
James CusickRitsumeikan University · College of Information Science and Engineering
James Cusick
Principal IT Consultant and Researcher
Open to collaborations in Software Engineering and related fields.
About
165
Publications
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Introduction
James Cusick is an IT Consultant and interdisciplinary Applied Researcher. James has a background in Software Engineering, Software Reliability, Software Process, ITIL Operations, Cybersecurity, Project Management, History of Science, Political Economy, and Organizational Change Management. James has authored dozens of articles and talks as well as two recent books on IT and Software Engineering.
Publications
Publications (165)
In this paper we will examine one great Scientific revolution in the light of Kuhn's model of Scientific Revolutions by reviewing the work of Copernicus and assessing the impact, reaction, and eventual acceptance of his work in the field of science and beyond. We will first examine the context of his work with respect to the ancient thinking in pla...
This paper traces the history of Maturity Models and their impact on Process Improvement from the early work of Shewhart to their current usage with DevOps. The history of modern process improvement can be traced at least to Shewhart. From his foundational process contributions and those of other innovators a variety of methods and tools to aid in...
In this interactive presentation the questions of how to build reliable software, make the most of Agile methodologies, and apply effective forward-looking measurements using modern tools will be explored. A focus on how these methods and tools can be applied to the development of robotics is a highlight of this talk.
Knowing where you want to go i...
This eBook has its roots in the many technical publications, lectures, and prior attempts at putting it all together over the last 15 years. In working with Prof. Al Aho at Columbia University I was challenged to convert my lectures on Software Engineering into a text which could be better than those available at the time. After repeated failed att...
Ensuring the security of the supply chain is a vital governance and compliance function within industry. Security breaches often emanate from suppliers or partner firms. Any reliable system must also be secure including those using AI. One major risk reduction countermeasure is the use of Third-Party assessments. These come in the form of Cybersecu...
This article explores whether and how software and systems dependability can be achieved within those development environments primarily focused on feature functionality. Despite decades of research and practice in reliability methods, industry experience demonstrates that such projects are shown to deprioritize these approaches or to simply have n...
In this industrial report, we present the application of an architectural risk assessment of a major digital transformation initiative to validate and improve reliability and performance characteristics. The goal of this paper is to describe our experience adapting the well-known Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method (ATAM) methodology to perform a...
In this industrial report, we present the application of an architectural risk assessment of a major digital transformation initiative to validate and improve reliability and performance characteristics. The goal of this paper is to describe our experience adapting the well-known Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method (ATAM) methodology to perform a...
The ORR (Operational Readiness Review) is a long-standing practice to help insure application or system readiness and improved Availability. In this paper the ORR is defined and recent examples of its use from Cloud Computing environments are compared. An emphasis on ORRs used within DevOps environments is also provided. A detailed presentation of...
The ORR (Operational Readiness Review) is a long-standing practice to help insure application or system readiness and improved Availability. In this paper the ORR is defined and recent examples of its use from Cloud Computing environments are compared. An emphasis on ORRs used within DevOps environments is also provided. A detailed presentation of...
Ensuring the security of the supply chain is a vital governance and compliance function within industry. Security breaches often emanate from suppliers or partner firms. Any reliable system must also be secure including those using AI. One major risk reduction countermeasure is the use of Third-Party assessments. These come in the form of Cybersecu...
We present an empirical assessment of a heterogeneous VM (Virtual Machine) network. We evaluate the VM network performance using six resiliency strategies. For each resiliency strategy, we apply three software rejuvenation approaches. Therefore, our experimental design is composed of eighteen experiments. For each measurement, we present the experi...
View this debate online as follows: https://youtu.be/lZwd18x_7zg.
The topic of the debate was on how AI would impact humanity. The interactive conversation between James Cusick and Tom Rossman, both Board Trustees at the Henry George School of Social Science, took on pressing issues related to artificial intelligence, technology, employment, societ...
