Chad Dickerson

Upon further reflection on my earlier columnabout Nicholas Carr's

In the early days of the current IT downturn, most IT folks I talked to expected a relatively quick rebound -- they usually thought a recovery was only six months away, maximum. When the first rounds of layoffs hit companies, many managers took the opportunity to weed out poor performers, which was definitely painful for those poor performers, but usually best for the company.

Last week, I had an experience that shook my faith in SCM and made me think that the concept might just occupy the same space as CRM, ERP, and other big software categories that I lump under TDW (Things that Don't Work) or perhaps TRLC (Things that Require Lots of Consultants), or maybe HLF (High Likelihood of Failure).

Recently, I had an experience that shook my faith in SCM (supply-chain management) and made me think that the concept might just occupy the same space as CRM, ERP, and other big software categories that I lump under TDW (Things that Don't Work) or perhaps TRLC (Things that Require Lots of Consultants), or maybe HLF (High Likelihood of Failure).

Recently, I had an experience that shook my faith in SCM (supply-chain management) and made me think that the concept might just occupy the same space as CRM, ERP, and other big software categories that I lump under TDW (Things that Don't Work) or perhaps TRLC (Things that Require Lots of Consultants), or maybe HLF (High Likelihood of Failure).

IDC recently released encouraging results from a survey of 1,000 CIOs and CEOs in 12 countries throughout U.S., Europe, and Asia Pacific. Of those surveyed, 85 per cent expect IT budgets to remain flat or grow in 2003.

I've spent a lot of time in recent weeks thinking about the role of consultants in IT and business in general.

As summer draws to a close, I'm thinking about what I would present in a hypothetical "what I did on my summer vacation" spiel on the first day of school, and how that relates to what other CTOs did during their summers.