I’m curious. When IT leaders find themselves stretched as thin as can be now, how can putting yet another initiative on their plate — even one as important as IT’s contribution to sustainability — work? Cutter Benchmark Review Editor Gabe Piccoli made a strong case in his introduction to the recent green-IT focused […]

Do you believe IT can affect the financial outcome of a corporate merger and acquisition? Is IT’s role in this scenario tactical or strategic? We will address these varying perspectives in an upcoming issue of Cutter IT Journal. If you would like to weigh in on this contentious issue, please review our complete Call for […]

I’ve been thinking about the software-plus-service model, where a vendor offers online (hosted) software components that integrate with the vendor’s software installed onsite at the end-user organization (i.e., the customer). Microsoft is pushing this approach in response to on-demand offerings from Google and other providers. More recently, SAP AG has jumped […]

We were saddened to learn that a former member of Cutter Consortium’s Enterprise Risk Management & Governance advisory service, Art Gemmer, passed away in his sleep. Art helped pioneer project and program risk management at Rockwell Collins, where he worked for 27 years before leaving and starting his own consulting company. […]

The financial community recently seems to have added a new twist to the advice given in Shakespeare’s Henry VI (Part 2) with regard to lawyers in the wake of the US $130-billion-plus write-offs that are increasing daily due to the subprime mortgage debacle.
The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce recently fired its chief […]

Beat ‘em up. Knock ‘em down. Slap ‘em around. Keep them on a short leash. Teach them a lesson. Make ‘em behave. Vendors, that is.
This phrase has recently seeped into common IT parlance. I’ve even heard vendors, typically large ones, say that the reason we should buy their wares is that they can then provide […]

I just found out that Middlesex University Emeritus Professor Colin Tully, an influential British computer scientist and a long-time friend, passed away on the 26th of December.
Colin and I first met over twenty years ago when I used to live in the UK, and we had many a lively discussion on information […]

I don’t care if it works. It’s not our way. I don’t care if it’s expedient, effective or simpler. It’s not right. Those sound like counter-productive and potentially hostile kinds of comments.
NOW, put them in a different context.
CMMI. SAP. PMBOK. ITIL.
These are the cookbooks of organizational success. […]

Have you read Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s best-selling book “The Black Swan” yet? Like his first, “Fooled by Randomness”, it’s a terrific read - although lots of critics are hammering him for arrogance and self-indulgence, both in the media and on Amazon. Taleb is smart, self-made, opinionated, and a maverick. His main thesis is that human […]