Teamstudio Voices

Tags: Best Practice Techniques Discussion
In today's challenging economy we are all, both personally and professionally, facing "opportunities" (yeah, that's a nice way to put it) on how we can get the most for our money. At home we're working to stretch the family budget as far as it will go; and likewise at work I'm sure that many (most? all?) of you are also looking for ways to get the most out of what you've got. Maybe there's been a hiring freeze - or worse, layoffs; or maybe you've been told that all (of your) budgets are frozen for the foreseeable future. In any case, we are all faced with the daunting task of making magic happen with an ever-dwindling supply of magic dust - and this brings me to my question: What are you doing to get the most out of your Notes/Domino investment?

Whether you're a developer or admin (or both!), I am sure you're coming up with unique and innovative ways to get the most out of your Domino investment; what are some of those ways? I think that if we share some of these ideas and discuss them then we all may become a little bit better at what we do. This reminds me of when I used to ask very similar questions of the audience concerning development or admin teqhniques - what are some of your best tricks, and then I'd ask you to "share with the class". Well, why can't we do the same thing around this? We all know how important, more now than ever, it is to do the most with the least - why not learn from each other so that we can all improve?

I also have to be honest here - John Coolidge and I are giving a session in the near future around this idea, and while we have some ideas of our own I thought it would be good to see if there are some other ideas we hadn't thought of. If you share, and if we use that idea in our talk I'll make sure you get proper credit (and a copy of the presentation!) - sound ok?

Let the discussion begin!

Rock

P.S. I'll provide a link to the aforementioned webcast when it's made available.

Posted by Rocky Oliver At 8:15 AM | Location: Flowery Branch, GA | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Tags: Community Discussion

The Lotus Community is a close-knit community which highly values collaboration; this high regard for collaboration results in a plethora of highly valuable, yet widely dispersed information. I know that I find the information I need - "information mining" - using search engines, sites like Planet Lotus, and forums. If I still can't find what I need, I tend to ask on my blog, and quite often someone will point me to a site containing the information I need.

But that's how I find the information I need; I'm curious about how you find the information you need. I thought it might be interesting to compare methods, and see if we can find possible new and useful ways to find what we need when we need it.

Information is more important now than it has ever been. The ability to get the information you need is even more important, and I worry that I there may be newer, better ways to find the right information quickly. Let's share our ways and see if we can all benefit.

Rock

Posted by Rocky Oliver At 1:13 PM | Location: Flowery Branch, GA | Permalink | Comments (12) |      

Tags: This Blog

UPDATE: The feed is fixed. Sorry for any inconvenience! **Rock

So you may see some posts disappear and reappear as I try to track down where it is broken.

I'll let you know when the feed is working again.

Stay tuned!

Rock

Posted by Rocky Oliver At 2:40 PM | Location: Flowery Branch, GA | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Tags: Discussion This Blog
I made an announcement recently on my blog about this new blog for Teamstudio, and what it's all about. One of the people who left a comment on my blog was Dave Harris. He asked:

But Rock, what happened to Just Enough Governance? I thought that was the definitive TeamStudio blog.

Don't get me wrong, I love TeamStudio's tools, and the AP guys are really cool, but why the new platform?

BTW, I still try to plug the product to our developers....

Dave's question leads me to believe that I didn't explain the purpose of this blog very well, and I failed to describe how this blog fits in the "blogosphere" of Teamstudio. So, let me explain all of our blogs, and how each one offers a different "slice" of what Teamstudio is all about.

Teamstu'dio has the following blogs:

• Governance for Notes - This blog has a primary focus - to explore and discuss ways to bring controls, order, and process to the typical "Wild West" Lotus Notes/Domino environment. Anything and everything related to Lotus market, or the IT industry at large, is discussed - but from the governance perspective. We firmly believe that proper procedures, controls, and policies can give you hours, or even days, back - hours or days you could use for something else.
• Teamstudio Tooltips - This blog is run by our own illustrious techie (and active Lotus community member) John Coolidge. Its charter is to be a place where the Teamstudio community can post and discuss various tips and tricks for the Teamstudio product family. We have many loyal customers and they have asked for a place to find and share tips, tricks, and best practices for our offerings, and this is it.
• Teamstudio Voices (this blog!) - As I have mentioned before, Teamstudio Voices (where you're at now) is a place where our associates can share anything that's on their minds with you, the Lotus community. This blog has just started, so we're still ramping up internally - but keep coming back and soon you'll be able to find out what the people behind Teamstudio are all about.

There you have it. There are also quite a few personal blogs for various Teamstudio members - maybe I'll give you a rundown of those as well sometime. Hopefully this explanation of our blogs, and how they each surface a different aspect of Teamstudio, will help you better understand what blogs we have, and their intended purposes.

If anyone else has questions about this blog, or Teamstudio in general, please don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers!

