Category

General

Washing IT

 Israel Gat | Dec 8, 2011  No Responses
Dec 082011
 
Washing IT

Colleague Stephen Andriole preempted me with his excellent 2012 prediction Valuation Models Will Overweight the Importance of Cloud Delivery. I could not agree more with his over-arching message: Wall Street will dramatically modify their valuation models of software and technology services companies to overweight the importance of cloud delivery. Human nature being what it is, I expect we will be witnessing a ton of “washing” in 2012 and beyond. In particular: Cloud washing SaaS washing Multit-tenant washing Your investment style is, of course, your own private business. For example, you might be very successful using The Greater Fool Theory. However, if you are into Value Investing, I would allow myself a word of caution. For …

Read more

 General  Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Big Data Analytics Solutions

 Brian Dooley | Nov 15, 2011  1 Response
Nov 152011
 
Big Data Analytics Solutions

Today’s discussions of Big Data analytics almost invariably center on Hadoop, which includes a set of complementary solutions that aid in the development, management, and deployment of very large data sets. The projects include Pig, Hive, Cassandra, HBase, Avro, Chukwa, Mahout, and Zookeeper. Hadoop projects frequently use Hive and Pig, while the NoSQL databases HBase and Cassandra provide database platforms for many Hadoop projects. While Hadoop has gained recent attention, it’s neither the only solution nor the first. Problems involving Big Data have been around for a long time, particularly in scientific computing, and many solutions have been found for specific problem types within areas such as high-performance computing (HPC) and grid computing. As the …

Read more

 General

Half-Life Metrics

 Israel Gat | Nov 1, 2011  1 Response
Nov 012011
 
Half-Life Metrics

“Gaming the system” is the kind of phenomenon that makes pedantic software development managers end their careers in mental asylums. A metric is introduced in order to achieve a certain outcome. To enhance the prospects of achieving the desired outcome, individuals and/or teams are compensated on the measured value of the metric. Over time they learn how to “game it”; that is, skillfully improving the measured value irrespective of whether or not such improvements still are in good accord with the desired outcome. The means (i.e., the measured value of the metric) becomes the end. “Gaming it” manifests itself as failure over time of the measured performance to fully represent actual performance. For example, a …

Read more

 Agile Project Management, General  Tagged with:

Steve Jobs: Greater than Scipio Africanus?

 Vince Kellen | Oct 14, 2011  No Responses
Oct 142011
 
Steve Jobs: Greater than Scipio Africanus?

As expected and sudden was the inevitable and tragic end to Steve Jobs’s life, so too is it surprising yet necessary that an outpouring of praise and emotion would follow. We all loved his inventions. The Twitterverse was rightfully aflame with stories about Steve. As if drawn nearly as perfectly as the interfaces he and his team dedicated their lives to, the final measure of his arc marks a very clean and a nearly perfect transition into history. The last brilliant burst that characterized his second tenure at the helm of Apple was a perfect, if not — from today’s vantage point — a seemingly inevitable concluding crescendo. Beethoven would have been proud. Jobs will …

Read more

 General  Tagged with: , ,

Gimme fast data, not big data

 Vince Kellen | Oct 7, 2011  1 Response
Oct 072011
 
avatar

All the focus on big data is missing the point. Yes, high performance computing architectures let us analyze very large data sets. And yes, that is interesting and helpful. But let’s go with a thought experiment here. Imagine the following: Real-time data feeds from all source systems; Incremental, multi-generational real-time data feeds and data storage so all prior versions of data are accessible; The end of batch processing, nightly loads, ETL or other boring stuff in order to prepare data; All queries you can dream of (well, maybe 98% of the queries) running in in less than a second; All the rest of the queries running in minutes, not hours and yes, even crazy Cartesian …

Read more

 Business Intelligence, Business Technology Trends, Data Integration, General  Tagged with: , , ,

