Cutter Consortium: Business-IT Strategies

Responsiveness or Efficiency -- Pick One, But Agile Works Better with the Former

22 Oct 2009 22:52:51 GMT

Highsmith, Jim | E-Mail Advisors | 22 October 2009 | Agile Project Management; Business-IT Strategies; Business Intelligence; Innovation

In his book Business Agility: Sustainable Prosperity in a Relentlessly Competitive World, Michael Hugos, who is also a columnist for CIO magazine, talks about two fundamental business strategies: responsiveness and efficiency. While a company or business unit surely tries to be both responsive and efficient, one strategy tends to dominate; for example, no one does efficiency better than Wal-mart.

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/advisor/2009/apm091022.html

Give Yourself a Time-Out: Lower the Drama Level on Your Project

22 Oct 2009 22:49:30 GMT

Pritchard, Carl | E-Mail Advisors | 22 October 2009 | Enterprise Risk Management & Governance; Agile Project Management; Business-IT Strategies

All of us know the joy that one can experience from a good movie. Dramatic tension creates humor, intensity, excitement, and exhilaration. For a movie, that's a wonderful experience. In our work environment, that wonder is gone. We really don't want or need drama in our management work, and yet we encounter it on a ritual basis. Drama is borne on the backs of three primary sources: situations, others, and ourselves. In all three of these scenarios, we have some degree of control over that drama. We have the ability to exert that control, but in most situations, we don't. We should. By bringing down the level of drama, we reduce the possibility that small events will suddenly blossom into issues to be managed. And by bringing down the level of drama, we enable people to do their jobs more effectively without outside interference. Drama is a source of risk and, wonderfully, it's one that we can control.

http://www.cutter.com/content/risk/fulltext/advisor/2009/erm091022.html

How to Glean Value from the Semantic Web

21 Oct 2009 22:48:33 GMT

Unhelkar, Bhuvan; Murugesan, San | E-Mail Advisors | 21 October 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

A business can gain significant value from the Semantic Web by drawing on its capability to combine and interoperate with several technologies and services, encompassing data warehouses, disparate operating systems, and myriad types of messaging. The resultant "cohesive" technological platform allows in-depth user participation and collaboration that also reveals new and meaningful relationships among information silos and applications that may not be obvious otherwise to the business. By deploying a Semantic Web-based enterprise information platform, a business can launch new systems and applications that enhance enterprise agility and create synergy among networks, services, open technologies, and security measures, resulting in interoperability among data, applications, business processes, and services.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit091021.html

Back to Basics: Solving the Same Damn Problems Over and Over, Again and Again

19 Oct 2009 22:41:13 GMT

Andriole, Stephen J. | Executive Updates | 19 October 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

I am growing very tired of solving the same old problems over and over again. I realize that all of the consultants out there want me to keep quiet about this, since they make tons of money selling the same old solutions to the same old clients, but our inability to permanently kill very solvable problems is hurting the credibility and effectiveness of our profession. We cannot get out of our own way on so many issues, and it's not just the technology professionals I'm indicting here: just as many business professionals continue to misunderstand and mismanage the business technology relationship. So let's indict everyone: we know what to do but struggle endlessly about how to do IT. Figure 1 presents the back-to-basics picture.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/updates/2009/bitu0912.html

Service Orienting Your Business Processes, Part IV: Multichannel Capability

14 Oct 2009 22:36:13 GMT

Allen, Paul | E-Mail Advisors | 14 October 2009 | Business-IT Strategies; Enterprise Architecture; Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Increasingly, we find business processes that are offered in alternative ways using different channels. For example, purchasing vehicle highway tax in the UK over the counter or online over the Internet. At the same time, as well as offering a process in its entirety over one channel, the same process can be supported by different channels at different points in the process.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit091014.html

Don't Make Me Chase You

9 Oct 2009 00:54:41 GMT

Charette, Robert N. | E-Mail Advisors | 08 October 2009 | Enterprise Risk Management & Governance; Business-IT Strategies

Last week, there was a most interesting interview in the New York Times with Lawrence W. Kellner, the soon-to-be-retiring chairman and CEO of Continental Airlines.1 The interview centered on the leadership lessons Kellner learned over his career, two of which resonated strongly with me and which I have written about.

