IT Projects: Expert Witness, CIO, In-House Counsel & Litigation Forum

Seven IT Tips for surviving the recession

Author:  Cath Jennings        Originally posted on 1/13/09 at:     http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/01/13/authors/articleauthor.aspx?liArticleID=234171

The global recession and how to cope with it will inevitably dictate the business and IT agendas during 2009. While the general consensus is that IT budgets are likely to remain relatively flat overall, circumstances will vary from industry to industry, with sectors such as financial services and travel being hardest hit. Government and utilities will see investment remain relatively buoyant.

Gartner indicates that, although 46% of CIOs believe their budget will increase, 21% expect expenditure to fall and a further 33% anticipate that there will be no change. Mark McDonald, global vice president of executive programmes at Gartner, says: "Some companies are going through large budget declines, while increases are very modest, which is holding the overall number down."

Nonetheless, many IT organisations are already shelving nice-to-have, discretionary projects and getting rid of costly on-site contractors, while at the same time adopting a somewhat longer-term, wait-and-see approach.

Why Systems Fail and Problems Sprout Anew!

Here's a very thoughtful "oldie but goodie" from 1980!!!  What do you think?  WSR

Commentary on the principles of "Systemantics"

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Review of the book. Systemantics; how systems work... and especially how they fail by John Gall. New York, Pocket Books, 1978

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Introduction

At last those concerned with social change have a basic textbook to explain why "things generally are indeed not working very well" despite our many efforts. As is remarked on the cover: "Have you ever wondered why the unsinkable Titanic sank... or the poor in India eat better bread than the rich in America... or hospital patients are blamed for not getting well... or why, in general, things that don't work badly don't work at all ?" Similar questions are of deep concern to those working in international organizations.

The author, John Gall, explains his point of departure in the following words:

"The religious person may blame it on. original sin. The historian may cite the force of trends such as population growth and industrialization. The sociologist offers reasons rooted in the peculiarities of human associations. Reformers blame it all on "the system", and propose new systems that would, they assert, guarantee a brave new world of justice, peace, and abundance. Everyone, it seems, has his own idea of what the problem is and how it can be corrected. But all agree on one point- that their own system would work very well if only it were universally adopted.

Google, Microsoft, Yahoo as Ford, GM and Chrysler

Previously Posted December 22nd, 2008

by Larry Dignan

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=11314

Could Google, Microsoft and Yahoo be the equivalent of Ford, GM and Chrysler more than 60 years ago?

That thought provoking question was raised by Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay, who cooks up weekend missives designed to make you go hmmm. The argument is an interesting one. Lindsay notes that the downturn of 2001 to 2003 in Web advertising–AOL imploded and Yahoo fumbled–allowed Google to emerge.

Instead of buying Google, the future search giant went public and owned the sector. Fast forward a bit and MySpace, YouTube and Facebook had no shot at going public. Facebook had its IPO shot, but blew it. Lindsay says: Will the current downturn provide the condition for the next Google to emerge – and if so where will it come from? The problem today is that today’s internet players have formidable cash piles which they can use to buy up almost anything. The venture capital players that brought the internet sector into being have generally less cash to hand and are becoming increasingly interested in other sectors.

The parallel with the auto industry? Buick, Oldsmobile and Chevrolet were the high tech startups industry of the 1940s. They were gobbled up to become GM. I thought Lindsay was stretching a bit when I read through his research note. But then I pondered Yahoo, which has Flickr, Delicious, Rivals.com, Zimbra and a bunch of other properties in its collection. Are these properties really any different than the nameplates and brands that GM and Ford have?

Five reasons to kill IT projects

If I had input into this survey, I probably would have picked #4 for 1st place on the list.  In what other order might you have imagined this list to appear?   Marlene  

Previously appeared November 26, 2008

Author:a guest post from Michael Krigsman of TechRepublic’s sister site ZDNet

A recent study highlighted the top five reasons IT experts who killed a project gave for terminating projects prior to completion. Check out the five reasons.

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/tech-manager/?p=643&tag=nl.e053

 A survey of IT experts revealed 43 percent of their organizations had recently killed an IT project. The study, conducted by ISACA, an independent IT governance group, highlighted the top 5 reasons these organizations named for terminating projects prior to completion. Here’s the list, with my commentary on each issue:

1. Business needs changed: 30%

There are many conditions and situations where a business legitimately changes its requirements after starting a project. If the project no longer provides meaningful value, then it’s best to stop throwing good money after bad.

On the other hand, some organizations deliberately obscure a flawed project requirements process by claiming business needs evolved. Obviously, that’s unhealthy and a true sign of failure.

