IBM Bloggers, who are we? - Ed Brill

I'm especially excited today, as this interview with Ed Brill is the first (in what I hope is a series) about IBM bloggers. Ed was nice enough to help point out that my RSS feeds got messed up when I switched templates. He performed this act of kindness when he didn't know me from the next guy at the airport, which as you'll read is where he's been quite a bit lately. In another act of kindness, he stayed up late from who knows where to complete this interview.

When I first got on to blogging, Ed was one of the first guys at IBM I read. I encourage all of you to add him to your feeds.. He can also be found at developerWorks. So without further adieu…..Ed Brill.

What is your job title (and what does that really mean as far as your job)?

Business Unit Executive, Worldwide Lotus Notes/Domino Sales. I'm responsible for the success of these products in-market worldwide. That means I work outward — with IBMers, partners, customers to provide the right solution with Notes/Domino, and inward with product management, marketing, development and support to make sure we are building a successful product.

Some work experience that you want to tell?

I've been at Lotus for a little more than 11 years. I've had a variety of roles: pre-sales engineer, Notes product manager, Domino product marketing, Notes/Domino offerings manager (what most companies call a "brand manager"), Lotus competitive strategy leader. Before IBM/Lotus I was in IT at US Robotics, FTD, and Indiana University Computing Services. I've been "online" since 1988.

Any hobbies or fun stuff you want to discuss?

I really enjoy travel and photography. I'm fortunate that my job takes me to all corners of the planet, and I've visited 45 countries so far (30+ for business). I rollerblade when I can. I work out of a home office in my hometown, which is a really interesting thing when you consider the global nature of our company and specifically my role.

How do you describe what you do to your family and those who don't work in our industry?

Heh — I tell them that I'm responsible for selling Lotus Notes. We have good brand recognition so a lot of people know the product even if they don't use it. My mom used Notes at her last job before she retired. If they don't know Lotus Notes, I just tell them I work in computer software or "internet stuff".

What are good things about your job?

My job is an MBA-by-fire — I get involved in all aspects of running a market-leading, mainstream product for IBM. I get to talk to customers every single day. I work from home, and love the flexibility that offers. I work with a product that gets press and analysts talking, that draws customers to conferences, and that continues to confound and irritate my competitors. Most of all, I have met and continue to meet some really amazing people.

What are things you would change?

I'd like to be able to get more mindshare for my product within IBM. I'd like to be able to react to market conditions more quickly than sometimes is possible.

What are the biggest challenges at IBM?

IBMers have hundreds of solutions we can talk about with customers — hardware, software, services, business consulting, training, even financing. Our competitors like Microsoft and Oracle get to have laser-sharp focus when they talk to CIOs and CEOs. It would be great if I could have every IBMer talking to every customer about Lotus Notes. I'm sure every product leader at IBM would say the same thing

How did you get started as a blogger?

My friend Volker Weber encouraged me to try it out, not necessarily with a goal in mind but because I've always enjoyed writing publicly. Over time, it evolved into a way to continue the one-to-one interaction I've had with customers in our online product forums over the years, with more focus.

How has that changed your job?

I consider my blog to be a critical part of how I can be successful in my job. I get a sense as to what is going on in the market, and my customers know that they have a source for up-to-the-minute, unfiltered information. I've been able to win in the market, and especially been able to defend against competitors who are more liberal with their use of fear/uncertainty/doubt in the market, all through the voice of the blog and the blog-o-sphere.

Since analysts read this, what would you like to say to them about Lotus?

The analysts are mostly saying encouraging and positive things about Lotus these days. I've been pleased that they mostly recognize that Lotus has successfully passed through a technology transition period, and that the Lotus business is presently successful and growing. I think what I'd like analysts to consider is more around applying a critical eye to some of the messages coming from my competitors, either about their actual vs. perceived success or the robustness of their solutions.

What are you looking forward to in the upcoming years, either products or how you will work differently?

I'm really looking forward to the evolution into a full contextual collaboration era, with some of the tools IBM Research has been building for the last few years coming into actual shipping products. Specifically, I'm really interested in convergence of mobile/pervasive devices, instant messaging and VoIP, and other tools that will really be intelligent about message delivery and filtering.

