Collaboration+Teams

Advice and opinion on improving collaboration and making teams successful.

Integrated Collaboration… Finally?

Claude Baudoin | Dec 2, 2010 No Responses

Dec 022010

Over the last few years, we have seen an explosion of tools that connect us with colleagues and friends. Our interaction with other people has diverged into multiple parallel threads: e-mail, instant messages (in multiple systems), status updates on multiple social networks and Twitter, etc. The mental “context switching” we have to perform between all these channels seriously impacts our ability to effectively exchange information. Based on a few developments that occurred since late 2009, we are approaching a tipping point: people want fewer tools to communicate, not more, and the market is starting to respond: The Google Wave beta generated a lot of curiosity but fizzled after six months, more because of its overreaching …

Changing Playing Fields: The Impact of Crowdsourced Testing on Software Methods and IT Operations

Israel Gat | Jul 28, 2010 1 Response

Jul 282010

The Scrum v. Kanban debate has been relentlessly raging for the past eighteen months. One could only watch with fascination as polarized camps formed around what is after all a fairly dry software method issue. The intensity of emotions this debate generated could almost be compared with those expressed in the debate about abortions. As a practitioner who uses both methods, I tend to view them as arrows in my quiver. Each method has its strengths and weaknesses. The important thing is suitability to the target environment, not the theoretical pros and cons. For example, one could prefer to use Scrum in development and Kanban in service delivery. A macro trend is starting to change …

Agility in 90 Seconds

Jim Highsmith | Mar 18, 2010 1 Response

Mar 182010

In the early part of the decade Nicholas Cage starred in the movie “Gone in 60 Seconds,” something about stealing cars very rapidly. In the mid-1980’s colleague Ken Orr wrote “The 1-Minute Methodology,” that uncovered the secret to speed—disconnect input from output. If you can steal a car in 60 seconds or execute a methodology in a minute, why not learn to be agile in 90 seconds? I get tired of articles like “The 3 things you must know to be agile,” or “Five easy steps to agile implementation,” or “The secrets of agility unleashed,” or “Agile Mastery in Minutes.” Software development is hard. Agile may be a better way to approach software development, but …

Even more predictions

Anne Mullaney | Jan 5, 2010 2 Responses

Jan 052010

Over the last week we’ve received predictions from more Cutter Senior Consultants. Here’s a preview of the latest additions: Rebecca Herold: Bigger privacy breaches than any that have occurred so far on social media sites will occur as a result of no information security or privacy pre-planning at many to most of these organizations. James Odell: systems will no longer primarily be top down. Instead, as individuals, small groups, and organizations interact around the world, technology must support approaches that are more side-by-side. Rob Austin: 2010 will be the year in which mobile devices become the client device of choice in many enterprises. Jim Highsmith: A small, but significant, number of organizations will “get it” when …

Cutter Experts Predict Trends for 2010 and Beyond

Anne Mullaney | Dec 23, 2009 2 Responses

Dec 232009

With the new year upon us, we asked Cutter’s Senior Consultants and Fellows for their business technology predictions. Their perspectives — as always — are quite thoughtful, thought-provoking, and varied. Projections cover the changing role of the CIO, what will happen in enterprise architecture, the increasing adoption of agile, the explosion of cloud computing, the impact of green initiatives, and more. We’re posting all the predictions on the Cutter website as they come in. Here are some excerpts: Israel Gat: I expect 2010 to be the first year of a prolonged golden age. San Murugesan: In 2010 and beyond, we will see growing interest and major developments in cloud computing, green IT, and mobile systems …

Alpha, Beta, Meta: a New Product Introduction Cycle?

Claude Baudoin | Oct 19, 2009 No Responses

Oct 192009

As the old joke goes, alpha tests and beta tests are named that way because “alpha” is a Greek word that means “doesn’t work,” and “beta” is another Greek word that means “still doesn’t work.” But seriously, we know that the classical software product lifecycle includes tests performed by the development team (alpha tests) and tests performed by a limited number of selected users (beta tests). Beta testers have to accept that the software may have bugs (otherwise, what would be the point of testing?) and they commit to taking the time to provide detailed feedback on the issues they encounter. In exchange, they get to use the software early, usually for free, and may …

Toxic Leaders and Personal Simplicity

Vince Kellen | Sep 5, 2009 1 Response

Sep 052009

“I didn’t take this position for the money,” he said looking at me somewhat smugly and for a very brief moment perhaps too honestly. “I did it for the power.” I remember the conversation well. It was about 15 years ago. As a consultant then, I was, from time to time, in the offices of business leaders who I was lucky enough to do business with. Obviously this was a case of a young manager impressing me with his new-found power. I could see the glint in his eye as he relished the chance to exercise power. As I sat there, I began to wonder. Has he been telling everyone his motives behind the advancement? …

My First Hundred Days and the Birkman Method

Claude Baudoin | Aug 23, 2009 1 Response

Aug 232009

There is a mystique about assessing the first hundred days of just about anything. Presidents are compelled to take stock of their first hundred days in office, and Napoleon managed to fumble his comeback in “les cent jours.” So when I realized today (don’t ask me why I thought of counting) that this is the 100th day since a slightly forced repurposing of my professional life from corporate type to independent consultant, I asked myself if my recent experience could create a teachable moment for other would-be consultants. In fact, it is amazing, when you do something like this by yourself, how many distinct and diverse threads of activity you need to pursue almost simultaneously. …

Closing the Toxic Leadership Gap

Vince Kellen | Jul 4, 2009 2 Responses

Jul 042009

“You can lead an organization through persuasion or formal edict. I have never found the arbitrary use of authority to control an organization either effective or, for that matter, personally interesting. If you cannot persuade your colleagues of the correctness of your decision, it is probably worthwhile to rethink your own.” – Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board In order to build knowledge organizations that are both enduring and of the highest performance each employee has to be maximally connected to their passion and placed in the right role. Doing this requires expertise in eliciting and assessing employees’ passion for their work as well as being able to fully understand the complexities …

Call for Papers on Social Networking

Christine Generali | Jul 1, 2009 No Responses

Jul 012009

Enterprise use of social networks is in on the rise. But how do we know if it’s working? The October issue of Cutter IT Journal seeks to uncover the metrics organizations are using to measure the value of their social networking efforts. Article abstracts are due July 10. For more information, visit here.

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