Published papers

Closing the Gap Between Business and IT

From the time that computers were first applied to solving a business problem more than 50 years ago, there has been a communication gap between Business and IT. For almost as long we have sought solutions, but the gap grows only wider, until it now is a chasm that needs a fairly substantial bridge.

Scaling Agility

Scrum is not the next "Silver-bullet", but there are many smart aspects of Agile. Read about how to make Agile work in a large organization.
Read Ivar’s advice on how to be smart and scale agility in an efficient way

Outsourcing made right

Outsourcing is hot! Every major corporation around the globe is outsourcing all or part of their software development. The result is mixed. Some companies are successful with outsourcing, but unfortunately the failure rate is very high.

Architecture is about Everything

What is the most important thing to get right when developing a new software system? You may think this a "stupid" question. You cannot just ask that one question, you say. However, if I had to answer it--and I had to pick only one answer, I would say "Architecture." Then I would try to amplify that one-word answer.

Steps to an Architecture

The architecture is developed in early iterations of the very first lifecycle of a new system. In the Unified Process it is primarily done during the elaboration phase. Actually we can define the elaboration phase as the one in which you need to get a stable architecture. If you have not got a stable architecture you are not yet done with the elaboration phase.

Unified Process Works through Iterations

Use-case driven and architecture-centric are two of the three keys to the Unified Process. They have a clear technical impact on the product of the process. Being use-case driven means that every phase in the drive to the eventual product refers back to what users actually do. It drives developers to assure that the system meets users’ real needs.

Use Cases and Architecture

Ivar discusses how use cases are used to drive architecture. If a software project doesn’t get started right, it is not likely to end right. The tendency to rush into construction too soon is starting wrong.