One of the most interesting IT developments in 2001 was the growing use of patterns. At least a dozen books on patterns came out during the year, documenting patterns for new languages, for component models, for analysis and design issues, and for middleware systems development. One of the areas that I followed most closely was the extension of patterns to large-scale application design.

When a project is launched, some of the decisions to proceed are based upon facts, and some are based upon assumptions: do you know the difference?

The technology implosion, followed by the sharp downturn in the economy, has wreaked havoc with the IT consulting industry. What once were hundreds of firms vying for the global 2000 market are now far fewer. Many top names of the 1990s have closed or sold out. Powerhouse Cambridge Technology Partners was sold at bargain prices.

I've written before about the Object Management Group's (OMG) Model Driven Architecture (MDA) initiative. In essence, the companies making up the OMG propose that application development should be done in UML and that code should be generated from UML models.

It is amazing to me how the words we use affect people and the work environment. The examples I give below illustrate how we can sour people and our environment. There are, however, simple ways we can use our words to create a positive workplace.

A recent survey conducted by Cutter Consortium to assess the corporate use of data warehousing and business intelligence (BI) has resulted in the interesting finding that the use of data mining by companies to analyze their customer data has more than doubled since 1999.

As we all know, achieving IT and business alignment is not easy. We must tie business strategy, technology, and people into a comprehensive and synergistic package that, as Paul Strassmann says, will demonstrate a positive relationship between IT and accepted financial measures of performance. However, as my mother used to say, you need to be careful for what you wish for, because you might get it.

We all know how important clear and effective communication is for the work we do -- whether it is identifying and resolving day-to-day problems or working on a large project. A personal experience I had recently emphasized for me, again, how what we "hear" is not always what is being "said," or what is "meant."

September 11, 2001, was without a doubt the biggest failure of American intelligence ever. Months later, people continue to shake their heads at the terrorists' seeming ability to achieve total tactical surprise. Simply put, the question on everyone's lips remains: "Where were our intelligence agencies?"