 The following is a list of featured news articles and commentary abstracts with links to the full text. This list is updated as we discover notable reportage regarding information technology organization leadership, nurturing enterprise talent, and software developer skills transfer lessons learned -- with associated best practices. Techies Getting on-the-job Nontech Training? -- "A school of thought says techies more than ever must develop soft skills. But it may be hard for many tech pros to get those skills on the job, according to a new report." Making IT Matter -- "At St George they are so over the whole IT-business alignment thing. That's because CIO John Loebenstein considers it done and dusted." Nicholas Carr: IT Still Doesn't Matter, part 2 -- "If you envision the CIO of five years from now, what is that person doing? How much power will that person have in the business?" Wal-Mart's Way -- "Heavyweight retailer looks inward to stay innovative in business technology." Stand by Me -- "While finance and IT don't always see eye to eye, many companies have learned how to transform a mere reporting relationship into a true partnership. Could this be the path to genuine alignment?" Why Does Learning Matter? -- "For the first time during my 19 years in industry, employee training and development matter. It always mattered to those missionaries inside the training and human resource professions, but until the knowledge economy became real and the “war for talent” began, most of us were on the outside looking in." Executives' Views On IT Hurts Spending -- "A new study by the white-shoe consultancy Bain & Co. finds that, while 70% of senior executives at large corporations agree that information technology is relevant to growth, 60% say IT is actually inhibiting their growth efforts." Does Nick Carr Matter? -- "When the Harvard Business Review published "IT Doesn't Matter" in May 2003, the point was to start an argument, or, as they say in the more genteel world of academia, a debate." The CIO's Rise and Fall -- "More CEOs are asking their chief information officers to report to the CFO. Can it come back to hurt their companies?" Making Enterprise Software Work -- "What’s worse than going to the dentist? Having to do the drilling yourself. For CEOs and other corporate leaders, the equivalent of that is implementing enterprise software." Workforce Challenges Ahead -- "Numerous factors drive business success, but many companies are coming up short in one of the more critical elements — the workforce. According to an Accenture study that examined high-performance workforce issues, many companies don't feel prepared to compete in an improved economic and business climate." Training Seen as Way to Counter Offshoring -- "IT market analyst Edward Yourdon argues for more worker training in a new book." Darwin John: Networked for Life -- "With so much to do and so little time, do busy CIOs have anything to gain by joining nonprofit IT associations? Yes, because they still provide CIOs with the best networking venue to share ideas, refine leadership skills and discuss the issues of the day." Roundtable: The Trouble With ROI -- "Most IT and business executives we polled say IT is better aligned with corporate strategy. But most agree there's still a long way to go before IT becomes a true strategic partner." Trainer's Corner: Tech Training Best Practices -- "Rapid technological change, cost and the economy are among the barriers to effective information-technology (IT) training, the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) found in a 2003 study of large companies' IT training programs." |