Any thing else I missed you want to say?

I think the market will notice soon that there has been a huge increase in the number of IBM bloggers in the last few months. We have some strong and important voices, and my IBMer blogroll grows by the day. We might not have been the first company to embrace blogging, but it's becoming increasingly important in how we embrace the IBM values around customer success and personal responsibility. I'm not afraid to tackle the tough questions customers are asking, and I think more and more we will see supply chain and vendor transparency like that in-market.

When you’re hot, you’re hot

What's the saying, if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen? We'll not us.

Right now, some of the hottest industry issues are falling into our lap. In no order, SOA has a lot going on, Maturing workforce issues and the ISV ecosystem heat up the fire. I know Lotus 7.0 is out there, but I'm hoping an upcoming interview with Ed Brill is going to cover that. Tivoli is active too, so I was harrassing the a/r manager to be an interview so he can tell you what's up. Don?

The SOA crowd has been full steam ahead lately (wish it was still talk like a pirate day , could use some lingo here). Nancy Riley's team has been pumping out the work like banshee's. This subject if executed properly by the industry can have a life of it's own, and it's only the tip of the iceberg. I know this as I discovered in tangential conversations with analysts, I've heard that many things can be a service like compliance and CRM, and that wrapping services around packaged applications is an issue. Steve O'Grady and James Governer deserve this credit.

Next is the Maturing Workforce dilemma. If you recall, the last presidential campaign told us that a lot of boomers are coming up on retirement. These are the guys and gals that brought us through the age of hardware/software/bandwidth/innovation/devices and you name it we can't do without today. That's a lot of skills and experience which are maturing. IBM has it's act together and has a plan. All you have to do is read about this and you'll see that issues dealing with transition to accessibility are covered. I've heard from no less thanAmy Wohl that we have a story here.

Ah, and my burner, the ISV ecosystem. For some reason, recent acquisitions seem to have skewed the thought that if you don't buy an applications company, you can't play in the game. Guess what, the numbers aren't supporting that story. I'll let the statisticians tell you how much share CRM and ERP have in the application ecosystem, but for sake of this argument, I'm going with 15-20%. That leaves 80% or more to the rest of the applications out there.

So instead of buying a company just to keep up with the jones's, we're sticking with our partners instead of competing with them. When it comes time to show up at the customer, we're not going to be bringing our own application, we're bringing the ISV Partner. We're giving them programs and advertising buckaroos to help them.

Oh, and did I mention that we have the IBM salesforce helping ISV's?

So things are hot, and we're in the middle of it, right where we should be.

It’s picture day at the dojo

Some of you may know that I train in the martial arts at Karate International . Our style is called Sanshinkai, go to the website to read more.

Today is the day we gather all the students for personal and group pictures. Here's an example of what it will be like. This is a picture of some blackbelts which gives you a visual..

Both my son and I are in this picture, so we'll do a father and son yearly picture as well as the group dojo shot. I've saved a shot of us together starting from when we were gold belts. It's interesting to see him grow up.

So today, we have to wash and iron our Gi's to make sure we look our best.

Of course there are action shots from time to time, but that's not what's on tap for today. Nevertheless, here's one of my favorites..it's a choke throw called hangman.

It’s a dog’s life

I got good response on my dog, Boxer Rebellion as well as my interview series, so I thought I'd interview her by describing her day.

Here's how it goes…..

Wake up, Oh boy! my favorite!
Go for a walk, Oh boy! my favorite!
Eat Dog Food, Oh boy! my favorite!
Play with my toys, Oh Boy! my favorite!
Bark at the kids leaving for school, Oh boy! my favorite!
Nap, Oh boy! my favorite!
Lunch with Dad, maybe some people food, Oh boy! my favorite!
Go for a walk, Oh boy! my favorite!
Bark at the mailman, Oh boy! my favorite!
Kids come home from school, Oh boy! my favorite!
Nap, Oh boy! my favorite!
If I'm good, I get a treat, Oh boy! my favorite!
Dog food, Oh boy! my favorite!
Bark and play with my toys, Oh boy! my favorite!
Go for a walk, Oh boy! my favorite!
Time for bed, sleep on Dad, Oh boy! my favorite!