Management of technology development requires adequate measurements. This paper discusses a broad effort to define, deploy, and adopt software quality measures, especially software reliability in an industrial setting. The industrial projects described here began before the emergence of the Web and continue to the current day. The approach and resu...
Management of technology development requires adequate measurements. This paper discusses a broad effort to define, deploy, and adopt software quality measures, especially software reliability in an industrial setting. The industrial projects described here began before the emergence of the Web and continue to the current day. The approach and resu...
In this industrial report, we present the architectural risk assessment of a major digital transformation initiative. The goal of this paper is to describe our experience adapting the well-known Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method (ATAM) methodology to perform an architecture risk assessment of the individual components of this major digital tran...
From Bell Labs to Columbia University to a global IT business, key observations, stories, and recommended actions are presented from diverse environments to highlight successful strategies for R&D contributions. Condensing over 30 years of hands-on experience and hard-fought progress, this talk highlights the importance of collaboration, communicat...
This paper illustrates the use of multiple educational channels focused on conveying software and technology topics to diversify interest, relevancy, and interconnectedness with historical and contemporary economic themes. Interdisciplinary panels, custom online tools, and ongoing publications - including a blog – are combined to create a hybrid ed...
This poster supports the paper of the same title which illustrates the use of multiple educational channels focused on conveying software and technology topics to diversify interest, relevancy, and interconnectedness with historical and contemporary economic themes. Interdisciplinary panels, custom online tools, and ongoing publications - including...
This paper presents the results of the retrofitting of function point analysis on three major telecommunication systems. Function Points and the retrofitting method of "backfiring" are briefly discussed before the data collection approach, the results, and the analysis are presented. Several tables are included illustrating results of this function...
This document briefly explores the risks in successfully achieving large scale system development. This report touches on some historical views of this subject, related processes, key guidance to understand such challenges early in the lifecycle, and focused steps to manage frequent risk factors early on in development. The topics, causal factors,...
This concise presentation delivered in Japanese (English title: "My take on the geography of New York City") describes the arrival of the Dutch in Japan in the year 1600. It goes on to discuss the Dutch founding of New York City and a brief geographic profile of the city today. This includes landmarks of note for the author and several of more gene...
The projected budget and its deficits for the City of New York are analyzed. Taking as input a recent description of the proposed 5-year budget for the city, an analysis of alternative funding approaches using Land Tax Value methods is explored. Supporting this analysis is the use of a Land Value Tax calculator made available for this purpose to re...
We present an industrial experience report of the application of automated dependability assessment to a major Digital Transformation Initiative. This effort involved significant investment in the development, automation and visualization of the Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs). We present the details around the objectives of the NFR effort, chal...
This invited presentation and poster session shares research on the application of strategic methods to align R&D and IT Operations investment as utilized in multiple corporate environments. The ITB:RTB (Invest in the Business vs Run the Business) model has a long history. These practices are summarized within the literature including a methodology...
We present an industrial experience report of the application of automated dependability assessment to a major Digital Transformation Initiative. This effort involved significant investment in the development, automation and visualization of the Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs). We present the details around the objectives of the NFR effort, chal...
The motivations, scope, approach, and implementation of a Dark Site with an Air Gap environment is presented. Starting with the organizational objectives to achieve an improved Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery capability the purpose, form, and characteristics of both a Dark Site and an Air Gap solution are discussed. The Proof of Concept g...
Computers are both ubiquitous and necessary to most people's daily lives. However, when devices, such as a laptop, encounter a failure and require maintenance many individuals are ill equipped to conduct the repair. This paper documents and reflects on the replacement of a battery for a common commercial laptop-the HP Spectre. Detailed exposition i...
In support of the development of a new generation of leaders this talk focuses on the essential concepts of leadership and career planning. Shared with the FinTech Start-up DigiAlly based in Singapore this presentation outlines what it means to be a leader emphasizing Followership, core behavioral principals, and industry proven understandings of p...
A report and examination of a Remote Work experience during the Covid-19 pandemic encompassing a 14-hour time difference from the primary work location. Advantages and disadvantages of a globally distributed work experience as compared to an aligned time zone are explored. Logistical aspects of the arrangement are provided as well as the management...