2. Did not deliver as promised: 23%

This is a typical expectation-setting problem: promise anything to get funding and worry about the consequences later. Shortsighted managers don’t realize that funding is less important than delivering substantive value. Failure is inevitable when managers don’t clearly identify and deliver business value.

In some cases, the project really did provide value, which the organization did not recognize due to communication problems. I recently blogged about one CIO seeking a publicist presumably to address this issue:

Many organizations take a CIO for granted when his IT department consistently delivers the goods without fanfare and attention; sadly, this human failing is all too common. In that case, PR might be a great idea, especially if the CIO isn’t a great communicator. Of course, the CIO should improve his communication skills, but that’s another story.

Tech CEOs: Will they step up in a downturn?

This article seems to be for companies in the higher echelons of the industry, who are still able to use acquisition as a means to improve their business.  What about the companies struggling to maintain their own business - and not end up as an acquisition if they really are looking to remain independent?  Any examples come to mind to any of you out there?

Marlene

Previously appeared on December 2nd, 2008
Posted by Larry Dignan

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=11032&tag=nl.e019

Technology CEOs worth their paychecks are going to use this economic downturn to revamp business models and position for the so-called post recession era. It sounds rather obvious, but why don’t all CEOs follow this playbook?

We’ve heard the mantra repeatedly: Reload in a downturn. And a report from Forrester the latest to repeat the downturn playbook. Forrester Research analyst Navi Radjou argues that technology CEOs need to implement a five-point innovation program in 2009. Some CEOs–IBM’s Sam Palmisano and Cisco’s John Chambers–get it, but most are too mired in restructuring efforts to notice the opportunities. Radjou notes that Palmisano acquired PriceWaterhouseCoopers in 2002 to bet big on services. The bet has paid off.

Radjou writes:
For tech CEOs, the coming 2009 to 2011 period is going to be repeat of the recessionary 2000 to 2002 years. Constrained by shareholders’ short-term demands, tactically minded tech CEOs will focus on cutting costs or driving incremental product and service innovations. But forward thinking, bold tech CEOs will emulate what IBM’s Sam Palmisano did in 2002: They will choose to invest in their firms’ long-term success. By 2012, when the global economy fully recovers from the prolonged recession, these visionary CEOs will dine out on their success, as their firms are handsomely rewarded by both Wall Street and their customers, leaving competitors in the dust.

Senate introduces IT failures bill: No wiggle room

Wouldn't that be something if the government IT projects end up being better monitored than those in private industry. Imagine IT project managers, etc. having to account for the efficacy of the project if it shows a 20 % variation from original baseline estimates????                        Marlene

Previously appeared November 13th, 2008
Posted by Michael Krigsman
http://blogs.zdnet.com/projectfailures/?p=1142&tag=rbxccnbzd1

The Senate introduced a bill establishing guidelines for transparency and reporting on troubled IT projects. The bill defines specific exception thresholds for measuring critical and large government IT projects. Projects exceeding these thresholds will be evaluated for remediation and possible termination. Here’s how the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) described the bill, which is called the “2008 Information Technology Investment Oversight Enhancement and Waste Prevention Act” (S. 3384):

S. 3384 would amend federal law regarding the oversight of project planning for information technology (IT) systems. The legislation would require chief information officers to identify critical IT projects and would subject each IT project to additional reporting, planning, and monitoring requirements, including corrective actions for projects that fail to meet applicable standards. S. 3384 also would establish an IT Strike Force (a group of information technology experts) overseen by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to respond to problems with individual IT projects.

NextGov added:

The Act would force agencies to think more deeply when establishing cost, schedule and performance baselines for major IT investments. Agencies would be held accountable for their initial projections; if a project varied more than 20 percent from the original baseline estimates according to the standards of earned value management, the chief information officer would be required to notify

If a project varied more than 40 percent from the original baseline, then OMB would have to determine if there were other ways to meet the objectives, or if the agency should pull the plug on the project altogether.

Will Tim Cook be the next Steve Jobs?

It would appear that Steve Jobs is very comfortable with bringing Tim Cook even further into the fray by having him appear along side him at important meetings and conferences. Interestingly enough, the negative response in the Fortune article about Tim Cook is from someone who was only identified as "...a Silicon Valley investor who travels in the Apple orbit..." .  Well, that could be one of any number of sycophants, wannabes and hangers-on, couldn't it?  Anonymous remarks carry as much weight as a wet Kleenex.  So - anyone  have any suggestions about any other candidates that would be a good choices to "shadow" Jobs?  Do I hear any votes for Jerry Yang?            Marlene

Previously appeared on November 10, 2008
Posted by Sam Diaz,a senior editor at ZDNet

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=10762&tag=nl.e019

Last month, after a press event at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters, I made an off-the-cuff observation about the future leadership of the company. In short, I commented on how Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, who took a portion of stage time from Jobs to talk about new notebooks, was wearing blue jeans and a black shirt - Jobs’ signature outfit. Granted, a wardrobe does not make anyone worthy of a CEO title. But, given concerns this year about Jobs’ health, it suddenly felt like Cook - who filled in as CEO for two months in 2004 while Jobs recovered from pancreatic cancer surgery - could be the successor when and if Jobs no longer carries the big title.