http://www.cutter.com/content/risk/fulltext/advisor/2009/erm091008.html

Managing the Complete Product Lifecycle, Part VI: Product Lifecycle Phases

8 Oct 2009 00:53:39 GMT

Rasmussen, David N. | E-Mail Advisors | 07 October 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

In this E-Mail Advisor series, we will describe a five-phase product lifecycle (which really is a series of phases because the initiative never cycles back to the beginning). Other versions of the lifecycle may have four, six, seven, or more phases, but they all serve the same purpose. And that is to guide the work necessary to invent, produce, and deliver new products.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit091007.html

Where IT Governance Needs Improvement

30 Sep 2009 19:24:26 GMT

Benson, Robert J.; Bugnitz, Tom | E-Mail Advisors | 30 September 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

The September issue of the Cutter Benchmark Review (CBR) focuses on IT governance. In this Business-IT Strategies E-Mail Advisor, we examine current practices and the relationship of governance to IT's value. For example, we examine whether IT governance contributes to the value IT delivers.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090930.html

The Outsourcing Business Case: A Focus on the Financials

28 Sep 2009 19:18:35 GMT

Cullen, Sara | Executive Updates | 28 September 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

Before you invest heavily in an outsourcing initiative, you must make sure there is a compelling rationale based on sound economic analysis. An outsourcing business case is the basis on which each "go/no-go" decision will be made.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/updates/2009/bitu0911.html

Leadership During Tough Times

2 Sep 2009 01:49:21 GMT

Cohen, Moshe | Executive Reports | 01 September 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

Leadership skills are tested when times are tough, when business is down, and when morale is low. So how do you motivate your people after 20% of their colleagues have been laid off? How do you focus their attention on future prosperity when the future seems so uncertain? As a leader within your organization, your words and actions influence both the tangible decisions that are made by your people as well as their morale. In difficult times, your behaviors matter more and can dramatically impact the effectiveness of your organization and the speed and vitality with which it emerges from the crisis. In this Executive Report by Moshe Cohen, we draw lessons from historical examples, share wisdom from successful leaders, and provide suggestions for getting your organization through the rough period and more on track for a prosperous future.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/reports/2009/09/index.html

Service Orienting Your Business Processes, Part III: Adaptation

24 Sep 2009 01:43:17 GMT

Allen, Paul | E-Mail Advisors | 23 September 2009 | Business-IT Strategies; Enterprise Architecture; Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Many of our business processes -- operating over the Internet or otherwise -- remain wedded to a production-line mindset that is stuck in the world of the 1980s. A well-planned business process managemenht (BPM) and service-oriented architecture (SOA) strategy needs to encourage the use of services as a tool to improve processes and solve specific business problems. At the same time, organizational politics and the investments in BPM and SOA already made mean that we need to tread carefully.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090923.html

What the Early 21st Century (in Ruins) Is Telling Us About Technology Delivery

22 Sep 2009 01:34:46 GMT

Andriole, Stephen J. | Executive Updates | 21 September 2009 | Business-IT Strategies; Innovation; Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

"Everything's negotiable" is a phrase we hear a lot these days. It applies to buying a car, a home, or even a vacation. It especially applies to technology services.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/updates/2009/srcu0909.html

IT Strategies for Rising Markets

17 Sep 2009 01:29:59 GMT

Kellen, Vince | E-Mail Advisors | 16 September 2009 | Business-IT Strategies; Business Technology Trends & Impacts

"The worst may be behind us."

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090916.html

Visiting the Oracle

17 Sep 2009 01:28:50 GMT

Orr, Ken | E-Mail Advisors | 16 September 2009 | Enterprise Architecture; Business-IT Strategies

In ancient times, the Oracle (the person, not the database) was someone to whom you addressed important questions. The answers that the Oracle gave were always true, but were often given in an elaborate code. I imagined recently that I took some of my clients' questions to a modern version of the Oracle for enlightenment. I imagined further that this modern Oracle allowed me three questions.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090916.html

Managing the Complete Product Lifecycle, Part V: The Product Team

9 Sep 2009 19:47:52 GMT

Rasmussen, David N. | E-Mail Advisors | 09 September 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

