Assorted Links: November 10, 2008
Interesting stats from a recent CIO survey. Yes, spending is being cut. Nice to see some discipline in the approaches, developing and executing contingency plans rather than reactive slashing. Click thru for the numbers... "The results of CIO's most recent survey on IT budgets, fielded between October 17 and 22, couldn't be more striking compared to results from our two surveys done earlier in 2008. As unfavorable economic conditions continue, more CIOs say they must shave IT budgets, according to our exclusive October survey of 243 IT executives..."
Kaskad is Dead, Long Live Kaskad | Colin Clark on Event Processing
Soon after Colin announced the port of Kaskad's surveillance system to the Coral8 CEP engine, he ported himself there. Colin is now the Executive Vice President of Financial Services at Coral8. Good luck Colin!
Forrester: How IT rides out the recession
I get the first point, but the majority of CIOs run operations well? Really? Why such a high portion of budget to maintenance then? Can't we do better? "One explanation for the relative immunity enjoyed by IT this time around, if it holds up, is that a lot more businesses "get technology" than in 2001, Cullen said. A majority of business leaders now view technology as a core component of their products and services (82%) and/or as a differentiator (72%) in addition to a vehicle for reducing the cost of business operations (66%). IT financial management has also changed. Since the 2001 recession, CIOs have learned to budget lean. The roughly 70% of IT budgets that goes to maintaining operations is managed well by CIOs, according to Cullen."
OSGi will be everywhere: "Sun today is offering its open-source Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server Version 3 Prelude, a Web application server based on a modular OSGi architecture with capabilities from the planned Java Platform Enterprise Edition 6 release...the basis for the planned GlassFish Enterprise Server v3, also based on OSGi and Java EE 6 and due next year. "Glassfish v3 Prelude is our OSGi microkernel application server," said Paul Hinz, director of product management for Java enterprise systems at Sun. "OSGi allows you to have an architecture where you have a kernel that allows pluggable modules and each module can do different things," such as one that processes Ruby code and another to process Enterprise JavaBeans, Hinz said. OSGI provides a strategy to make application servers simpler and faster, said analyst Jonathan Eunice, principal IT adviser at Illuminata. It offers a smaller memory footprint, he said. "The idea is you don't load modules you don't need,"."
"project success declines dramatically as project size increases..Keys to fast-cycle delivery: * Executive leadership: Don't confuse sponsorship with leadership. * Clear definition of success: Use process measurements that impact financial performance and baseline them at the start of the project * Predefined kill switch: Take the emotion out of the decision making process by defining what defines failure, so that the project can fail fast and be restarted when conditions are more favorable * Small, experienced team: Wait to start your project until you have a seasoned project manager supported by a small team (less than 12) of full time, subject matter experts * Laser sharp focus on critical requirements: Avoid defining requirements by committee by using the success measurements to manage scope * Respect for the future and the past: Factor in the implications of existing business and technology plans while accelerating progress by leveraging legacy systems and existing infrastructure"
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