Last February, I discussed what I consider one of the most important developments in business process management (BPM): the ability to monitor the efficiency of distributed business processes in near real time (see the 23 February 2005 EA Advisor, " Monitoring Business Processes in Real Time").

A Cutter Consortium risk management survey explored in detail organizations' risk management practices. The participants included 180 IT managers involved in various IT positions. The survey included more than 50 risk management-related questions [1].

Model-based software estimation techniques (i.e., those based on counting elements of some kind of software system model, description, or specification) can be useful but they have numerous pitfalls and should therefore be used with care and deliberation. In this Advisor, I point out a few of those traps (this list is by no means complete nor sorted in any particular order):

One of the aspects that complicates managing global projects is the way our perceptions and our use of language shape meaning. Yes, English is the langua franca of managing these projects, but do we use a common language or do we use the same words -- meaning something different or disguising hidden meaning?

As a project manager, I want to know about the health of the projects in my sphere of influence. I've recently observed what I call the "free bagel" measure of project health. Although seemingly unscientific, it has an excellent record of indicating project health.

The trend to outsource key business and technical processes will create challenges in regulatory compliance and improving internal controls. There is no US SEC, OECD, or EU definition of what constitutes outsourcing, but most agree that it is an activity transferred to a third party that would otherwise be administered and processed internally.

In working with a client recently, I came up with a new and somewhat whimsical term: virtual collocation. At first, the term looks pretty silly, as a team is either collocated or it's not -- but if we can have virtual teams, why not virtual collocation?

Creating IT project portfolios has become a hot topic in the IT community. The idea is to minimize the business risk created by IT projects being acquired, developed, or operated through diversification. That is, the organization invests in a range of IT projects that have varying levels of risk so that no single IT project, if it goes sour, will place the business at undue risk.