The product team is a cross-functional group of managers and/or individual contributors who are collectively responsible for managing the product's lifecycle. The size of the product team will vary depending on the role of the product manager, as described previously in this series. Product team members perform two primary roles: (1) lead the functional work required from their respective groups, and (2) ensure effective resolution of cross-functional problems and issues. The product manager is typically the nominal team leader.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090909.html

What IT Governance Is, and Why It Matters

2 Aug 2009 19:38:16 GMT

Benson, Robert J.; Bugnitz, Tom | E-Mail Advisors | 02 September 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

Cutter is paying attention to IT governance in 2009. The September Cutter Benchmark Review (CBR) reports the results of the recent Cutter IT Governance Survey. The December Cutter IT Journal, which we're editing, is about IT governance. Recent CIO surveys done by others place IT governance in the top echelon of concerns.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090902.html

New Additions to the Business-IT Strategies Resource Center

31 Aug 2009 15:59:13 GMT

A Forensic Approach to Information Systems Development: Part I -- Describing the Problem by Ian Bailey

Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth: Adopting Open Software and Content by Joseph Feller

Completing the Computer Revolution by Oliver Sims

Managing Differences: The Critical 21st-Century Management Skill by Rob Austin and the Cutter Business Technology Council

Call for Papers: Leveraging IT Governance When the Chips Are Down

10 Aug 2009 15:49:45 GMT

Benson, Robert J.; Bugnitz, Tom | 10 September 2009 | Cutter IT Journal

The December Cutter IT Journal invites useful, innovative, and thoughtful debate on IT governance and its relationship to IT effectiveness in dealing with the current turbulent times. Please respond to Bob Benson at bbenson[at]cutter[dot]com with a copy to itjournal[at]cutter[dot]com, no later than 10 September and include an extended abstract and a short article outline showing major discussion points.

http://www.cutter.com/content-and-analysis/journals-and-reports/cutter-it-journal/callforpapers03.html

Service Orienting Your Business Processes, Part II: Partner Connectivity

26 Aug 2009 15:39:56 GMT

Allen, Paul | E-Mail Advisors | 26 August 2009 | Business-IT Strategies; Enterprise Architecture; Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Service-oriented viewpoints are a way of gaining early measurable business value through reuse of existing services, including external cloud services as well as internal legacy services. Think of each viewpoint as a different pair of spectacles through which the analyst views the process. There are eight viewpoints; in the previous Advisor (see "Service Orienting Your Business Processes, Part I: Customer Fit and Transparence," 12 August 2009), I described the transparency and customer-fit viewpoints. In this Advisor, I'm going to concentrate on the partner-connectivity viewpoint.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090826.html

Density of Information Frustrates Capacity Planning

19 Aug 2009 15:13:34 GMT

Kellen, Vince | E-Mail Advisors | 19 August 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

Even today, capacity planning in IT proves difficult. Data storage requirements continue to grow dramatically. CPU demand keeps moving along briskly. Network consumption grows, too. While IT shops can buy core network infrastructure, servers, and disks (cheap or not) fast enough to keep up with the growth in data, backing that data up and restoring it has not kept pace, creating another risk. While cloud architectures can mitigate the troubles in managing these infrastructures, they do not entirely mitigate their escalating costs.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090819.html

The Evolution of BPM: Part II -- Toward Service Orientation

17 Aug 2009 15:05:48 GMT

Allen, Paul | Executive Updates | 17 August 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

In this Executive Update, we continue the discussion begun in Part I about the evolution of business process management (BPM) with respect to today's changes in commercial practice toward service orientation. Changes include partners working together in flexible supply chains, which are not constrained by the traditional organizational barriers that limited earlier business process improvement and reengineering efforts.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/updates/2009/bitu0910.html

Service Orienting Your Business Processes, Part I: Customer Fit and Transparence

12 Aug 2009 15:01:28 GMT

Allen, Paul | E-Mail Advisors | 12 August 2009 | Business-IT Strategies; Enterprise Architecture

