I consult, write, and speak on running better technology businesses (tech firms and IT captives) and the things that make it possible: good governance behaviors (activist investing in IT), what matters most (results, not effort), how we organize (restructure from the technologically abstract to the business concrete), how we execute and manage (replacing industrial with professional), how we plan (debunking the myth of control), and how we pay the bills (capital-intensive financing and budgeting in an agile world). I am increasingly interested in robustness over optimization.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Introducing alphaITjournal.com


alphaITjournal.com

I'm pleased to announce the launch of alphaITjournal.com, an online magazine focused on the execution, management and governance of IT investments that can produce outsized (or "alpha") returns. The mission and purpose are summarised in the welcome message on the site and in the press release that was issued in early July.

There are a few things that I hope stand out about the site.

The first is the site layout. It's designed to give attention to writers and their articles, and make the content easy for readers to navigate without being overwhelmed by a polyglot of messages.

Another is the absence of advertising. Aside from the "Presented by ThoughtWorks" message on the left navigation and bottom menu, there is no advertising on alphaITjournal.com. Being practitioners, this affords us flexibility in dealing with changing project demands and work priorities that will affect content production and editing.

Still another is the continuous release of content. Rather than having monthly editions, there will be one or two articles released each week. This will make it easier for the reader to stay current, and it will also make it easier to sustain fresh content on the site.

Last but certainly not least is the diverse community of writers. While ThoughtWorks is sponsoring the site, the community of writers are from all corners the IT universe. They, in turn, are producing content on a diverse collection of topics, all with a common theme: how to maximise returns on IT investments.

I hope that alphaITjournal.com consistently provides compelling content so that you'll be a regular reader, even a promoter: add it to your RSS news reader, share it with your peers and customers, add a link to it from your blog. I also hope that you'll consider being a contributor. We have a number of writers, but we are always looking for more. If you have ideas for individual articles, a series or a column, drop me an email.

We've just gone live, so there are a few additions we'll make once we establish our rhythm (such as reader comments). Meanwhile, if you haven't done so already please give alphaITjournal.com a visit.