CIO Insight Staff

Last month, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and the Securities and Exchange Commission attempted to clear up two of the most costly vagaries of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The PCAOB released a new set of standards to help better define what constitutes a “material weakness” in SarbOx compliance, an issue that has been “driving up […]

iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business By Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon John Wiley & Sons, May 2005 368 pages, $24.95 The subtitle tips you off that the authors are not afraid of hyperbole. And a quick skimming of the text will let you know that they […]

The Trendmaster’s Guide: Get a Jump on What Your Customer Wants Next By Robyn Waters Portfolio, June 2005 144 pages, $12.95 When it comes to the ability to spot trends, you know more than you think you do, argues Waters, a consultant and a former vice president for trend design at Target. Pay attention to […]

This is going to be reader-participation week at CIOInsight.com. We’re asking your opinion on a revolutionary, if completely logical idea. The best “pro” and “con” answers will receive a prize (a copy of my new book, “Management by Baseball — A Pocket Reader”). First, some background: The Vesuvian eruption of mail we received about the […]

A new study finds that computer systems designed to stop medication errors did not prevent patients from receiving the wrong drug or dose, though it did solve problems with physician handwriting. Experts recommend computer systems that help prescribers make decisions, as well as making sure clinicians stay alert for common adverse drug reactions. To read […]

Readers respond to Nicholas Carr’s May 23 column, “The Next IT Revolution”: Consolidation’s a Good Idea, But Not a New One I couldn’t agree more with Nicholas Carr’s assessment of today’s IT world. He suggests a consolidation of corporate computing power … what a novel idea!! It was the devolvement from mainframes and dedicated (intelligent) […]

In my last columnI explained the obvious, if mostly ignored, reason why so many significant development projects fail. At its most basic, the problem boils down to the refusal or inability of developers and their managers to adhere to commonplace quality control and documentation procedures that have been proven to result in better products, lower […]

A cult of well-meaning but delusional academics has hijacked the consciousness of a lot of our peers. The cult is busy leading IT groups into absurdly dysfunctional behaviors that suck the life out of projects and that will take down entire midsize organizations’ competitiveness. Their vision is built on two blind spots and two personality […]

Good managers always want to get better and improve on their past. This is a natural law—that is, one with very few exceptions—and it is as likely to bring down good managers as mediocre ones. That’s the Law of Problem Evolution. The law is this: The problems a manager faces will evolve over time to […]

Cub Foods has started testing a biometric payment system in four of its stores, claiming it will allow customers to leave their debit or credit cards at home and will make payments faster. The system, known as Pay By Touch, can access a customer’s checking account when a finger is scanned. To enroll in the […]

I wasn’t always a journalist. I spent years in IT doing everything from help desk (the horror! The horror!) to programming to system administration to network integration. I was, if I say so myself, pretty darn good at all of it. I’m also 48, and from what my friends tell me, I’d have a heck […]