During a recent stay in Japan, I observed the progress of a single Tsubaki (Camellia japonica) bud in our garden. This prompted me to produce a daily photo documentary journal of the evolution of this bud during this time. The journal covers a two-week period from first noticing the bud opening to the last day of our stay which corresponded to near...
This paper reviews the concepts of the Land Value Tax (LVT) approach as popularized by Henry George in the 19th Century and introduces an Internet based tool which supports the calculation of such taxes. The presentation introduces the concepts and rationale driving the need for such a calculator. The tool itself, which is freely available from the...
The Henry George School of Social Science organized a Panel Session to discuss AI (Artificial Intelligence) and its impacts on the Workforce which was held in January of 2021. This dynamic panel called “Artificial Intelligence and Its Impacts On The Workforce” provided a discussion on a critical topic for our times and the future of our work, techn...
The Henry George School's Land Value Tax (LVT) Calculator is an interactive tool designed to help researchers, policy makers, educators, and students to explore and understand the relationship between land dimensions expressed in acres and land values in the United States. Additionally, the tool allows for the dynamic exploration of varying tax rat...
Developing, guiding, quantifying, adjusting, and implementing Enterprise IT strategies requires broad, consistent, and comparable information for decision making. The niche field of Application Portfolio Management (APM) as applied to Information Technology and Software is one discipline that supports this capability. This paper reviews the foundat...
This paper provides a survey of the industry perspective on System Resiliency and Resiliency design approaches and briefly touches on Organizational Resiliency topics. Beginning with a composite definition of Resiliency, System Capabilities, Adversities, and the Resiliency Lifecycle the document then covers Operational Response Timelines, Failure S...
To help commemorate the 181st birthday of Henry George, it is fitting to acknowledge him by highlighting several of his original ideas and proposals which still resonate today with appreciable life, purpose, and validity. This paper underscores 7 Core Principles for a Progressive Post COVID-19 World which emerge from Henry George's most forward-thi...
This document describes the training and education I received to prepare me to create gardens which others and myself could enjoy and also codifies a method for the reader to follow in order to create landscapes of their own. Several detailed examples are also provided. As a journeyman landscaper and gardener with over 3,000 hours of practical appr...
A short story presenting reflections on the social, psychological, and philosophical effects of living through the Covid-19 generated pandemic and related lockdown in New York City.
This document accumulates the bibliographic references utilized in the collected publications of the author over a 35-year period from 1985 to 2020. This inventory reflects over 100 research papers, articles, presentations, and multiple books covering a multi-disciplinary research background touching on over 300 keywords. The total number of biblio...
High Velocity IT forms one publication in the essential supporting guidance for the Managing Professional certification pathway within ITIL4. This guide explores the ways in which digital organizations and digital operating models function in high velocity environments.
This book provides the reader with a visual and narrative view into Japan at a particular time and place. Specifically, the period of the mid 1980s using a mixed mode of original artwork, writings, photographs, and research. The collection contains a total of 36 original drawings, watercolors, and manga (cartoons) of scenes and situations drawn in...
This paper builds on a presentation provided as part of a recent panel session on ITSM (IT Service Management) Business Value at the NYC itSMF (Service Management Forum) Local Interest Group meeting. The panel presentation explored the definition of Business Value and how ITSM itself could be measured to produce business value. While ITSM and ITIL...
This paper builds on a presentation provided as part of a recent panel session on ITSM (IT Service Management) Business Value at the NYC itSMF (Service Management Forum) Local Interest Group meeting. The panel presentation explored the definition of Business Value and how ITSM itself could be measured to produce business value. While ITSM and ITIL...
A new employee hired from recently completed Undergraduate or Graduate program provides the manager a significantly different challenge than leading and coaching a mid-career candidate with industry experience. This paper attempts to provide some essential tips on what characterizes this type of new hire in general and what type of methods tend to...