Service-oriented viewpoints, which I outlined in an earlier Update (see "Service-Oriented Viewpoints," Vol. 12, No. 1.), provide a useful, low-risk approach that can help leverage your investment in existing process models and services as part of a well-planned business-IT alignment strategy. There are eight viewpoints -- transparency, customer fit, partner connectivity, adaptation, multichannel capability, optimization, one-stop experience, and governance -- that can be applied in various ways to improve an existing business process design (typically in the form of a swim-lane diagram) using services. Think of each viewpoint as a different pair of spectacles through which the analyst views the process. In this Advisor, I'll home in on the transparence and customer-fit viewpoints.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090812.html

Managing the Complete Product Lifecycle, Part IV: The Business Product Manager

5 Aug 2009 14:41:34 GMT

Rasmussen, David N. | E-Mail Advisors | 05 August 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

The third role type for product management is one that focuses on achieving corporate profitability or business value metrics. It incorporates many of the attributes of the product management roles for marketing and technology, but in a way in which those functions must be integrated in order to maximize business value. This is a general management role, which, during my days at Digital Equipment Corp., we used to refer to as the "general manager of a product business." It includes focusing on achieving market share goals and technology leadership, but as key parameters in achieving product profit goals.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090805.html

New Wave Offshoring: The Non-BRIC Challenge in Business and IT Services

1 Aug 2009 14:35:20 GMT

Willcocks, Leslie; Griffiths, Catherine; Kotlarsky, Julia | Executive Reports | 01 August 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

Managers need to keep pace with rapid developments in global offshoring opportunities outside Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC). This Executive Report by Leslie Willcocks, Catherine Griffiths, and Julia Kotlarsky describes these developments and provides a 20-factor framework for assessing the location attractiveness of the emerging 120-plus countries offering offshore services. The report relates the results of a study that assessed 14 representative non-BRIC countries on cost, skills, environment, infrastructure quality, risk profile, and market potential.

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/reports/2009/08/index.html

To Improve IT Governance, Ask: How Are You Engaged?

29 Jul 2009 16:41:08 GMT

Benson, Robert J.; Bugnitz, Tom | E-Mail Advisors | 29 July 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

We've been involved recently in a number of client initiatives to improve their IT governance. But what exactly does that mean?

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090729.html

Portfolio-Level Performance Metrics: Answering the Right Questions

21 Jul 2009 16:28:31 GMT

Walton, Bill | E-Mail Advisors | 22 July 2009 | Business-IT Strategies

Portfolios are widely accepted and used by IT organizations to help manage sets of related IT assets, activities, and resources. These include projects, applications, infrastructure components, and IT services. The goals and intentions of using portfolios as management tools are all related to improving the business value delivered or derived from IT assets and capabilities by:

http://www.cutter.com/content/alignment/fulltext/advisor/2009/bit090722.html

What Does It Mean to Be Green?

22 Jul 2009 16:26:46 GMT

Rosen, Mike | E-Mail Advisors | 22 July 2009 | Enterprise Architecture; Business-IT Strategies; Business Technology Trends & Impacts

What do we mean by green computing or sustainability? Does it mean a focus on energy efficiency in the data center through less heat-producing and lower power-consumption server blades? Is it virtualization and shifting computing into the cloud to reduce carbon footprint or reducing paper consumption through new paperless processes? What about recycling and reduction in the manufacturing process? Or is it all of the above? Your guess is probably as good as mine.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090722.html

EA Meets SOA in a Challenged Global Economy

1 Jun 2009 14:32:24 GMT

Allen, Paul | Executive Reports | 01 June 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

Many approaches to enterprise architecture (EA) are based upon ideas that are rooted in the 1970-1980s world of internal IT shops, which puts the focus on the framework as an instrument for keeping internal IT assets in order. These approaches tend to neglect both the "soft" people-related factors that are central to successful EA and the fact that business is increasingly conducted in a collaborative fashion, using distributed Internet technologies. In this Executive Report by Paul Allen, we provide guidance that addresses the needs of organizations operating in a continually challenged global economy by harnessing ideas from service-oriented architecture (SOA) in an EA context.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/reports/2009/06/index.html

A Forensic Approach to Information Systems Development: Part I -- Describing the Problem

17 Jul 2009 14:28:19 GMT

Bailey, Ian | Executive Updates | 17 July 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

