Seth Godin ROCKED it … Part Deux

Seth Godin started the keynote with a controversial point …

Professional Wrestling is …          

(wait for it)              

… fake!           

I know … I was shocked too!

Perception is Reality

As he started his keynote he mentioned this, but then added … this may not have been our belief when we were kids.

I think he wanted to start us off with a smile and a laugh. Which he did!

I’m pretty sure he wanted us to think about and consider perception. Our perceptions are different at different points in our lives. Sometimes at different points in our days. The world is changing at a rapid pace. We get to decide how we perceive it. We all perceive it differently.

“When the world changes … We get to choose what we see”
~ Seth Godin

This  is part  II of my post about Seth Godin’s keynote session at the SAP Sapphire / ASUG event. In case you missed it. Here is the first part - Seth Godin ROCKED the Haus at Sapphire and ASUG

The Connection Economy

One of the points Seth mentioned a few times and kept coming back to was idea that Henry Ford polished and perfected automation. To me I think he mentioned these with both a sense of awe and the reality of awkward.

He mentioned a few specific ideas related to the cause and effects of the industrial revolution that Henry Ford embraced. These points are somewhat cynical, but I think Mr. Godin used them to prove his point. Some of these were much more effective as he described them with pictures. Which is why I encourage you to see Seth Godin speak in-person if you ever get the chance.

• The Org Chart – If someone doesn’t show up. No problem. They just put in a new person.
• Capitalism is taking risks (often with other people’s money)
• Industrialism is about perfecting and putting a brighter shine on it
• Creation – No one person can make a computer mouse (it takes multiple people with varied skills)

He spoke at length about The Connection Economy … and he highlighted a few salient factors:

• Scales through Tribes
• Influence and Connection
• The Normal Curve is Melting
• Interchangeable Parts leads to Interchangeable People

He also mentioned some obvious, yet funny and insightful points.

For example,

• Metcalf’s Law – The valuable places are the places that connect us.
• Cause & Effect – The guy that invented to ship … also invented the shipwreck
• Differentiate – Do you want to have Free Hugs or Expensive Hugs?

Finally he asked … What is your Kryptonite? (and followed up with … Do you know?)

This was a great keynote and I give SAP and ASUG high praise for selecting Seth Godin to speak. He was fantastic. I hope this is a start of a trend within the SAP and ASUG communities to embrace the modern and extend the SAP ecosystem via a Connection Economy.

Thanks for reading. If we met on the show floor I look forward to catching up. If we didn’t meet but should … please contact me at your earliest convenience. I look forward to hearing from you and hearing how Seth Godin impacted you.

Jeff Shuey is a veteran in the Enterprise Content Management industry. Over the past 20 years he has worked with customers and partners to design, develop and deploy solutions around the world. Jeff is currently the Director of Strategic Alliances at Winshuttle. He has worked for Microsoft, FileNet, K2, Captaris, Open Text, Kofax and Kodak. He speaks and blogs about ECM and the Intersection between Social, Mobile and Cloud Computing.

Follow me on Twitter, check my blog, send email or find me on Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+

Seth Godin ROCKED the Haus at Sapphire and ASUG

Yesterday at the SAP Sapphire / ASUG annual meeting the organizers did an incredibly smart thing.

They hired Seth Godin to be a keynote speaker.

I was surprised that some of the attendees I spoke with weren’t too sure who he was, but I figured it might have been that a lot of them are techies. Regardless, the seats were full when Seth took the stage.

For those that don’t know Seth Godin … that’s OK. He’s a thinker, innovator and author, as well as a master of the short story with a purpose, and to anyone who saw him live at ASUG … they know he is an incredible speaker too.

Here is the tweet and facebook post I sent out after the session. Even with my typo I think it still expresses my sentiment quite well.

I've gotta say Seth Godin rocked it at #Asug2013 / #sapphirenow today.
So many great ideas. #amygdala #linchpin FTW
(fixed typo)

Some of the best lines and points are below. There were a lot more. He was fantastic and really got me (and I hope everyone else) thinking.

