Re: IM Consumability Survey
This is a discussion/opinion thread, not a technical problem. It concerns an IBM Information Management "consumability" survey aimed at Informix/DB2 users. Serge Rielau defended the survey, explaining IBM's 'outside-in design' push and noting he passed group feedback back to the team. Ian Gumby argued the survey's concept was fine but its design and implementation were poor, while Madison Pruet said it took only five minutes and that getting customer input is better than none. No technical issue or resolution is recorded, only a disagreement over the survey's quality, ending in a joke about the word "blows".
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So much energy in this group :-) Few points: * I personally know one of the guys who helped prep the survey. Matter of fact he was presenting it internally (and some of the result so far as they pertain to DB2) when I posted here. So.. Yeah what does Gumby know? ;-) * There is this movement prised above all at IBM right now which is called outside-in-design and the not-so-technical folks get sometimes carried away by attempt to root anything in a business problem. Such is life. It can get rather amusing to fit an "outer join" into a task solving a business problem. But most times reason prevails... * Ultimately however it does matter whether you encounter a problem more likely because you are: a) An ISV trying to sell a CRM system b) CISCO trying to deploy a router c) Who knows what. As it so happens certain technical patterns are more likely to be encountered in certain "business" scenarios. So mining this correlation can be valuable. I took the liberty of sending some of the feedback (censored to fit a PG rating) back to said person who gave the presentation. Cheers Serge -- Serge Rielau DB2 Solutions Development IBM Toronto Lab
> From: srielau@ca.ibm.com > Subject: Re: IM Consumability Survey > Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2008 19:26:29 -0400 > To: informix-list@iiug.org > > So much energy in this group :-) > > Few points: > * I personally know one of the guys who helped prep the survey. > Matter of fact he was presenting it internally > (and some of the result so far as they pertain to DB2) when I posted > here. > So.. Yeah what does Gumby know? ;-) Gumby knows a hell of a lot Serge. I don't think IBM would really like it if I posted *all* the dirt and skeleton's that I know. ;-) Knowing one of the guys who did this survey doesn't say much. From the comments I've heard, the survey is too long, and a bit of a disaster. But then again, I've had to fill out those darn CMP surveys once a quarter or so to keep getting my free mags, so I guess IBM isn't the only ones who don't know how to do a survey. ;-) > * There is this movement prised above all at IBM right now which is > called outside-in-design and the not-so-technical folks get > sometimes carried away by attempt to root anything in a business > problem. Such is life. Now Serge, its those "not so technical" issues that sell kit. The decision maker for the most part is a "non-technical" person. (CIOs these days are not technical). In today's company, the IT department is no longer hidden in the back room. In some companies, if the IT depr isn't responsive, they'll just buy a suped up PC and put up a linux server with MySQL and solve their problem on their own. (Or even ick Microsoft...) Look, I don't think anyone is against the concept of the survey. Just the actual survey kinda blows. _________________________________________________________________ Earn cashback on your purchases with Live Search - the search that pays you back! http://search.live.com/cashback/?&pkw=form=MIJAAF/publ=HMTGL/crea=earncashback
Serge Rielau wrote: > So much energy in this group :-) I took the survey -- not to affect the results, but to try to figure out what all of the complaints were about. It took a total of 5 minutes to complete. I just don't understand what all of the negative complaints are all about. The questions seemed to be fairly reasonable to me. The way I see it, we (i.e. IBM) can try to get input from the customers or we can avoid any attempt to get input from the customers. Don't know for sure, but I think that it makes more sense to try to get input from the customers than not. > > I took the liberty of sending some of the feedback > (censored to fit a PG rating) back to said person who gave the > presentation. > > Cheers > Serge
"Madison Pruet" <mpruet1@verizon.net> wrote in message news:486845D7.8040105@verizon.net... > Serge Rielau wrote: >> So much energy in this group :-) > > I took the survey -- not to affect the results, but to try to figure out > what all of the complaints were about. It took a total of 5 minutes to > complete. I just don't understand what all of the negative complaints are > all about. The questions seemed to be fairly reasonable to me. > > The way I see it, we (i.e. IBM) can try to get input from the customers or > we can avoid any attempt to get input from the customers. Don't know for > sure, but I think that it makes more sense to try to get input from the > customers than not. > > >> >> I took the liberty of sending some of the feedback >> (censored to fit a PG rating) back to said person who gave the >> presentation. >> >> Cheers >> Serge As Gumby said, "Look, I don't think anyone is against the concept of the survey. Just the actual survey kinda blows". Whatever that means.
> From: theharlequin36@hotmail.com > > As Gumby said, "Look, I don't think anyone is against the concept of the > survey. Just the actual survey kinda blows". Whatever that means. > > I'll break it down for you... C for concept. F for design. F for implementation. Now, you may ask why a C for concept. Simple. A survey isn't anything new or exciting. Its a standard idea on getting customer feedback. Somebody needs to send the "marketing team" a bottle of tequila (not the cheap stuff), a couple of limes, kosher salt, and a tone of nachos and salsa. Then have Jerry K. lock them in a room with a ream of note pads and don't let them out until the come up with some good ideas. Why T'Kill-ya? Cause clearly beer and pizza don't work on marketing types and if you gave them vodka, they'd think it was a reward. ;-) _________________________________________________________________ Earn cashback on your purchases with Live Search - the search that pays you back! http://search.live.com/cashback/?&pkw=form=MIJAAF/publ=HMTGL/crea=earncashback
>>Ian Michael Gumby" <im_gumby@hotmail.com> wrote in message >>news:mailman.1295.1214827411.20610.informix-list@iiug.org... > From: theharlequin36@hotmail.com > > As Gumby said, "Look, I don't think anyone is against the concept of the > survey. Just the actual survey kinda blows". Whatever that means. > I'll break it down for you... <long monologue about marketing types > follows> Mmm, more trivially, I just wasn't sure what "blows" meant in that context. I assume it's not a term of approbation ...