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The idea is simple. At the start of your day - upon completion of your first task - create an entry highlighting what you did and whether you feel it was an efficient or inefficient use of your time. Based on several requests, you can also select the priority, apply categories, or even align your time against a project.

For Lotus Notes Client v8.0 and above, you can use the Time Tracker Widget to make this process even easier!

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My Configuration-based Rich Text Mail Merge and Emailing Utility, Zephyr allows you to create rich, data-driven emails to support automated workflow - all via Microsoft Word Mail Merge-like architecture. Dear <firstname> allows you to personalize each email message not only to the individual recipient, but also to the individual application workflow event!

xCopy
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I think we need a contribution:bitch system...

11/23/2010 04:42:10 PM by Chris Toohey

If we only used these more than the holes a few inches lower... I hear people that frequent the IBM Lotus commuity complain all of the time, and while I'm pro-communciation and collaboration, I find it quite counter-productive on a whole. Perhaps a weighted bitching system is in order!

To clarify, I'm all for people sharing their frustrations, their concerns over the today and the future of a given platform... but at the end of the day, does complaining-sans-doing anything about it actually help your fellow geek? What does it do for the IT professionals that work with the given platform? What the hell do you get out of it?!

Knowing -- sadly -- the answers to these questions, I propose the following:

We need a system in place that can track our contributions to the well-being a given platform. Once you've successfully contributed to becoming part of the solution, only then can you moan, gripe, wine and otherwise complain.

A few examples of things that we could consider contributions off the top of my head:

  • Participate in the IBM developerWorks Forums. Pick a product, and jump in. There is always a need for someone that has an opinion on what is the best way to get something done with the given platform... this is an excellent place to both share your knowledge and prove yourself a subject matter expert.

  • While you're there, write an article in a platform/product wiki. Hell, answer a question by first writing an article in the wiki and then linking to it in response to the question in the forums.

  • Be active in OpenNTF.org. By this, I'm not saying that you have to chef any projects... but simply by downloading them, playing around, and providing feedback to the chef -- and trust me, as a chef of multiple projects on OpenNTF, it's absolutely invaluable -- improves both the given project and the overall efforts.

  • Participate in things you're invited to...

    As an example, the IBM Lotus Technical Information and Education team work hard to host monthly conference calls to discuss the well-being of the wikis, what's new in the community, showcase at least two testimonials per meeting, and have been not only an excellent resource for getting the inside track of new features and functionality for the platform and solutions built for the platform (think the IBM wiki template, for example), but it's also an excellent place to network with IBMers, IBM business partners, and customers.

    Last month, I think we had 90-something attendees.

  • And if all else fails... at least try to fix the thing that's broken. Speak openly and honestly through whatever medium you choose, but I'd suggest doing so in a way that welcomes support and community instead of the tactic that I often see: yeah, you suck -- who's with me?!

    (Queue the uproar of Burn the witch followed by murmurs of what're we doing here again?!)

Where a kid can be a kid... Any contribution of the like will give you 1 credit.

Hell, if you run a LUG, I'll give you 10... but it's against their nature to participate in such behavior...

Once you have your credit, you're entitled to complain. Pretty simple, huh?

Complain that IBM Marketing isn't making it easier for you to explain to your family whatever the hell it is that you do for a living.

Complain that the product developers are busy creating an enterprise-accommodating product that's damned-near completely backwards-compatible with major releases for over a decade... but that you don't have this one niche solution available to you via RAD techniques without having to -- egads -- learn something today that (if you stick with the platform) you'll use for years to come.

Complain that there are no killer apps that make the product a must-have for every organization, and never once contribute to initiatives like OpenNTF or support micro-ISVs that are pushing consumer-priced apps.

Call anyone who questions someone's motives and tactics an Attack Kitten (I prefer the term Thundercat... but whatever).

... because even if you are spewing FUD, spinning here-say, and totally missing the point of being a community - your actual contributions will outlast the 15 minutes of limelight that ASW post might bring you. Your act of helping a fellow IT professional and sharing your considerable expertise will go further than a snarky tweet.

I'm thinking a 1:1 ratio will serve everyone quite nicely... just make sure you hold up your end of the deal!

