System Architecture

A willingness to invest in cross-family architectures will distinguish successful from unsuccessful IT user organizations.

System Architecture

A willingness to invest in cross-family architectures will distinguish successful from unsuccessful IT user organizations.

System Architecture

A willingness to invest in cross-family architectures will distinguish successful from unsuccessful IT user organizations.

Editor's note: Assertion #4 from the Cutter Technology Council states, "Centralized IT departments will become unsustainable." This assertion will be explored fully in an upcoming Council Opinion.

Editor's note: Assertion #4 from the Cutter Technology Council states, "Centralized IT departments will become unsustainable." This assertion will be explored fully in an upcoming Council Opinion.

If you ask the average citizen on the street for a definition of "open source," you'll probably get a blank look. Ask a programmer, though, and you'll not only get a precise definition, but several examples and an emotional argument for why it's good or bad.

If you ask the average citizen on the street for a definition of "open source," you'll probably get a blank look. Ask a programmer, though, and you'll not only get a precise definition, but several examples and an emotional argument for why it's good or bad.

In my last Advisor ( 2 August 2000), I talked about the importance of practicing risk management for effective business-IT alignment. I described risk management as a cyclical process, comprised of five main stages: identification, qualitative assessment, quantitative assessment, development of risk responses, and monitoring of implemented responses.

In my last Advisor ( 2 August 2000), I talked about the importance of practicing risk management for effective business-IT alignment. I described risk management as a cyclical process, comprised of five main stages: identification, qualitative assessment, quantitative assessment, development of risk responses, and monitoring of implemented responses.

There are five important conferences coming up this fall. Since they are spread out over three different continents, few people will be able to attend all of them. Moreover, they are are specialized in different ways. Still, I thought I'd point them all out, since at least four are annual meetings and will recur next year, elsewhere.

We all have come to understand how important communication is to a project. Balancing the need to keep everyone informed while avoiding management by democracy is a skill that every project manager must master. I recently came across a project that emphasized an important lesson about testing the effectiveness of a communications plan.

We all have come to understand how important communication is to a project. Balancing the need to keep everyone informed while avoiding management by democracy is a skill that every project manager must master. I recently came across a project that emphasized an important lesson about testing the effectiveness of a communications plan.