Whether you're a small business owner considering your first Web page or a CIO who's wondering just what's wrong with your site, maybe we can help. In this Advisor, we'll use a small duct tape store to illustrate five important Web design "laws."

"Now there is proof that the evolutionary approach to software development results in a speedier process and higher-quality [emphasis added] products." This is the tag line from a very interesting article in the Winter 2001 issue of the MIT Sloan Management Review.

With all the bad news from the stock market and the collapsing dot-com industry, it's easy to form the opinion that last year's IT shortage has turned into a glut of unemployed workers.

All human endeavors face constraints. Some are anticipated, others are not. They arise from both internal and external influences and are accompanied by a degree of uncertainty. Problems or issues that could, by occurring, threaten or cause loss to a project are what really matters. Such risks are not merely internal but are also the result of the external environment.

Even the most mediocre high-school Spanish-language student is unsurprised that the Chevy Nova was not a success in Latin American countries. And it is little wonder that the Ford Pinto and the soft drink Fresca produced more adolescent giggles than sales in the same area. Unfortunate names for otherwise worthwhile products.

Aggressive schedules, evolving technology, rapidly changing requirements, uncertain business models, fixed-priced contracts -- pick out the term that seems incongruent with the others. "How do we write fixed-price contracts using agile methodologies?" is a question I hear frequently from clients and workshop participants. "Wrong question," is my usual reply.

Although risk management is seen as a vital, integrated part of a project manager's skills, even in today's fast-paced, results- oriented environment, formal risk management for IT outsourcing is rare.

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, we IT professionals built systems that lasted for years and years -- sometimes even decades -- before they finally collapsed from old age and got swept into the binary dustbin.

I have a good friend who is in the job market. The Internet media company he worked for since 1998 closed its doors a few weeks ago. The company was based on a bold idea that could have changed the way the media operates. The changes might occur someday (probably will), but this company was too early.

I've received several requests recently for revised market forecasts, and I notice that one of the well-known analyst firms is in the process of preparing one on the e-commerce market. I've been in this business long enough to understand how important such forecasts are to venture capitalists, marketing people making projections, and to a lot of others trying to figure out the market.

In Canada, we have a federal tax called the GST (goods and services tax). From the looks of it, it was created without clear specifications or business rationale. It's like a bunch of folks hid out for a weekend and, over a few dozen drinks too many, penned the rules that make up the tax. What else could explain the fact that salted peanuts are GST-able and unsalted ones are not?

My career in the computer industry has involved a considerable amount of travel during the past 30 years, to every corner of the US and to some three dozen countries around the world. Almost as soon as I achieved my road-warrior status, one thing became evident: different cities, states, and countries have rather different concepts of what's "current" and "state of the art" in the field.

There are two types of work in every company: process work and project work (this model was first articulated to me by Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant Rob Thomsett). Process work is the fundamental work of any company. Taking orders, delivering products, processing invoices, and collecting receivables are examples.