Everything has been said and written about the role of pressure in software development; there's no need to reiterate that all over again. At least, that's what I thought until recently, when an executive called me in for one of those "let's talk frankly" chats. She had hired me to help her deal with the organization's disastrous bug rate, which had started to threaten its market position.

The software-as-a-service (SaaS) model really began to shake up the corporate computing world in 2006.

The software-as-a-service (SaaS) model really began to shake up the corporate computing world in 2006.

In the entire history of the buying and selling of consumers' personal information, I can't think of one scenario in which the consumer regularly took part in the transaction and thereby profited by it. In this billion-dollar marketplace, the consumer has been treated as an externality; an obstacle to overcome in the category-four-rapids flow of money between buyer and seller. Perhaps until now.

In the entire history of the buying and selling of consumers' personal information, I can't think of one scenario in which the consumer regularly took part in the transaction and thereby profited by it. In this billion-dollar marketplace, the consumer has been treated as an externality; an obstacle to overcome in the category-four-rapids flow of money between buyer and seller. Perhaps until now.

When I talk to people about agile project management and development, one of the things I hear consistently about is the lack of good release planning. Teams seem caught up in iteration-at-a-time plus backlog building and not planning for an entire release or project.

Last week, a couple of enterprise reputation risks items that I have previously written about hit the news once again.

Last week, a couple of enterprise reputation risks items that I have previously written about hit the news once again.

Last week, a couple of enterprise reputation risks items that I have previously written about hit the news once again.

I've had the opportunity to work with architects in a fair number of companies in diverse industries. Whether we were architecting individual applications or grappling with the complexities of an enterprise, the goal has always been to tease out the salient aspects of a problem and organize them in a way that speaks to a robust and flexible solution.

I have been involved with the IT industry for more than 20 years. I cut my teeth in the US Air Force programming big iron, using punch cards and an occasional turn at the green CRT. Over the years, I have seen many innovations in hardware and software -- from advanced programming languages and development environments to larger and larger amounts of memory fitting in smaller and smaller spaces.

In last week's Advisor (see "Even in a Flat World, Quality and Schedule Matter," 25 July 2007), we looked at The World Is Flat author Thomas Friedman's description of how a "connected" world has made it possible to do al

In last week's Advisor (see "Even in a Flat World, Quality and Schedule Matter," 25 July 2007), we looked at The World Is Flat author Thomas Friedman's description of how a "connected" world has made it possible to do al

I recently spoke to a Wharton School audience about the management of business technology, and I was asked to summarize some thoughts about how to optimize the business technology relationship. I came up with the following list of 33 recommendations:

Profile your technology spending.

Agile architecture teaches us that while effective enterprise architecture (EA) needs to have a broad perspective, it also must have a focused contribution. There is no more powerful contribution than providing the data that is ultimately used to make specific decisions in support of the goal of "aligning IT and business." This is the first in a two-part series aimed at making this goal less abstract. While this report focuses on alignment of individual systems to their business goals, Part II will focus on alignment of the EA program as a whole, as a partner in a set of business functions.

This month's Cutter Benchmark Review is the second in our annual series on IT budgets and the IT budgeting process. The budgeting process is one of critical importance to IT and business professionals in our subscriber base. This is perhaps even more important today as we continue to see a recovery in IT spending as well as the shifting of priorities away from a narrow focus on cost cutting and efficiency (a trend that we picked up in last year's data).

This month's Cutter Benchmark Review is the second in our annual series on IT budgets and the IT budgeting process. The budgeting process is one of critical importance to IT and business professionals in our subscriber base. This is perhaps even more important today as we continue to see a recovery in IT spending as well as the shifting of priorities away from a narrow focus on cost cutting and efficiency (a trend that we picked up in last year's data).

This month's Cutter Benchmark Review is the second in our annual series on IT budgets and the IT budgeting process. The budgeting process is one of critical importance to IT and business professionals in our subscriber base. This is perhaps even more important today as we continue to see a recovery in IT spending as well as the shifting of priorities away from a narrow focus on cost cutting and efficiency (a trend that we picked up in last year's data).

This month's Cutter Benchmark Review is the second in our annual series on IT budgets and the IT budgeting process. The budgeting process is one of critical importance to IT and business professionals in our subscriber base. This is perhaps even more important today as we continue to see a recovery in IT spending as well as the shifting of priorities away from a narrow focus on cost cutting and efficiency (a trend that we picked up in last year's data).

This month's Cutter Benchmark Review is the second in our annual series on IT budgets and the IT budgeting process. The budgeting process is one of critical importance to IT and business professionals in our subscriber base. This is perhaps even more important today as we continue to see a recovery in IT spending as well as the shifting of priorities away from a narrow focus on cost cutting and efficiency (a trend that we picked up in last year's data).

The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

-- Theodore Hook (English author)

The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

-- Theodore Hook (English author)