At the beginning of the year, I said that I doubted that the US Congress would get around to enacting any sort of new data breach regulations because it would simply be too preoccupied with trying to come up with a solution to the disastrous situation in Iraq (see "BI Trends and Developments to Watch for In 2007," 2 January 2007). But n

Recently, I was reviewing an article about a new partnership between Apple and Nike. The partnership had to do with a newly designed Nike running shoe that hooks up with the Apple Nano iPod. The ad on the iPod Web site goes like this:

Recently, I was reviewing an article about a new partnership between Apple and Nike. The partnership had to do with a newly designed Nike running shoe that hooks up with the Apple Nano iPod. The ad on the iPod Web site goes like this:

Recently, I was reviewing an article about a new partnership between Apple and Nike. The partnership had to do with a newly designed Nike running shoe that hooks up with the Apple Nano iPod. The ad on the iPod Web site goes like this:

There are moments in a consultant's life when you find that even your worst assumptions are way too optimistic to match reality. I had such an experience recently while preparing for a retrospective.

The northeastern US recently was pelted by record snowfalls, crushing ice storms, and bitter cold. In Wellington, New Zealand, it was a comfortable (but drizzly) 62 degrees Farenheit, while it was 10 degrees in New York City. No doubt the folks in New Zealand might have shrugged their shoulders when they heard about the plight of New Englanders and those in upstate New York.

The northeastern US recently was pelted by record snowfalls, crushing ice storms, and bitter cold. In Wellington, New Zealand, it was a comfortable (but drizzly) 62 degrees Farenheit, while it was 10 degrees in New York City. No doubt the folks in New Zealand might have shrugged their shoulders when they heard about the plight of New Englanders and those in upstate New York.

More respondents are considering outsourcing some work this year than last, according to those surveyed for the January 2007 issue of the Cutter Benchmark Review . While the percentages of development haven't changed from year to year, we do see a sizable decrease in outsourcing of maintenance (67% to 61%) and help desk (45% to 38%). Last year, 80% of respondents indicated that they were not likely to consider backsourcing, while this year showed a sizable drop in this response (51%).

More respondents are considering outsourcing some work this year than last, according to those surveyed for the January 2007 issue of the Cutter Benchmark Review . While the percentages of development haven't changed from year to year, we do see a sizable decrease in outsourcing of maintenance (67% to 61%) and help desk (45% to 38%). Last year, 80% of respondents indicated that they were not likely to consider backsourcing, while this year showed a sizable drop in this response (51%).

A key market driver that is helping to accelerate the use of business rules management systems (BRMSs) in corporate IT departments is the embedding of the technology by enterprise software vendors in their various offerings.

The notion of business architecture -- or at least the use of it -- has been evolving rapidly only over the past few years, whereas the concepts that make up the foundation of that business architecture have been around for awhile.

User participation is beneficial for software projects and increases the likelihood of success. Yet, we take it for granted that some form of participation is necessary on all projects. There are different ways in which users can participate in an IS project.

Last year, several of the leading BI vendors -- starting with IBI and Cognos, followed by Microstrategy and Business Objects -- introduced new products that combine the reporting and analysis capabilities of BI tools with the ease of use of familiar search engines.

Over the past few months, I've asked a number of CIOs and CTOs whether, if they had a technology do-over, they would still install their enterprise applications. Not one of them said they would. Why not? Because it took each of them years to get the software to work and, in some cases, the projects cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Over the past few months, I've asked a number of CIOs and CTOs whether, if they had a technology do-over, they would still install their enterprise applications. Not one of them said they would. Why not? Because it took each of them years to get the software to work and, in some cases, the projects cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Over the past few months, I've asked a number of CIOs and CTOs whether, if they had a technology do-over, they would still install their enterprise applications. Not one of them said they would. Why not? Because it took each of them years to get the software to work and, in some cases, the projects cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Refactoring and automated testing can improve your efficiency, whether your organization uses agile or traditional development methods. In this on-demand webinar, Cutter Senior Consultant Jens Coldewey leads you through a simple simulation that demonstrates and compares the results that can be achieved from implementing refactoring and automated testing practices in a typical project setting.

In my last Advisor (see "A Recipe for Success," 8 February 2007), I introduced David Anderson's recipe for success: focus on quality, reduce work-in-progress, balance capacity against demand, prioritize.

When you are an organization that has been around for 142 years, it can be assumed that you know how to manage risk. When you haven't issued a profit warning ever in those 142 years, it can be assumed you know how to manage risk very well indeed. When you unexpectedly issue one, like the British bank HSBC did, eyebrows go way up.

When you are an organization that has been around for 142 years, it can be assumed that you know how to manage risk. When you haven't issued a profit warning ever in those 142 years, it can be assumed you know how to manage risk very well indeed. When you unexpectedly issue one, like the British bank HSBC did, eyebrows go way up.

Refactoring and automated testing can improve your efficiency, whether your organization uses agile or traditional development methods. In this on-demand webinar, Cutter Senior Consultant Jens Coldewey leads you through a simple simulation that demonstrates and compares the results that can be achieved from implementing refactoring and automated testing practices in a typical project setting.

In the first two Executive Updates (Vol. 9, No. 24; Vol. 10, No. 2) of this three-part series, I explained why many companies are implementing the best practices service model IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and described a case study of its implementation at one company.

A service-oriented architecture (SOA) strives to provide an information infrastructure that is highly responsive to rapidly changing business requirements, including new competition, mergers, acquisitions, business models, and regulatory requirements. SOA has shown great promise in reaching these goals and is rapidly gaining widespread interest and acceptance.

This is the first in a three-part series of Executive Updates on data management and analysis.

Over the last several years, one of the most common questions I've been asked is how to handle the fact that there are too many projects and too few people.