A Long Day, and my Exhaust

Actually, it’s been 2 long days. I’m on a task that’s critical to our partner program and strategy. Why we’re doing what we’re doing and not out buying companies is making more sense to me every time we speak to analysts. Look for more on this topic in a couple of days. I’m hoping the analysts out blog me on this.

Between that and trying to fix the template on my blog site, it’s been a long couple of days. Although I didn’t realize it, my blogs are longer than I imagined, so I picked a different template that will allow for more text to be read on one screen. While doing this, i messed up all my RSS feeds and links and it took a day to fix. The good news is Ed Brill found it for me and I fixed it. The real good news is that he agreed to an interview, so I can’t wait to get that out as it seems the interviews are well received.

Now for the lighter side. My wife borrowed my truck to help a friend move. I recently had to replace the exhaust and being the Redneck that I am, I bought the loudest one I could find. The mechanic told me, “you won’t be sneaking up on anyone now”. Anyway, my wife’s friend completes the story and makes my day when my wife started up the truck to leave. Her friend says, you’re exhaust is really loud, maybe it’s broken. Life was good at that moment for me.

I know the New Yorkers deduct IQ points from southerners for stuff like this, but this goes back to an earlier post on why it’s good to be a guy. We get to play with toys all our life.

IBM analyst relations, who are we? Jeff Jones

The interview today is going to be with Jeff Jones, from the Information Management or Data brand. Analyst relations has a wide range of skill and abilities, Jeff is on the expert side of subject content. Enjoy the read.

What is your job title (and what does that really mean as far as your job)?

My official title is Senior Program Manager, and I work in the Information Management part of IBM Software Group in Analyst Relations.. I haven't been able to figure out what exactly this title has to do with my job, but that seems to be the norm in IBM.

Some work experience that you want to tell?

My background has involved a variety of software assignments. I started as an application developer in Purchasing Logistics for the division of IBM that built disk storage systems. SAP ERP software has replaced the software we built back then. A brief stint in IBM Research working on mechanical engineering graphics applications taught me about applications outside the norm of commercial business applications. Another brief stint in a corporate software strategy group taught me about the value of standards and the power of software integration. A long series of assignments in our database software group developed in me a huge appreciation for the genius in our software development laboratories and for the need to translate what happens in the labs for those on the outside that are perhaps not quite as completely immersed in it day to day. My current assignment allows me the privilege of communicating the latest and greatest to many constituents outside IBM: analysts, consultants, press, partners and customers.

How do you describe what you do?

In the whirling vortex of activity around Information Management, I work with IT analysts and consultants in two ways. First, I work to deliver our news and to educate this community about our Information Management software with a focus on database engines (Cloudscape/Derby, DB2, IMS, Informix, U2). Second, I work on behalf of our organization to seek guidance, criticism (always constructive) and comment from the analyst community to help us plan our future. Also, from time to time, I'm called upon to serve as a spokesperson to IT reporters and as a connector of reporters with analysts. Finally, I serve on the editorial advisory board of DB2 Magazine as a behind-the-scenes editor of this quarterly publication.

What are good things about your job?

What I enjoy most about my hybrid job is the constant and unblinking reality check it provides. No blinders are allowed; hyperbole is forbidden; acronyms are seldom tolerated. no one is allowed to drink the "koolaid". Personalities and relationships have special value in this job. Clarity and brevity are the most precious attributes of every conversation. The team with which I work is a wonderful.collection of devoted professionals that make it a joy to open the in-basket, web browser and message window in the morning. A creative sense of humor is shared by all, and invoked often.

What are things you would change?

I would rewrite PowerPoint to allow no more than 10 charts in any presentation. I would rewrite Notes' calendar feature to disallow the creation of meeting invitations that lack at least five sentences of explanation as to the purpose of the meeting. I would also remove the recurring meetings feature of Notes' calendar.

Name a funny analyst story.