Permalink | Comments (16)

Community Discussion Editorial IBM Lotus

 
Nathan T. FreemanName:Nathan T. FreemanWebsite:http://ntf.gbs.comComment Chris, good luck with this post. I gotta tell ya, man... while I understand where you're coming from, it was a mistake to write this.

Here's the problem: if you're not addressing specific people and specific behaviors, but just talking about "bitching" in general, then people are going to self-assign themselves as the subject of your post. So while you have person A in mind when you write this, person B is going to read it and think you were talking about them. And that is going to make you wildly unpopular with person B and their friends -- especially since all of person B's friends probably themselves think they are the subject.

Then there's a corollary problem: now that you're part of an active business partner with a lot of blogger colleagues, we're all going to get guilt-by-association. Somebody didn't like a blog post of yours, so Group's products must suck, and Tim must be a lousy developer because he has the same email domain as you.

So even though you weren't talking about a marvelous community asset like, say, Paul Mooney, someone's going to look at the timing of your post, look at my comments on Paul's recent blog about some behavior of the Notes client, and decide that the whole thing is some kind of anti-Paul campaign. Even though that has nothing to do with reality, it's the kind of assumption-driven, divisive backchatter that has become the hallmark of non-inclusive chatrooms and IM servers. Multiply that by every person who reads blogs, tweets, and participates in a forum, and you're going to get thousands of interpretations of your words that you didn't mean.

I say all this to you in a comment because I want to get this conversation out in the open. Group is still formulating a formal blogging policy, but the spirit of it so far is that employees are free to write what they wish as long as they remain within the boundaries of good taste. So I'm not telling you did something wrong or that you need to take it down. I'm just saying that I think what you're going to achieve from this post is going to be the opposite of what you wanted. This is going to mean more division, more backbiting, and ultimately, more bitching -- and is therefore counterproductive.

Maybe -- just maybe -- we can turn that around if people engage on the topic and get past our terrible habits of innuendo and assumption.
 Nathan T. FreemanName:Nathan T. FreemanWebsite:http://ntf.gbs.comComment P.S: You're also not going to earn any points by assigning yourself as the points judge.  Even if you only meant it metaphorically. :-) Chris MillerName:Chris MillerWebsite:http://www.IdoNotes.comComment I would like to donate all my points, I metaphorically do not have, to the charity of your choice. Nathan T. FreemanName:Nathan T. FreemanWebsite:http://ntf.gbs.comComment Q.E.D. ;-)

As I said, Mr. Toohey, this is going not do anyone any good, no matter your original intentions.
 Dan SicklesName:Dan SicklesComment There was a meme making the rounds a while back about the opposite problem: fanboyism. It was suggested that before you rave about language/platform/framework a,b or c, post five things that you don't like about it. This was a way of establishing cred. Here's Damien Katz on Erlang which he wrote CouchDB in (after first writing it in C++):

http://damienkatz.net/2008/03/what_sucks_abou.html

don't know if this or the inverse would be a milder approach. Just though I'd throw it our there. Chris TooheyName:Chris TooheyWebsite:http://www.dominoguru.com/Comment

I get what everyone's saying, and all I can say is this:

This was written from a place of frustration, and does not target any individuals -- especially not Paul, who I agree with completely (being able to close the Home page is idiotic and breeds nothing but bad user experience and frustration from those of us trying to prove that the product has improved since it's move to Eclipse), and quite frankly that whole exchange didn't enter my mind until reading Nathan's comment -- but rather it speaks to a mentality.

I know too many IBMers that try to do everything they can to improve various aspects of the Lotus IT Professional's life, whose efforts are ignored or at the very least trivialized.

I know too many amazing people in this community that are too busy doing to complain... when they are the ones (by virtue of their doing) who have real things to complain about. And when they do complain, it's lost amongst the news:noise storm.

I also know too many people that -- upon re-reading this post -- will take it to heart. Not my intention, I promise you that...

I also know that the people mentalities that I intended this editorial/rant for are the very ones that will ignore the message, think it not them, et al.

... as for anyone who reads this and thinks that I actually want this to be a real program/community effort -- yikes...

@Nathan, you're absolutely correct: this post, and most like it, will promote vs. inspire, diffuse, or address.

