As if our current buzzwords had already run their course, or we didn't have enough to last us, a new buzzword has hit the enterprise architecture and application scene. "Applistructure" describes the latest trend to combine enterprise business applications with enterprise infrastructure.

The Cutter Business Technology Council points out that organizations typically change their business focus (and hence their core competencies) over time [1]. The problem is that many decisions to outsource business processes (or parts of those processes) are often made with little thought to what is actually meant by core competency in the context of a particular organization.

Organizational politics are, however, a fact of corporate life. Organizations, being made up of people, are essentially political institutions.

Last week's service interruption at on-demand customer relationship management (CRM) provider Salesforce.com illustrates the risk that companies assume when they choose to outsource their CRM applications; that hosted applications have all the downtime and security risks of remotely located and managed systems.

Last week's service interruption at on-demand customer relationship management (CRM) provider Salesforce.com illustrates the risk that companies assume when they choose to outsource their CRM applications; that hosted applications have all the downtime and security risks of remotely located and managed systems.

There is a great deal of advice available on strategies for implementing new technology and for new methodologies for project management, but effective advice is relatively rare for those many sites with stranded investments in legacy IT systems and their respective support organizations. We see some or all of the following issues again and again in organizations caught in a stranded investment cost trap:

Aging software and hardware with excessive maintenance costs

In a recent Newsweek article about Google (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10296177/site/newsweek/), Eric Schmidt outlined Google's Ten Golden Rules for getting the most out of knowledge workers. Since agile development is really more about mindset and philosophy than specific practices, I found it interesting to analyze Google's rules from an agile perspective.

The service component architecture (SCA) is a new specification created by a group of enterprise software vendors that includes IBM, BEA Systems, Oracle, SAP AG, Siebel Systems, Sybase, and Iona Technologies. Although still under development, SCA holds the promise of simplifying application development within the service-oriented architecture (SOA) model.

I was recently working on a major piece of literature, hoping to sell it before the Christmas bills arrive. In the course of my research, I accidentally discovered a peculiarity that annoyed, amused, and inspired me.

In an article "Rankings of Full Time Occupations, By Earnings, 2000" [1], I found several things I didn't expect. The first is stunning: positions 3 through 12 are teachers! They are, in this order: Economics, Physics, Medicine, Law, Natural Sciences, Engineering, Phys Ed, Sociology, Education, and History.

I was recently working on a major piece of literature, hoping to sell it before the Christmas bills arrive. In the course of my research, I accidentally discovered a peculiarity that annoyed, amused, and inspired me.

In an article "Rankings of Full Time Occupations, By Earnings, 2000" [1], I found several things I didn't expect. The first is stunning: positions 3 through 12 are teachers! They are, in this order: Economics, Physics, Medicine, Law, Natural Sciences, Engineering, Phys Ed, Sociology, Education, and History.

There are two positions held by the supporters and the opponents in the offshoring debate. Generally, supporters of offshoring cite a persuasive list of global business-related advantages that result from offshore outsourcing. Most of the opponents concentrate mainly on the loss of jobs and the loss of technological advantage in the outsourcing country. We will discuss some of the main arguments from each side of the debate.

There are two positions held by the supporters and the opponents in the offshoring debate. Generally, supporters of offshoring cite a persuasive list of global business-related advantages that result from offshore outsourcing. Most of the opponents concentrate mainly on the loss of jobs and the loss of technological advantage in the outsourcing country. We will discuss some of the main arguments from each side of the debate.