I know a couple of funny analysts, but they won't let me tell their stories here. I've also noted that a significant number of analysts with whom I've worked share a love for music. This is comforting. One is a scuba diving instructor. Analysts are people too.

Describe an analyst win situation for you.

All analyst "win situations" seem to stem from periods where communication lines are open and used frequently, interesting IBM news is emerging, and customers are backing us up. It's hard to lose in these situations.

Describe an analyst disaster for you. (no names)

Analyst disasters always seem to involve confusion and the poor handling of the aftermath and sometimes the "beforemath".

What would you like the analyst's to do differently, suggestions of what would help both sides maybe.

I'm not sure I'm in a position to tell analysts what to do., differently or otherwise. I'm happy to have them suggest to me what to do. So both sides of your question are covered.

Any thing else I missed you want to say?

Customers seem to be the key to success with our analyst community. Revenue is good; testimonials are good too. I know this isn't rocket science. I would ask for continuing patience while we work on convincing more of our devoted customer base to share their devotion with the analyst community. Again, it's all about communication pipelines kept open and relationships kept strong.

RTP, Celebrating the 40th Anniversery

Today, I attended the 40th anniversary of RTP at the IBM site. There was a band playing music from the 60's (On the Boardwalk, Sugar Sugar, My Cherie Amour) and food at 60's prices. Here's the advertisement for it:

On Thursday, September 22, IBM in the Triangle Area will observe the 40th Anniversary of its groundbreaking for the IBM RTP site. To celebrate this anniversary, we have an exciting event planned for all IBM employees in the building 002 courtyard from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Come enjoy a special, "1960's prices," luncheon menu, free IBM birthday cake, the finals of our IBM karaoke contest, a classic car show, skits and much, much more.

One of my favorite parts was the Gilligan's Island event. 3 people were in rafts and the crowd got to shoot water balloons from bungee cords at least 50 yards away. I think one balloon made into a raft. One balloon went off target into the hot dog line. I would have shot them at the biggest crowd I could have found to watch them scatter like roaches in the morning when the lights turn on.

40 years is a long time. I read today that Tech companies rated RTP as the best place to have a company. I think it was woods or pasture 41 years ago. Now it has more Ph.D's then almost anywhere else given the proximaty to Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, NC State and Wake Forest. Here's the link to the story.
http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/2800957p-9243923c.html

So where did I fit in? I was in the car show. When I was 7, my dad bought this car.

(Photo by Dave Brainard)

It was his pride and joy. He willed it to me once he no longer could drive. I have kept it up in his memory and have entered it into car shows with good results. I've blogged about my Dad already and his WWII contributions:

http://deladequacy.blogspot.com/2005/08/my-dads-contribution-to-wwii.html

There were other cars at the event.

Chris Bannister - 1967 Chevrolet Camaro
David Bannister - 1967 Chevrolet Camaro
David Brower - 1958 BMW Isetta 300 Deluxe
George Kavelak - 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle Super Sport
Clifford Meyers - 1966 VW Beetle
Mike Petersen - 1966 Dodge Coronet 500

The Coronet and the Chevelle SS had 427 and 426 cc engines (that's 7 whopping liters), real get up and go. Good ole American grunt.

If you read the internet jokes that get passed around, one of them is why it's great to be a guy. On this list is….you get to play with toys all your life. Today is a prime example, and yes is it great.

I'll leave you with the text on the sign that I had made, which I use when showing the car.

(Photo by Dave Brainard)

1964 PORSCHE 356C

This car is kept in Historical condition. It was delivered in 1964 to its owner, my father who drove it for 38 years. The one and only mechanic to service this car until 2002 was originally employed by the Porsche factory until his relocation to Florida. This same mechanic also helped the factory racing team at the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring in the preparation of legendary racers such as the Carrera 6, 910, 907, and 908.

It was given to me in 2002 and is kept in it’s original condition to honor the people who built this car, the mechanic that kept it in proper condition and my father.

IBM analyst relations, who are we? - Nancy Riley

I'd like to point out that Jacqueline Bisset got this picture of Nancy before plastic surgery as the model for the doctor to work torwards.