@Dan: I guess I am a fanboy at times... and I absolutely see your point.

I'm also certain that I can come up with more than 5 things about the platform that frustrate me. Off the top of my head...

  • Your ability to kill the defined Home screen :-/

  • I have to create a Form and populate it with Fields to define a NotesDocument as my Data Source in XPages for a new NSF application?!

  • Document selection/highlighting can jump in the Inbox and other Java/Eclipse Views, resulting in my moving or deleting the wrong email on more than one occasion.

  • Seriously... let me control the character length of a Field. I can do it via code, but the Designer Clients always restrict you to 32 characters...

  • ... and don't even get me started on Design Element naming restrictions.

  • I've yet to get Internet Site Rules (ie., Substitution, Redirect, etc.) to work on QueryString Parameters. A bit frustrating...

  • And I'll go Traditional for this last one: I can't change the content type of a $$SearchResultsDefault?!

And while I am frustrating by each of these -- and will complain ad nauseam on some of them -- I also want to sit down and write articles on solid workarounds and fixes for each of them.

At the end of the day, no platform is perfect. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, and I will readily use one over the other should the former prove less effective than the latter...

 Patrick KwintenName:Patrick KwintenWebsite:http://quintessens.wordpress.comComment I think it is healthy to be a bit critical to what IBM has in mind / activities / product portfolio / roadmap / followers.

In some cultures that may be seen as bitching in others as analyzing.

So you say some animals are more equal than others? Scary... Ethann CastellName:Ethann CastellWebsite:http://www.caliton.comComment Seems like your post was bitching about bitching.

Of course you are correct that some people will just keep on bitching forever and could be far better served by doing something constructive. Right on. . 

On the other hand a robust democracy is based on being able to have your say. You can't please all the people all the time, but if no-one complains then there's no way of knowing that a problem exists.

I don't think that it was a mistake to post this.
 Fredrik MalmborgName:Fredrik MalmborgWebsite:http://www.replikera.seComment I think it is human to sometimes having to speak out your frustration. Surely some will misinterpret it, but I think the core community understands.
Thank you for being human and not just a smiling surface.

IBM has a tradition of being polite and fair, not arguing or putting hard against hard. I am proud of being a partner of IBM becase of it is close to my own point of view. The back side of it is that you get frustrated when you see others not being as polite and even being unfair.

I just read "Manufacturing Dissent" by Nathan T Freeman and that is a great summary of things. He should write that book.



 Jason HookName:Jason HookComment I think this post backs up my point that planetlotus creates a very Lotus centric echo chamber. 

It's a very valuable resource don't get me wrong. But, it concentrates opinion and gives them a focus which they might not otherwise have. 

It also promotes the cult of personality where the opinions of those who shout the loudest, and most frequently are accorded high status (I suspect that a handful a motivated be the PL hot blog numbers). 

I'm not sure how anyone fixes that or if a fix is needed. Everybody has something useful to contribute but rarely every time.  I think it's for the reader to filter out the noise.

There are many bloggers that like the sound of their own voices too much.  As readers our thresholds vary, we can choose who to read. There is an argument that the wider group of customers who read blogs might give opinion pieces more value than they merit.  But that's a risk when you give people the freedom to publish and a ready made audience to publish it to. Opinions are like arseholes, and mileage varies...

I know whose opinions I respect and those I do not and can sift out.  There's a fairly lively debate within the community which helps add context and perspective for those who don't live constantly in the yellow bubble*.

Blog posts can cause ripples but the Lotus brand is a big kid and personally I think it can take the rough with the smooth. That said it wouldn't hurt for anyone who publishes anything to think two or three times before publishing including this post if it's trying to police other peoples blogs.

* I'm glad you don't require me to create an account to post a comment.  I suspect people outside the bubble might get confused by the formula you ask for.  BTW shouldn't @LowerCase(@Text("FOO")) be written as @LowerCase("FOO") as the @Text("FOO") is simply converting a string into a string? Scott HooksName:Scott HooksComment I love the smell of napalm in the morning ;-) Darren DukeName:Darren DukeWebsite:http://blog.darrenduke.netComment I assume you are deducted 1,000 points for not being specific about who or what you are targeting in any posts you publish?

