Igniting the Phoenix: A New Vision for IT

Rating:
Summary: IT's Vision needs books like this to re-focus
Review: As an author, former IT executive, and veteran of many IT wars, I am certainly well trained to defend against those that would dare suggest change is needed. But maybe, mellowing with age, allows me to finally look in the mirror, and hear voices such as Harvard's Nicholas Carr in "Does IT Matter" and InfoPower's Jonathan Sapir - "Igniting the Phoenix - A New Vision for IT." Much has been written about Carr, but Sapir's book is the jewel that offers a visionary, yet practical road map "to not throwing the baby out with the bath water", while preparing for 21st century information solutions. The phoenix, one that has served its life purpose and is ready to burst in flames, parallels what CIO's should see before them. It is time for this era of information systems to change, and a new phoenix to emerge, an era of knowledge sharing. After, years of building, and supporting business solutions that have never quite lived up to expectation and business need, the problems of IT are not solved by outsourcing the same old thing to less expensive developers in India or otherwise. Sapir points to a new approach in which "Information technology is now capable of providing the infrastructure that allows users the freedom to become self-reliant ... in a way compatible with the goals of the organization." Sapir's book shares a vision that is a must read for IT professionals and knowledge workers who care about their future. It offers those who need practical answers to SOA, Web Services, Software as a Service, Personal Service Builders - new approaches to solving business challenges.

Rating:
Summary: IT's Vision needs books like this to re-focus
Review: As an author, former IT executive, and veteran of many IT wars, I am certainly well trained to defend against those that would dare suggest change is needed. But maybe, mellowing with age, allows me to finally look in the mirror, and hear voices such as Harvard's Nicholas Carr in "Does IT Matter" and InfoPower's Jonathan Sapir - "Igniting the Phoenix - A New Vision for IT." Much has been written about Carr, but Sapir's book is the jewel that offers a visionary, yet practical road map "to not throwing the baby out with the bath water", while preparing for 21st century information solutions. The phoenix, one that has served its life purpose and is ready to burst in flames, parallels what CIO's should see before them. It is time for this era of information systems to change, and a new phoenix to emerge, an era of knowledge sharing. After, years of building, and supporting business solutions that have never quite lived up to expectation and business need, the problems of IT are not solved by outsourcing the same old thing to less expensive developers in India or otherwise. Sapir points to a new approach in which "Information technology is now capable of providing the infrastructure that allows users the freedom to become self-reliant ... in a way compatible with the goals of the organization." Sapir's book shares a vision that is a must read for IT professionals and knowledge workers who care about their future. It offers those who need practical answers to SOA, Web Services, Software as a Service, Personal Service Builders - new approaches to solving business challenges.

Rating:
Summary: Another IT industry milestone is approaching...
Review: I have spent the last 13 years in the IT industry and looking back it is amazing just how much the industry has changed. The tools available to me now have made me several orders of magnitude more productive over those years. Every so often it is important to take stock of the direction of the industry and this book helped clarify the issues relevant today. It is clear that we are on the verge of yet another milestone in the industry. Web services, PSBs and Service Oriented Architecture are going to be key forces in the upcoming revolution. The battle will empower business users by making systems development so simple that any motivated employee will be able to effortlessly build complex systems from simple building blocks.

Great book!

Rating:
Summary: Another IT industry milestone is approaching...
Review: I have spent the last 13 years in the IT industry and looking back it is amazing just how much the industry has changed. The tools available to me now have made me several orders of magnitude more productive over those years. Every so often it is important to take stock of the direction of the industry and this book helped clarify the issues relevant today. It is clear that we are on the verge of yet another milestone in the industry. Web services, PSBs and Service Oriented Architecture are going to be key forces in the upcoming revolution. The battle will empower business users by making systems development so simple that any motivated employee will be able to effortlessly build complex systems from simple building blocks.

Great book!

Rating:
Summary: New Approach with Practical Application
Review: This book provides keen insight into the core problems that plague Information Technology and strangle the productivity of knowledge workers. The vision presented in the book is quite bold and yet clearly within reach given the current state of technology and the knowledge workers' insatiable drive to be empowered.

Sapir introduces a paradigm for business solution development in which the knowledge worker is empowered to meet their core, day-to-day IT needs with a dramatic decrease in reliance upon the IT Department. Sapir demonstrates that the technology required to permit a non-technical knowledge worker to design complex business solutions without dependence upon IT currently exists. The missing key is the actual paradigm itself - the visualization and user-interface that actually provides the end-user with the ability to develop such solutions. In this book, Sapir offers a revolutionary, and yet easy-to-understand, solution to this problem, with what he refers to as Personal Service Builders or PSB's.

The impact of the application of PSB's to software development is tremendous, bringing solutions to end-users faster, at lower cost, with less intrusive business practice integration, higher business logic adaptability, lower cost of ongoing system maintenance and longer system lifespan.

The argument for the PSB metaphor is suscinct and convincing. The impact PSB's will have on the corporations that are advanced-thinking enough to adopt them is made clear. In the end, the reader is left anxious to see this new technology at work and try his own hand at building complex solutions to complex problems at a fraction of the cost and time to market.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent description of the new world of info systems
Review: This is a great overview of the trends and concepts driving business software today. Aimed at the non-technical reader, it makes things like Web services, Service Oriented Architectures and social software easily understandable. In addition, it shows how software will be built in the future and how it will significantly impact everyone involved - from CIO's and programmers to CEO's and business users.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent description of the new world of info systems
Review: This is a great overview of the trends and concepts driving business software today. Aimed at the non-technical reader, it makes things like Web services, Service Oriented Architectures and social software easily understandable. In addition, it shows how software will be built in the future and how it will significantly impact everyone involved - from CIO's and programmers to CEO's and business users.

Rating:
Summary: Power to the people!
Review: When Jon Sapir talks about a bold new vision for IT he's not kidding. In this book he looks at the separation between business and IT knowledge, and questions the wisdom of this current world order. In Sapir's vision, business users in the near future will have the tools they need to create their own small applications (called services), and link them with those developed by other users into an organization-wide system -- all without writing a single line of code. IT will be involved with developing the tools, and with creating the more complex services (as well as the framework on which they reside).

He makes a very compelling case for both the wisdom of taking this course and the possibility of it happening. Rather than viewing IT as a separate department, he sees IT as "everybody's business." He points to case after case of business inching this way since the dawn of the Information Age, all leading to the day in the not too distant future when all the pieces are in place and it's a done deal.

The book is an easy yet compelling read, loaded with references from business gurus and examples of the conditions that are leading us to this inevitible conclusion. Sapir has a gift for taking all the little pieces and pulling them together to show the big picture.