This paper reviews the concepts of the Land Tax approach as popularized by Henry George in the 19th Century and introduces an Internet based web prototype which supports the calculation of such taxes. The calculator described here brings to life the Land Tax concept by automating the calculation of Land Valuation and Land Tax based on user defined...
This paper presents the background research and prototyping efforts centered around the development of a web-based Land Tax calculator. The calculator built here brings to life the Land Tax concept promoted by Henry George, the 19th Century Economist, who believed that that a single land value tax replacing all other taxes could meet the needs of s...
This presentation provided a position statement for a panel presentation on the Business Value of ITSM. While ITSM and ITIL have been in use for years it often remains a challenge to demonstrate the business value of these methods or even to understand business value itself. This presentation discusses what is meant by business value and how it can...
This paper provides an approach, several research methods, and associated tools which can be used in order to understand the background and current status of properties in New York City. In particular, this paper focuses on how to obtain tax information for selected properties which are in the public domain. Additional suggestions are provided on h...
This document profiles several properties in Manhattan which are either underused, abandoned, or have unique characteristics worth some attention. Each property is listed and described and using several property research tools mostly provided by the City of New York including property location, size, usage, and tax information. In some cases, suppo...
A timeline of software reliability starting with the origins of the term reliability to the formalization of the field of hardware reliability in the 20th century. Finally, the major developments from the NATO conference of 1968 and the first reliability software model in 1971 to the maturation of the discipline in the 1980s and 1990s.
In this paper the nature of innovation will be defined and explored especially as it relates to Economic outcomes such as wealth and income distribution. The nature of innovation, its lifecycle, and its methods are presented and discussed. Key concepts such as the S-curve of innovation, the "Innovator's Dilemma", and Scientific Revolutions are also...
Software Reliability has just passed the 50-year milestone as a technical discipline along with Software Engineering. This paper traces the roots of Software Reliability Engineering (SRE) from its pre-software history to the beginnings of the field with the first software reliability model in 1967 through its maturation in the 1980s to the current...
In this talk the nature of innovation will be defined and explored especially as it relates to Economic outcome such as wealth and income distribution. The nature of innovation, its lifecycle, and its methods are presented and discussed. Key concepts such as the S-curve of innovation, the “Innovator’s Dilemma”, and Scientific Revolutions are also p...
Software Reliability has just passed the 50-year milestone as a technical discipline along with Software Engineering. This paper traces the roots of Software Reliability Engineering (SRE) from its pre-software history to the beginnings of the field with the first software reliability model in 1967 through its maturation in the 1980s to the current...
Software Reliability has just passed the 50-year milestone as a technical discipline along with Software Engineering. This paper traces the roots of Software Reliability Engineering (SRE) from its pre-software history to the beginnings of the field with the first software reliability model in 1967 through its maturation in the 1980s to the current...
This paper provides an approach, several research methods, and associated tools which can be used in order to understand the background and current status of properties in New York City. In particular, this paper focuses on how to obtain tax information for selected properties which are in the public domain. Additional suggestions are provided on h...
This technical report provides details around a corporate program to review and award Software Excellence within its R&D teams. The program purpose, structure, and process are described. Common factors driving teams to the winner's circle are explored. Additionally, a discussion of these factors in comparison to suggested Agile methods are also cov...
James Cusick’s Collected Papers on Software, Security, IT Operations, and Technology reflect the last twenty-five-years of a career in development, applied research and IT operations. This collection of 24 papers reflects practical applied research and writing across a variety of topic areas. The thematic organization of this retrospective groups p...
A case study is presented in Organizational Design and Change Management. Within the global Information Services Company Wolters Kluwer, a significant organization change was planned and conducted to centralize distributed IT operations teams within one of its main Divisions. This project followed standard change models such as the Kotter Change Mo...
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) represents the most significant change to European privacy laws in the last two decades. Approved in 2016 by the European Union (EU), the GDPR overhauls and modernizes existing data laws, many of which date to an era before widespread Internet accessibility. One major change is that the guidelines in th...