 Now , Fortune magazine has published a pretty lengthy piece, called “The genius behind Steve,” which looks at Cook - as well as a couple of other execs - who could be positioned to take the reins. (Techmeme) It’s a good read that offers a deeper look into Cook as an executive and a human being. Consider these excerpts from Fortune:

Jobs has seen to it that Cook is getting public exposure, especially on Wall Street. He is a fixture on Apple’s quarterly earnings calls, and he speaks at select investment conferences. “Operationally, when you think about what they’ve done - a massive retail-stores ramp, an expanded sales-channel presence, delivering new products without glitches, and managing huge seasonality - all speak to a company that is exceedingly well run,” says (Toni) Sacconaghi, the Sanford Bernstein analyst, referring almost wholly to aspects of the company that Cook oversees.

SAP Makes A Dramatic Move:

We need a score card nowadays to keep track of the re-organizing of Tech biz companies - and the moves being made by top executives - its like a very intense game of  musical chairs, and the prizes for the winners are stupendous.  Right now the tech world's big businesses could be the new template for the classic Abbot and Costello routine - but what could we call it... "Who's On Google, What's On Apple, and Nobody's on Yahoo?             Marlene

Ex-Oracle Exec John Wookey To Head Up SAP’s New On-Demand Market Effort

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Greenbaum/?p=189

Previously appeared on November 11, 2008 posted by Joshua Greenbaum

It’s hard to know which was more significant, the announcement that SAP is going to tackle on demand at the top of its market, or the name of the person – former Oracle apps exec John Wookey – who was picked to lead the effort. Off the top of my head, I’d say it’s a draw: an almost amazing segue into a new, and very challenging market, and an amazing pick to head up the effort.

John won’t lack for challenges in his new job, the title of which is executive vice president for large enterprise on-demand. Having lead Oracle’s efforts to rationalize its ever-growing, and increasingly heterogeneous acquisitions until he abruptly left last year, John has some experience in accomplishing what looks almost impossible to do.

Former IBM exec blocked from running iPod, iPhone engineering teams

Previously appeared on Nov 9, 2008
Posted by Gregg Keizer

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9119643&intsrc=hm_list

November 9, 2008 (Computerworld) A federal judge on Friday ordered a former IBM executive who was recently hired by Apple, Inc. to stop working for the company, court documents showed. U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Karas ruled that Mark Papermaster, who was announced as Apple's new vice president of devices hardware engineering only last Tuesday, must "immediately cease his employment with Apple Inc. until further order of this court."

Karas did not explain his reasons for the order, saying only that he would issue an opinion at a later date. Friday's move was the result of an IBM motion for a preliminary injunction designed to block Papermaster's move to Apple. On Oct. 22, IBM sued Papermaster, claiming that a noncompetition agreement he signed in 2006 bars him from working for competitors for a year after leaving the company.

According to IBM, Papermaster had information of "highly confidential IBM trade secrets" that would "irreparably harm" the company if he's allowed to work for Apple. Apple hired Papermaster to run its iPod and iPhone engineering group. The same day that Apple announced Papermaster's hire, it also said that Tony Fadell, who has been credited with jump-starting the company's iPod business, was leaving his position as senior vice president in charge of the player, but would remain as an adviser to Jobs.

Outsourcing vendor ACS to move 'higher-level' IT jobs offshore

How are U.S. companies reaching the determination that the resources in the offshore areas have acquired the necessary level of expertise to fill management and application development roles?  Isn’t there a great risk here, to be compared to the fairy tale where the two “ugly stepsisters” are attempting to jam their size 10’s into Cinderella’s size 5 glass slipper, in order to win the grand prize, the hand of Prince Charming in marriage?  If they actually do it by force, they will probably be too crippled to walk down the aisle with the Prince!  Have American companies done in-depth studies on the level of offshore skills available, to be certain that they will not cripple their businesses in the long run with staffing that is unable to “fit” the job?  This development has all the makings of a "fractured fairy tale".  We would like to have your insights and comments on this issue.                            Marlene

Originally appeared on 2008-11-03 posted by Patrick Thibodeau Obama touts desire to keep tech jobs in the U.S.