The gap between what the business requires and what IT delivers is well recognized. The premise of this two-part Executive Update series is that although approaches such as enterprise architecture go some way toward closing this gap, a fundamental problem remains with the way systems are specified and delivered. That problem lies in the information analysis and modeling that takes place early in the development of systems. The process of information modeling is opaque to most end users, and most IT professionals consider it a "black art." As a result, it gets little scrutiny, and only the data modeler can have any kind of certainty that the model accurately reflects business requirements.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/updates/2009/eau0913.html

Agile and SOA -- Two Dimensions of a Corporate IT Strategy

16 Jul 2009 14:27:19 GMT

Coldewey, Jens | E-Mail Advisors | 16 July 2009 | Agile Project Management; Enterprise Architecture

In his recent Advisor "Achieving Agile Software: Fail to Scale -- Prepare to Fail" (25 June 2009), Cutter Senior Consultant Paul Allen had raised the issue of the connection between agile and SOA. In conclusion, Paul states, "What I am suggesting is that SOA has a key role in coming to [agile addressing its shortcomings on large projects], and conversely that agile has a key role in improving SOA-related work." I tend to agree with Paul, but would like to add a slightly different perspective on the connection between SOA and agile.

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/advisor/2009/apm090716.html

If You Have to Justify IT ... Look Carefully

15 Jul 2009 14:19:01 GMT

Rosen, Mike | E-Mail Advisors | 15 July 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

Like you, I try to keep up with what's going on in the industry by reading magazines, articles, and so on. Perhaps it's the economy, or just coincidence, but in the past few months, there seem to have been more than enough articles about the impotence of IT.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090715.html

New Additions

21 Jul 2009 14:40:49 GMT

"The Web as Platform": What Does It Mean? -- Part III by Joseph Feller
Metrics Show Architectural Impact on IT by Michael Rosen
Potemkin Architecture by Lou Mazzucchelli and the Cutter Business Technology Council
An Integrated Approach to SOA Governance by Paul Allen
Frames: How to Treat Software Components as Capital Assets -- and Why You Should by Paul G. Bassett
Negotiating the Path to Business Architecture/IT Architecture Alignment by William M. Ulrich
Finding -- and Filling -- the Real Business Gap by Greg Suddreth and Whynde Melaragno
Seven Rules of Business Alignment by Alan Inglis
Vision and Values: A Model for Business/IT Architecture Alignment by J.M. Sampath
Aligning Business and IT Architectures: A Seven-Step Approach by Tushar K. Hazra
The Role of the Value Flow in Business-IT Alignment by Neal McWhorter
A Requirements Approach to Enterprise Technology Architecture by Dan Berglove and Jeroen van Tyn

http://www.cutter.com/architecture.html

Key Steps to Ensuring Successful EA

8 Jul 2009 14:09:38 GMT

Berglove, Dan; van Tyn, Jeroen | E-Mail Advisors | 08 July 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

Recently, we've written about some core strategies that help ensure the success of enterprise architecture, such as developing key EA capabilities (see "Six Key Capabilities on Road to EA Success," 18 March 2009) and employing an iterative and incremental approach to EA programs (see "Take Iterative Steps: Start Small, Empower Team Via Vision, Value," 29 April 2009). In this Advisor, we provide an overview of several other pervasive themes that provide broad but powerful guidance to EA efforts.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090708.html

Is Your Perimeter Secure?

17 Jun 2009 19:58:09 GMT

Rosen, Mike | E-Mail Advisors | 17 June 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

Is your perimeter secure? The answer to that is simple: NO. As business has become more distributed, outsourcing has gone global, supply chains are more connected, employees have become teleworkers, customers demand better information, and so on, we have systematically punched holes into perimeter security until it now resembles Swiss cheese.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090617.html

Are You at the Controls? Do You Know Where Your Data Is?

10 Jun 2009 19:43:38 GMT

Rosen, Mike | E-Mail Advisors | 10 June 2009 | Enterprise Architecture; Business Intelligence; Enterprise Risk Management & Governance

Perhaps you remember the public service campaign from 1960s television that went something like, "It's 10 pm. Do you know where your children are?" For IT, we could rephrase it as; "It's 2009. Do you know where your data is?" You probably don't, especially if it's in the hands of your partners or outsourcers. So, the answer to the question in the title of this Advisor is most likely, "I don't know."

