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Agility, the Personal Cloud, and Complex Analytics on the Horizon

Brian Dooley | Dec 15, 2012 No Responses

Dec 152012

Agility, the Personal Cloud, and Complex Analytics on the Horizon

Predictions are always difficult in interesting times, because tomorrow’s concepts depend upon activity which has not yet occurred. We expected flying cars; we are getting autonomous cars. In the 1950s, the computer revolution, robotics, GPS, and today’s traffic patterns would have been difficult to envision. Today, we are seeing rapid evolution across Information and Communications Technology, affecting every component and every meme. But we can see the direction that some areas of recent concentration are likely to take. Concepts of Agility will continue to evolve, moving beyond specific processes such as Scrum toward more comprehensive programs capable of incorporating a wider variety of projects, under more conditions and supporting greater integration with governance. This can …

The New Darlings of the Globe

Carl Pritchard | Nov 30, 2012 No Responses

Nov 302012

It’s not going to be a pretty year ahead, unless you’re in the “doom and gloom” business. As one of the “risk guys,” I’m in a sweet spot for the year ahead, but I don’t think I have a lot of company. I believe a lot of businesses are going to retrench even more deeply, hoarding capital and waiting for some semblance of stability in terms of business regulation. I don’t believe that stability will be forthcoming, which means that the money that has been holed up for several years now will begin to find its way off shore. This makes for an interesting year ahead for the folks outside the States and outside the …

Surviving a Cyberattack: From Phishing to Cyberwar

Christine Generali | Feb 17, 2011 No Responses

Feb 172011

Some argue that a cyber-Armageddon — or a “digital Pearl Harbor” — may be just around the corner, while others counter that while cybersecurity needs to be taken seriously, the overall cyberthreat and its consequences are vastly overblown and are merely a convenient excuse to sell over-priced security software and consulting. The May 2011 Cutter IT Journal will try to separate the wheat from the chaff as pertains to security threats from current and potential cyberweapons. Proposals of interest are due 2 March 2011. To respond, please visit http://www.cutter.com/content-and-analysis/journals-and-reports/cutter-it-journal/callforpapers02.html

Five New Risk Quotients

Stephen Andriole | Jan 11, 2011 1 Response

Jan 112011

Risk management is a formal process owned by senior executives responsible for keeping everyone safe and sound day and night. They report to internal and external audit committees or, actually, prefer to avoid any and all interaction with audit folks since even a casual discussion with auditors can result in a boatload of work for entire teams of already overworked professionals. So what do they audit and how is risk assessed? Most risks are the standard fare. If the audit tells you that your disaster recovery plans are inadequate, then the company will be placed at risk. If your wireless networks are insecure, then the risk bells will go off. If your change-control processes are …

Make Risk Management a Priority for Complex Systems

Ken Orr | Oct 5, 2010 1 Response

Oct 052010

There are no computer systems that are “too important to fail.” Failure, as any competent engineer will tell you, is always an option. Yet modern societies increasingly depend on systems to be foolproof. Electrical grids, air traffic control, automobile control, and medical equipment are all life-critical systems, and none of us wants to depend on life-critical systems with a high failure rate. Nobody wants to trust a large portion of his life savings to a financial trading system that is subject to unpredictable failure either. The same is true of the Internet itself. What we need to do is take a step back and study the design, architecture, and feedback control of these systems. Without …

Truth and Consequences: A Balancing Act in Disclosing Risk

Robert Charette | Sep 21, 2010 3 Responses

Sep 212010

The worst mistake is not telling the boss. Or so said an article a few years ago in the Washington Post about the importance of immediately disclosing problems or mistakes to your boss.1 I am a great believer in this idea as well, which is part of what the late management theorist and practitioner Peter Drucker called “information responsibility.” Without knowing the true state of play, it is pretty difficult to manage enterprise risk effectively.2 This Washington Post article came to mind again as I read a Bloomberg News article last week dealing with the roots of the financial meltdown,3 as well as from a recent coincidental conversation I had with a friend of mine …

BP’s Risk Management Arrogance:
The Gulf Spill is Just the Latest Example

Karen Coburn | Jun 18, 2010 1 Response

Jun 182010

A few years ago, Cutter Fellow Bob Charette wrote about the travails of BP in this ERM&G E-Mail Advisor, and warned that, “if any more bad news erupts in the near future, BP’s current crisis of hubris will be perceived instead as being cynical, self-serving organizational hypocrisy. And once tarred with that brush, the time required for rehabilitation will be counted in decades, not months or years.” Bob may have been optimistic, given what has happened and what has come out in the way of BP’s abject risk mismanagement of the whole affair. “Tarred” indeed. We think Bob’s piece is remarkably prophetic, and worth republishing. Don’t Make Out Checks You Can’t Cash 31 August 2006 by …

Cutter Consortium+Oil Spills=Not as unlikely a pair as you’d think!

Karen Coburn | May 20, 2010 No Responses

May 202010

Cutter Consortium+Oil Spills=Not as unlikely a pair as you’d think!

Cutter is primarily known as being a consortium of internationally recognized IT experts. But in the past, we also had an environmental division that published many cutting-edge journals. This might not sound like a logical pairing, but Cutter’s mission, whether in the realm of environment or IT, has always been to deliver meaningful, objective information, based on the thoughtful input of experts in the field. The spill in the Gulf of Mexico has inspired me to do a bit of a corporate retrospective. Twenty-two years ago, Cutter’s Oil Spill Intelligence Report served as a global clearinghouse of oil spill news and information. Just prior to the Exxon Valdez oil spill, we highlighted the potential risk …

Big is Not Always Beautiful

Scott Stribrny | Nov 23, 2009 6 Responses

Nov 232009

Outsourcing big is not always beautiful. Indeed, sometimes outsourcing big can be a blunder. For example, on Friday, Information Age reported a tally of the UK government’s project management track record, and found that IT projects count among its worst failures. Why? “Government needs to stop thinking that when it comes to procuring IT systems, big is always beautiful,” says shadow chancellor George Osborne. “We need to move in the direction of what are known as ‘open standards’ – in effect, creating a common language for government IT,” he said, which would mean “big projects can be split into smaller elements, which can be delivered by different suppliers and then bolted together”. Even in Texas, big …

Will the Slightest Breeze Blow Your Architecture Down?

Lou Mazzucchelli | Aug 4, 2009 1 Response

Aug 042009

A primary function of IT architecture is managing change. This change happens at varying rates in and between levels of abstraction (think of wind moving at different speeds at different altitudes). So we can think of “horizontal” change — change in time within a particular level — as well as “vertical change” — the relationship between one level and another. A robust IT architecture maximizes the potential for improvements in all levels while minimizing the negative impact of change between levels. Sometimes IT architecture emerges through acquisition. In the old days, vendors imposed architecture that was bundled with their software development products. (Why would anyone have otherwise considered something like systems application architecture [SAA]?) As …

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Posts Tagged 'Risk Management'

The New Darlings of the Globe

Surviving a Cyberattack: From Phishing to Cyberwar

Five New Risk Quotients

Make Risk Management a Priority for Complex Systems

Truth and Consequences: A Balancing Act in Disclosing Risk

BP’s Risk Management Arrogance:
The Gulf Spill is Just the Latest Example

Cutter Consortium+Oil Spills=Not as unlikely a pair as you’d think!

Big is Not Always Beautiful

Will the Slightest Breeze Blow Your Architecture Down?

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