I've worked with Nancy longer than all but two other people at IBM. Our paths crossed in PR and AR, Networking and Software. We have a good working relationship that is based on the trust that when either one of us is on the job, we have confidence that it will get done right, without much intervention.

As with the other interviews, I don't edit the answers so you hear it from the person as is.

What is your job title (and what does that really mean as far as your job)?
Manager, WebSphere Analyst Relations — I manage a team of seven analyst relations professionals who interface with analysts who cover the application integration middleware space. Our product areas include SOA, ESB, web services, application server, integration, business process management, mobile middleware, and industry solutions based on middleware.

Some work experience that you want to tell?
My background is in communications and I've held lots of different comms roles in IBM, including marketing comms, field/internal comms, event planning, public relations and analyst relations. My previous job was as a PR manager, representing networking, security and e-commerce software products. My first job at IBM — and probably my most fun job ever — was developing marketing programs to sell computers to college students. We went to Daytona Beach for spring break and tossed IBM-logoed frisbees on the beach. Talk about job satisfaction!

How do you describe what you do?
We're responsible for maintaining and promoting positive interactions with analysts and often that means putting them in touch with subject matter experts or supplying product information. We help the IBM teams distill their information and package it in ways that make it easy for analysts to digest, so that they in turn can advise their clients about our products. We hire analysts to help us refine our product and marketing strategies to make them understandable to all different sorts of customers.

When I tell my relatives what I do, I just say I work really long hours but I get to go to conferences at nice hotels and leave it at that.

What are good things about your job?
I work with a great team. I love the interaction with analysts — we learn a lot from them and it truly helps shape our product and marketing strategies. I get to be in meetings with a lot of really smart people. I like being able to influence the thinking of an analyst who maybe doesn't think our products are as great as we think they are. Did I mention that I work with a great team? : )

What are things you would change?
As with any large company, sometimes we get bogged down in the internal bureaucracy and politics. Metrics reporting kills me. The number of internal meetings I have to attend kills me. We are often the first out the door with new announcements because we have to brief analysts well in advance of the official announcement, and it's always a lot of last-minute thrashing. I would make it illegal to create a Powerpoint presentation that's more than 20 pages and/or greater than 5 MB. (I can dream, right?) I would also have more in-person interaction, both with analysts and IBMers; we spend WAY too much time on conference calls.

Name a funny analyst story.
I've been around a long time, so permit me two funny stories.
(1) I was project managing an analyst briefing hosted by the IBM chairman. The meeting was being held at the very lovely Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto. After an exhausting day, I collapsed into bed around midnight. At 2 am, the fire alarm went off. I jolted out of bed, threw on some clothes and shoes, and headed down 30 flights of stairs. About half-way down, I realized I had two different shoes on and hoped I wouldn't see anyone I knew when I got to the lobby. When I got to the lobby, I found I was WAY overdressed because most everyone else — including MANY of the analysts attending our meeting — were there in their plush Four Seasons bathrobes. It was so hard to maintain a professional demeanor when what I really wanted to do was crack up at seeing all those analysts in their bathrobes! Wish I'd had a camera — would be great blackmail…

(2) I was hosting two analysts at a strategy planning meeting at an IBM site. Since we were all staying at the same hotel, I drove them to and from the meeting. On the way back to the hotel after the meeting, not only did I get lost, I got a speeding ticket (but come on, I was doing like 46 in a 35 mph zone). I tried to explain to the officer that I was lost, didn't know the speed limit, etc, all to no avail. To their credit, the analysts were very sympathetic (and said I should submit the ticket on my expense account).

Describe an analyst win situation for you.
It's always a great feeling to see an analyst quoted in the Wall Street Journal (ok, CNET is cool, too) with a really pithy and positive quote about our products. That's something I can show my mom to prove to her what a great job I'm doing.

Describe an analyst disaster for you. (no names)
I've given out wrong telecon numbers more times than I care to remember. I've scheduled back to back calls with the same number and passcode so that caller #2 arrives on the line before we're finished with caller #1. I've sent the wrong presentation. I've introduced people by the wrong name. They're all just minor disasters though, right?

