Find analysis of data from Cutter's ongoing industry research efforts, brief treatments of topics that don't require the in-depth research of an Executive Report, updates on previously-covered topics, and more, in 2-4 page Executive Updates.
The Proven Value of Solution Architecture: Six Sigma for Projects
Much has been argued about the value of architecture, but actual proof is generally lacking. As for solution architecture, recent quantitative research has confirmed that this approach not only helps reduce throughput time and budget for IT projects but also leads to a reduction of variance in time and budget, indicating that bringing solution architecture to a project can be viewed as a quality improvement process in line with Six Sigma thinking.
Corporate Adoption and Usage Trends for High-Performance Analytic Databases
In February and March 2010, Cutter Consortium conducted a survey that asked 99 end-user organizations about their various data warehousing, BI, and other analytic technologies and practices. One set of questions sought to determine corporate adoption and usage trends for high-performance analytic databases.1
Social Networking Risks and Oversight
As social networking and Web 2.0 applications continue to enter the workplace and rise in importance, it is crucial to be aware that they bring new risks along with new opportunities. Although relatively few companies have as yet introduced strong codes for using these applications, the risks of unrestricted access are beginning to become apparent.
Doing Business in, with, and through Virtual Worlds: Part I
This is the first Executive Update in a three-part series discussing the variety of ways in which organizations, particularly commercial firms, are leveraging virtual worlds to create and capture value. In this Update, I lay out the conceptual foundation for the discussion.
Do You Take This Vendor to Have and to Hold? Old and New Skills to Manage Your (Inevitable) Relationship with the Cloud
Vendor management is still the rage. We talked about it a lot when outsourcing trends became clear -- when more and more companies were outsourcing a greater amount of their infrastructure and applications to partners down the street and around the world. The major outsourcing deals of the 20th century were inked in the 1990s.
Managing Compliance: Establishing a Technology Compliance Office
Technical Debt Assessment: A Case of Simultaneous Improvement at Three Levels
The resignation of Intrigue's CTO six weeks before v1.0 of its JavaJoe product was scheduled to ship caused quite a few eyebrows to be raised. 1 While the resigning CTO indicated he was leaving to pursue an opportunity he could not afford to miss, the timing of his resignation gave rise to concerns about the readiness (or lack of it) of JavaJoe to be released as an enterprise application.
Technical Debt Assessment: A Case of Simultaneous Improvement at Three Levels
Cutter Consortium was called into a software organization by its venture capital firm to conduct a Technical Debt Assessment and Valuation. The code to be evaluated had been acquired two years prior. Until the organization built the capability to develop the code in its US headquarters, the development had continued through an outsourcing company in another country. The assessment came just as the company was about to release ~200K lines of Java code.
Strategy Engagement: MIS Partnership with SCM Creates Breakthroughs in Business Performance
This Executive Update provides an abridged section of my upcoming book, Supply Chain Management: The Real WOW Factor, covering the critical strategy engagement process. I have modified it in the context of the CIO's and CTO's important role to ensure they partner with supply chain management (SCM) leaders in developing total end-to-end business processes and systems supporting the product-line strategies of their respective companies.
Enterprise Software Future Trends: Continued Evolution, Acquisitions, and Innovation
In my last Executive Update, "Enterprise Software Vendors: The State of the Union," 1 I examined the emerging competition for the high-margin business of supporting enterprise applications. In this Update, it's time to look toward the future of enterprise software.
Turn Around Before Crossing a Bridge Too Far
Recall a moment in history: The decisions embodied in the plan were being executed. By the time a seemingly sacrosanct decision was reversed, military casualties exceeded 10,000, as many civilians died from forced evacuation and the starvation that followed. The plan might have ended World War II by Christmas of 1944. Yet Operation Market Garden fell far short of its objectives. It became known as "A Bridge Too Far." 1
Cloud Computing Commoditized: Part II -- CIO as Concierge
Part I of this two-part Executive Update series showed how cloud computing is maturing to become commoditized across multiple solution and service domains. 1 Here in Part II, we discuss how the CIO of tomorrow becomes a concierge for information services, considers the full breadth of cloud business use case
Innovation Factories: Incubators for Hatching High-Tech Progress
Innovation factories may be characterized as entities whose central function is to encourage, develop, and disseminate innovation through application of some regular process or organization. Innovation factories exist across all industries, though many currently focus on specific areas.
The Model Craftsman: A Cost-Effective Approach to Craftsmanship
Everyone would like to have craftsman-level quality, but few are willing to devote the time or spend the money craftsmanship requires. Craftsmen working in hard goods, such as leather or silver, mitigate these factors by using devices such as patterns or molds that they can use to quickly replicate a high-quality design many times over. They have built these patterns based on their past experience. They've "materialized" experience into a tool.
Project Start Architecture: Part II -- How to Make It Work
In the first of this two-part Executive Update series, we discussed the purpose and the contents of the project start architecture (PSA).1 Here in Part II, we discuss some specific situations and provide examples.
PSA IS A HIGH-LEVEL DESCRIPTION, NOT A COMPLETE SOLUTION ARCHITECTURE (BLACK BOX VS. WHITE BOX)The standard ISO/IEC 42010:2007 provides a generally accepted definition of architecture:
Thoughts on a Project-Volatility Metric: Part III — The V2 Metric
The Role of Enterprise Architecture in IT Services
As a conceptual tool, enterprise architecture (EA) can assist IT organizations with their understanding of their own structure and the way it works. To begin applying EA concepts within an IT organization, an EA content framework has been defined with various models that describe the enterprise architecture. This framework defines a set of models along four dimensions:1
The New Outsourcing: Part II -- The Race to the Bottom
"You heard me right. They said they'd do the project for $1!" Those were the startling words from a friend who headed up an outsourcing practice. He had called to commiserate about the recent loss of a project his company was bidding on. It was a few years ago now, but I still remember it clearly.
Skill Sets of Tomorrow: What We Need to Train People for Today
As the 21st century proceeds, we are entering an era where basic assumptions about business organization and employment are evolving. This is resulting in a number of fundamental changes to expectations and skills requirements. People entering the workforce will need new sets of skills and new ways of working. This will be true across all business sectors, but the impacts within IT are likely to be profound.
How Are Software Teams Changing? Part I -- Teams Are Flat
I recently bought a new car. It's a Volkswagen Jetta, and it was made in Mexico. Not all of it -- most of it. Many of the parts were made in Germany, China, Hungary, the US, and several other countries. It's getting increasingly difficult these days to nail down the country of origin when you buy a new car.
Why Is Enterprise Data Integration So Difficult for IT to Implement?
It may seem like IT is the culprit of many problems, including data integration for the enterprise, but the issue may very well be something upper management brought on itself. Each year, IT is asked to do more with fewer resources such as hardware and software. People are also reduced every year because IT is seen as overhead in many organizations. So to balance things out, some applications are outsourced to another company. By outsourcing applications, more complexity is introduced into the IT group or any enterprise project.