“This book explains in straightforward terms and examples how IT actually works in practice, the challenges that you face, why your intuition will often lead you astray when it comes to IT, and most importantly how you need to reconsider your approach to thinking about IT. Software, and IT in general, is at the heart of the vast majority of organizations and offers the best opportunities for innovation available to you. But only if you know what you’re doing. This book will help you gain this critical understanding. My only criticism of this book is that I wish I had written it! 😉”

“I think this is an awesome book. Well written, fun to read, and filled with insight from a professional who has been there at a variety of levels and has not only the perspective, but also the intelligence to truly understand and explain the core issues. Although written for IT, I found myself continually seeing how the principles within have wider applicability within today’s typical bureaucratic organization. The author makes great use of analogies of common tasks – such a home remodeling – to explain the points. Makes the book a pleasure to read – unlike much of the IT stuff that quickly gets bogged down into the minutia and thus quickly becomes a boring read. Several strategies are proposed, but more importantly, the author goes into the messiness and ways that such strategies can go off the rails. Again – a pleasant diversion from the usual books that take a high level view and assume that all will work out perfect once their recommendations are in place.”

“This book provides an important and timely reminder that IT itself remains dysfunctional. We should heed the message of this book and confront the issues head on.”

“This book will change the way you think of your IT completely. It is one a rare kind that speaks the language of the business explaining them why THEY must heal the sad state of corporate IT. After reading this book I gained confidence about the next steps to be taken in Enterprise Architecture Management. One of my Top 10 books!”

“In our ongoing series of book reviews on the Enterprise Architecture Professional Journal, today we publish a review of An Executive Guide to the New Age of Corporate IT (Vol I – Understanding the Game) by R.M. Bastien. Aimed at non-IT business executives, this book helps readers understand more about what goes on in the world of corporate IT, and where misaligned accountabilities and incentives can drive unwanted outcomes. I found it to be a compelling read, which strongly echoed many of my concerns around the delivery of technology-related change in today’s organisations. I highly recommend you check out the review, and the book!”

“This is a elegant, understandable, and valuable book for architects, technologists, managers and everyone else who struggle in today’s IT corporate environment. R.M.Bastien speaks sincerely and allows reader’s access to his obviously vast experience. I loved that there are plenty of parallels between building an IT system and construction world, so the exposed ideas are easy to grasp. It was a good read and I recommend it! (impeccable printing quality)”

“If you want to know why there are so many IT projects failure then this is the book for you. The book is well written and goes directly to the point. You can read it like a novel and you can applied the proposed solutions right away in your own organization. Looking forward the tome 2 !!! I recommend this book for anyone who want to change the way they deliver IT projects …”

“I would strongly recommend this book (and the 2nd volume to follow) to any IT professional and especially to IT managers. With great insight Marc shows us crystal clear what is flawed in the current IT mode of operation and explain why so many projects miss their deadlines and overrun their budgets. From the role conflict between the client, the development team and the architects to the biased measurement systems and the never-ending challenge of delivering enterprise systems to a siloed department customer environment, Marc gives us practitioners buried in thousand of complex technical issues a refreshing view at our profession. I am anxiously looking forward to volume 2 which will provide solutions to improving the statu quo and help regain control of this fundamental business function which is IT. Great job!”

“A great and very honest book that will help you understand why there are so many IT projects failure and start figuring out how to achieve winning conditions. Eloquently written and straight to the point. Proposed solutions will help you improve your success rate in your own organization. I recommend this book for business managers who want to better understand the IT projects universe and the rules governing the individuals involved in the failure or success of their projects.”

“If you are involved in IT organisation or investment decisions, you must read R.M. Bastien’s book. The author is using different examples and an interesting analogy, with the construction industry, and succeeds to clearly describe the origin of IT project failures. I just cannot wait for his next book in which he will propose some solutions.”

“As an IT insider myself, I found this book to be very honest and realistic about problems of IT organizations. Serious analysis and well-researched perspectives. Found many new ideas that I haven’t considered before. Great read, highly recommended for anybody who want to understand IT organizations and make them better.”

“This book brings to light and explains in non-technical terms the roadblocks that prevent most IT teams from building information systems that deliver their full benefits and that evolve easily over time. Excellent analysis. A must read for any manager who wants to create true and lasting information systems agility.”

“This book provides a sobering account of the problems plaguing most corporate IT departments with its chronic over-promising and under-delivering of projects. It exposes the absurdity of how corporate IT departments are structured: monopoly providers, accountable to no one and set up to fail. It proposes ways to fix these problems with common-sense thinking to redeem corporate IT departments in any industry. This is a must-read for anyone working in or with corporate IT.”