Review: The Jawbone UP24

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My UP24It isn’t often that I write a tech review. I reviewed a few tablets when the category was new, but new tablets are very unexciting. When I was given a Jawbone UP24 from Alfresco, I was very excited. I’m always interested in how I am doing in my healthy, and unhealthy, habits. I opened it up and dove right into the fun.

What have I learned? I don’t move around enough in my average work day. My sleep likely needs a lot of work. When someone tells me to relax, I do a really good job of it. More exercise should fix the first two problems and perpetuate the third.

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Why I Run

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Every now and then, I like to go a little off topic from the world of IT and Content. Sometimes it is because I want to remind everyone about the bigger world that we live in everyday. Sometimes it is something fun that I want to share. Other times, it is something I want to share and it isn’t really worth creating a new channel for just one item.

This is the “Word of Pie” after all, not “Tech Words of Pie”.

The following falls into the last bucket. It is something that I wrote in my head on some recent runs before writing it down. I’ve recently rediscovered the joy of running again and it has become something I look forward to on a regular basis. This shares my mental evolution as a runner.

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Making Information Governance Pay

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Lots of MoneyIn May, I will be speaking on a panel on The Economics of a Successful ILG Program at the Document Strategy Forum in Connecticut. When Joe Shepley first asked me to speak, I was a little hesitant. Explaining how a successful Information Governance program contributes to the bottom line has been one of the greatest challenges for the industry.

Joe assured me that it would be easy. This is the same Joe that wrote that nobody cares about compliance because it doesn’t pay. I heartily concurred with that assessment. Now I am talking about how it does pay.

What have I done?

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Share Your Story at Alfresco’s 2014 Summit

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Alfresco Summit 2014, SF Sept 23-25, London Oct 7-9Last year, Alfresco started holding business tracks at our annual Summit. There was a lot of good information shared about how people were using Alfresco and Content Management as a whole. I moderated two panels on Best Practices that were very lively.

We have announced the 2014 Alfresco Summit dates and we have opened the call for speakers for the event. We are taking topics for both the technical and business tracks. Jeff Potts, Alfresco’s Chief Community Officer, has written an article discussing what constitutes a good submission. Jeff hits a lot of great points and I highly recommend reading his post.

This year, Alfresco has given me charge of planning the business tracks. I will be working with the team to find the best stories to provide the best content to attendees.

What will we be looking for in the proposals? What will you see if you attend the Alfresco Summit? Here is a short list of questions we’ll be keeping in mind.

What Did You Solve?

The business track’s focus is on solving problems and creating solutions for business. What business problem did you solve? Was it a new or an old one? How did you solve it?

What Did You Learn?

Your experience matters. It is what makes your story unique. What have you learned? What advice would you pass on to others? How did you tackle challenges? What would you do differently?

What was Unique?

The last thing I want at any conference that I attend is a slate of  presentations telling the same story. I want to hear new stories, every year. That is what all attendees want to hear. Share what you did that was special. Brag. Inspire others to think of new ways to solve old problems.

Where are You Going?

Every organization has evolving needs and new challenges. Don’t simply share what you have accomplished. What is next? Are you focusing on Mobile, Cloud, Analytics, or some other technology?

What are We Looking For?

We want stories. We want a slate of presentations that any one of us would pay to see. There will be extra points for creativity. Our goal is a breadth of stories that represent the wide variety of ways people are using Alfresco. We want people to walk away from the program with fresh ideas on how to use Alfresco and Content Management to improve how they do business.

What Is In It For Me?

It is a chance to brag. It is a chance to attend the Alfresco Summit and learn lessons that you can take back. It is a chance to trade war stories with others who have tackled similar challenges. I have spoken at many events and all have been very beneficial for me professionally on many levels.

Get started on your proposal now so you can share what you have learned. We are taking proposals through the end of April but don’t wait. Think it through and get it in early.

Looking forward to reading your stories and then hearing them in person this Fall.