Every day, we create 2.5 exabytes of data. That’s enough to fill the Library of Congress 250 times. If not properly managed, this wealth of digital information can leave individuals and businesses at risk of a privacy data breach. For law firms, a potential breach can have significant business and financial implications, costing at least $221 per c...
Discussion of New Media and IT careers. Starting with an overall perspective of education and careers and working into job types and a salary survey this presentation is meant as a grounding for students looking to start out in the industry. Additionally, the view of a hiring manager is presented to help orient job seekers to the perspective of per...
This document, which specifies baseline security measures and best practices legal departments may expect from outside counsel, is intended to serve as a benchmark guide for law firm information security practices.
System and application availability continues to be a fundamental characteristic of IT services. In recent years the IT Operations team at Wolters Kluwer's CT Corporation has placed special focus on this area. Using a combination of goals, metrics, processes, organizational models, communication methods, corrective maintenance, root cause analysis,...
The House recently passed the Improving Small Business Cyber Security Act of 2016, one of the first intended to help small businesses fight escalating cyberthreats. The bill is a start, but it's been a long time coming. Complaints have been rising from the small-business community — a segment employing half of all private-sector workers — that curr...
Information Security in Cloud Computing environments is explored. Cloud Computing is presented, security needs are discussed, and mitigation approaches are listed.
In recent years development in the area of Single Board Computing has been
advancing rapidly. At Wolters Kluwer's Corporate Legal Services Division a
prototyping effort was undertaken to establish the utility of such devices for
practical and general computing needs. This paper presents the background of
this work, the design and construction of a...
A panel discussion was organized on the topic of who had responsibility for Information Security. The focus of the panel was to examine whether companies are doing enough to secure sensitive data and who needs to be involved in this work. This paper reflects the thoughts around these topics of one panel member only, that of James Cusick.
Some of t...
Starting in the Fall of 2013 CT Corporation began the definition, development, and launch of a new Information Security Program. This program set out to achieve several goals including protecting company information assets, educating employees and developers on security practices, improving security standard compliance realization, and modifying th...
In recent years' innovation has received significant attention as a strategic enabler for business. In many industries innovation is their business such as in high-tech or bio-tech. However, across most industries innovation in process, technology, finance, and labor are critical to improved performance and results even if they do not have formal i...
Detailed description of procedures around architecture reviews. In order to succeed in building and deploying complex software solutions, an architecture is essential. For many in the industry structured reviews of these architectures is also de rigor. Practices for such reviews have been developed and reported on for years. One aspect that does no...
Review of industry tool framework models including Software Engineering Environments, CASE tools, IDEs, and more. Special focus on tool evaluation processes, tool research, environment configuration, and tool assessment practices.
Introduction of software lifecycles, development of process models, review of existing development approaches. Introduction of software metrics and their uses. Comparison of several models of development from waterfall to spiral to incremental to rapid application development to Agile. Establishment of metrics explained as the basis for managing de...
Defining architecture and its relationship to requirements implementation and the design process. Introduction of architecture styles, architecture patterns, design patterns and discussion of their relationship to the development process. Review of tiered architectures, Client/Server principles, distributed architectures, and related topics. Introd...
Full description of testing in the lifecycle of software development.
Discussion of test phases, test planning, test design, and test types. Focus on test environments, conceptual model for test environments, and a generic test process. Test planning approaches are presents with a test plan example. Detailed discussion of test case development incl...
A look at the history and potential of the software engineering field. Starting from the days of Babbage a model for software work is presented and an argument is made around the impact of software developers in the world at large now and in the future.
Understanding problem exploration, analysis, and description. Use of
standard analysis and design techniques including structured analysis and design, information engineering, Object Oriented Analysis and Design, and more. Examples of analysis problems are discussed. Use cases and scenarios are introduced. Essential systems requirements and analysi...
Exploration of multiple types of implementation work in the software industry including writing, programming, process development, and management. Description of useful technical document templates and approaches, programming methods and considerations, programming environments, languages, and related topics. Discussion of process engineering metho...
