Wednesday, February 10, 2010
'Teaching Them How To Use It'
My title of this post comes from an excellent blog post by Rob Novak.
The blog post is awesome as a recap of Lotusphere 2010 for anyone who needs an assurance the platform is still awesome after all these years. One quote in the post really struck me and it's something we all deal with and have dealt with since forever.
If the organization I'm working in has Notes, most of the Battle has been teaching them how to use it and how powerful it is. - Mike Griffes
Wow! Let's break this down a bit.
"If the organization I'm working in has Notes" - Isn't this a bit funny but still true. The organization has Lotus Notes but doesn't know how to use it. From end user training to application awareness to Lotus Notes capabilities, I've been doing this for 11 years and I'm teaching or evangelizing ALL THE TIME. I'll admit it's frustrating and sometimes seems as a threat to my future employment, but fun also that I can provide so many cool solutions to a business problem or improve productivity with minimum cost.
"most of the Battle has been teaching them how to use it" - This statement reminds me of a project I worked on this past Fall. We extended one of our major Lotus Notes applications to a new support area. Now, the Sales group used the application for submitting business and they were easy to implement this solution. The enhancement actually improved their workflow and they were an easy "sell". The back office folks were a bit different. Although the application has been in place for many back office functions, this new group was totally new to a workflow system. They built an MS Access application in the business for recording their work. They were experiencing growth issues with performance and lack of network capability. There was no real workflow. The back office people entered all the requests themselves with no integration with Sales and Sales could not see the requests. As I built and taught this system, people were AMAZED like they were seeing the Rocky Mountains for the first time. Dudes, it's in version 6.5. It's circa version 3. Not sexy at all and I wouldn't be invited to Lotusphere to speak about it. Long story short, it's up and running and kicking ass and few of my IT friends understand it. :)
"how powerful it is" - The business folks now "see" the power. They don't care what platform it's on. They don't care about Bill Gates's Microsoft or if it's OOO Java technology. It works and it was fast and cheap to implement.
So, keep on keeping on ... Teach, Teach Teach.... Your business will love you for it.
The blog post is awesome as a recap of Lotusphere 2010 for anyone who needs an assurance the platform is still awesome after all these years. One quote in the post really struck me and it's something we all deal with and have dealt with since forever.
If the organization I'm working in has Notes, most of the Battle has been teaching them how to use it and how powerful it is. - Mike Griffes
Wow! Let's break this down a bit.
"If the organization I'm working in has Notes" - Isn't this a bit funny but still true. The organization has Lotus Notes but doesn't know how to use it. From end user training to application awareness to Lotus Notes capabilities, I've been doing this for 11 years and I'm teaching or evangelizing ALL THE TIME. I'll admit it's frustrating and sometimes seems as a threat to my future employment, but fun also that I can provide so many cool solutions to a business problem or improve productivity with minimum cost.
"most of the Battle has been teaching them how to use it" - This statement reminds me of a project I worked on this past Fall. We extended one of our major Lotus Notes applications to a new support area. Now, the Sales group used the application for submitting business and they were easy to implement this solution. The enhancement actually improved their workflow and they were an easy "sell". The back office folks were a bit different. Although the application has been in place for many back office functions, this new group was totally new to a workflow system. They built an MS Access application in the business for recording their work. They were experiencing growth issues with performance and lack of network capability. There was no real workflow. The back office people entered all the requests themselves with no integration with Sales and Sales could not see the requests. As I built and taught this system, people were AMAZED like they were seeing the Rocky Mountains for the first time. Dudes, it's in version 6.5. It's circa version 3. Not sexy at all and I wouldn't be invited to Lotusphere to speak about it. Long story short, it's up and running and kicking ass and few of my IT friends understand it. :)
"how powerful it is" - The business folks now "see" the power. They don't care what platform it's on. They don't care about Bill Gates's Microsoft or if it's OOO Java technology. It works and it was fast and cheap to implement.
So, keep on keeping on ... Teach, Teach Teach.... Your business will love you for it.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Ok, now I want an iPhone
Just got this news in my email. Plus, with the new 32 gb version, I'm ready to join the iPhone craze.
Dear Mom, Dad would like this for Father's day. :) Love, Dad
Dear Mom, Dad would like this for Father's day. :) Love, Dad
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Dreaming of Wildwood
Will we go this year? Still being considered.
Love this picture of friends and family enjoying the Beach Life.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
20th Wedding Anniversary
20 years ago today, we joined in holy matrimony. It was a beautiful day just like today in CT. Where does the time go? She's still the love of my life and if I can say, we've built a beautiful life together. Looking forward to more time together as the kids grow and move out of the house. Son # 1 graduates High School this Spring and goes off to College this fall. Our kids gave us a very nice picture frame with a collage of pictures and a scrapbook of vacation pictures. It's been a great ride and looking forward to the future. Real busy right now with kids activities. Hope we can do a mini honeymoon soon.
Here's to LOVE!
Here's to LOVE!
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Top 10 Reasons why NY Yankees suck(from a fan)
Ok, I'm a long time Yankee fan. In my youth, I idolized the late 70's teams and the young Jeter teams. King George sometimes upset me with his firing and hiring of managers. What's going on now is extremely frustrating! So, here's the top 10 reasons the Yankees suck from a fan's perspective. (I don't care that they're the Evil Empire, that's just fun with Red Sox fans).