The Mystery of Invention

 Karen Coburn | Oct 7, 2011  No Responses
Oct 072011
 
avatar

Generations of music lovers have mourned the early death of Mozart, imagining the magnificent contributions he would have made had he lived into old age. Similarly, people today around the world, while celebrating the remarkable life of Steve Jobs, are simultaneously sorrowful as they contemplate the many ways he might have continued to delight us had his life not been curtailed. His ability to innovate and break new ground in so many diverse areas – from computing to animation, marketing to music – makes his loss all the more profound. Steve’s Stanford graduation address is being replayed repeatedly today, full of life lessons for us all. But it’s also intriguing in the context of the …

Read more

 General  Tagged with: , ,

Business Capability Mapping: A (Very) Brief Quiz

 William Ulrich | Oct 3, 2011  No Responses
Oct 032011
 
avatar

How would you define the following? Customer Management Agent Assignment Risk Rating Product Management Margin Determination Account Expiration Profit Determination Research Rejection Now, the hard part, does everyone in your organization define these terms and concepts in the exact same way? Most organizations have multiple definitions for most of the terms they use to describe what the business does. This is fine as along as no work, communication, information, or collaborative exchange ever extends beyond the bounds of a single business unit. In reality, no business unit is an island and the semantic disconnect found in most organizations creates a fertile ground for failed initiatives, inability to execute a merger or strategic alliance, lost revenues, …

Read more

 General

Honored to be a “must-read IT blog”!

 Kim Leonard | Sep 8, 2011  1 Response
Sep 082011
 
Honored to be a "must-read IT blog"!

We’re delighted to find The Cutter Blog on BizTech Magazine’s list of Must-Read IT Blogs. We’re in good, eclectic company on this list — you’ll find some sites you’d expect (large analyst firms, technology behemoths, famous smart people) — as well as some from smaller firms and up-and-coming voices. All are worth a visit, perhaps some will be must-reads for you, too. If you’re new to Cutter, here’s why The Cutter Blog is worth a look. It’s a group blog, comprising the voices of many of our 150+ business-technology experts — folks who have done, and are doing, groundbreaking work, solving problems in organizations around the globe. You’ll find posts on topics as diverse as …

Read more

 Featured, General, News  Tagged with:

Value Stream’s Role in Project Planning

 William Ulrich | Sep 6, 2011  2 Responses
Sep 062011
 
avatar

A value stream depicts how “a business delivers end-to-end stakeholder value.” Because a value stream envisions value delivery across business units, product lines, and even organizational boundaries, value streams provide a way for all stakeholders to perform situation analysis, craft a common strategy, and implement that strategy based on a consensus-based solution. This is an essential planning concept when multiple, fragmented processes slow or hinder the delivery of stakeholder value. Consider, for example, a customer of one set of products or services requesting information about, or help with, a different set of products or services. It is not uncommon to find no recognition that an individual or organization is already a valued customer. Parallel, fragmented …

Read more

 Business-IT Strategies, Enterprise Architecture, General  Tagged with: ,

Business Architecture in Practice: Lessons from the Trenches

 Christine Generali | Aug 25, 2011  No Responses
Aug 252011
 
avatar

In the past year, business architecture crossed a major threshold in terms of industry awareness and acceptance. Business architecture is now viewed as an important business discipline that executives should pursue and is being used to enable a variety of business solutions that range from ongoing operational improvements to major transformation scenarios. What about you? Do you have a business architecture story to share? The November 2011 Cutter IT Journal, with Guest Editor William Ulrich, will examine business architecture experiences from the trenches. Proposals of interest are due 9 September 2011. To respond, please visit http://www.cutter.com/content-and-analysis/journals-and-reports/cutter-it-journal/callforpapers03.html

 Business-IT Strategies, Enterprise Architecture, General, IT Management  Tagged with: , ,
Page 2 of 1312345...10...Last »

About the Blog

The Cutter Blog is an offshoot of Cutter Consortium, a boutique IT and Business Strategy consulting firm located in Boston, MA. Cutter's worldwide network of consultants offers clients analysis of the lastest industry trends, customized consulting and executive education opportunities.

Offering more than just a quick fix -- our size and focus allows us to "get deep" into the challenges faced by our clients so we can provide real and lasting solutions. Want to know more? Visit www.cutter.com.

Recent Tweets

More from @cuttertweets

In Our Bookstore

NEW REPORT: Assessing and Improving IT Leadership Skills
© 2012 The Cutter Blog