Discussion of a topic not often covered in software engineering books. Based on real world experience running a large enterprise support organization responsible for a portfolio of web applications managing hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue. The scope, methods, and techniques of organizing and managing support engineering
organization are...
This presentation will allow the participant to clearly understand the scope of the monitoring problem. Clearly understand practical means for dealing with the need and benefit of proactive and automated monitoring. Be able to determine where your approach to monitoring can be further enhanced. Decide if you would like to participate in ongoing dis...
A common problem in application development requires a port of existing and modified functionality to a new target technological platform. In this paper a recent experience is detailed on porting a modified Oracle based database implementation to a Microsoft SQL Server implementation. This port effort utilized simulated load to provide confidence a...
A personal account of birdwatching and a current Life List of birds including the Izu Islands Thrush, Warbling white-eye, Great Pied Hornbill, Himalayan Bluebird, and Spoonbill. This document was first published in 2011 covering several decades enjoying the pursuit of observing birds in the wild resulting in the development of a birding “life list”...
There is no silver bullet. Or is there? All of our engineered products are the result of processes both formal and informal. But these processes are brought to life by the creative energies of the people following them. The ITIL framework provides guidance on numerous operational functions from incident management to problem management to change ma...
Incident Management is a key element of supporting any system. For Internet-based applications this function requires integration of staff, process, and tools to manage responses to integrated system events including carrier network outages or performance impacts, hosted server and infrastructure failures, application errors, and mis-configurations...
Incident Management is a key element of supporting any system. For Internet-based applications this function requires integration of staff, process, and tools to manage responses to integrated system events including carrier network outages or performance impacts, hosted server and infrastructure failures, application errors, and mis-configurations...
The Japanese soroban (or abacus) is the descendent of ancient counting devices and has been evolved over centuries to provide the most advanced computations possible on a manual device. The soroban also provides advantages in mathematical education both from theoretical principals and through anecdotal experience especially in Japan. This document...
The fields of computing and biology have begun to cross paths in new ways. In this paper a review of the current research in biological computing is presented. Fundamental concepts are introduced and these foundational elements are explored to discuss the possibilities of a new computing paradigm. We assume the reader to possess a basic knowledge o...
The scope of legal software tools are presented as an aid to those acquiring, managing, or operating this class of tools. This review should be applicable to all legal practitioners who use applied software, and will cover a broad range of practice areas, and how technologies support them. Trends in technology will highlight use which apply to sing...
The scope of legal software tools is presented as an aid to those acquiring, managing, or operating this class of tools. This review should be applicable to all legal practitioners who use applied software, and will cover a broad range of practice areas, and how technologies support them. Trends in technology will highlight use which apply to singl...
Science and engineering develop based on the emergence, dispersal, and confirmation of ideas and the experimental confirmation of those ideas. Throughout the history of Science major works have been published that essentially changed the understanding of humankind’s place in the cosmos including the works of Aristotle, Copernicus, Galileo, and Newt...
Science and engineering develop based on the emergence, dispersal, and confirmation of ideas and the experimental confirmation of those ideas. Throughout the history of Science major works have been published that essentially changed the understanding of humankind’s place in the cosmos including the works of Aristotle, Copernicus, Galileo, and Newt...
This article looks back at the life of John Musa, known for his work in software reliability engineering.
Without question the most significant cultural adoption of Western and indeed foreign Science occurred in Japan during the 19th Century and into the early 20th Century. A feudal society fully without a Western heritage not only adopted but mastered the very essence of Western thought, scientific inquiry, engineering, and technology development to s...
John Musa (1933–2009) contributed broadly to the field of software engineering, especially in the area of software reliability engineering (SRE). He first shared some of his key ideas with IEEE Software's readers in an article that was recently selected in a 25-year retrospective as a milestone in the field.
As part of a research project intended...
Two readers offer high praise for IEEE Software 's contributions to their careers.