Some of the best lines were:

1. I have a remote (TV control) and I'm not afraid to use it
2. If you can write it down ... I can find someone cheaper
3. Don't strive to be heard when you are here ... Strive to be missed when you aren't

And finally ... Vulnerability is about Owning our Art

If you were in the audience what were your takeaways? What resonated with you?

Drop a comment here or ping me at any of my contact points below.

For the Intrepid Reader:

I’ve been a reader and a fan of Seth Godin’s for a long time. Below are some of the posts I’ve written that refer to the impact he (and his thinking and writing) has had on my life. If you have had similar experiences you’ll know what I mean.

• Shipping Matters – Are you a Linchpin? Do you ship?

• What a Difference 365 Days Make

• Are you in it to Win it or Watch it?

Thanks for reading. If you see me on the show floor at ASUG say hello and let me know how Seth Godin impacted you.

Jeff Shuey is a veteran in the Enterprise Content Management industry. Over the past 20 years he has worked with customers and partners to design, develop and deploy solutions around the world. Jeff is currently the Director of Strategic Alliances at Winshuttle. He has worked for Microsoft, FileNet, K2, Captaris, Open Text, Kofax and Kodak. He speaks and blogs about ECM and the Intersection between Social, Mobile and Cloud Computing.

Follow me on Twitter, check my blog, send email or find me on Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+

You Got This and other Chalk-spirations

Last weekend there was a run-race / fun-race that went through my neighborhood.

I was pleasantly surprised to see these words in chalk on my street.

I’m calling these Chalk-Spirations and they were Chalk-Spirational.

There were chalk-spirations up the sidewalk and around the corner. Check out the album below to see some of the other Chalk-Spirations.

If you ran in this race I hope you saw these, smiled and kept charging.

View Full Album

I’m going to be on the lookout for more Chalk-Spirations. I’ll take pictures of them when I find them. If you find some feel free to send them my way or drop a link / pic in the comments.

Just remember … You Got This!

Synthetic Learning will Create your SharePoint Experience

How many of you have seen the movie Minority Report?

Do you think computers (or people) should be allowed to to make predictions about the future and define behaviors and actions based on those predictions?

Whether you think this should be the case or not … it’s happening. It’s happening today and it will continue to happen in the future. Of course, better technologies continue to come onto the scene. I don’t think we’re quite at the stage of having a pool of Pre-Cogs doing some of this predictive work. However, we do know that companies are capturing and mining data a pace we’ve never seen before.

More Data – More Thinking – Less Guessing

There is more data created every minute than ever before in history. Whether it’s line of business (LOB) data, Social Data (think Facebook, Twitter and especially YouTube) or Environmental Data (think Video Cameras in buildings and on streets; and Sensors that are cropping up everywhere).

This image from Intel is over a year old and even from a year ago is stunning in the facts about data creation. 30 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute … of every day … 365 days a year. That’s just YouTube.

What if the data and the decisions found YOU?

There are probably a lot of people working on this business and technical challenge today. I have the privilege of knowing one of the people working on this and I think she and her company are onto something. The company is Synxi (aka ManyWorlds) and the person is Naomi Moneypenny. From her time working in the Oil & Gas space to the work she has done to earn her PhD in Astrophysics she has been thinking about how computers and people can work “Better Together.”

What are they looking for?

They are seeking

“valuable enterprise intellectual capital”

Which includes the huge chunks of information that come across our desks and devices everyday AND those seemingly inconsequential tidbits that can make or break a decision cycle.

There is some overlap to the content coming from the Social Data stream … especially when that Social Data comes through The Social Enterprise. If you haven’t noticed, Microsoft is positioning SharePoint and the rest of the tools that “affect and enhance” social behavior to be “The Social Enterprise.” Which today means Yammer, Lync, Skype, SkyDrive Pro and Office 365.

Right Place, Right Device, Right Time

There once was a really smart guy by the name of Bill Gates (founder of Microsoft --- in case you didn’t know) that said this about 20 years ago. Interestingly, his statement is coming true.

Synxi and the work Naomi and her team are doing is seeking the best way to help get the right information … and JUST the right information to the right place at the right time.

The goal is to deliver JUST the specific set of information to the person, to the device, to the process at just the right time.

