In recent Advisors I have explored the differences between product and project thinking in software development and the importance of long-term thinking to sustain an economically successful software system (see "On Projects, Products, and Gaming Theory" and "Software As an Asset").

Business architecture helps portfolio managers prioritize IT-based projects by mapping projects to a business capability architecture (BCA). A BCA can aggregate what's important, urgent, and doable in an organization, and this aggregation can then be used to prioritize projects.

I still remember the nights filled with the tremendous rush of adrenaline that accompanied my getting the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) IBM 360/50 in stand-alone mode for system programming work. Being the sole "master" of millions and millions of lines of operating system code was intoxicating for the young kid that I was then.

Several weeks ago, I discussed how collaboration by Silicon Valley tech companies with the US National Security Agency (NSA) in its data gathering program (i.e., "Prism") could pose problems for US-based cloud companies (see "US Cloud Companies and the NSA's Data Col

Software running on mobile devices has grown to a level in which it has earned major status on the overall system's usability, capabilities, and performance.

In The Art of Agile Practice, I discuss why organizations should embed the values and practices of Agile within their existing planned and formal approaches and how they can go about doing so.

As the role of enterprise architecture widens in scope, the number and variety of stakeholders increases. And as the complexity of the EA landscape increases, requirements become more fluid and difficult to define.

Management and leadership husbandry is the use of scientific methods to establish and maintain a population of leaders whose individual and collective attributes provide optimum support to enterprise objectives and to ensure judicious use of those resources. Leadership husbandry, therefore, has several requirements:

A model of leadership based on measurable attributes

Standards for each attribute

A diagnostic, objective assessment process to profile the attributes of each individual

Big Data is having important effects upon infrastructure requirements, particularly as we move into a need for real-time analysis and prediction.

Back in March 2012 (see "Tablets for the Enterprise"), I wrote that Microsoft leadership, knowing that the company was in danger of being left behind by Apple and the Android-based product vendors when it came to the mo

The roller coaster of business cycles appears to be headed up and accelerating. The economy is recovering, companies are beginning to hire, the real estate market is improving, and even new housing starts are up.

In my previous Advisor (see "Realizing the Benefits of Agile Outsourcing"), I discussed the critical ingredients for successful projects with outsourced Agile development teams from a customer's perspective.

Enterprise architecture is a strategic capability, not a support activity.

In an earlier Cutter IT Journal article on the promise of a diverse, interoperable cloud ecosystem (see "The Promise of a Diverse, Interoperable Cloud Ecosystem -- And Recommendations for Realizing It"), I stated that the cloud is most likely here to stay. It has become a vital part of the information and communications technology (ICT) ecosystem, even though it is still a dynamic, fluid, and ever-changing addition to the ICT environment.

Last month I discussed the US National Security Agency's (NSA) electronic surveillance and data gathering practices (aka "Prism"), which were leaked by Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor (with Booz Allen Hamilton) and previous CIA employee, to the Guardian and Washington Post news organizations (see

I remember learning how to use a slide rule both from my father and in high school. My father was enamored of this computational device but at the time, handheld calculators were all the rage. High school teachers were lamenting the fact that students would miss the opportunity to learn how to use a slide rule. As students, we didn't care about this at all.

The collaborative nature of Agile projects has exposed participants to opportunities to experience a number of ingredients associated with group coherence (GC) in the research literature. We call these "Agile embedded ingredients," as they surface in Agile work. We present four here and discuss both their Agile appearance and the research about them. They are: (1) the commonly shared goal, (2) shared leadership, (3) trust and respect, and (4) practice.

In my last Advisor (see "Firmitas, Utilitas, Venustas"), I introduced some of the ideas presented by EA Conference Chair Chris Potts in his keynote at the IRM Enterprise Architecture Conference, "High Im

Aldous Huxley, author of the classic novel Brave New World, once said, "There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception."

Many projects concentrate their efforts on implementing technology used to support the business needs (replace System X with System Y) or deliver new functionality. In meetings, the topic of conversation is usually about which application to purchase and which vendor to choose. Those are important issues, but equally important considerations are how your company will use the information to conduct business, the readiness of existing data, and how you can adapt the data to fulfill the requirements of the new system.

In early June, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a remarkable report entitled, "Greece: Ex Post Evaluation of Exceptional Access Under the 2010 Stand-By Arrangement," documenting the IMF's decision to participate in the economic rescue of Greece from its self-created ec

Architecture debt refers to the cost and effort of dealing with the backlog of maintenance and change to legacy architectures that are necessary to bring the architectural landscape up to date.

I'm honored to be the Guest Editor of this month's Cutter IT Journal. This issue describes the experiences and findings of senior consultants and researchers who have been actively involved with helping organizations around the world apply Agile strategies in enterprise environments.

It is time to turn our thinking about IT development's role in change on its head. Instead of IT being the driver and necessary means for change, it should be relegated to last in the order of things. The first step is study, which changes management's perception of the problem(s). The second step is to improve the service design so that it works for customers. The third and final step is to pull in IT development to provide the means to run the service in the new way.

One of the more interesting acquisitions affecting the enterprise software, BI, and data management industry so far this year involves networking giant Cisco, which purchased data virtualization1 vendor Composite Software for approximately US $180 million in cash.