I attended John Zachman's ZIFA Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, in the fall of 1999 (ZIFA stands for the Zachman Institute for Framework Advancement). During the conference, John and I were discussing the current state of affairs in IT, specifically the burgeoning rate of disparity in all aspects of the field.

The data resource in most public-and private-sector organizations is in a state of disarray. The quantities of disparate data are increasing rapidly, and these disparate data cannot be readily integrated to meet the demand for the information needed to support dynamic business activities.

Web services are facing an identity crisis. Burdened with the misleading "Web services" moniker and discussed primarily in technical circles, the business world doesn't know what to make of the concept. Are Web services little more than an incremental, evolutionary improvement in systems integration techniques, or do they truly mark a revolutionary paradigm shift in the application of information technology?

Web services are collections of functions bundled together to deliver functionality to Internet-enabled desktops and Web applications. They represent a way for applications to communicate with each other automatically over the Internet. The goal is the streamlining of business processes by allowing software applications to be delivered and run across all kinds of computers, from large servers to handheld devices.

Web services are collections of functions bundled together to deliver functionality to Internet-enabled desktops and Web applications. They represent a way for applications to communicate with each other automatically over the Internet. The goal is the streamlining of business processes by allowing software applications to be delivered and run across all kinds of computers, from large servers to handheld devices.

Web services are as much about the future of enterprise computing as they about are the future of the Internet. In this vision of the future, the only difference between enterprise computing and Internet computing will be the people who are allowed access to enterprise computing assets.

There is a Dilbert cartoon that questions the use of the phrase "empowerment." If you really empowered your employees, why would you have a word for it?

Web services promise to reduce costs and minimize management complexity of corporate IT services, as more solutions are shifted to scalable, managed outsourcing environments. Web services are in use today under a variety of names, and they will only expand in value as the market matures. The concept of Web services is quite old; you will hear it referred to as a return to the mainframe/data center model of old.

Web services promise to reduce costs and minimize management complexity of corporate IT services, as more solutions are shifted to scalable, managed outsourcing environments. Web services are in use today under a variety of names, and they will only expand in value as the market matures. The concept of Web services is quite old; you will hear it referred to as a return to the mainframe/data center model of old.

If software were defect-free, we could effectively cut development effort by almost half. 1 Even more compelling, if there were no defects in our software, we could reallocate most of the maintenance and support resources to developing new features rather than fixing defects.

Software defects are inevitable. Even high-reliability software that has been tested extensively still has defects. Defects can cause operational failures, which may have negative financial, human, or environmental consequences. In addition, the cost of fixing post-release defects can be tremendous. Good defect management practices allow projects to minimize the introduction of defects through preventive actions, monitor defect introduction and removal to anticipate changes in the software's quality, and use quality risk assessment in deciding where to focus inspection and testing.

Yes -- it appears to be true. Companies are satisfied with their strategic choice of distributed software development (DSD). The tough challenges of DSD bear sweet fruit at the end of the road -- at least that is what many development organizations have indicated in a recent Cutter Consortium survey on DSD.

Alternative development processes such as Extreme Programming (XP), Crystal Methodologies, Scrum, and feature-driven development have received an increasing amount of attention and press over the past two years. These Young Turk methodologies are often characterized by some of their more radical practices, such as pair programming, minimalist architecture, and test zealotry.

If software were defect-free, we could effectively cut development effort by almost half. 1 Even more compelling, if there were no defects in our software, we could reallocate most of the maintenance and support resources to developing new features rather than fixing defects.

If software were defect-free, we could effectively cut development effort by almost half. 1 Even more compelling, if there were no defects in our software, we could reallocate most of the maintenance and support resources to developing new features rather than fixing defects.

During Cutter Consortium's annual surveys on outsourcing in 2001 and 2002, survey recipients were asked if and how they were using the Internet to manage their outsourcing relationships. The results are in, and they indicate that employing the Internet for the various aspects of outsourcing is still in somewhat of a growth mode.

During Cutter Consortium's annual surveys on outsourcing in 2001 and 2002, survey recipients were asked if and how they were using the Internet to manage their outsourcing relationships. The results are in, and they indicate that employing the Internet for the various aspects of outsourcing is still in somewhat of a growth mode.

Software Development

Product development organizations will continue to be early adopters of agile development and project management methods.