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090610.html

Open Source Java Frameworks: Development/Testing, Middleware, and Comprehensive Frameworks

5 Jun 2009 16:21:10 GMT

Welsh, Tom | Executive Updates | 05 June 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

In Part V, I move on to the findings for development/testing, middleware, and comprehensive OSJFs. Then, before summing up the series and to put the OSJF findings into context, we take a look at the non-Java frameworks that respondents have been using.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/updates/2009/eau0911.html

The Cloud Machine: Some Tips to Get Behind the Haze

3 Jun 2009 16:15:40 GMT

Seiden, Mark | E-Mail Advisors | 03 June 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

"The cloud" is important, yes, but in my view it isn't rocket science (or even atmospheric science). I think of it as just another step in outsourcing and pushing everything into a commodity, which for me creates only "modified rapture."

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090603.html

Enterprise Collaboration Architecture Webinar

3 Jun 2009 16:14:46 GMT

Rosen, Mike | Webinars/Multimedia | 03 June 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

Collaboration is a hot topic within Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 technologies. It seems that everybody wants it, but what does it really mean for an enterprise? How can collaboration help improve internal processes and development? And how can it improve interactions with customers and partners? In this Webinar, Mike Rosen, Director of Cutter's Enterprise Architecture practice, first looks at what we mean by collaboration and why we do it. Then, he looks at the impact on traditional business transaction processing when we try to add collaboration. Mike will discuss a detailed example of an extended business transaction and the benefits it can deliver, and finally he'll take a look at the application architecture necessary to integrate Enterprise 2.0 technologies into real business transactions at an enterprise level. Join Mike Rosen for this hour-long, interactive webinar. Ask questions, get answers. Discover the opportunities opened by Enterprise Collaboration Architecture, consider some approaches, and anticipate the obstacles.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/webinar/2009/enterprisecollaborationarchitecture.html

For Hybrid Clouds, Fog of Confusion Is Burning Away

28 May 2009 16:05:28 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 28 May 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts; Sourcing & Vendor Relationships; Enterprise Architecture

Most of the attention being paid to cloud computing has focused on public cloud providers, such as Amazon and Google, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendors, such as Salesforce.com. However, based on my research, including feedback I've received from readers, I believe that the future of corporate IT, especially when it comes to larger companies, will be based on "hybrid clouds" -- those employing both public and private clouds to meet business goals.

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/advisor/2009/btt090528.html

EA and SOA: A Marriage Made in Heaven?

27 May 2009 16:03:30 GMT

Allen, Paul | E-Mail Advisors | 27 May 2009 | Enterprise Architecture; Business-IT Strategies

While EA and service-oriented architecture (SOA) have their own advocates and camps of followers, recent developments have seen many of the EA approaches and frameworks looking to offer increasing support for SOA. The fact that business is increasingly conducted in a collaborative fashion, using distributed Internet technologies, makes this very welcome. While I review these developments and more in an upcoming Executive Report ("EA Meets SOA in a Challenged Global Economy"), right now I want to offer some general observations on extending your EA to support SOA.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090527.html

Architectural Challenges in Transforming to SaaS Solutions

22 May 2009 15:50:46 GMT

Markande, Krishna | Executive Updates | 22 May 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

To fully understand the advantages and challenges in software as a service (SaaS), we must analyze the emerging model thoroughly from the viewpoint of customers and independent software vendors (ISVs). The aim of such scrutiny is to reap the benefits and mitigate possible risks of SaaS.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/updates/2009/eau0910.html

Aiming for the Big Picture, EA Goes Beyond 3D

20 May 2009 15:40:43 GMT

Orr, Ken | E-Mail Advisors | 20 May 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

For a long time, I have been advocating that the right analogy for enterprise architecture is urban/transportation planning versus building architecture. Now, while designing and building a single large building is a complex, difficult problem, what large IT organizations everywhere are faced with is not just developing or replacing individual systems, regardless of how difficult that that may be. Rather, they are managing networks or systems; in some cases networks of networks of systems. Enterprise architecture, like urban/transportation planning, is involved with trying to understand and shape the really big picture.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090520.html

