Monthly Archives: January 2012

Reasons to be cheerful – one, two, three

Well, we’ve made it through Blue Monday, which is reckoned to be the most depressing day of the year – and presumably the rest of the week isn’t deemed to have been much better.

If I was looking at things on face value I’d have to say they weren’t looking so good right now. This last year has been the toughest I have known it since first entering the workplace in the mid 1980s and a lot of commentators are talking about us teetering on the edge of a double-dip recession. Some recent number crunching by The Guardian illustrates quite well what this latest recession looks like graphically in comparison to other major downturns.

Ian Dury - legend of the UK new wave scene - had a good list of reasons to be cheerful in the dire 1970s

Although young at the time, I remember the effect the recessions of the 70s and early 80s had on family members. In the recession of the late 80s/early 90s, I lost the first main job I’d ever had when the construction industry I was working in virtually imploded overnight. In the early part of this century during the dotcom bust, the two big companies I worked for, NTL and Lucent, lost billions and laid off many, many thousands.

It doesn’t surprise me therefore that this current recession looks graphically closer to the great depression of the 1930s because, based on experiences of other recessions and market bubble bursts, it feels like it too, as it grinds on year after year.

On face value this doesn’t look like a great time to be trying to start a business but then this wouldn’t be the first time I’ve gone against the flow. So, as new wave rockers Ian Dury and the Blockheads sung back in the 1970s …

A bit of grin and bear it, a bit of come and share it
A little drop of claret – anything that rocks

Reasons to be cheerful – one, two, three

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#cmsconnected – Message received loud and clear

As a deafened person, I am celebrating the latest format CMS Connected is using for its webinars. For those who haven’t seen one of these events yet they are run using TPN’s Webinar 3.0 solution which delivers high quality real-time video, excellent digital sound, contribution via Skype and Twitter for interaction.

As mentioned elsewhere on this site about hearing difficulties, I hate noise and crave clarity. Also, as my hearing continues to worsen, I rely more and more on lip-reading – so being able to see someone’s face and lip movements helps tremendously in giving clarity to what is being said. Beyond that, I enjoy being able to participate but unfortunately as many CMS/IT related discussions and debates are held in very noisy locations like bars, restaurants and exhibition halls I often forgo the opportunity to do this as I know from past experiences that it will be frustrating and stressful trying to follow the topic of discussion and contribute relevantly and meaningfully.

So, from the comfort of my home office, with the video displayed in a comfortable size in one window, Twitter in another, my favourite noise cancelling earbuds in place and the volume turned way up, I sat back to enjoy the latest CMS Connected offering – 2011 Year in Review with Scott Liewehr and Seth Gottlieb (AKA The Unpronounceables 😉 )
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(20)11 content technology lessons learned

The more traditional ‘weblog’ post I did last year on lessons learned in the content technologies arena during the preceding 12 months proved popular and as 2011 has been pretty eventful, I guess it’s worth giving it another shot …

1. In times of uncertainty be very wary of over-buying software solutions…

There’s a website I still visit from time to time that saddens me somewhat. In some ways it was one of the more successful web projects I have been involved in over the last 15 years or so, and in others the least successful.

The requirements gathering and evaluation process was smooth, with the preferred CMS solution and implementors ticking all the boxes and jumping through the hoops relatively easily. The design phase went very well with great buy-in from all stakeholders and a lot of positive feedback on the direction it was all going. The implementation was progressed expertly by the project manager, technical architect and development team and delivered within the agreed timescales and budgets. The content migration was fast and accurate and provided the main mastersite and complete framework for 5 additional languages within 2 weeks. So, with everything lined up and ready to roll, we waited…and we waited…and we waited.

Unfortunately, the product range this new multi-lingual, web marketing platform had been implemented for (as a pilot for a much wider deployment) never materialised and, to my knowledge, is still not launched over two years on from its original planned debut. It was/is a potentially great product but, realistically, there was always a relatively narrow window of opportunity to get the new range launched and established with resellers and consumers successfully.

Without the revenue stream this new product range was designed to generate, there was no budget available for expanding the new web platform further and so it remains like an iceberg – with a fraction of its capability visible above the waterline and a massive potential capability hidden passively beneath. What a sad waste of everyone’s time and efforts for something that is now being used just as a basic (and expensive) email marketing tool but also a reflection of how tough it is to develop and market consumer electronic products efficiently and effectively 😦  Based on the same requirements I’d probably stick with the original recommendation but with the benefit of hindsight I would certainly have recommended directing the money elsewhere …  Continue reading →