Anything more is extraneous and anything less could lead to the wrong decision.

How do they do this?

Synxi is developing a “learning layer” that adapts, morphs and LEARNS from the behavior of the user and of the systems that they interact with to get their jobs done.

The goal is to create what becomes a new form of valuable enterprise intellectual capital.

Where does SharePoint fit in?

Today Synxi has developed solutions for Tibco’s Tibbr and Yammer (which is now owned by Microsoft). They have also released a product for Microsoft SharePoint.

SharePoint has some unique advantages in that SharePoint is Ubiquitous. See my post about The SharePoint Headroom Myth for details, but the gist is … SharePoint is everywhere. And the good news for Microsoft is … SharePoint has a LONG way to go. This is also great for the Microsoft SharePoint Partner Community. Headroom is good.

Synxi is smart creating an offering for SharePoint for several reasons. (some of these points come from my interview with Naomi)

• SharePoint represents a key hub for these adaptive discovery capabilities because it is widely deployed, stores a lot of information, and captures the requisite behavioral information on which detailed inferences of individual user’s interests and expertise can be based
• SharePoint can span platforms … meaning Line of Business systems that might include ERP, CRM, PLM, SCM, ECM and any other systems
• Using Synthetic Learning means SharePoint can extend across these platforms and learn on the fly to cross-contextualize and personalize among the platforms.

Ultimately the interface for adaptive discovery (as well as search) will migrate toward Siri-type natural language interfaces—a personalized and adaptive assistant to keep busy employees apprised of what they need to know right when they need to know.

As SharePoint continues to grow I am confident we will see more and more solutions that embrace Synthetic Learning to insure the (just the) right information is delivered to the right device at just the right time. 

Ultimately, Synxi and solutions like it will extend beyond SharePoint. However, the idea that SharePoint can act as a hub to enable user interaction and system interaction can help SharePoint achieve what I consider to be SharePoint’s ultimate destiny … to be the place to Surface Data.

What do you think?

• Will we see self-learning SharePoint system?
• Will you let SharePoint be self-defining?
• Will you have a choice?

Let me know here in the comments or at my Social Media contacts points below.

Jeff Shuey is a veteran in the Enterprise Content Management industry. Over the past 20 years he has worked with customers and partners to design, develop and deploy solutions around the world. Jeff is currently the Director of Strategic Alliances at Winshuttle. He has worked for Microsoft, FileNet, K2, Captaris, Open Text, Kofax and Kodak. He speaks and blogs about ECM and the Intersection between Social, Mobile and Cloud Computing.

Follow me on Twitter, check my blog, send email or find me on Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+

image credits: intel, synxi, 20th Century Fox

Copyright 2013 Jeff Shuey Some Rights Reserved Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

Before you pick up your SUP

I was at Costco this week and saw that they are carrying Stand Up Paddle (SUP) boards.

This is AWESOME!

I have been a SUP’er for many years and I’m glad to see the sport expand.

With growth comes new users. People that are new to the sport may do things that can hurt them, cost them money and may cause other problems too. If you are thinking about picking up a SUP take a look below. Here are a few things to think about and do Before you pick up your SUP.

SUP’r Tips - I have also listed a few SUP’r Tips. Feel free to add your own in the comments.

WHY SUP?

In case you don’t know SUP’ing it is a great way to explore waterways at a pace and angle you might never have expected to see them. Whether you are on vacation or traveling on business see if you can find a place that rents boards. When I go to Austin, TX I always plan time to hook up with the local SUPATX crew.

Closer to home … there are likely to be local lakes and rivers, ocean coves and lagoons and perhaps a waterway just down the street from you that can explore in a new and fun way. Plus … you get to work your core in a way you probably never imagined either.

https://www.facebook.com/jberres1980
		The view of Town Lake, aka Lady Bird Lake

Things to know and do Before you pick up your SUP

Knots

Know how to tie at least the first two of these. Bonus points if you can tie a bowline with one hand.

