The subject of risk seems to come up often at Cutter Consortium, either voiced by our subscribers or discussed by our Senior Consultants. But one has the feeling that, as Mark Twain intoned about the weather, "Everyone talks about it, but no one does anything about it." So, risk endures as part of the messiness of life: not as part of the richness or the challenges -- just the muck.

The inherent tradeoff between agility and quality is an intuitive concept. With everything else kept the same, increasing agility typically decreases quality and vice versa. Agile decision-making, for example, is often exercised at the expense of exhaustive and time-consuming analyses.

The inherent tradeoff between agility and quality is an intuitive concept. With everything else kept the same, increasing agility typically decreases quality and vice versa. Agile decision-making, for example, is often exercised at the expense of exhaustive and time-consuming analyses.

The inherent tradeoff between agility and quality is an intuitive concept. With everything else kept the same, increasing agility typically decreases quality and vice versa. Agile decision-making, for example, is often exercised at the expense of exhaustive and time-consuming analyses.

There are many people who believe that software "engineering" is not an engineering discipline at all but rather a set of sometimes-followed best practices that, when all is said and done, aren't really the best.

Successfully managing IT expenditure and ensuring successful delivery of IT projects and levels of service continue to be foremost in the minds of corporate executives, particularly in light of today's tight economy and struggles within the technology sector.

Organizations are bursting with information and knowledge these days. For each, the challenge is to harness all this know-how and make it available to everyone throughout the organization. Today, there are myriad learning gems available for the taking; coupled with the Internet, the resources are boundless.

IT offers a major source of competitive advantage in almost all industries. Companies rely on technology to reduce internal inefficiencies, connect to external partners (suppliers, clients, and distributors), and implement business models that sometimes transform the rules of the game in their market space.

IT offers a major source of competitive advantage in almost all industries. Companies rely on technology to reduce internal inefficiencies, connect to external partners (suppliers, clients, and distributors), and implement business models that sometimes transform the rules of the game in their market space.

In Part I of this Executive Update (Vol. 5, No. 4), we looked at the investments we're all making in applications infrastructure, specifically, object-oriented (OO) databases, enterprise application integration (EAI) tools, content management platforms, portals, data warehouses, and data mining tools.

A lot of us are finally very concerned about security. We've already documented this increased awareness and commitment to just about all aspects of security (see Business-IT Strategies Executive Update, Vol. 5, No. 2). But what technologies are we looking at? Which ones should we buy? Which ones are likely to become "standard"?

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.

As the outsourcing business model becomes the norm, it seems to be a good time to pause and reflect on common observations and practices from the past several years. If you are new to the world of outsourcing, or if you are considering outsourcing for a department or function, we encourage you to learn from others' successes as well as their mistakes. Consider the guidelines in this Update to help turn chaos into calm.

As the outsourcing business model becomes the norm, it seems to be a good time to pause and reflect on common observations and practices from the past several years. If you are new to the world of outsourcing, or if you are considering outsourcing for a department or function, we encourage you to learn from others' successes as well as their mistakes. Consider the guidelines in this Update to help turn chaos into calm.

Even before the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US, international security industry analysts were becoming concerned that the rapid growth of hacker activity was showing signs of organized behavior.

Even before the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US, international security industry analysts were becoming concerned that the rapid growth of hacker activity was showing signs of organized behavior.

Quite a few supply chain management (SCM) package implementation failures have grabbed the headlines over the past few years, from companies including Whirlpool, Nike, and Hershey. A major cause of these failures has been the difficulty in changing processes within the firm and across the supply chain.

Over the past few years, we have witnessed a widespread resurgence of interest in process-driven information technology and business management. This trend is being fueled by several factors:

Over the past few years, we have witnessed a widespread resurgence of interest in process-driven information technology and business management. This trend is being fueled by several factors:

Wireless business intelligence (BI) consists of delivering data access and analysis to mobile corporate users of cell phones and other Web-enabled devices, including PDAs such as Palm, RIM, and Windows CE handheld platforms that are now popular among business professionals and other mobile workers.

Or Chicago? Or Boston? Or Moscow? This is called distributed software development (DSD), where parts of the development team are located at distant sites. The focus is on distance, and the problem is one of communication between the team members; this is what characterizes a DSD project.

You have a lot invested in your outsourcing partnership. The strategic planning that led to your business decision to outsource was most likely driven by a desire to lower cost, reduce delivery times, or improve quality. Regardless of how you got there, you are now in a relationship that has business-critical objectives.

You have a lot invested in your outsourcing partnership. The strategic planning that led to your business decision to outsource was most likely driven by a desire to lower cost, reduce delivery times, or improve quality. Regardless of how you got there, you are now in a relationship that has business-critical objectives.

Music to any company's ears is the promise to help it realize its goals and enable it to face the future with confidence. Taking that a step further, for the shareholder, this translates into improved share price and shareholder value.