COBIT Primer

13 May 2009 15:30:20 GMT

Rosen, Mike | E-Mail Advisors | 13 May 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

There are so many different frameworks with which architects work -- TOGAF, Zachmann, FEAF, ITIL -- to name just a few. All have different goals, strengths, weaknesses, audiences, and so on. The one that I find to be the least well known among architects is COBIT. Yet I find that many CIOs and executives are familiar with this framework and that it is important in communicating up to the C-level. COBIT, originally released in 1996, is currently at version 4.1 (you can download the guide from www.isaca.org).

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090513.html

Open Source Java Frameworks: GUI, Web, Web Services, and Persistence

12 May 2009 14:52:03 GMT

Welsh, Tom | Executive Updates | 12 May 2009 | Enterprise Architecture
This is the fourth in a series of Executive Updates in which I analyze the results of a recent Cutter Consortium survey on the subject of open source Java frameworks (OSJFs). Part I1 explored Java EE's perceived strengths and weaknesses, to find out whether there is good reason for developers to look for alternatives. In Part II,2 we saw that nearly three in four respondents think that OSJFs always or often offer good solutions to Java's shortcomings, though there was some concern about the risk of lock-in, uncertainty over future plans, and lack of standardization.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/updates/2009/eau0909.html

A Capability Trilogy, Part III: Triage Comes Into Play

6 May 2009 16:00:35 GMT

Allen, Paul | E-Mail Advisors | 06 May 2009 | Enterprise Architecture; Business-IT Strategies

While the notion of core/context capabilities is central to the whole capability-driven approach, it is sometimes quite difficult to take a strictly binary view. Graduating capabilities in terms of their degree of commoditization can help, and it is possible to use several classifications along a spectrum from high to low commoditization. At the same time, it's important not to overegg the pudding.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090506.html

Harnessing Your Architecture Repository to Value

30 Apr 2009 15:52:20 GMT

Rosen, Michael | E-Mail Advisors | 30 April 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts; Enterprise Architecture

As more and more enterprises realize a need for architecture, the vendors of tools that support architecture are jumping on the opportunity. I'm seeing a growing trend in the acquisition of enterprise architecture repositories. Unfortunately, I haven't yet seen most organizations realize the value that these tools can bring. As always, technology itself does not provide business value; it only enables solutions. It is how you use the technology that brings value, and repositories are no exception.

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/advisor/2009/btt090430.html

Take Iterative Steps: Start Small, Empower Team Via Vision, Value

29 Apr 2009 15:50:35 GMT

Berglove, Dan; van Tyn, Jeroen | E-Mail Advisors | 29 April 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

The iterative and incremental approach to software development has become a well-established best practice, as evidenced by its centrality to any number of software development methodologies, including agile and variations on the Unified Process.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090429.html

The Myth of Software Reuse

24 Apr 2009 15:45:34 GMT

Rooney, David | Executive Updates | 24 April 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

I've been developing software professionally since 1988, long enough to have encountered multiple fads and movements within the software industry. A goal that has endured from my first few months as a developer to the present day: software should be reusable. Object orientation promised it. Component-based software promised it. Now, Web services and service-oriented architecture (SOA) promise that holy grail of substantially reduced costs through the reuse of code.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/updates/2009/eau0908.html

Getting to the Root of Corporate Change -- Motivation

22 Apr 2009 15:37:03 GMT

Rosen, Mike | E-Mail Advisors | 22 April 2009 | Enterprise Architecture; Business-IT Strategies; Agile Project Management

As an architect, I'm constantly challenged to help organizations come up with better ways to do things. Unfortunately, in IT, we don't usually bring in architecture before there is some kind of mess to clean up. The typical scenarios include: complexity has gotten out of control, costs are too high, it takes too long to do anything, systems are brittle and can't be changed, a change in one place breaks something somewhere else, and on and on. You know the litany of problems.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090422.html

A Capability Trilogy, Part II: The Nine Dimensions of Capability

15 Apr 2009 15:00:44 GMT

Allen, Paul | E-Mail Advisors | 15 April 2009 | Enterprise Architecture; Business-IT Strategies

As discussed in the first Advisor in this series (see "A Capability Trilogy, Part I: The Politics of Capability," 25 March 2009), capability-oriented thinking is becoming increasingly influential in methodologies, enterprise architecture frameworks, and business strategy. A business capability (capability for short) is a combination of capacity and ability to perform a coherent family of functions in terms of what must be done to achieve stated outcomes (see my Business-IT Strategies Executive Report, "Business Capabilities: Realizing the Potential" Vol. 12, No. 2).

