Andrew Keen's book The Cult of the Amateur pours buckets of cold water onto the heads of Web 2.0 enthusiasts, accusing them of "worshipping the creative amateur" -- regardless of how poorly educated and inarticulate they may be.

The financial community recently seems to have added a new twist to the advice given in Shakespeare's Henry VI (Part 2) with regard to lawyers in the wake of the US $130-billion-plus write-offs that are increasing daily due to the subprime mortgage debacle.

The financial community recently seems to have added a new twist to the advice given in Shakespeare's Henry VI (Part 2) with regard to lawyers in the wake of the US $130-billion-plus write-offs that are increasing daily due to the subprime mortgage debacle.

A few years ago, I wrote about "Applistructure" as the latest trend to combine enterprise infrastructure with enterprise business applications. This was all the buzz at the time. A recent Google search for the term reveals numerous articles from late 2005 by analysts and pundits predicting great things. Then ... nothing. No references for 2006 nor 2007.

While most of us worry about IT's strategic impact (does IT really matter?), events have turned again to require that we worry about IT's cost. There's little doubt that IT does matter in many industries. However, when times get tough, management's attention returns to the issue of cost.

Here's the problem. Generally, we don't understand IT's cost. Many CIOs cannot answer the following simple questions.

What are our five highest-cost applications -- and what does each really cost?

While most of us worry about IT's strategic impact (does IT really matter?), events have turned again to require that we worry about IT's cost. There's little doubt that IT does matter in many industries. However, when times get tough, management's attention returns to the issue of cost.

Here's the problem. Generally, we don't understand IT's cost. Many CIOs cannot answer the following simple questions.

What are our five highest-cost applications -- and what does each really cost?

So much emphasis has been placed on negotiation in outsourcing contracts that an inexperienced person could believe it is the pinnacle of the outsourcing lifecycle and involves the greatest amount of work and the greatest risk of signing a bad contract. If it does become the pinnacle, then something has gone seriously wrong in an earlier stage.1

So much emphasis has been placed on negotiation in outsourcing contracts that an inexperienced person could believe it is the pinnacle of the outsourcing lifecycle and involves the greatest amount of work and the greatest risk of signing a bad contract. If it does become the pinnacle, then something has gone seriously wrong in an earlier stage.1

When I teach architecture courses, one of the things that I try to convey to the class is the different levels of complexity/interconnectedness/theory that exist within architecture. It is not the goal of the course to make people experts at metamodels, but it is important for an architect to understand that architecture is founded on architecture of its own.

In December, I discussed several trends and developments in "mobile BI" -- the ability to view and interact with performance-related information on mobile devices like smartphones and PDAs (see "Business Performance Management and Mobile BI," 26 December 2007).

What Is Personal Agility? Personal agility has two major components, the first of which is "personal responsibility." Let's start there.

One of the great things about working with Cutter Consortium is that I get to work with a lot of really smart people. One of those people is Mike Rosen, who is the Enterprise Architecture Practice Director for Cutter as well as a Senior Consultant.

collaboration = innovation

collaboration = innovation

Last November, I said that Oracle would more than likely end up buying BEA Systems (see "Oracle and BEA: Fusion Confusion or Beneficial to End-User Organizations?" 14 November 2007). I added that my initial reaction to this possible acquisition was that it would be good for Oracle.

In my previous Advisor ("The Architecture of the Customer Experience, Part 1," 2 January 2008), I produced the beginnings of an ontology that is useful for thinking about how customers interact with firms.

Many IT managers are seeking to reliably forecast and estimate projects.

Last week, Sun Microsystems announced it would buy leading open source database developer MySQL for approximately US $1 billion. This deal did not receive as much attention as it should have because it happened at the same time Oracle announced it would buy BEA Systems. Nevertheless, it is important.

Spend an hour with Michael Mah and benefit from Michael's analysis of these five organizations' productivity gains using Agile development.

NOTE: Viewing the Webinar requires the use of Adobe Flash Player 8 or higher (Adobe Flash Player 9 or higher for Linux and Solaris) (download the player from the Adobe Web site).

Spend an hour with Michael Mah and benefit from Michael's analysis of these five organizations' productivity gains using Agile development.

As more organizations face transitions to agile methods and those transitions involve larger segments of those organizations, the need for transition or transformation strategies increases.

If you get a chance, you ought to tune in to Cutter Senior Consultant Michael Mah's Cutter Webinar titled "Case Study: The Impact of Agile on Productivity at Five Companies." [This morning, January 17, at 11:30 EST -- you can still register now or watch the recording at a later date.] I've been working with

As Sarbanes-Oxley commands management awareness and efficacy, organizations are looking for systems that will make sure they are working in the best interests of their shareholders. One system that is taking hold both in the private and public sector (after more than 40 years of application) is the earned value management system (EVMS).

As Sarbanes-Oxley commands management awareness and efficacy, organizations are looking for systems that will make sure they are working in the best interests of their shareholders. One system that is taking hold both in the private and public sector (after more than 40 years of application) is the earned value management system (EVMS).