What would you like the analysts to do differently, suggestions of what would help both sides maybe.
I'd really love for them to schedule a conference in Maui. Aside from that, I'd like more turnaround time on the reports they send us for fact-checking. I'd like "group rates" from the larger firms when we're engaging multiple analysts for consulting. I'd like easier rules for quoting analyst content in presentations and collateral. I'd like all of them to be as cool as James (let's see if he reads this).

Any thing else I missed you want to say?
Considering that there are less than 200 people in our company of 300,000+ who do what we do, we should all feel very priviledged to do this job! I know that's hard to remember sometimes, but we are on the cutting edge of what's going on with IBM Software and that alone can be a very cool thing!

Hey Microsoft, it’s IBM deja vu… all over again

I've been watching this phenomenon happen now for a few years. In fact, because I think that James Governer is a better writer than me (ok, it's not even close), I suggested for him to get rich writing this book….James, there's still time.

Microsoft is facing what the old IBM faced in enough ways that it's now not a conincidence. Since my due dilligence on this hasn't been approved by anyone, I'll just mention a few public similarities.

Back in the pre-PC mainframe heyday, IBM had what some would call proprietary architecture. The industry then revolted with of all things DOS/Windows, ethernet, distributed computing, etc. Now the roles have reversed and Windows is proprietary and IBM is pushing Open Standards. I guess it's human nature to want to have control and to not want to be controlled.

IBM was the big bad corporation, Microsoft was the upstart that freed everyone from the data center. Now Microsofts server product is called Data Center.

IBM had some legal troubles with monopolistic behavior, I think Microsoft has it's hands full with this distraction right now. I won't go into distraction too much. I'll leave it with if you take your eye off the ball, you can't hit it.

These are merely symptoms of the condition though, here's another. Yesterday, there was and organizational change in Redmond, Microsoft Management Undergoes Major Overhaul . I've been through 100's of these changes in my career. Some really shook up a group and things took off (very few times did this happen), some were monumental failures (more often than not) and some were treading water (some things changed, but the results were about the same). One fact that is not lost on me is that when you're killing the competition, or when things are working well, few teams will change their line up.

Re-inventing yourself is how a company can survive key times in their existance. Re-shuffling is not the same thing. IBM has had faced this a number of times (remember typewriters, 360, Akers to Gerstner, commitment to open), and now Microsoft may face an IBM sized challenge.

I spent a good part of the day with an analyst yesterday and we had this conversation (I'll keep him anonymous for now). He rightly points out that one company doesn't have to take away a big portion of the desktop OS market, but many companies can take a small piece causing the same erosion effect. Heck, even a shift in technology to something like a handheld device with lots of bandwidth can cause the OS to be irrelevant.

Other companies haven't managed as well, remember DEC?

Microsoft has $50 billion cash sitting around, so they are not in financial trouble, so they could tread water for a long time. Managing shifts in technology is an issue, dealing with people and their loyalties (internal and external) is a bigger challenge. This is a fast and ever changing industry. It's tough to keep up. My analyst pal and I also talked about the defining changes in history like from horse and buggy to trains, to cars, to planes.

The first closing I ever put on my email was this, change is the only thing that stays the same. Others point this out, it's tough to get to number one, it's tougher to stay there.

Everyone shoots at number one.

Will history repeat itself? Not exactly, but there are only a few big corporations and their problems, while not exact are similar.

I'd like to get in my DeLorean with a flux-capacitor and go back to the future to see what happens and how this works out. Maybe James will be rich enough to invite me to his new place in the Mediterranean that he can buy from book royalties?

IBM analyst relations, who are we? - Stefanie Sirc

A lot faster than I expected, another of our Analyst Relations team members has stepped up to the plate. Stefanie works on the Information Management team. I think our paths first crossed years ago when I was doing PR for the Networking Hardware Division. When I was reading this, I got a good chuckle, she's witty and funny.

As for her request at the end of the blog, here you go Stefanie:

IWB

Remember readers, I'm taking suggestions for the next person you'd like to read about. So heeerreees Stefanie…..

