Why are seminars on measuring IT performance so well attended but implementation of performance management programs so rare? Could it be that we are afraid to manage IT like a business? Tune in next month as we look IT performance management full in the face — and live to tell the tale. Our expert authors will show you how to design a dashboard with leading indicators that help you take action.

As the IT applications development business grows, the frequency of projects requiring multiple teams for their execution will also grow. In fact, with the added need for globalization affecting nearly every application, most, if not all, IT development projects will involve more than one team.

The challenge facing today's project manager is how to organize a number of independent teams with potentially disparate cultures into a cohesive unit. Each team has its own set of tools, templates, and processes, which it claims are the best. Should the project manager let each team do its own thing, or is some integration of tools, templates, and processes needed? The temptation will be to let each team act on its own with some integrating task at the end to "glue" everything together.

In 1990, Motorola's cellular infrastructure group took a step up the quality ladder. The managers of its newly reorganized division decided that the way to improve their cellular products was to get customers more involved in the development process. One of the most noticeable signs of this decision was the revolutionary practice of inviting customers to be present at the organization's quality reviews.

In 2002, Cutter Consortium conducted its first comprehensive survey of the state of risk management practice in the IT community [2].

In 2002, Cutter Consortium conducted its first comprehensive survey of the state of risk management practice in the IT community [1]. The survey found that some 86% of organizations responding claimed they were practicing risk management, and 51% of those were practicing it in a disciplined, formal manner. From reports in general software literature, surveys on risk management and its relationship to capturing lessons learned, anecdotal experience, and so on, the practice of risk management seems to have grown both generally and in formality over the past four years.

Writing software is hard. Depending on your perspective, this can be a good thing or a bad thing. I once had a colleague tell me that he was glad that writing software is hard because if it wasn't hard, then anybody could do it, and if anybody could do it, he would not get paid as well. If you are on the management side of the equation, however, then the fact that writing software is hard is not such a good thing, because that means that getting software written can be expensive.

There are two parallel trends in the field of IT that try to address the expense associated with developing quality software. The first is the adoption of various agile software development methodologies, such as Extreme Programming (XP) and Scrum, and the second is the trend to outsource software development offshore to countries where wages are significantly less than in the US.

Organizational matters

Savvy organizations -- including those that provide emergency assistance after a major crisis and those that may be victims of such crises -- are beginning to establish the appropriate technological infrastructure and social relationships necessary to create "hastily formed networks" (HFNs) more quickly and effectively.

Organizational matters

Savvy organizations -- including those that provide emergency assistance after a major crisis and those that may be victims of such crises -- are beginning to establish the appropriate technological infrastructure and social relationships necessary to create "hastily formed networks" (HFNs) more quickly and effectively.

Organizational matters

Savvy organizations -- including those that provide emergency assistance after a major crisis and those that may be victims of such crises -- are beginning to establish the appropriate technological infrastructure and social relationships necessary to create "hastily formed networks" (HFNs) more quickly and effectively.

My last two Trends Advisors in this series (see "Real Enterprise Data Architecture, Parts 1 and 2," 23 February and 9 March 2006) have focused on what I refer to as real enterprise data architecture, which in enterprise architecture terms is equivalent to distinguishing the forests from the trees in the enterprise data space.

Increasingly, governance risk is becoming the "fifth risk" that corporations must include in their enterprise risk management (ERM) portfolio that already includes strategic, operational, financial, and insurable risks. The move to couple risk management and governance can be seen clearly in the COSO Enterprise Risk Management -- Integrated Framework [1].

Increasingly, governance risk is becoming the "fifth risk" that corporations must include in their enterprise risk management (ERM) portfolio that already includes strategic, operational, financial, and insurable risks. The move to couple risk management and governance can be seen clearly in the COSO Enterprise Risk Management -- Integrated Framework [1].

Shortly after reading Agile Project Management Practice Director Jim Highsmith's recent Advisor about whether iterations must be short to be agile ("Agile Isn't Short Iterations," 23 February 2006), I watched a video with my family called "The Wright Stuff" about the Wright brothers' clearly agile project leadership in development of the flying machine (www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/wright/).

By now you have most likely heard of or been exposed to the lo-tech agile practice of using 3x5 cards to capture user stories, plan development, and track an agile project. Needless to say, this technique has terrified more than a few development managers and leaders and in many cases the strengths associated with agile development have been thrown out along with the "crazy" idea of using index cards for requirements.

Managing core competencies is much more difficult than simply outsourcing those areas that have proved troublesome to manage. Managing core competencies involves taking a very long view of an enterprise's strategic interests, especially its key knowledge areas. Nowhere is that more in play than in the area of IT.

Managing core competencies is much more difficult than simply outsourcing those areas that have proved troublesome to manage. Managing core competencies involves taking a very long view of an enterprise's strategic interests, especially its key knowledge areas. Nowhere is that more in play than in the area of IT.

Managing core competencies is much more difficult than simply outsourcing those areas that have proved troublesome to manage. Managing core competencies involves taking a very long view of an enterprise's strategic interests, especially its key knowledge areas. Nowhere is that more in play than in the area of IT.

In my last Advisor ("EA Maturity Models," 15 March 2006), I introduced a variety of different models that are being used to evaluate enterprise architecture programs. Just like many EA programs that unfortunately go down the "EA for EA sake" path, we often take a "maturity for maturity sake" approach, forgetting that the maturity model is there for a purpose.

In our last Advisor, we began a discussion of the benefits of employing properly crafted dashboards to provide transparency into every aspect of IT's business (see "Dashboards Are Critical for IT Management -- A Lot of Dashboards, Part 1," 22 March 2006). "Manage IT like a business" is a recent mantra. Dashboards provide the means.

At last Windows Vista (the operating system formerly known as Longhorn) has reached beta, and Microsoft is confident that the client version will enter production by the end of 2006. However, the server (which for some reason is still called Longhorn) will not be generally available until 2007.

Last week, Oracle introduced Oracle BI Suite. This offering -- or rather, line of different offerings -- is significant because it blends Oracle's own BI technology (e.g., Oracle Discover, Oracle Reports, OLAP) with Siebel's BI and analytics technology, which Oracle gained when it acquired Siebel Systems last year.

Reputation is a major corporate asset that is often valued much more than the tangible assets of the corporation itself. Buying a corporation's reputation is as important a consideration as buying its assets. When Phillip Morris bought Kraft Foods for US $13.1 billion, it wanted Kraft's reputation and was willing to pay four times Kraft's physical assets to get it.

Reputation is a major corporate asset that is often valued much more than the tangible assets of the corporation itself. Buying a corporation's reputation is as important a consideration as buying its assets. When Phillip Morris bought Kraft Foods for US $13.1 billion, it wanted Kraft's reputation and was willing to pay four times Kraft's physical assets to get it.