Tom DeMarco is a Cutter Consortium Fellow. He served on the Editorial Board of Cutter IT Journal (now Amplify) for more than 2 decades. Tom has been a frequent keynoter and moderator at Cutter Summits. Mr. DeMarco is a principal of the Atlantic Systems Guild. He was the winner of the 1986 Warnier Prize for "lifetime contribution to the field of computing" and the 1999 Wayne Stevens Prize for "contribution to software methods." His best-selling books include The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management, which is the story of a veteran software manager who bets his life…
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Efficiency and productivity were the watchwords of the late 20th century, but today the emphasis needs to be more on agility. The prescription for organizational agility is markedly different from the prescription for efficiency and productivity.
November 10, 2015 | Authored By: Tom DeMarco
The critical 20th-century management skill -- making things and people fit into systems that execute efficiently -- will inevitably be transcended by a different 21st-century critical management skill: creating the conditions in which people of widely varying backgrounds, behaviors, and inclinations can maximize their particular contributions to economic value. This is certainly happening in most firms in developed economies, yet most managers (especially IT managers) have not yet come to grips with it.
September 1, 2015 | Authored By: Robert Austin, Tom DeMarco, Lynne Ellyn, Mark Seiden, Lou Mazzucchelli, Ronald Blitstein, Tim Lister
The critical 20th-century management skill — making things and people fit into systems that execute efficiently — will inevitably be transcended by a different 21st-century critical management skill: creating the conditions in which people of widely varying backgrounds, behaviors, and inclinations can maximize their particular contributions to economic value. This is certainly happening in most firms in developed economies, yet most managers (especially IT managers) have not yet come to grips with it. With this Executive Report, we move away from our usual format and revisit an "ahead of the curve" Council Opinion by the Cutter Business Technology Council, which highlights what has now become a major corporate movement.
September 1, 2015 | Authored By: Robert Austin, Lynne Ellyn, Tom DeMarco, Mark Seiden, Lou Mazzucchelli, Ronald Blitstein, Tim Lister
As has been our tradition for the last several years, we've compiled the five most intriguing articles published by the Business Technology & Digital Transformation Strategies practice this year for today's Advisor. How did we come up with this list?
December 31, 2015 | Authored By: Karen Coburn
Michael Mah is Managing Partner of QSM Associates, Inc., a firm specializing in software measurement, project estimation, and "in-flight" control for both inhouse and outsourced/offshore development. QSM has developed and maintains one of the largest databases of more than 7,500 completed projects collected worldwide, with productivity statistics and trends on cost, schedule, and quality from more than 500 organizations and 18 countries.
With more than 20 years' experience, Mr. Mah has written extensively and consulted to the world's leading software organizations while collecting…
As with most flawed ideas, there is an element of truth in the idea that "leanness" and absence of slack have benefits to companies over the long term. The hierarchical organizational forms that characterize most modern companies were developed in an era when we did not have our current communication capabilities. A large part of the function of traditional hierarchies was to manage information flow. Some of the changes that we have made to organizations have been inevitable adjustments to reflect the fact that we no longer need to devote as much effort to managing information flow because of the nature of new technologies.
November 12, 2015 | Authored By: Robert Austin
Adopting Agile as an organizational culture is a different ball game than that of practicing Agile as an individual on the project level. Yes, it’s the same ball, but a different game. This Executive Report focuses on how to best render an entire organization Agile. Practical, logistical challenges involve nonproject (business-as-usual) situations, part-time or telecommuting work, outsourced vendor relationships, ROI, and regulations. Despite the challenges, as argued in this report, it is precisely at this organizational culture level that Agile provides its maximum value.
October 7, 2015 | Authored By: Bhuvan Unhelkar