Rock

Posted by Rocky Oliver At 10:59 AM | Location: Flowery Branch, GA | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Tags: Lotusphere Lotusphere 2009 Conferences
Well, the show that is Lotusphere 2009 is drawing to a close. Today has been a great day, so far. I am currently waiting to attend the Closing General Session (CGS), which is always a great deal of fun. In fact, if you ever attend Lotusphere I strongly recommend you plan your trip so that you can attend the closing session. It is always a lot more lighthearted than the Opening General Session (OGS), is rhetoric-free, and sends you away from the conference in a great mood. I am such a fan of the CGS that I am actually mad at myself for missing the other 13 of them (this is my 14th Lotusphere).

The GURUpalooza session was a great deal of fun. Once again we had all of the BP track speakers on the stage, as well as the SpeedGeeking speakers and the Lotusphere Idol winners. One of the things we confirmmed during GURUpalooza is something I have sensed since arriving here for Lotusphere. There are many, many new faces - it appears that we have had a great deal of people attending this year where it is their first year attending Lotusphere! Bob Balaban was giving out buttons that had the number of years you have attended Lotusphere, and he ran out of first-year buttons very early in the week. During GURUpalooza I asked the audience how many of them were first-time Lotusphere attendees, and I would say that between 40-50% of the GURUpalooza attendees were first-time Lotusphere attendees! WOW!!

I believe that the large influx of new Lotusphere attendeese, coupled with the thriving Product Showcase, are great indicators that the Lotus community is not only surviving, it is thriving. Lotus announced many new things this week, in addition to (finally!) demonstrating the LotusScript editor for Domino Designer on Eclipse (DDE), and this also points to a product line that is healthy and growing.

So, I as I prepare to leave Lotusphere 2009, I must admit that I am not only satisfied, I am excited at what the future holds for our company, Lotus Notes/Domino, and our community.

"The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades." --Timbuk3

Rock

Posted by Rocky Oliver At 2:45 PM | Location: Rotunda in WDW Dolphin, FL | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Tags: Lotusphere Lotusphere 2009 Discussion Conferences
The gang from Teamstudio is down here this week working hard at Lotusphere 2009. We've had a great deal going on - from product demos, to suite parties, to Teamstudio Spotlight award ceremonies, and much more.

We also have a booth in the Product Showcase (Pedistal 428-429), so please stop by and say "hi" (or if you're a geek, "Hello World!"), and see what's going on with us. Also, we have a few C.U.L.T. (Certified Unofficial Lotusphere Tee) shirts available, so you may be able to pick one of those up as well. I stop by every once in awhile as well, and I'd love to get the opportunity to meet and talk with you!

We have also had a few sessions during this year's show:

• Control Your Domino Environment (BP302) - John Coolidge (Teamstudio) and Eileen Fitzgerald
• Taming the Wild West:Controlling Cavalier App Dev and Production (BP214) - Craig Schumann and Mike Wetherbee
• IBM Lotus Notes Mythbusters (BP114) - Rocky Oliver (Teamstudio) and Bob Balaban

These sessions were all well-attended, and the early reviews from them were outstanding. I am very proud of our team, and I hope that the folks that attended these sessions left better informed and prepared to do their jobs when they get back home.

Don't forget about GURUpalooza and the Meet the Developers session tomorrow. These sessions give you the opportunity to ask those questions you forgot to ask earlier in the week - and you get to "get inside the head" of the true thought leaders at Lotus and in our community.

So far this has been a great Lotusphere - and I hope you feel the same way!

Rock

Posted by Rocky Oliver At 3:21 PM | Location: WDW Swan and Dolphin, FL | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Tags: Lotus News Industry News
On 29 December a large European customer of IBM's, Hadleigh Marshall n.v., posted an open letter to Steve Mills from Mr. Ian J. Tree, calling for IBM to release IBM Lotus Notes/Domino to the open source community. The way Hadleigh Marshall sees the market, IBM Lotus Notes/Domino is dead as a commercial market. As they put it,

It is my contention that such a move [to open source for Notes/Domino -- ed.] would not only enhance the strategic position of the IBM Software Group portfolio but would also transform and re-energize significant parts of the Software market as a whole.

Over recent years we have seen the decreasing traction of the Domino product line among enterprise customers, lower conquest rates in small enterprises and a lack of penetration in the SMB market. This decline in position of the product has continued despite clear IBM commitment to the ongoing development, marketing and support of the product line. Competitors in the messaging and collaboration space are increasingly applying the 'legacy' tag to the product line and winning conversion projects that result in more expensive and less functional solutions for the existing customer base. As this FUD increases, the demise of the product line will accelerate. I will not dwell here on an analysis of the decline of the product; I merely note that this decline will be irreversible unless there is a fundamental change in the market positioning of the product line. If we are to arrest and reverse this decline, we need a paradigm shift in the marketplace, not a feature review.

