In Enterprise Architecture we talk a lot about process and tools; Forrester asks “What about the People and Culture.”
ZapThink, in their usual provocative manner, argue to beware of SOA consultants who base their expertise on past experience and those that have close relationships with vendors. They go on to expressing sorrow for the misguided organization that does not heed the advice. It’s pretty hard to argue against the benefits of experience. As for vendor relationships … isn’t SOA suppose to be product independent? Well, Darwinism applies to companies too. I wonder how long ZapThink will be around?
PC Magazine observes the sun slowly sinking on VMware. Is it for real? Is it time to make an investment in VMware products?
Creating A Culture Of Performance And Value by Craig Symons, Alex Cullen – Forrester Research
Providing an attractive environment to improve recruiting and retention, creating a bias toward learning that adapts well to new business demands, aligning the organization to the strategic goals, and having a cadre of strong leaders are the elements of the desired culture.
Culture is reflected in the behaviors of the people: Are they proactive? Do they collaborate? Do they go “the extra mile” to get things done? Creating the right culture is a combination of two elements: 1) having the right people in place for the work who embrace the desired culture, and 2) using the right measures to consistently encourage and reinforce the behaviors that you want as hallmarks of your culture.
People respond to how they are measured.
ZapThink :: Research – Why Big Consulting is Hurting SOA
First, be wary if consulting organizations point out their experience in the world of SOA by putting up past projects as proof of their experience. Most, if not all, of these past projects are really JBOWS (just a bunch of Web Services) and have no underlying mechanisms to provide agility, which is a core benefit of SOA.
Second, many consultants are a bit too chummy with vendors. Thus, you’ll find that they implement the same vendors and technology each and every time.
The most troubling aspect of all these issues is that most organizations won’t understand the impact of leveraging less-than-stellar SOA consultants until it’s too late. Indeed, the full impact of the architecture is years, not months away, and selecting the wrong technology, or getting the wrong strategic advice, won’t be obvious until it’s too late. At least until the checks for the huge fees have cleared the banks, and the consultants are on to their next project
Electronista | Gartner: Macs to hit 12 percent of computer market
The percentage Macs occupy in the US computer market should double within the next three years, a new analysis claims. The research firm Gartner is predicting that by 2011, Apple will control over 12 percent of US computer ownership, making the company a major player, if still by Windows vendors Dell and HP.PC World – Virtualization Software Leader’s Future Cloudy
VMware stock plunged this week by more than 30% after the EMC -controlled company posted disappointing earnings influenced by challenges from large vendors such as Microsoft and Citrix who are expanding into the field of Microsoft virtualization that VMware has long dominated.
VMware revenue is still growing, increasing 80% in the fourth quarter of 2007 over the previous year, and EMC projects revenue to grow another 50% in 2008. But both of those numbers fell short of analyst expectations
VMware stock reached its peak on Oct. 31, trading at $125.25. After Tuesday’s debacle, the stock hit a low of $53.57.
Hardware advances will also force VMware to find new ways to differentiate itself in the coming years, as Intel and AMD are building virtualization capabilities directly into the x86 processor.
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