Month: October 2009

The 2009 Magic Quadrant for ECM

4 Comments

[Note that my post on the 2010 Quadrant is now available.]

Thanks to the Documentum voters splitting their time between two topics, discussing the recent Gartner MQ for ECM is today’s topic.  The voting was an interesting little diversion that I’ll revisit later.

I’m going to talk about the report here.  The recent controversy around Gartner is a post for another day.

Staying Out of Trouble

image Last year I was threatened (my word) by Gartner for putting a copy of the MQ here.  I was also chastised for several other nitpicks. So I will only link to Oracle’s courtesy copy of the 2009 Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Content Management this year to avoid wrath.

One thing to remember is Gartner really doesn’t want you to compare a vendor’s location in the MQ from year to year. That is both well-advised and unrealistic.  To be fair, as the measurements and industry change, scores change.  Movement isn’t just dependent on vendor action, or inaction.

However, we are human and we like to perform comparisons. I have a copy to perform the comparison for my own interest.  The link I had online to last year’s report is no longer valid, so you’ll have to take my Word on it.

Continue reading →

Choosing the Words of Pie

4 Comments

So, here is the deal.  I’m very busy these days, which is good.  It only leaves me so much time to write for the Word. I have multiple ideas for my next post, but I can’t decide because I like them all.

Then I thought, why not ask you?

So here are some ideas. Vote and add your own thoughts below for other topics.  The ideas that I place in the poll will be covered…eventually.

If you select “Other”, please leave your idea in the comments.  I will post the selected entry by Monday evening.

Throwing Documentum Developers into the Fire

8 Comments

A long time ago, in blog-years, I wrote a page on Building Documentum Talent. I meant it to be something upon which I could build, but I haven’t. Well today that changes, at least for a day. I’m doing two things. I’ve revised that page some (and cleaned old/non-informative comments off) and I’m going to talk about turning your everyday Documentum resource into an expert in this post.

What Doesn’t Kill You

If you read the title, you may think that torture is involved in the “next” step. You would be right. Over the years, I’ve trained many resources that I’ve identified as having potential, and desire, to become good Documentum developers. That is one of my favorite things about new projects, teaching the joys of ECM and Documentum to young consultants.

imageUnfortunately, you can only train and prepare Documentum resources so much.  You can train them and have them write Documentum applications, but they will NEVER become an expert if that is all they ever do.  They may become a senior Documentum developer, but they will not become a Documentum expert. That requires a little more work.

Every ECM project, outside of the simplest proof-of-concept, will encounter some challenges. The next time you hit one that isn’t mission critical to solve yesterday, give it to a Documentum resource. Make them solve it. Make sure that they understand the symptoms and let them at it. Be a resource for them, rarely giving answers, but telling them where to find the information.

A few things to consider first…

Continue reading →

JM Pascal Asks Pie the Hard ECM Questions

9 Comments

You may have missed it, but last week, Jean Marie Pascal posted an interview with me on his blog.  It was a fun exercise, though it took a while as our schedules precluded quick email responses (my delay being the longer of the two).  JM hung in there with me and the interview was finally completed.

If you have been missing the joy of reading fresh posts by me, then the interview will be a nice read.  It covers ECM, Documentum, Open Source and a little about me.  Share and Enjoy.

This Little ECM Definition Comment

If you went and read the interview, you may have seen my comment on the definition of ECM.  I criticized AIIM’s ECM definition as being tool centric. Bryant Duhon, the Infonomics editor, challenged me on this, saying that Strategy was definitely in the definition. I hadn’t responded previously because I knew this was a response.  Well, here it is…

Continue reading →