James D. McKeen and Heather A. Smith say that they never planned to write a book. When they started the Queen's IT Management Forum, their interests were purely academic. They wanted to find out what was happening in the front line of the "IT wars" in organizations. They quickly discovered that if there was a need in academia to learn more about IT in organizations, then there was an equal need in organizations to learn more about the big picture trends in using IT. Their work, and this book, is the outcome of a new form of scholarship. It bridges the gap between the practical, everyday knowledge of the IS manager and the measured thoughtful knowledge of the academic researcher. The former is anecdotal and incomplete -- the latter is methodologically sound and thorough but often of little practical help to the IS manager.

• Partial table of contents: The Importance of Effective Information Systems Management. MANAGING IS IN THE ORGANIZATION. Re-engineering the Corporation: Where Does IS Fit In? Marketing Information Systems... And Getting it Right. MANAGING THE IS ORGANIZATION. Re-tooling Information Systems: A New Vision for IS. Managing the IS Infrastructure. Human Resources Management for IS. MANAGING IS PERFORMANCE. Improving System Development Productivity. Improving Testing. MANAGING THE INFORMATION RESOURCE. Managing IS Complexity. Mining for Coprorate Information. Managing Legacy Systems. Preparing for the Millennium Change. Information Systems Management and Your Organization. References. Index.