UpStreme Consulting - Writing & Speaking

Management Consulting for Technology Optimization

Writing & Speaking

Published Writing
Video, Audio & Speaking

CIO Corner Articles

Specialist/Generalist - Nov/Dec 2011
Better Budget Planning- Sept/Oct 2011
Lean: More Than A Shop Floor Fad - May/June 2011
IT Without Hardware - Mar/Apr 2011
2011 Top Tech & Strategy Trends - Jan/Feb 2011
IVI A New Maturity Framework (CMF) - Nov/Dec 2010
COG Model for Organizational Change - Jul/Aug 2010
Status Quo - The Silent Killer - May/Jun 2010
Will BRIC Repatriation Cause IT Shortage - Mar/Apr 2010
CIO's Drive Change to New Strategic Role - Jan/Feb 2010
Certification - Emperor Has No Clothes - Sep/Oct 2009
Never Let A Serious Crisis Go To Waste - May/Jun 2009

Specialists Generalists

Published in the Nov/Dec 2011 issue of IT Professional, I question whether organizations are systemically weakening their organization by hiring specialists and incorrectly eliminating the valuable "generalists"... and the impact this will have on the future capabilities of the organization.

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Better Budget Planning

Published in the Mar/Apr 2011 issue of IT Professional, this CIO Corner article provides some approaches and thinking-points for building a better budget. The primary focus is on the proper alignment of corporate goals to IT projects, and not just the annual management of "to do" lists that reflect "activity" rather than "productivity".

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Lean: More Than A Shop Floor Fad

Published in the Mar/Apr 2011 issue of IT Professional, I introduce and reflect on the "Lean Culture" (Exec primer and workbook) produced by Lawrence Miller (author of Barbarians to Bureaucrats"). In this article, we review the value of "Lean Culture" to the organization at large, and the role IT can play (and gain) from employing these techniques.

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IT Without Hardware

Published in the Mar/Apr 2011 issue of IT Professional, this CIO Corner article questions whether the day is coming (soon?) when IT departments may not own any hardware - end-user or servers. Is it possible? Yes. It is likely? Probably for some organizations, its closer than you think.

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2011 Technology and Strategy Trends

Published in the Jan/Feb 2011 issue of IT Professional, this CIO Corner article outlines the top 10 technology challenges and top 10 strategic capability opportunities facing CIO's for 2011.

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IVI - A New Maturity Framework

This article focuses on the evolving Capability Maturity Framwork (IVI-CMF) as constructed by the non-profit IVI. An overview of the framework is provided, along with strengths and opportunities for improvement.

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COG (Culture Organization Governance) over PPT

In this article, I explain why "Culture, Organization, and Governance" (COG) is far more important to any organization than People, Processes, and Technology.

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Status Quo - The Silent Killer

Far too many organizations are content with maintaining a "status quo" operating stance rather than taking the necessary actions to grow. When the eventual upturn or competitive threat arises, these firms are unable to react to the threats or opportunities.

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Will BRIC Repatriation Cause IT Shortages

I test a question being raised by CIO's as to whether future repatriation of expats from the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) may ultimately impact the US IT workforce.

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CIO's Drive Change to a New Strategic Role

I question whether CIO's can leverage their understanding of both business and IT to transition away from the IT Silo and into operational executive leadership roles.

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Certification - The Emperor Has No Clothes

Although nearly every job posting in the IT world requests that the candidate hold given certifications, I question whether the certifications provide any guarantee of capability, and how organizations should change their hiring practices to better leverage certifications to capture the right resources.

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Never Let a Good Crisis Go To Waste

Dr. Phil Laplante and I cite numerous ways in which CIO's can leverage the existing poor economic climate to their advantage to overcome personal and organizational challenges.

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Books Authored by UpStreme

CIO Wisdom II
Antipatterns

CIO Wisdom 2

Tom Costello (CEO of UpStreme) teamed up with Dr. Phil Laplante (Penn State University) to collect interesting stories from top CIO's addressing complex challenges facing their organizations.

That collection was published by Prentice-Hall in 2005 and has proven to be a top-seller to both CIO's and graduate programs at top universities around the world. Later released in paperback form (2011), the books circulation is further expanding.

