organization has received sufficient attention.

IT strategy

IT professionals strive to work with business partners and engineer businesses for efficiency. It is unclear that the challenge of delivering a resilient organization has received sufficient attention.

IT strategy

IT professionals strive to work with business partners and engineer businesses for efficiency. It is unclear that the challenge of delivering a resilient organization has received sufficient attention.

We don't need to hear from Nick Carr, 1 we don't need another industry briefing, and we don't need the guys on CNBC talking about the sea change called Google. The industry was shifting long before all of these smart people learned how to monetize the trend with catchy phrases, titles, and insights.

We don't need to hear from Nick Carr, 1 we don't need another industry briefing, and we don't need the guys on CNBC talking about the sea change called Google. The industry was shifting long before all of these smart people learned how to monetize the trend with catchy phrases, titles, and insights.

We don't need to hear from Nick Carr, 1 we don't need another industry briefing, and we don't need the guys on CNBC talking about the sea change called Google. The industry was shifting long before all of these smart people learned how to monetize the trend with catchy phrases, titles, and insights.

We don't need to hear from Nick Carr, 1 we don't need another industry briefing, and we don't need the guys on CNBC talking about the sea change called Google. The industry was shifting long before all of these smart people learned how to monetize the trend with catchy phrases, titles, and insights.

As agile development becomes more popular and established, it runs the risk of maturing into a rigid, codified system that, of course, would be just the opposite of the agility we cherish. In my experience, management gravitates toward established, predictable, repeatable processes for good reason: they make management's job easier. To an extent, agilists encourage this increasing codification of agile development by writing an endless stream of books describing just how agile "should" be done.

"There was not a culture of excessive risk-taking," or so said Christian Noyer, the current governor of the Bank of France when asked about the problems of the "rogue" trading activities of Jérôme Kerviel at the French bank Société Générale SA (SocGen).

But is Noyer correct?

"There was not a culture of excessive risk-taking," or so said Christian Noyer, the current governor of the Bank of France when asked about the problems of the "rogue" trading activities of Jérôme Kerviel at the French bank Société Générale SA (SocGen).

But is Noyer correct?

The big change from the last century to the one we find ourselves in today is the locus of computing and communications technology and the way we're destined to use this technology.

The big change from the last century to the one we find ourselves in today is the locus of computing and communications technology and the way we're destined to use this technology.

Practically all companies have some form of priorities for IT investments. Often this is an informal process involving the CIO and other CxO executives. Sometimes the process is much more formal, involving a steering committee and a structured project assessment process. Sometimes ROI computations are at the core of the process; more often, some kind of project scoring process that includes strategy and risk as well as financial return is used.

Modeling is stock in trade for architects. We use modeling for a variety of different purposes: to help analyze problems, to conceptualize solutions, to formalize specifications, and to communicate concepts and solutions, just to name a few. So how do we know if the model is successful, correct, or complete? Here are a few basic rules about models and modeling to guide you.