Computer software triage

Triage is a technique used in medical emergencies to help prioritise scarce care resources towards those most in need. Various versions of triage have been developed and refined since the concept was first developed in the First World War.

Similar concepts can be applied to the large range of software that some organisation end up owning.

And the winner is…..

As I write this post, the UK is in the middle of campaigning for the 2010 General Election. One feature of this election campaign has been the first televised debates between the leaders of the three main parties. The first of these debates has stirred up the campaign significantly as Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, by most accounts won the debate. This was an unexpected outcome as the Lib Dems have been the third party for many years.

This blog post is not a political post, but considers how winning may be assessed, particularly in a business context.

“Technology Today” interview by Phil Simon

One of the good aspects of social media and social networking is the relationships you are able to form with other professionals, who you may or may not have met physically. One example of this is the relationship Phil Simon and I have developed through various on-line interactions, comments on blog posts and phone calls. Phil is a respected technology author, blogger, consultant and self-confessed Rush fan.

One result of this has been that Phil has included an interview with me as part of his Technology Today series of podcast interviews. In the interview we discuss:

• Are organizations are too eager to jump into new technologies?
• Talk to me about the relationship between data quality and technology.
• Do some organizations have “too much” technology?
• How can an organization ready itself for a massive system endeavor?

See the page on Phil’s site for more details and the interview itself.

Why application based user groups do not work

Many larger organisation with enterprise wide applications set up user groups to promote application usage, to help resolve system issues and to help plan future enhancements to the application. These groups, in my experience, do not deliver suitable business benefits and can either become a ‘talking shop’ or an excuse to berate the IT department/directorate consequently, the wider business does not see them as adding value.

In this blog post I expand on the nature of the problem and make suggestions for a better approach.

Business Intelligence without Data Quality

I have just caught up in reading a recent supplement to the Times newspaper entitled “Business Intelligence“. As is often the case for such supplements, this is sponsored ‘advertorial’ content paid for by some of the key software providers in this area which proposes some interesting (perhaps controversial) views.