In this series of Advisors, we're examining the use of schedules as an approach to contract design that enables you to modularly construct contracts; you only use the schedules you need in any given circumstance. This approach also allows for third parties that may need to sign the schedules to have only the information they require.

In this series of Advisors, we're examining the use of schedules as an approach to contract design that enables you to modularly construct contracts; you only use the schedules you need in any given circumstance. This approach also allows for third parties that may need to sign the schedules to have only the information they require.

The title of this article sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? But it is becoming a reality in some countries in the EU: research, development, and innovation (RDI) standards defined for innovation management systems and innovation projects {1}. The question is: will an RDI certification stimulate and support organizations in achieving systematic and sustained innovation? Or will the routines that they promote be another obstacle to innovation if bureaucratic and "audit-type" controls are introduced?

The title of this article sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? But it is becoming a reality in some countries in the EU: research, development, and innovation (RDI) standards defined for innovation management systems and innovation projects {1}. The question is: will an RDI certification stimulate and support organizations in achieving systematic and sustained innovation? Or will the routines that they promote be another obstacle to innovation if bureaucratic and "audit-type" controls are introduced?

It is amazing to think that the QWERTY keyboard layout invented by Christopher Latham Sholes to minimize jamming of manual typewriter keys is now almost 140 years old. It is almost as amazing to realize that the familiar mouse-and-windows GUI is nearly 25 years old and that the Mosaic-inspired Web browser interface is roughly 15 years old.

In January, I said that I believed that grid computing represents the future of enterprise computing (see "What About Grid Computing?" 9 January 2007).

Summer time is when my mind seems to require that I take some time off from thinking about close-in problems and take a really long view. You have to understand that being a realistic futurist is hard work.

Summer time is when my mind seems to require that I take some time off from thinking about close-in problems and take a really long view. You have to understand that being a realistic futurist is hard work.

During several recent interviews with candidates applying for a project manager position in our company, I ran across a gross misconception about agile software development processes that, in my opinion, requires some explanation.

The requirement for really good security -- where that exists, which is by no means everywhere -- hones right in on the Achilles' heel of governance. After all, what is governance? A set of rules, policies, or principles designed to steer employees in the desired direction: toward right behavior and away from wrong behavior.

The requirement for really good security -- where that exists, which is by no means everywhere -- hones right in on the Achilles' heel of governance. After all, what is governance? A set of rules, policies, or principles designed to steer employees in the desired direction: toward right behavior and away from wrong behavior.

I know that none of you really want to be here, so I'll try to keep this as short as possible. We shouldn't be more than two ... two-and-a-half hours ... getting through this risk stuff, and if we all just push through, it shouldn't be too painful.

BI proponents -- including vendors, analysts, and consultants (myself included) -- have pushed the idea of ubiquitous BI, or "BI for the masses," for years. To date, however, most companies have found the widespread dissemination of BI practices to their more rank-and-file workers an elusive goal.

Business process models are one of the primary languages of the modern enterprise. Every business professional/manager and every IT professional/manager needs to understand business processes and business process modeling.

Throughout large enterprises everywhere, there is an increased interest in business process management. Indeed, a number of the world's leading business theorists suggest that highly integrated business processes are one of the best ways for organizations to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.

It's safe to say that our invention --> innovation --> commercialization process is far from perfect. In fact, there are too many examples of (1) how the invention --> innovation --> commercialization value chain has betrayed those who have invented new digital technology; and (2) how the values of those inventions were actually diluted across the segments of the value chain. What comes to mind? How about the many technology inventions that came from Xerox PARC that were commercialized by others?

It's safe to say that our invention --> innovation --> commercialization process is far from perfect. In fact, there are too many examples of (1) how the invention --> innovation --> commercialization value chain has betrayed those who have invented new digital technology; and (2) how the values of those inventions were actually diluted across the segments of the value chain. What comes to mind? How about the many technology inventions that came from Xerox PARC that were commercialized by others?

Service-oriented architectures (SOAs) are gaining momentum because they are perceived as the key for enterprises to achieve business agility, improved quality of service, quicker time to market, and lower total cost of ownership. While an SOA has the potential to deliver significant benefits to the business, those benefits do not come automatically.

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) has the potential to play a significant role in aligning business and IT and to deliver key benefits to the business. However, those benefits do not come automatically. The architecture needs to be defined following sound SOA guidelines, and the services must be designed according to service-oriented analysis and design (SOAD) principles, with loose coupling being one of the most important principles.

Agile software development has emerged as a viable option for enhancing speed of delivery and customer satisfaction in systems development projects. With the viability of Agile approaches now beyond suspicion, we at CBR thought an issue on how to make the Agile approach stick in your organization would provide the most ROR (return on reading).

A true story: In a business landscape long ago and far away, I worked for a company1 that had multiyear software release cycles typical of the time. As we approached the exciting end of a major release of a "shrink-wrap" application, the conversation turned toward the next release. The decision was made that it was time to replace the application with a revolutionary start-from-scratch version. As I left for the birth of my first child, a battle over which of three operating systems to support first was beginning to rage.

From 1998-2000, I led what I can now identify as an Agile transformation of a software product company. Within a short time after my departure, the company was acquired, and the new management team succeeded in turning back the hands on the cultural clock to our pre-Agile days. The inevitable resulted. The company lost touch with the market. Product cycles lengthened, quality deteriorated, morale diminished, and revenue declined. Six years after I left the company, I was asked to come back as a consultant to attempt to restore the Agile "magic" (see the sidebar "Inspired by Failure").

This issue of CBR is devoted to what can no longer be qualified as an emerging trend: Agile software development. It has been over 10 years since the crystallization of the Agile principles, and many of our own respondents -- about half -- have already had some experience with it. Thus, we thought an issue on consolidating Agile efforts in your organizations -- or as we call it, making Agility stick -- would be beneficial to you.

This survey investigated the transition to Agile software development processes and their effect on project outcomes. Close to half (41%) of the 121 responding organizations have more than 1,000 employees, 27% have between 100 and 1,000 employees, and the remainder have 100 or fewer employees. Twenty-three percent of responding organizations have annual revenues of over US $1 billion, 19% have annual revenues between $100 million and $1 billion, another 22% have annual revenues between $10 million and $100 million, and the remaining 36% have annual revenues of under $10 million.

There is a great deal going on in information management today. In theory, more information should mean more intelligence. But this isn't necessarily the case.