The question is not if, but when. Don't question if you will need a computer security strategy; determine when the situation will arise showing you need one. Hackers, criminals, naive users, accidents, tired employees, acts of nature -- all of these can cause serious damage to IT systems and data. Failing to address security can lead to unnecessary risk and expense.

In the mid- to late 1990s, time pressure on software projects accelerated dramatically under the "Internet speed" mantra. It seemed that our industry was hell-bent on bending reality with regard to time, and chants to "build it faster" were the norm.

The answer is pretty clear. To minimize burnout, upper management, the project manager, and project leaders should focus on the following actions (none of which require extra money, promotion, or other traditional rewards):

There have been times in my career as an IT manager when I felt my primary role was to motivate people. I wanted to bring out the best in them because people are the fundamental resource in IT. Their imagination and energy make everything work. Sometimes my attempts at motivating people seemed to work well, and sometimes it was a disaster.

Results from our latest survey analyzing corporate data warehousing and BI trends show that fewer companies plan to increase spending on their data warehousing and BI efforts in 2003 than those that indicated they planned to do so just nine months ago.

Results from our latest survey analyzing corporate data warehousing and BI trends show that fewer companies plan to increase spending on their data warehousing and BI efforts in 2003 than those that indicated they planned to do so just nine months ago.

Results from our latest survey analyzing corporate data warehousing and BI trends show that fewer companies plan to increase spending on their data warehousing and BI efforts in 2003 than those that indicated they planned to do so just nine months ago.

Results from our latest survey analyzing corporate data warehousing and BI trends show that fewer companies plan to increase spending on their data warehousing and BI efforts in 2003 than those that indicated they planned to do so just nine months ago.

Tom DeMarco was clear when he said, "You can't control what you can't measure." 1 The concept of a software metric is widely developed, and it reflects the worldwide industry acknowledgement of this imperative need. To respond effectively to business demands, IT activities must be assessed, estimated, planned, and monitored based on measurement. The "project-oriented" reality of most IT departments and companies places projects as the primary target for measurement.

There are numerous reasons why this is the case -- just ask, you'll get any number of explanations.

One of the reasons we get stuck about resolutions is that we're not sure what to resolve. Fortunately, I've made a lot of resolutions and have even kept a few.

In my introduction to the March 2002 issue, I commented that project management is a subject with a perplexing profile. There's a lot of agreement about its importance and about the kinds of skills and activities that go into practicing it successfully.