• Offshore Coders: Cheaper and Better
• People: The New IT Priority
• Bailout won't keep Wall Street from sending jobs offshore
• Salary comparison

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=Outsourcing&articleId=9118938&taxonomyId=72&pageNumber=1

Execs say firm plans to start offshoring development, project management work

November 3, 2008 (Computerworld) IT workers and managers who believe their jobs are at too high a level to be sent overseas may want to look at Affiliated Computer Services Inc.'s plan to boost its offshore outsourcing operations by moving "more complex, higher paying" jobs to countries outside the U.S.

Dallas-based ACS, which provides IT and business process outsourcing services to a wide range of corporate and government clients, currently employs about 63,000 people, 20,000 of them in low-cost offshore locations. But in a conference call last Thursday on its financial results for the quarter that ended Sept. 30, ACS detailed plans to increase the number of employees working offshore by 4,200 during its current fiscal year, which began July. (A transcript of the call can be read on Seeking Alpha Ltd.'s Web site.)

"To have a greater financial impact, we will be moving a higher percentage of more complex, higher paying jobs offshore, including management and application development roles," ACS President and CEO Lynn Blodgett said during the call.

ACS has been gradually shifting jobs to offshore and near-shore centers in the Philippines, Jamaica, Guatemala and India. In its 2006 fiscal year, just under 25% of the company's workforce was based outside of the U.S. Now, nearly 35% of its workers are overseas, according to a presentation used by ACS officials during the conference call.

Tom Burlin, chief operating officer at ACS, filled in some of the details about the jobs that will be affected by the additional offshore moves. "We've done a great job in moving base production-level jobs offshore but have decided," he said, "to aggressively move more of our higher level jobs, like production managers, higher-level back-office functions and higher-level development roles, to lower-cost locations."

The company said the expected savings from offshoring will give ACS more money to invest in areas such as sales, innovation and development of new products. "This is the right thing to do and the right time to do it," Blodgett said. "This investment will make us stronger, not only during this economic storm, but for years to come."

The Next Huge Security Threat: Web Applications

After reading this posting by Ms. Millard in Baseline, I realize it would have been a good pick for last Friday's post - on Halloween, since it sounds a lot scarier than ghost and goblins. 

What - "...no adherence to security software development practices".  Egads, "unpatched Browsers" ...!  Oh no, not "The Rise of the Botnets"...!  Suzy - don't go in there - don't open that----there is malicious code behind that Web page!  

So - how about sharing some of your scary Web Application stories with us?          Marlene

Originally appeared on 2008-10-29 by Elizabeth Millard

http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Security/The-Next-Huge-Security-Threat-Web-Applications/ 

 

The Next Huge Security Threat: Web Applications

Software as a service may be on the rise, but so are security threats targeted at loopholes in application code. Here are some application security strategies from industry experts, with a closer look at one area not generally associated with security and information technology management--insurance.

As companies flock to software-as-a-service (SaaS) and design their own Web-based applications to take advantage of an always-on and always-accessible enterprise, they're also opening themselves to a formidable security threat, many experts believe.

Web app security is already a major concern, notes Ivan Arce, CTO of Core Security Technologies. Most enterprises have already adopted the Web paradigm for many of their internal applications as well as almost all of their external Internet presence, he states, creating an environment where Web applications are a major technological component in enterprise business processes.

"Unfortunately, most of the Web applications already in deployment were developed with no consideration or adherence to security software development practices," he says. "The result is that for many years, Web applications have been plagued by design and implementation bugs and became the low-hanging fruit for attackers."

Adding to the problem is the large amount of unpatched browsers, which create an additional layer of insecurity that can be exploited.

Gartner's top 10 technologies IT leaders should watch for 2009-2011

In some of the articles we have posted this year, some of the Top 10 on the list in this article have been discussed.  What would you add - or take away - if  you formed your own version of a list like this?      Marlene 

Jason Hiner  Gartner Symposium 2008
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=865 

October 14th, 2008

On Tuesday, Gartner analysts Carl Claunch and Dave Cearley gave a crowd of IT leaders at the Gartner Symposium IT Expo 2008 a list of the top 10 technologies that will provide important strategic advantages to IT over the next three years. They encouraged the leaders to keep these technologies in mind as they formulate budgets and long-term plans.

Claunch and Cearley delivered their list in the presentation “Top 10 Strategic Technology Areas for 2009″ at the Orlando event. Here’s how they defined the “strategic technologies” that made the list:

“A strategic technology is one with the potential for significant impact on the enterprise in the next three years. Factors that denote significant impact include a high potential for disruption to IT or the business, the need for a major dollar investment, or the risk of being late to adopt. Companies should factor these technologies into their strategic planning process by asking key questions and making deliberate decisions about them during the next two years. Sometimes the decision will be to do nothing with a particular technology. In other cases it will be to continue investing in the technology at the current rate. In still other cases the decision may be to test/pilot or more aggressively adopt/deploy the technology.”

Here’s the list: