Strategies and Trends for Information Technology Leaders
Last fall I wrote about the changing state of the network management marketplace. This summer we did some research to test out a few hypotheses and explore a few others about network ops and the role of networking more broadly. The results confirmed some of my ideas and surprised me in a few ways—addressing areas…
Last time, I suggested that the obvious analogy between IT architecture and real building architecture was potentially flawed, because of the dramatic differences in their medium of expression, and that another analogy (with music) might be more appropriate in some ways. The real lesson, though, is that all such analogies have serious limitations. While these…
With 802.11n offering performance and security on par with cabled Ethernet, why wouldn’t you embrace wireless? This, anyway, is the vision of WLAN equipment vendors. The most telling slogan is Motorola’s: “Wireless by default, wired by exception.” The truth, though, is this all-wireless vision takes some parsing. All-wireless is coming—if you’re talking about the end-user…
While “tribal knowledge” has become a commonplace reference for often hard won, domain specific expertise, the broader implications of “IT tribes” is more complex, more subtle, and can be a challenging roadblock to progress. IT groups have largely evolved on an academic model in which skill sets are grouped together not only in logical functions,…
Much is being made these days of the role IT plays in business innovation. But what is innovation when it comes to the confluence of IT and business? Is it process improvement? By some measures, probably yes. Is it new ways of doing the same things? Again, probably yes. Is it delivering the same services…
Like most CIOs, Zalmai Azmi is adjusting to his changing role and reengineering his IT department. If his pressures stopped there, he would merely be counted among the sea of IT leaders marshalling the tide of change. But here, in the top secret caves of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the tide itself is…
In my last post I promised this time I would describe my search for a definition of “our kind” of architecture that was not a fancy synonym for design and that could encompass varieties of architecture as diverse as enterprise, information technology, information systems architecture, solution architecture, infrastructure, network, software, application, management, security, process, service-oriented…
In the past few years, IT has enabled a sea-change in the way businesses are run. From green screens to Web 2.0, we have come a long way. But one concern that never goes away is whether the IT investments being made are worth the money, and whether they will stand the test of time….
“You Say Po-tay-to, I say Po-tah-to.” In my last article, I argued that because we really don’t have a much needed, shared vocabulary for “our kind” of architecture, there is justified skepticism about the legitimacy and value of the discipline. In this article, I’ll try to support that assertion by surveying the diversity of opinion…
The reality is IT remains misunderstood. While there is little disagreement about this, I’ve found there is great difference of opinion about who should fix it. The feedback I get on this topic falls into two basic categories: CIOs who accept it as their job; they want to bridge the gap and improve understanding. CIOs…