Converting Your Day into Blog Posts

I have cautioned people about starting a blog without a plan. The first month is always easy as there is a backlog of ideas to share with people. After those ideas have been flushed out, what is next? Without as answer to that question, maybe a blog isn’t the right choice.

What if you don’t have a choice?

What if you are someone who makes a living upon your reputation? Maybe you are a freelancer in a creative space like web design or a professional speaker/writer trying to own part of the industry’s mindshare. What if you are spinning-up a new company and you want to prove to potential clients what you bring to the table?

In those situations, a blog can be a powerful marketing tool. I’ve had a few conversations on the topic in the past month and I thought I’d share a few tips.

 

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The Cost of Risk

Sunken ShipI’ve written before on the zero-sum game that we play when we are evaluating most Content Management projects. We can choose the solution that will readily meet 80% of your requirements but has only a 20% of achieving all its goals. Our other choice is the solution that will only meet 30% of our goals but has a 90% chance of meeting the expected goals.

There is already reason to lean to the latter solution. The odds are good that at the end of the day you will have a working, though less capable, solution. When the alternative is nothing, that is pretty good.

Let’s see why it is even better than that.

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Use CMIS or Die?

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When discussing the Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) standard with organizations, progress is measurable when the developers start asking me if they have to use CMIS.

The answer is of course no. In the recent Forrester report from Cheryl McKinnon on how CMIS is being used in the “real world”, this excerpt explains the balance to be struck.

a large insurance company evaluated CMIS but chose not to use it due to developer comfort with a vendor’s existing application programming interfaces (APIs). However, the technology management team is actively monitoring CMIS for future projects, such as integration between their customer relationship management (CRM) system and ECM repository.

They clearly value CMIS but had a very common decision to make. Use the API we know over the standard we do not know. When do you make the transition?

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Why Choosing Content Management is Becoming More Critical

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Waiting for GodotI have recently been talking in my presentations about organizations opting to do nothing about their Content problem. When looking at the prospect of rolling out a new Content Management System (CMS), it is a valid option. There is only one issue with that choice.

Each year, choosing to do nothing becomes a worse option.

Let’s take a moment to discuss why doing nothing is riskier now than it was in the past.

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Talking Business Solutions in Russia

In my last post, I talked about my trip to Russia. I was there to speak during the opening session of the ECM Ecosystem conference being put on by the Russian edition of PC Week. I thought I would share the English version of my presentation , The Shift to Business Solutions, and some of the related discussion that occurred during the panels.

Picking a Trend

For my talk, I was asked to highlight trends in the industry. While I mentioned the obvious candidates (Social, Mobile, Analytics/Big Data, and Cloud) in my talk, I chose to focus on the continuing shift towards Business Solutions. While not as obviously sexy as the others, it is one that is making Content Management easier to manage and handle.

I also picked this one because this is a trend that every organization can benefit from immediately. It is a focus on how to implement and execute Content Management, not how the concept needs to evolve.

After spending the week there, I was sure that I had chosen wisely.

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Content Management in Russia, Same Challenges, Different Language

St Basil'sIf you were watching my twitter feed last week, you likely deduced that I spent the week in Russia, specifically Moscow. I was there to participate in the ECM Ecosystem conference being put on by the Russian edition of PC Week.

Before I arrived in Russia, I would have been hard pressed to explain how the Russian market differed from the market in the U.S. and Western Europe. After my visit, one thing is very clear.

They are almost exactly the same.

This isn’t to say that there are not differences. Every country has specific challenges. While I was in Moscow, I spent a lot of time talking to organizations how they could be more successful managing their content. What was most striking was that while I was in the middle of some of these conversations, I realized that I had participated in the same conversations in Chicago, London, Barcelona, and many other cities.

Prior to heading to Russia, PC Week had asked me some interview questions. The published version can be found, in Russian, online. I am going to take one of the questions and expand on my answer now that I have seen the Russian market first hand.

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