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090415.html

Don't Blame It All on Release Management

14 Apr 2009 14:57:14 GMT

Konkol, Sebastian | Executive Updates | 14 April 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

After the publication of Part I of my two-part Executive Report series1, 2 on release management, I received some comments. Some of the issues mentioned could be seen as symptomatic of each organization that deals with release management. In light of these comments and from a recent consulting project at a mobile operator struggling with release issues related to its IT and VAS platforms environments, I decided to revisit release management and provide another perspective in this Executive Update: how release management helps uncover problems that can directly be attributed to software development, architecture, and collaboration.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/updates/2009/eau0907.html

What Doesn't Kill You ... And Other Lessons About Support

8 Apr 2009 13:17:36 GMT

Rosen, Mike | E-Mail Advisors | 08 April 2009 | Enterprise Architecture; Enterprise Risk Management & Governance

They say "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," and perhaps this is true for architects as well. I recently went through an experience that all architects and IT professionals should go through occasionally, but not too often. An insipid virus infected my computer, having evaded the defenses of my firewall/security product and, slowly but surely, rendered my laptop useless. Since I had also fallen prey to application bloat over the years and laptop performance had slowed to the speed of a pig stuck in molasses in January without a paddle, there was really nothing to do but rebuild the OS.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090408.html

Making SOA Work by Shedding IT's Anorak

7 Apr 2009 13:15:27 GMT

Allen, Paul | Executive Updates | 07 April 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is often approached as very much a technology-centric initiative. However, while SOA infrastructure and technical design both have vital parts to play, they must be judged at the end of the day as enablers of business improvement. A good SOA is only as good as the business knowledge that goes into its construction. Eliciting this business knowledge depends on developing and sustaining a good business case, which requires significant raising of the business-IT communication bar. This Executive Update considers the results of a recent Cutter Consortium survey showing that we remain well short of this bar. We present some short, sharp guidelines for improving this situation. The bottom line is that IT must shed its anorak1 and operate within the context of organizational change management. This Update offers guidance for you to apply on this difficult journey, with particular reference to the impact of SOA on the business case for IT projects.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/updates/2009/eau0906.html

Review: TOGAF 9 Takes Key Steps Forward

1 Apr 2009 13:10:32 GMT

Rosen, Mike | E-Mail Advisors | 01 April 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

It's been five years in the making, and perhaps a few years later than promised, but TOGAF 9 was finally released to the public in mid-February 2009. You can download a 744-page, PDF evaluation copy, subject to license restrictions, from The Open Group's Web site (www.opengroup.org/togaf), purchase a downloadable version for US $40 (free to Open Group members), or spring for the nicely bound hard-copy version for €75.

http://www.cutter.com/content/architecture/fulltext/advisor/2009/ea090401.html

Service-Oriented Architecture: Foundational Elements

1 Mar 2009 14:35:26 GMT

Maitra, Amit K. | Executive Reports | 01 March 2009 | Enterprise Architecture

"Service-oriented architecture" (SOA) is a powerful term regularly abused by its constant reference to developmental technologies rather than its architectural approach. This Executive Report by Dr. Amit K. Maitra discusses SOA in the context of "services" as the term applies to architecture and to "architecture" as it applies to exposing the services. The new service concept is revolutionizing and accelerating the way enterprises accomplish business integration by providing a foundation for business agility with minimal cost and full potential for application reusability. This report first defines the foundational elements of SOA then argues that just as the Enterprise Service Bus connects applications to services in an SOA, a similar approach with the potential benefits of architecting a messaging foundation for the functionality of "information as a service" could and should be undertaken.

http://www.cutter.com/architecture/fulltext/reports/2009/03/index.html