**Note: Emphasis Mine.

Interesting proposition. I have heard rumblings about moving the Notes/Domino stack to open source in the past, and the argument against it has been fairly strong - "We have seen double-digit growth in Notes/Domino sales in the last X years", "Moving it to open source will reduce our ability to properly support the product", "Moving it to open source will surely introduce a myriad of versions, bugs, etc. into the code, and we won't be able to guarantee code integrity.", and so on.

And while I can definitely see Mr. Tree's point, I understand IBM's position. First, if you are to believe the hype (especially what will surely be good news at this year's Lotusphere), then you will be led to believe that Lotus has had double-digit growth yet again. In fact, Ed Brill just recently listed in his "Blogging Year in Review", he stated that, "As I predicted at the start of the year, the Notes is dead meme is dead. Even Microsoft has stopped trying to convince customers that this is the case. If anything, this year's incredible amount of activity around the Notes/Domino family has assured a long and successful road ahead." So, if you listen to IBM and Ed, the market for Lotus continues to remain viable and strong.

But what really matters is what you, the Lotus Community, think - specifically those of you who buy and renew Lotus Notes/Domino licenses. This will be the telling observation. Do people continue to buy and renew Lotus Notes/Domino? Or, is it as Mr. Tree says - that "the demise of the product line will accelerate". Sales will tell who's right.

What do I think? Well, I think that Mr. Tree, and Mr. Brill, are both right. And both wrong. I think the truth of what they believe is somewhere in the middle. Do I see "impending doom" for Notes/Domino? Not yet - with "yet" being the operative word. Eventually sales will crumble, and Notes/Domino will finally die a commercial death. It is inevitable, and it is actually quite remarkable that it has lasted this long to be honest. Almost 20 years is a very long time in the IT world. And while I think it is always smart to take what IBM says - and even what Ed says - with a grain or two of salt, I do believe that the market for Notes/Domino is strong - for now.

One other way to tell the health of a product's market is to take a look at the third party/ISV market for the product. Are the ISVs closing shop, or are they still in business? Are new ISVs coming into the market? Is there excitement in the overall market, including the ISV market? Are they releasing new releases on a regular basis? These are the questions you should be asking yourself. I know that all businesses are being hit by this global recession, but I can tell you that here at Teamstudio we're still strong, and we have no plans to go away or move away from the Notes/Domino market.

One final observation from this open letter. Mr. Tree stated that IBM has a "lack of penetration in the SMB market". I have to say this part of his analysis is right. IBM continues to fumble with attempting to serve the IBM market; and while I know they have made half-hearted attempts with bundling and packaging, there is still a lack of penetration at the SMB level. I think that a decent amount of this has to do with a disconnect between what IBM thinks is the definition for SMB, and what the general market thinks is the definition of SMB. IBM will continue to struggle with the real SMB market until there is a meeting of the minds on what is the true definition of SMB.

One final thought. IBM has not shown a proclivity towards releasing intellectual property into open source, outside of what was needed to get the Eclipse Foundation going and happy. IBM is still the winner, every year, for the most patents applied for by a single entity. It values its intellectual property a great deal, and I cannot see it releasing all the amazing intellectual property contained in Lotus Notes/Domino anytime soon.

So what does this mean for us? It means we have to try harder and fight harder to keep Notes/Domino viable. We need to make sure the CxO-level executives are made aware of the great new features in new releases of Notes/Domino, as well as the plethora of products available to make their Notes/Domino experience even better. I think this is necessary because CxOs aren't stupid - and if they are made aware of what's available, and are also reminded of how much of their corporate intellectual property is already stored in Notes/Domino, the only choice that remains is to stay with Notes/Domino.

At least for now

Rock

Posted by Rocky Oliver At 1:49 PM | Location: Flowery Branch, GA | Permalink | Comments (2) |      

Tags: Announcements
Welcome to the Teamstudio Voices blog? What is this blog? Glad you asked...

This blog is a place where the people who are Teamstudio can share a bit of themselves with you. This is a place where they can talk about some of the great work they are doing, or even share their opinions about Notes/Domino, Lotus in general, the IT industry, or even a review of something they've bought, read, or seen. There are not many rules in place for this blog, as it is a place where you can get a sense of who we are.

I will be taking on the role of "blogmaster" for this blog. This means that I'll be talking to you quite a bit from here, in addition to my own personal blog at LotusGeek.com. I'll try to keep you updated on what's going on here, as well as add my own thoughts on what's happening in the Notes/Domino and IT industry today.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you'll return soon - and often - to see what's on our mind here at Teamstudio.

We're looking forward to it.

Rocky Oliver

Posted by Rocky Oliver At 1:35 PM | Location: Flowery Branch, GA | Permalink | Comments (0) |