In the last three years, we've witnessed the rapid emergence of Web 2.0 in various forms -- blogs, wikis, social networks, Web mashups, and RSS feeds -- and many individuals and enterprises have embraced it.

In the last three years, we've witnessed the rapid emergence of Web 2.0 in various forms -- blogs, wikis, social networks, Web mashups, and RSS feeds -- and many individuals and enterprises have embraced it.

Over the past few years, business rules management systems (BRMS) have generated an increasing amount of attention because of their ability to add automated decision-making capabilities to applications in such domains as personalization, marketing, compliance, fraud, and business process management (BPM), to name a few.

As a practitioner of agile software development, I've had to participate in and lead collaborative work sessions. People remark on the strong feeling of collaboration during those meetings and the speed at which we get results. Other skilled facilitators manage the same. People ask my colleagues and me how we achieve these effects and whether it can be learned. With this article, I hope to show how we achieve these results, and that it can, in fact, be learned.

Another 3 am "go live" meeting.

Rain gushes down the wide, conference room windows. Occasional flashes of lightning cut across the rolling black sky, and thunder rattles the windowpanes.

Another 3 am meeting.

Another major issue.

Another last-minute decision to scrap the release.

The storm cannot possibly darken the mood any further. If you could broadcast the thoughts of those sitting around the conference room table, they would probably sound something like this:

Although the unavoidable tension between quality of production and speed to market is centuries old, we still treat the problem of quality in rapid software development as a new one. If we examine historical lessons, we can figure out how to update them to create an innovative and modern approach to quality assurance (QA) within a development organization.

In 1987, I visited an interesting young company in California's Silicon Valley that was going to revolutionize the way software projects are managed and developed.

There are vastly different ways in which internal service provision (insourcing) and market provision of services (outsourcing) operate. Depending on the degree of outsourcing performed in an organization, there can be a profound change in strategic and operational mechanisms.

There are vastly different ways in which internal service provision (insourcing) and market provision of services (outsourcing) operate. Depending on the degree of outsourcing performed in an organization, there can be a profound change in strategic and operational mechanisms.

There are vastly different ways in which internal service provision (insourcing) and market provision of services (outsourcing) operate. Depending on the degree of outsourcing performed in an organization, there can be a profound change in strategic and operational mechanisms.

There are vastly different ways in which internal service provision (insourcing) and market provision of services (outsourcing) operate. Depending on the degree of outsourcing performed in an organization, there can be a profound change in strategic and operational mechanisms.

There are vastly different ways in which internal service provision (insourcing) and market provision of services (outsourcing) operate. Depending on the degree of outsourcing performed in an organization, there can be a profound change in strategic and operational mechanisms.

There are vastly different ways in which internal service provision (insourcing) and market provision of services (outsourcing) operate. Depending on the degree of outsourcing performed in an organization, there can be a profound change in strategic and operational mechanisms.

The early days of the Internet were characterized by a lot of envelope-pushing. Like the opening day of the Oklahoma land rush in the American West, individuals and companies rushed to claim a chunk of cyberspace without necessarily knowing whether that chunk would yield gold or simply lumps of coal.

The early days of the Internet were characterized by a lot of envelope-pushing. Like the opening day of the Oklahoma land rush in the American West, individuals and companies rushed to claim a chunk of cyberspace without necessarily knowing whether that chunk would yield gold or simply lumps of coal.

The early days of the Internet were characterized by a lot of envelope-pushing. Like the opening day of the Oklahoma land rush in the American West, individuals and companies rushed to claim a chunk of cyberspace without necessarily knowing whether that chunk would yield gold or simply lumps of coal.

Organizational partnering for complementary services is often very beneficial. These arrangements allow organizations to take advantage of another's expertise, while allowing the outsourced organization to reap the benefits of the partner's core competencies. Studies have shown that being all things to all people isn't effective for long-term growth. Partnerships offer a way to gain competitive advantage by utilizing the talents of other organizations.

Organizational partnering for complementary services is often very beneficial. These arrangements allow organizations to take advantage of another's expertise, while allowing the outsourced organization to reap the benefits of the partner's core competencies. Studies have shown that being all things to all people isn't effective for long-term growth. Partnerships offer a way to gain competitive advantage by utilizing the talents of other organizations.

Government

Changes in federal discovery rules are affecting the IT/legal partnership and creating new areas of business risk.

Government

Changes in federal discovery rules are affecting the IT/legal partnership and creating new areas of business risk.

Government

Changes in federal discovery rules are affecting the IT/legal partnership and creating new areas of business risk.

Web 2.0 is one of the most talked-about emerging technologies today, and it is creating quite a splash as it stretches the boundaries of what the traditional Web can do. In the absence of any industry consensus, Web 2.0 can best be explained as an open, collaborative, and participatory model of the Web for creating an enriched end-user experience and enhanced online social collaboration.

Web 2.0 is one of the most talked-about emerging technologies today, and it is creating quite a splash as it stretches the boundaries of what the traditional Web can do. In the absence of any industry consensus, Web 2.0 can best be explained as an open, collaborative, and participatory model of the Web for creating an enriched end-user experience and enhanced online social collaboration.

Web 2.0 is one of the most talked-about emerging technologies today, and it is creating quite a splash as it stretches the boundaries of what the traditional Web can do. In the absence of any industry consensus, Web 2.0 can best be explained as an open, collaborative, and participatory model of the Web for creating an enriched end-user experience and enhanced online social collaboration.

In enterprise architecture, we're constantly challenged to overcome perceptions that we're in an "ivory tower" or being impractical or even irrelevant. In response, we should be looking for opportunities to provide value within the enterprise. Luckily, we're well suited with skills and well positioned organizationally to do so if we search out the right opportunities.