So long to the gorilla dust at GM. That’s what billionaire entrepreneur founder of EDS and ex-General Motors executive Ross Perot called the annual optimistic projections of GM executives during the 1980s, as it continued to lose market share. “When gorillas fight, they throw dust in the air to distract one another,” Perot said.
Gorilla dust […]

I am sitting here, sipping my free cup of coffee at McDonald’s, looking across the parking lot at the huge going-out-of-business banners strung across the entrance to my local Circuit City store. “I wonder,” I joke with the McDonald’s manager, who I know pretty well, “if they had to pay for those banners […]

Almost a month ago I told you about the cover story Bob Charette wrote for IEEE Spectrum on the problems in defense acquisition. Today, Robin Young of the NPR show Here & Now interviewed Bob about the article. You can listen to it here. The part with Bob begins about 5 minutes in, and lasts […]

Cutter’s Bob Charette has written the cover story, “What’s Wrong With Weapons Acquisitions?”, for this month’s IEEE Spectrum. The article highlights the problems in defense acquisition: spiraling costs, extremely lengthy project delays, politics trumping technology, a lack of skilled workers, and a dearth of institutional knowledge as a result of outsourcing. Sound familiar? The scope […]

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 […]