• Square Knot & Figure Eight
• Clove Hitch
• Bowline
• Truckers Hitch

Dings

Dings Happen! Get over it. You’ll hit things, you’ll drop your board, you’ll tie the board down too tight and ding the rails (note: respect this last point --- it’s expensive to fix rail dings)

Be Ready! There is an old trick in the Surfer’s Toolkit. It’s called a sticker. When you go to a trade show … pick up some stickers. They can be used temporarily to cover a ding.

SUP’r Tip – Buy some epoxy (make sure you get the right kind – perhaps I’ll write another post about this) and repair dings yourself.

SUP’r Tip – Talk to a Pro. If you have large dings, rail dings and anything where you can see the foam inside … talk with a pro about fixing the dings.

Etiquette

Don’t be a Dick! Know the rules of the water and waterways. Expect other boaters to be on the water with you --- there are different rules for motor boats, sail boats and human powered craft. The bottom line is … be responsible for your own actions.

SUP’r Tip – Be respectful of private property. If you are paddling on a lake or river you may be exploring a little too close for some people’s comfort. Be aware of the people in the houses along the water. You may have a right to be there, but don’t be intrusive.

Safety

Think like a Boy Scout … Be Prepared!

• Life vest – Whether or not they are required
• Booties – Protect your feet and keep them warm
• Water / Snacks - Think Hydration Pack
• Leash --- It can save your life and a LOT of swimming

Know Before You Go

Some waterways require life vests and others don’t. My recommendation … Have one with you. There are several options. Some can just be plopped onto the board and others you can wear around your waist. A lot of the newer boards are including strap points to secure vests and other gear.

SUP’r Tip - If you are in the surf you typically are NOT required to wear a life vest. Why? Because you’ll need to duck under the waves.

SUP’r Tip – Don’t go in the surf until you are VERY SKILLED. The life you take in your paddle hands may not be your own. Surfing on a SUP is a specialized skill that requires knowledge far greater than your SUP skills.

Life Vests – A Few Options (West Marine has all of these)

On the deck or your waist	Old Style Bonus: It’s Safety Orange	Auto-Inflate	Traditional vest (Not great for paddling)
	Less than $10 Safety is this Easy!

These are just a few of the

Things to know and do Before you pick up your SUP

Use your common sense. Be prepared to have fun. Be prepared to Smile!

See you on the water. Get on your feet!

For More Tips --- See REI’s Excellent Guide Here 

Here is a post I wrote in 2011 about a trip with SUP ATX’s Jeff Berres. Austin is a great place to get wet.

Shout Out to some of my SUP’r friends. If you see them on the water say hello and chat them up. They know where to go and they know lots of SUP’r Tips too.

Meghan	Khody	Todd

Image Credits: West Marine, Meghan, Khody, Todd, NetKnots, CatchSurf

SharePoint in Three Words

SharePoint is a Platform. SharePoint is an Application.

SharePoint can be boiled down into just three words.

The following three words came from Mark Rackley aka The SharePoint Hillbilly.

He spoke about these during his session at SharePoint TechCon:
“Now I Get it … What SharePoint is and Why My Business Needs It”

The session was very interactive and one of the highlights was a video Mark shot the day before asking attendees, speakers and the organizers to describe what SharePoint is to them. Take a look at the video below or click on this link. Be prepared to smile. If you see yourself in the video drop a comment below with your contact details.

The Three Words:

Organization

Visualization

Collaboration

One of the things SharePoint can do quite easily and on a very broad scale basis is Surface Information from Disparate Repositories. 

Ultimately, the source of the information is not as important as the fact that SharePoint can be used to Surface this Information. This is where the Microsoft Business Critical SharePoint program is gaining traction.

What do you think?

• Can SharePoint really be boiled down into three words?
• What words do you use to describe SharePoint?
• What kinds of Data do you Surface in SharePoint? or want to?

Add a comment here or contact me at any of the contact points below. I do want to hear your thoughts and perhaps collaborate on the SharePoint story.

Jeff Shuey is a veteran in the Enterprise Content Management industry. Over the past 20 years he has worked with customers and partners to design, develop and deploy solutions around the world. Jeff is currently the Director of Strategic Alliances at Winshuttle. He has worked for Microsoft, FileNet, K2, Captaris, Open Text, Kofax and Kodak. He speaks and blogs about ECM and the Intersection between Social, Mobile and Cloud Computing.

