This month's CBR is the second half of our close look at project management. In the February issue (Part I), we focused on the "hard" factors that play into project success or failure (methods, tools, etc.). Now in Part II, we turn to the intangible, elusive, and extremely important "soft" factors. Leadership and interpersonal communication skills, levels of morale and training, and that ultimate intangible -- trust -- are usually presumed to matter greatly in managing projects.

This month, CBR begins a two-part series on a subject of great importance in IT management: the management of projects. This month, we'll focus on methods, models, and practices -- the "hard" stuff. Next month, we'll turn to the "soft" stuff -- staffing, morale, team management, and relationship management. If you are a longtime reader of CBR , you'll recall that we dealt with project management two years ago, and you'll recognize Cutter Consortium Fellow Robert Charette's "husbandry" approach to the subject.

What managers really need to know -- as always -- is how to separate fads and transitory tendencies from the real and permanent changes. This month's CBR examines the question through the lens of IT spending. Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant George Westerman offers careful analysis of the results of a survey of intended 2004 IT spending patterns among 97 firms. He finds that, overall, IT spending will be flat in 2004. But he does more than report facts.