Ask the normal Lotus Notes user what is frustrating about the product and you will get a few more choice words than I would print or utter on TWiL. Ignoring the issues helps no one. Creating a post that seems to allude to someone or something without naming them or it (or the context to your retort) does no more for the Yellow Submarine than whatever set you off. David LeedyName:David LeedyWebsite:http://notesin9.comComment

Jason - The "fix" it to remove the "Hot Blogs" from Planet Lotus and any other click stats...

 John VaughanName:John VaughanComment i learned the hard way, a long time ago (and i seem to keep learning this lesson) that the energy you put out into the world is the energy you get back. it's like holding up a mirror with a distortion field around it. if the distortion field is "angry" then when the viewer looks into the mirror s/he sees her own angry face staring back.

or something like that.

this came clear to me once when i posted a quick (pre twitter) angry post about a particularly bad morning of rush hour traffic, and someone laid into me about using gas and global warming. the reaction was very surprising at the time, but i learned, or at least started to learn, something from it.

we are all learning together as we continue to participate in the conversation. :)
 Henning HeinzName:Henning HeinzComment I have no clue why you get frustrated by a few posts or comments on the web. Not a single one personally attacks you. Unfortunately it is indeed hard for me to say positive things about Notes and Domino. Maybe this has to do that I am a problem solver (with an emphasize on problem). 
But just today I thought how awesome it was from IBM to let William Shatner speak at Lotusphere. I mean it was not brilliant what he said but people have been asking for Bill for so many years and it never happened.
Just great. 
Then I just listened to the mp3 from DJ Steve Porter Lotus Knows and I really love the video on YouTube too. This is really excellent stuff.
Now let's forget the two years I struggled with Notes 8. Version 8.5.2 runs good on my machine. It is not the Notes of my dreams but IBM has really done a lot to make the experience better and crashes are down to 3-5 a week (which is acceptable for me compared to the 10 I once had per day).
And I do like XPages. I don't use it as many of you do so for me XPages works a lot like a servlet container but I love the flexibility of combining several data sources and better UI control.
I love Traveller, people love Traveller. IBM has really done something great here. I have been with Notes for so many years and mobile has always been a weak point (anyone remembers silly discussions around EasySync licensing and those "For Outlook it is free" comments). Again it took many years but Traveller is really great stuff.
I do like the new UI of the client and of Vulcan (not so much of the OneUI style). The sidebar panel of Sametime is great and whenever I see a classic client with the chat window I recognize how great the new integration is.
I don't like DAOS but customers do and this is what matters. So DAOS is great stuff.
I like it that my unread marks sync (feature exists a but longer but still great if you waited for this so many years) and the reintroduction of red not bold unread mail (although this setting is a bit buggy).
I like policies. Not to punish Notes users but to make the client experience more unique and enabling settings that would otherwise be abandoned or never used.
I also like recent contacts. It is a concept that causes some trouble for long term Notes users but is great especially since you can maintain the list in your PAB.
Putting aside the poor job IBM did for XPages documentation. There is so much brilliant documentation on the web around XPages, great examples and when the XPages book finally arrives and IBM maybe fixes documentation this is all great stuff. And it gets more and better every day.
I could probably break the 32kB text limit here. 
And still when I read a comment like "80 thousands client gone" this drives me nuts. In many cases you think it could be different if <insert some good ideas here>. At the end I really believe that everyone wants that things improve and move forward.
 GiulioName:GiulioComment This is an interesting idea. Sounds like you want to implement a "carbon-tax" on bitching. That is, if you're gonna pollute the blogosphere with a whine/whinge, then try and take some pollution out of the blog-environment as well. Fair enough. 

But we should then extend this idea to the cause of bitching. People only whine about something if there is something wrong that is out of their control. So, if something or someone causes alot of problems, that result in the suffering of many, thus the "bitching", it should also impact the source's bitch credits because people are burning up credits whining about it..Subsequently, the source of the "bitch" should also receive/deduct credits on that basis to.

So, right now, IBM is about to have a GFC in bitch credits as it's waaaaay overdrawn.. boom-tish!

(not published)




Evaluate this Formula: @LowerCase(@Text("FOO"))