It has been a while since my last real post.  It hasn’t been for lack of things to talk about, I’ve just been extremely busy.  I am still behind on things, but I can see the light and this is a topic that just won’t wait.

One of the things that I’ve set as a goal is to build a better, stronger community for Documentum experts.  This isn’t just for developers, or only a place to go to ask questions.  It is building a sense that we are all in this together.  For those that haven’t noticed, the EMC Developer Network recently went through the promised upgrade into a tool that will allow us to build that Documentum Community.

The New EDN

For a while now, we have been promised the next generation of the developer network.  Many of us have waited patiently.  We got to see glimpses in the EDN Labs.  Some of us were even able to test-drive the new EDN to provide feedback.  After a soft rollout, the new version is here!

Initial impressions are favorable.  They took time to listen to the garnered feedback to add several user enhancements that make it easier to contribute content.  Several of my comments are in there.  Wikis pages (documents) can be created and collaborated on between members.  All items can be tagged and rated.  This should allow us, the community, to make it easier to find content that is important for us to do our job.

Go and check it out.  Registration is free.  It is still evolving, so don’t worry if there is something you aren’t fond of in the site.  If you don’t like it, provide feedback.  The gang behind the scenes is always willing to listen to, and work with, community members to make changes for the benefit of all.

Building Design Patterns

Now that we have a place, it is time to start building-out some Design Patterns.  This effort was started back on the old site, but it was limited to simple discussions and there was no real template for how to put them together.  Now there is…

I have created a landing page that describes what we are trying to accomplish.  It also lists a couple of problems that we are beginning to address.  We are starting with the two solution groups already initially addressed in the old site.  This will provide a nice, quick focus area.  The areas are:

• Connecting to Documentum from a Separate Content Application
• Providing Lookups for Data Fields in Documentum

I’ve already started, but it is up to YOU to finish the job.  I may have a lot of experience and know a bunch, but I don’t know everything.  There are situations that I haven’t encountered that will impact what we have started to put together.  There may be other patterns, or some details to a listed pattern, that only you may know.  Share it with everyone so that we can all become better.

This means you Johnny.  Lee, if you are too busy, find some team members that aren’t.  John, Sumanth, and Ajith, let’s see some activity.  Mr. Roth, not having a blog doesn’t spare you from being called out.  Let us not forget a little help from the product people themselves (this means you Craig).

By documenting the Design Patterns, we can become a more disciplined community, which will lead to more successful projects.  More successful ECM projects leads to more projects overall as people begin to perceive the decreased risk a disciplined approach can bring to a project.  That means more money and job security.

So what are you waiting for?  This is your digitally engraved invitation.  Let’s get to work.