I predict that in the USA, the tension between Democrat- and Republican-controlled Houses of  Congress will force compromise early and more will get done.  The emerging economy will strengthen as global competition forces corporate investment.  Companies that are overly conservative and hold on will find themselves at risk again.

[Editor's Note: This post is part of the annual "Cutter Predicts ..." series, compiled at the Cutter Consortium website.]

I could be wrong, but here are my predictions for the upcoming year. I believe that these observations will become more widely apparent.

Prediction 1: Established firms will continue to feel the pressure for changing how they lead and manage. The influx of ‘net geners’ into the workplace will increasingly challenge traditional leadership and management styles. Established companies with previously successful top-town and hierarchical structures will re-think their management style in order to attract and retain innovative, younger workers.

Prediction 2: In 2011, it will become more evident that the fastest growing companies over the next several years will be those that reflect the values of net geners (e.g., innovation, particularly in systems for social justice and effecting change in society). These companies will grow because both the products and services they develop and produce and the work environment they create reflect these Read more …

Yesterday, I gave you a preview of Monday’s Summit 2010 program. Tuesday’s program is filled with just as many sparks!

The first session is a case study. It will be led by Rogelio Oliva, who in addition to being a Cutter Senior Consultant, is Associate Professor of Information and Operation Management at the Mays Business School and previously, Assistant Professor in the Technology and Operations Management Unit at the Harvard Business School. So he really knows how to present a case! The case is on IT Cost and IT Value — a pretty important topic these days! First, everyone participating in the Summit will discuss the case in small breakout groups. Then we’ll all come together and Rogelio will put us to the test!

Robert Scott had an amazing career at Proctor & Read more …

ComputersOFF.org has declared 1-7 June 2010 to be Green IT Awareness Week. This is a topic dear to our hearts at Cutter Consortium, and one that we examine frequently (See our Stats of the Week on a variety of Green IT questions, here, here, and here).

Cutter supports International Green IT Awareness Week’s mission to “initiate, promote and support green IT discussions, emboldening employees with the knowledge and innovative ideas to reduce the environmental footprint of the organisation.”

We’re taking action by stimulating discussion and awareness in a variety of ways — we hope you’ll join in too!

Come back here, to The Cutter Blog to read — and debate — new, thought-provoking posts on Green IT, such as San Read more …

If you haven’t seen the video of Daniel Pink’s TED talk on the surprising science of motivation, you should take 20 minutes to watch now — it’s worth it. Jim Highsmith recently read Pink’s new book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, and it got him thinking about how Pink’s ideas about intrinsic motivators — autonomy, mastery, and purpose — match up with the Agile Triangle. Check out Jim’s recent Agile Product & Project Management Executive Update, “Agility, Measurement, and Motivation” (no registration required). In it, Jim reveals how the agile community might use Pink’s message to foster better self-organizing teams and improve workplace satisfaction. What’s your take?

It has been painful to watch the perennial angst of the CIO community. Each year, each conference, and each industry rag frets about what ails the CIO and what kind of CIO the CIO will need to be in the future. When viewed as a whole, the CIO community is paranoid and schizophrenic. Not only do we hear multiple conflicting voices in our collective heads, we have a sense that the future we created is out to get us.

Here at Cutter Consortium, we tackled this issue of the future of the CIO with some thought provoking and wildly different perspectives, ranging from the CIO is dead meat to a new kind of CIO is emerging (see: The Great Recession Fallout: Will CIOs Be Elevated or Exterminated? Cutter IT Journal, January, 2010. Editor’s note: Non-subscribers can download the Read more …

What are the key elements for leadership success? The March 2010 issue of Cutter IT Journal — with Guest Editor Bob Furniss — invites useful and thoughtful analysis and debate on the challenges of leadership within the IT organization and how it can be most effectively achieved at all levels to maximize performance and achieve business goals. We invite anyone who is interested to send us an abstract for consideration.

Cutter IT Journal Call for Papers Abstract Submission Date: 18 December 2009 Articles Due: 29 January 2010 Guidelines for Contributors

“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? Probably not.

I grew up in a family business where I saw at a very young age there was little glory in power. While my Read more …

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. First, I made a list of domains in which I could and wanted to consult. I also connected very early, over the phone and over Read more …

If agile methods are to achieve the position of strategic organizational capability rather than tactical engineering capability, then one of the key factors in achieving that position is changing the way we measure success. Many agile teams are now caught in a dilemma. On one hand they are told to be agile, flexible, and adaptable, but on the other they are told to conform to pre-planned traditional Iron Triangle framework of scope, schedule, and cost. In essence they are being told “be flexible in a very small box.” Agile teams are striving to meet one set of goals and managers and executives are measuring against another set.

Measuring success it tricky. Motorola’s ill-fated, multibillion-dollar satellite-based Iridium project was a spectacular failure in the market. Meanwhile, the movie Titanic, which was severely over budget and schedule–and viewed by early pundits as Read more …