Follow me on Twitter, check my blog, send email or find me on Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+

The SharePoint Headroom Myth

I wrote a post recently about SharePoint moving from little g to BIG G. It seems there was some confusion over what I meant by this post. Some thought I was belittling SharePoint. Some thought I was stating the obvious. Some thought I was talking down to the SharePoint Community. These last three points could not be further from the truth. I’m All In with SharePoint.

Here is the what I meant … SharePoint has a LOT of headroom.

What do I mean by Headroom?

SharePoint as a product and as a platform has a lot of room to grow. I’m all in. So are a lot of other people. There is a huge partner community and a lot of companies that have gone all in too.

SharePoint is Ubiquitous and Pervasive

Some SharePoint Stats from 2012 … it’s only getting BIGGER:

• 125 million Client Access Licenses
  • Meaning this many people can access and use SharePoint today
• 65,000 SharePoint Servers
  • Meaning there are a lot of companies with SharePoint Servers available for their use.
  • This does NOT include SharePoint Online which is available as part of the Office 365 deployment offerings.
• 700,000 Developers
  • That’s a lot of people looking for Headroom!
• 4000 Partners
  • There are a lot of people in these partner organizations, with probably more than 2 million combined brains looking for the next great thing and to use SharePoint while creating headroom.

The smart partners are making the most of this and are creating applications that address specific problems as “point solutions” or they create enterprise wide solutions. Many of them will be somewhere in between that span Line-of-Business (LOB) systems.

The Future of SharePoint will be defined by partners that extend the platform. By Partners that Seek and Create Headroom.

The Future of SharePoint will be to continue pushing the envelope and finding even more headroom in new markets and new areas where SharePoint can be used to address business and technical challenges.

There should be no confusion. I’m All In. I’m committed to the SharePoint space and I’ve spent the better part of ten years helping companies design, develop and deploy solutions that extend and enhance SharePoint.

I’m All In

In case anyone is still confused. I’ve been working with SharePoint for over 10 years now. I’ve seen hundreds (in fact, thousands) of SharePoint deployments. Some great, some mediocre and a few not so great. The upside is that there is a lot of headroom in the SharePoint space to create solutions that address a myriad of solution scenarios.

Does SharePoint take over markets? Sure. Does it completely wipe out the markets that it enters? No.

SharePoint Does Invade Markets – Get Used to It

SharePoint has redefined the Enterprise Content Management (ECM) space. Did it take over and replace every other ECM vendor out there? NO! SharePoint is a platform and as a platform it allows partners (and internal customer teams) to extend and enhance it to meet their needs. Think about things like Digital Signatures (DocuSign and ARX); Document Scanning (Kodak and Fujitsu); Archiving; and hundreds more vertical and horizontal solutions

In the coming years SharePoint deployments will continue to expand into new markets and will continue to seek areas with headroom to grow. Get Used To It!

The Future of SharePoint

I’ve written a lot and spoken quite a few times about SharePoint and how to get the most out of SharePoint today and in the future.

The Future of SharePoint will see the trend for solutions that transition from Systems of Record to Systems of Engagement. This is one of the areas where SharePoint can help companies grow and make the most of their people, their data and their technologies.

• The Future of SharePoint is ECM
• The Future of SharePoint is Mobile and will involve Big Data
• The Future of SharePoint is in the Cloud and will be Social.

The Future of SharePoint is … The Social Enterprise!

The Social Enterprise will a topic for a series of my next posts.

Until then please keep in mind that I am all in and that I am committed to the SharePoint space. I spend most every day thinking of ways to Surface Data in SharePoint in new and unique ways. I also look for ways to involve other people and partners in this quest. For those that I have worked with in the past 10+ years … thank you. For those that I will work within the coming years I thank you in advance.

The SharePoint Headroom Myth

The idea that SharePoint has reached it’s zenith is far from the truth. The people that I’ve met in the SharePoint community are committed and passionate. They are committed to finding the next thing. To expanding into new areas. To creating more headroom for SharePoint.

This Myth is Busted!