10. Forcing out Joe Torre - I liked Joe. We had some good years under him and he did some good managing in times of injuries. Didn't like the way the whole deal went down.
9. ARod mess - Steroids, injuries. No huge surprise. I like his numbers. Otherwise, he's an idiot.
8. Teixeira performance to date - He signed a contract worth 180 million over 8 years. He's batting .195. 'Nuff said.
7. Sabathia performance to date - 7 years/161 million - record 1-3 with a 4.85 era. Huh?
6. Can't Beat Red Sox - 0-4 and losing again tonight. Wasn't the plan to acquire all these big guns to beat the Red Sox? Uh.... seems the Red Sox have the Yankees beat in every category not the least of which is attendance and excitement from fans(we'll bring this up again don't you know)
5. Overall Record - 13-12 With this payroll? Losing 22-4 in the new stadium? 4 games behind first place Toronto? Plllleeeaaaaassseaseeee?
4. Pitcher ERA - They're dead last in all of MLB! Are you kidding me? Can you believe that stat with this payroll? You probably don't believe me so here's a link to prove it. That's an under achievement beyond belief.
3. Hank Steinbrenner - I had frustrations at times with King George. But, over the years I've come to really respect him and he mellowed a bit in firing managers. He has great respect for the fans and the Yankee tradition. He ran that organization with a iron clad rule. Now what? Idiot brat son Hank with his idiot statements, ticket prices and firing Joe Torre. Cutting ticket prices in half from 2 grand to 1 grand. The organization is crumbling and the pride is falling.
2. Locked out of stadium after rain delay - This is infuriating!
Get a grip! This greed is driving fans away. If you can't afford a 1.5 billion dollar stadium, keep the old one. Which leads to number 1.
1. Ticket Prices at New Stadium - You have to have your head examined if you pay $500 to $2,000 per ticket to see a ball game. Your a moron if you own a team and expect to sell these tickets. Where are the fans in the best seats? Where's the excitement? Where's the respect for the fans? "Honey, I'm dropping 5 grand to take the kids to the game tonight. Wanna come?" At what level do these ticket prices make sense? I'm really struggling. I'd like to take my 13 year old son to a game but this is nuts. I thing $100 a ticket is a big stretch for a premium seat. If I took my whole family that would be a $500 bill plus convenience charge, tax, food, gas. Probably $700 to take them to the ball game. Hello, YES Channel.
Did I miss anything?
10. Forcing out Joe Torre - I liked Joe. We had some good years under him and he did some good managing in times of injuries. Didn't like the way the whole deal went down.
9. ARod mess - Steroids, injuries. No huge surprise. I like his numbers. Otherwise, he's an idiot.
8. Teixeira performance to date - He signed a contract worth 180 million over 8 years. He's batting .195. 'Nuff said.
7. Sabathia performance to date - 7 years/161 million - record 1-3 with a 4.85 era. Huh?
6. Can't Beat Red Sox - 0-4 and losing again tonight. Wasn't the plan to acquire all these big guns to beat the Red Sox? Uh.... seems the Red Sox have the Yankees beat in every category not the least of which is attendance and excitement from fans(we'll bring this up again don't you know)
5. Overall Record - 13-12 With this payroll? Losing 22-4 in the new stadium? 4 games behind first place Toronto? Plllleeeaaaaassseaseeee?
4. Pitcher ERA - They're dead last in all of MLB! Are you kidding me? Can you believe that stat with this payroll? You probably don't believe me so here's a link to prove it. That's an under achievement beyond belief.
3. Hank Steinbrenner - I had frustrations at times with King George. But, over the years I've come to really respect him and he mellowed a bit in firing managers. He has great respect for the fans and the Yankee tradition. He ran that organization with a iron clad rule. Now what? Idiot brat son Hank with his idiot statements, ticket prices and firing Joe Torre. Cutting ticket prices in half from 2 grand to 1 grand. The organization is crumbling and the pride is falling.
2. Locked out of stadium after rain delay - This is infuriating!
Get a grip! This greed is driving fans away. If you can't afford a 1.5 billion dollar stadium, keep the old one. Which leads to number 1.
1. Ticket Prices at New Stadium - You have to have your head examined if you pay $500 to $2,000 per ticket to see a ball game. Your a moron if you own a team and expect to sell these tickets. Where are the fans in the best seats? Where's the excitement? Where's the respect for the fans? "Honey, I'm dropping 5 grand to take the kids to the game tonight. Wanna come?" At what level do these ticket prices make sense? I'm really struggling. I'd like to take my 13 year old son to a game but this is nuts. I thing $100 a ticket is a big stretch for a premium seat. If I took my whole family that would be a $500 bill plus convenience charge, tax, food, gas. Probably $700 to take them to the ball game. Hello, YES Channel.
Did I miss anything?
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Free Phish
This is pretty cool if your into the band Phish. They're offering free downloads of their concerts coming up this week. That's three free shows to download from a band that's been on hiatus for a while. Hope they have plenty of bandwidth! I've added them to my shopping cart. :)
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Love this story - Student with Down syndrome helps basketball team to victory
I saw this story early this morning on a early morning NBC tv station. This video shows the student hit a shot early in the game. The tv story showed him hit one from the corner at the end of the game. I hope my PTI guys cover this in today's ESPN PTI show. Just an awesome human story.
