IBM RATIONAL SOFTWARE ARCHITECT SOFTWARE

One could even ask if thereвЂ™s a вЂњmodern systemвЂќ for enterprise IT that combines agile, lean, service orientation, and other practices. Instead, breakthrough value in business technology seems to depend on how organizations can employ people and technology in a coherent and consistent fashion. Likewise, any of us can list examples of companies that introduced exciting new technologies to little effect. I donвЂ™t think anyone would argue that IT shops with the largest budgets are the most efficient or the most effective. You can make the same case about enterprise IT. Using compelling case examples, Biddle shows that force deployment-a tightly interrelated complex of cover, concealment, dispersion, suppression, small-unit independent maneuvers, combined arms, depth, reserves, and differential concentration-has been winning battles since World War I, not technological innovation or sheer mass. Military Power: Explaining Victory and Defeat in Modern Battle, Stephen Biddle (Princeton University Press, 2005) Fortunately, the same type of layered structure can be used to communicate the business case for new initiative or project. You can scan all the headlines, then look at the sub-headlines for interesting articles, and then decide whether to read the first few paragraphs. For example, what Tufte describes as вЂњlayeringвЂќ allows you to drill into the information you need. Tufte points out that communicating information is the purpose of written communications, that far too many charts donвЂ™t have much information in them at all, and that well-designed graphics allow us to absorb tremendous amounts of information quickly. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Edward Tufte (Graphics Press, 1982)Дesign know-nothings will tell you not to simplify your slides and not put too much information on any of them. Why is this an important technology book? Because it provides a cautionary tale of many of the pitfalls business technologists must avoid: suspicion of new approaches, short-term decision making, managerial distance from frontline operations and distortive managerial accounting. The Reckoning documents the rise of Nissan and the declining market share of US automakers. Is any business story more fascinating or more terrifying than the decline of US auto manufacturers in the 1960s and 1970s? By my lights, this is the best of HalberstamвЂ™s many books, far better than, say, The Best and the Brightest, which is mostly about people writing memos to each other. The Reckoning, David Halberstam (William Morrow, 1986) Just one example: how Microsoft applied Charles SimonyiвЂ™s concept of the вЂњmetaprogrammerвЂќ to build a вЂњsoftware factoryвЂќ that hired thousands of inexperienced computer-science majors to build the world-conquering applications of the 1980s and 1990s. Yes, Cringely touches on some many-told tales, but he also delves into aspects of the technology industry that few talk about. Many of the seminal events of the early personal-computer industry have been told again and again. Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still CanвЂ™t Get a Date, Robert X. Having read this book, you wonвЂ™t be able to design circuits, but youвЂ™ll be able to understand how circuits get designed. Starting from first principles, and including a lot of history, Petzold explains how simple on-off switches can be combined into the mightiest of computational machines. I donвЂ™t have a background in electrical engineering, and this book helped me get beneath the logical to the physical layers in the stack. Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software, Charles Petzold, (Microsoft Press, 1999) The books that really shaped my thinking provided perspectives, often historical, on the organizational, strategic, and human dimensions of business technology. None of the books that came to mind related to the latest technology trends (social! mobile! machine learning!)-those are important, but they change quickly.

IBM RATIONAL SOFTWARE ARCHITECT SOFTWARE

(Addison-Wesley, 1975), is a collection of essays reflecting on software engineering and project management, by the man who managed the development of IBMвЂ™s System/360 computer line and OS/360 software package. Published by Little, Brown and Company in 1981, it won a Pulitzer Prize for the author in 1982. The Soul of a New Machine, by Tracy Kidder, describes the development of a new minicomputer in fascinating detail. I started to think about which books had an impact on me as a business technologist-especially beyond the obvious ones like The Soul of a New Machine and The Mythical Man-Month. Kaplan, Tucker Bailey, Derek OвЂ™Halloran, Alan Marcus, and Chris Rezek, Beyond Cybersecurity: Protecting Your Digital Business, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons, 2015. After going through the slightly traumatic process last year of writing a book about the intersection of business and technology, 1 1.

Ibm rational software architect