Essentially a collection of essays, this book isn't intended as a step-by-step guide for plotting alignment or assessing value. Rather, Strassmann provides readers with cautionary tales of what works and what doesn't. With ample case studies and numerous horror stories, he succeeds in his mission.

In Strassmann's view (and that of other experts he cites), value is a direct product of aligning IT with business. Just what does Strassmann mean by alignment? Forget about productivity, improved customer satisfaction and quality; the way to measure IT's alignment with business goals is to gauge IT's impact on the one metric that matters most to CEOs and shareholders: net cash flow. In other words, alignment comes down to accounting, pure and simple.

In an era when business books seem to contain a lot of fluff, Strassmann is refreshingly blunt. Never one to mince words, he offers his take on why IT continues to lag behind the expectations and, in many cases, the basic requirements of business. Among the topics Strassmann dissects are outsourcing, alignment and evaluation methods.

The section exploring residual value will be of particular interest to CIOs. Strassmann covers a lot of ground, including the economics of open systems, the merits of outsourcing and the failure of leadership. For those who like to crunch numbers, the section on evaluation methods explains several options for estimating computer budgets and putting a value on computer assets.

If the book has one fault, it's that some topics could benefit from more detail. Yet maybe this is by design. The Squandered Computer is the first book in a three-volume series on alignment. Unfortunately, Strassmann advises readers to wait for the follow-up books before making definitive plans for IT/business alignment. But with the speed of businesses heading into overdrive these days, CIOs who wait may find themselves out of a job.