What is your job title (and what does that really mean as far as your job)?
Analyst Relations, Information Management, IBM Software Group
(Less glamourous then PR, longer chart decks, but you don't have to wear uncomfortable shoes)

Some work experience that you want to tell?
Have gotten up close and personal with some pretty cool technology– Almaden Labs, Montpelier, Watson, Endicott. Got to dissect a pSeries server once, saw the underground techno-hub of the US Open beneath Arthur Ashe Stadium.

How do you describe what you do?
I usually tell people that when they read an article in the newspaper that says "Computer Software Market Expected to Grow in Coming Year, According to Industry Analysts", I'm the person who works with the "Industry Analysts" to help them get the information that allows them make that assessment.

Trouble is many of the people I tell this to didn't ask in the first place, and therefore show limited enthusiasm because they would have skipped that article anyway and gone right to the obituaries or cross word puzzle (except for the pizza delivery guy– he really lit up when I mentioned CRM.)

What are good things about your job?
Not many people have a job where they get to listen to some of the smartest people on the planet talk about how they are inventing, creating and producing technology that will impact the lives of people around the world in the immediate future. (Well, people who might actually do this stuff and aren't just wandering around the bus station talking about it.) Then I get to listen to other really smart people critique, improve or torpedo these ideas. McLaughlin Group for propeller heads– often with requisite yelling.
And covered parking– I like the covered parking.

What are things you would change?
MOR, MER, DCP, PPT, IMPT. I dream of a world of standard reporting, where data is pulled effortlessly in real time from a variety of sources and compiled and formatted according to requestor's preference. A place where relationships and results, correlations and predictive analysis allow for strategic analysis and proactive planning based on predetermined goals. Everyone would have access to this data paradise would be able to use it to better do their jobs, with a minium of new effort, since the data already exists, we just need to free it.

Name a funny analyst story.
Accidentally responded to an exec in the wrong sametime window with a description of a certain analyst "the one with the with the profuse amount of chest hair which he has decided to emphasize as a distinguishing characteristic and could be classified either as an accessory or a small pet, depending on your frame of mind." Exec insisted on knowing his name and when he'd next be briefed.

Describe an analyst win situation for you.
Formerly skeptical analyst from notoriously skeptical major analyst firm agrees to a call with potential customer to review her short-list. Customer later tells IBM sales team that formerly skeptical analyst's recommendation was instrumental in her selection of IBM product. Sales team sends effusively happy email to hardworking, oft underappreciated AR team, with hearty thanks (but, alas, no offer to share in the commission. Gratitude apparently has its limits.)

Describe an analyst disaster for you. (no names)
Phone conversation: "You know that in person meeting we had set up with your firm in an hour to discuss our new product GA? Yes, the one that's taken months of labor and mind-boggling frustration to schedule and required that several people in your firm to fly in from distant corners of the globe, another to change the date of his wedding, another to potentially miss the birth of his only child and another to miss her sister's induction into the Clarinet Hall of Fame. Yes, the one we reschedule nine times in order to match our exec's availability as well as the lunar cycle and the migratory patterns of the swallows of Capistrano and the availability of Celine Dion tickets at Caesar's. That's right, the one where we rushed the PO and threatened and cajoled our poor underappreciated coworkers in Procurement to approve– or else. The one you've been holding up publication of your definitive treatise on this marketspace for, as a personal favor to me because our fathers were war buddies in a foxhole together in WW2. Yes, that one.
Well, we'd like to cancel that. Oh, and instead we'll actually be selling those technology assets to the other major player in this space. Yes, just like you advised us not to. And that executive has also decided to pursue his lifelong passion of macrame full time and has left this position. You can get all the details on the Web. Some reporter seems to have broken the story somehow and they are they are actually quoting your competitor. Well, my other line is ringing. I'm going to have to get that. Look forward to speaking with you more about this later."

What would you like the analyst's to do differently, suggestions of what would help both sides maybe.
Transparency in this industry is important. Analysts play a very complex role, serving several constituencies. The public should be aware of the nature of the relationships between analysts, end users and vendors and the different types of research available and the very different ways it is produced.

Any thing else I missed you want to say?
Can you add a link to IWB's blog from this? Makes us virtual pals, almost. I'd like to bask in the reflected glory. He's very cool.