In my last Trends Advisor (see "Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security," 26 April 2007), I talked about privacy, confidentiality, and security and how easy it was for me to find an old friend with the help of Google. Since that column, Google has announced an agreement to access the public records of four large US states.

In my last Trends Advisor (see "Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security," 26 April 2007), I talked about privacy, confidentiality, and security and how easy it was for me to find an old friend with the help of Google. Since that column, Google has announced an agreement to access the public records of four large US states.

In my last Trends Advisor (see "Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security," 26 April 2007), I talked about privacy, confidentiality, and security and how easy it was for me to find an old friend with the help of Google. Since that column, Google has announced an agreement to access the public records of four large US states.

In my last Advisor ("Part 9: The Power of a Clear and Elevating Goal," 22 March 2007), I told you that research consistently shows that very high-performing teams have a clear and elevating goal that energizes everyone on the team; provides crystal-clear direction, thus replacing the need for supervision, since the people

In this second of a two-part analysis (see "Taking the Slow Trip to Monte Carlo," 19 April 2007), Carl Pritchard looks at the implications of using the Monte Carlo tools on a small and larger scale and ultimately making Monte Carlo part of the routine.

In this second of a two-part analysis (see "Taking the Slow Trip to Monte Carlo," 19 April 2007), Carl Pritchard looks at the implications of using the Monte Carlo tools on a small and larger scale and ultimately making Monte Carlo part of the routine.

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) initiatives have been evolving rapidly in the industry over the past year or so. During this period, most practitioners and their organizations have agreed upon one thing: SOA has to be business driven. I strongly believe that an SOA architect plays a significant role in the success of the initiative his or her company is pursuing.

A rather fantastic news story broke about a week ago in the Wall Street Journal, detailing the travails of a whistleblower who exposed a massive IT project run amok at Kaiser Permanente.1 The story focuses on the drama unfolding between the whistleblower and senior management. The even larger story from my perspective is a sadder, more prophetic and familiar one: how an organization can squander its wealth when even the most rudimentary precepts of sound IT management are ignored.

A rather fantastic news story broke about a week ago in the Wall Street Journal, detailing the travails of a whistleblower who exposed a massive IT project run amok at Kaiser Permanente.1 The story focuses on the drama unfolding between the whistleblower and senior management. The even larger story from my perspective is a sadder, more prophetic and familiar one: how an organization can squander its wealth when even the most rudimentary precepts of sound IT management are ignored.

The third building block in our model of architecting outsourcing relationships -- strategize -- is where we conduct the planning that enables objective and knowledgeable decisions throughout the remainder of the lifecycle. This building block is crucial to the effective navigation of the entire outsourcing lifecycle.

The third building block in our model of architecting outsourcing relationships -- strategize -- is where we conduct the planning that enables objective and knowledgeable decisions throughout the remainder of the lifecycle. This building block is crucial to the effective navigation of the entire outsourcing lifecycle.

In the 8 September 2006 issue of MSNBC Newsweek, journalist Andrew Romano tells us something of his relationship (close but not huggy) with his sister:

Last week, I wrote about Business Objects buying business performance management vendor Cartesis S.A. in response to Oracle's acquisition of Hyperion Solutions in February (see "Business Performance Management Full Speed Ahead -- Business Objects Buys Cartesis," 1 May 2007).

In Part 1 of this article series (see "Easy As Implementing a Package ... Part 1," 1 March 2007), I described the productivity characteristics of large IT package implementations, including enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications.

In Part 1 of this article series (see "Easy As Implementing a Package ... Part 1," 1 March 2007), I described the productivity characteristics of large IT package implementations, including enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications.

Recently, I saw an interesting opening slide in a presentation made by a German IT consulting company. To demonstrate the company's slogan, "Knowing upfront what comes out in the end," the slide showed an ancient cave painting with a bunch of Stone Age hunters fleeing from an attacking saber-toothed tiger.

I was looking for a catchy phrase I could use to quickly and simply articulate how we should think about Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance, particularly now that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) have signaled their intents with the simplified Accounting Standard 5 (AS5).

I was looking for a catchy phrase I could use to quickly and simply articulate how we should think about Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance, particularly now that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) have signaled their intents with the simplified Accounting Standard 5 (AS5).

You've probably been aware for some time that Amazon.com has made its catalog available online via Web services. Typically, when a Web site references a book and provides details about it, the information is obtained using one of Amazon's Web services. This has worked well for both Amazon and the users of the services.

The project management office, or PMO, is a concept that has been around for a half-dozen years or so, has proven useful in many instances, and is ubiquitous in medium- and large-sized IS departments.

Successful offshore initiatives rely heavily on the initiative teams and executives involved. A common topic of discussion surrounding these efforts is the culture of offshore vendors and how cultural differences affect collaboration in a global work environment.

Successful offshore initiatives rely heavily on the initiative teams and executives involved. A common topic of discussion surrounding these efforts is the culture of offshore vendors and how cultural differences affect collaboration in a global work environment.

(MP3 recording, 75 minutes, 17.7 MB)

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(PDF, 1.2 MB)

Paul Robertson demonstrates the art of leadership and reveals how you can learn to enjoy a leadership process that harnesses uncertainty to stimulate the vital creative energy your organization needs to be innovative and remain competitive. You'll also discover new cognitive and emotional markers that can make the difference between leadership success and failure.

The first step in getting smart about outsourcing is to gather insight. The goal of this appraisal is to gather intelligence from those who have preceded your organization and to determine the potential implications for you. It is wise to cast your net wide across diverse sources when gathering knowledge.