Available on Amazon
Available on Barnes & Noble

Antipatterns

Our advisor and mentor, Dr. Phil Laplante (Penn State University), constructed an outline of typical "antipattern" behavior found within business - along with suggestions for identifying and correcting these behaviors.

Written in a conversational and humorous way, the book is a virtual handbook on dealing with the challenging personalities you may encounter in any IT situation.

Available on Amazon
Available on Barnes & Noble

Editorial Summaries

IT Workforce - Computing Now - Dec 2010
Open Source - Computing Now - May 2010
Strategic Planning - IT Professional - Nov/Dec 2009

IT Workforce

Tom Costello (CEO, UpStreme) prepared the following editorial summary for a special online issue of Computing Now on IT Workforce challenges for the May 2010 issue. The articles that appear in this issue were reviewed and selected by Tom.

Link to the May 2010 Computing Now

The State of Open Source

Tom Costello (CEO, UpStreme) prepared the following editorial summary for a special online issue of Computing Now on Open Source in December 2010. The articles that appear in this issue were reviewed and selected by Tom.

Link to the Dec 2010 Computing Now

Strategic Planning in Todays IT Environment

Tom Costello (CEO, UpStreme) worked with Frank Ferrante (College of William and Mary) and Reza Djavanshir (Johns Hopkins) in preparing the following editorial summary for a special print issue of IT Professional on Strategic Planning in December 2009. The articles that appear in this issue were reviewed and selected by Tom.

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View Article at IEEE

Co-Authored Articles

Open Source Software - Worth Converting?
- IT Professional - 2007
CIO Best Practices
- IT Professional - 2006
Securing the Whole Enterprise
- IT Professional - 2005
The Who What Where When and Why of Outsourcing
- IT Professional - 2004

Open Source Software - Is It Worth Converting?

Tom Costello (CEO, UpStreme) teamed with Anthony Gold (formerly head of Open Source with Unisys), and Frank Taney (Buchanan Ingersoll and Rooney) to produce an article discussing the challenges and opportunities to adopting Open Source tools, methodologies, and techniques for their enterprise.

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Link to the IEEE Article

CIO best Practices

Tom Costello (CEO, UpStreme) and Phil Laplante (Penn State) created a brief summary of their best selling book "CIO Wisdom 2" for the readers of IT Professional.

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Link to the IEEE Article

Securing the Whole Enterprise - Business and Legal Issues

Tom Costello (CEO, UpStreme) teamed with Frank Taney (Buchanan Ingersoll and Rooney) in outlining Business and Legal issues that must be faced as part of security plans for any organization.

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Link to the IEEE Article

The Who What Why When and Where of Outsourcing

Tom Costello (CEO, UpStreme) teamed with Pawan Singh (Quantum Performance Solutions), Sudi Bindiganavile (Primavera Solutions), Phil Laplante (Penn State), and Mark Landon (Educational Directories Unlimited) to construct a primer on Outsourcing best practices. This article has been republished, cited, and translated into numerous languages for use around the world.

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Link to the IEEE Article

Video Blogs

Video Blogs

Stay tuned for future video content to be posted in 2011.

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Audio Logs

IT World Interview - Bruce Taylor VOICES

Following the release of CIO Wisdom 2, Tom Costello (CEO, UpStreme) was interviewed by Bruce Taylor of IT World for the Voices program. The interview is roughly 31 minutes in duration and covers the landscape of CIO Wisdom 2.

Listen to Interview

Speaking Events

IVI Winter Summit - Toronto - Feb 2, 2011

SIMposium - Orlando, FL - November 15, 2011

Tom Costello (CEO, UpStreme) presented on February 2, 2011 at the IVI Summit in Toronto. The presentation discussed the need for a standardized framework for measuring the effectiveness of IT, and covered how the existing IVI CMF (Capability Maturity Framework) addresses that need (both good and areas for improvement).

Link to IVI Winter Summit Website

Tom Costello (CEO, UpStreme) presented as part of a panel on November 15, 2011 at the SIMposium in Orlando, FL. The presentation included refreshed versions of the materials covered at the IVI Summit in Toronto - discussed the need for a standardized framework for measuring the effectiveness of IT, and covered how the existing IVI CMF (Capability Maturity Framework) addresses that need (both good and areas for improvement).

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