Click on cartoon for a full screen version of this hilarity.

Up until now, I use any number of instant messaging (IM) products. Of course I use Sametime (also known as Sam Time for those who work at the top of the company) to reach IBM’rs. I dabble in Trillian, AOL, Yahoo and others depending on who is on the other end.

For the most part, they are all functional and there are times during an analyst briefing where I have Sametime going with the speakers and AOL going with the analysts. By the way, I view this as a best practice as you never know how a meeting is going to go, north or south.

Instant messaging has spawned a new almost language, certainly grammar and shorthand, phone texting has solidified that. Wht r u dng? c u l8r, what’s 4 eats. u’r my bff…and so on.

I’ve been selected to participate in our company’s test pilot for video instant messaging. All you need is a camera and headset and you can talk on screen. Like all technologies, there are social and technological issues to be dealt with.

Techno Issues

Before we had Satellite communications, back in the day, we used to hear an echo on overseas calls. At first, they weren’t even bi-directional and there was cross talk. Well, it’s the same right now for the video texting. You have to wait until the other person is finished or you walk on their conversation and trying to be polite, there is a pregnant pause.

Additionally, not unlike the delay in radio, there is a delay in camera and voice time, so it’s better to watch the other person, not yourself or yoouuu’llll bbeee eecchhooiinngg wwhhiillee yyoouu ttaallkk….

There are some other operational issues, but fortunately, Kevin Mclarnon is a great guy and has helped me through the process. I also found out he lives “out in the sticks” like me so we have connection issues in common.

Social issues

As I have stated, I work from home, which means if you are hygienically challenged time wise (started a conference call right after the gym), no one knew, until now. Also, I’ve never thought of my self as middle aged, although I am, and it sure shows me the truth on screen. There is a quick work around with the half suit. No one can see above the shoulders anyway….if you zoom your camera in just right.

(Humor begins here) Here’s a situation you don’t want to be in on a video call.

Then there are video call pranks, here is a snippet, but click on the link for a list of pranks.

Video Conference Pranks:

• Arrange with everyone in the room to freeze and quit talking all at the same moment.
• Look directly into the camera and move your lips as if speaking, but make no noise.
• Have someone off-camera talk while someone of the opposite sex lip-syncs on-camera.

I’ll likely have some fun with this.

Kevin also explained that when a bunch of folks get on the call, it’s like looking at the Hollywood squares.

One also must be aware of being on camera, so no nose picking or preening without pulling down the camera shade. I imagine hiccups with camera delay would be a hoot.

(end of humor)

When the pilot has discovered the bugs and then we add enough people I work with, this will turn into a good tool. You can share your screen if needed so there are lots of possibilities.

For now, I’m always a geek and am glad to be in on the early stages of this. I’ll leave some green justification for working at home and video conferencing….It might give us all a reason to use Sametime from IBM, unless you are camera shy, or pick your nose.

Click on image to see full version.

Do this, it appears actions speak louder than words.

3G is available in June?  I doubt the OLED part, but who cares?  I can’t wait to get rid of Sprint.

Since this is an issue for some in the industry, IBM recorded a Podcast with Stepanie Martin, Director of developerWorks at IBM and John Andrews, President of Evans Data Corporation.

Click on the link above to listen.

There must be something in the the water, or there is a plethora of new people in the A/R industry.

Just recently, I’ve received emails from Gartner, Forrester, Robin Bloor, and a number of other analyst firms (including some blogs) as well as the A/R consulting firms like Knowledge Capital Group, SageCircle, ARInsights and a new one called Alltheanalysts.com on A/R best practices. This is just in the last few weeks. There have been various other articles over time from the stalwarts like James Governer and Armadgeddon
How should i look at this? Are we that unprepared? Do we not know enough or has the profession progressed?

You can always improve.

If I look at this from the positive perspective, good council is always appreciated. No one is the end all, although from time to time, there are the Michael Jordan’s, Tiger Woods, Michael Schumacher, Pele’s who at a point in time are the undisputed champ.

Analyst relations is about relationships so that’s ever evolving. The word relations clearly implies that humans are involved, which means there is the opportunity for intangibles like feelings, emotions, ego and other influences that can make a good story bad, or a bad story stomachable (might not be a word).

What is important is time. You spend time with anyone and you begin to know likes and dislikes, favorite topics and sore points. It also let’s you know a person at a deeper plane, like I know the names of some of the analyst’s pets, or kids. It also offers the opportunity to get on ones nerves, which I’ve done more than my share of.

So, the net of it is you can’t stand still. The A/R world moves and you must move with it or left behind, so some of the information these emails and blogs are helpful, you have to parse it based on your experience level…..oh yes, and never assume you know it all.

What is the Analyst Point of View - How to work with us better?

At first, I took offense when I read some of these articles. Like how to get a briefing with Forrester since I’ve always thought that we could speak to each other with out going through the Secret Service. But I came to realize (after the ego settled down, which I never should have let out of it’s hole anyway) that the inundation was likely overwhelming. I also realized that a lot of requests to speak are rubbish anyway, a sales call, trying to get free information for nothing….generally a waste of the analyst’s time, especially when it’s my turn to speak with them (get back ego, down boy).

There also must be some bending on the analyst side as not all IT firms are the same. There are the normal firms and then there are the IBM’s, Microsoft’s and other behemoths who are like a Medusa of tentacles coming at the analyst from 500 directions. We have some of the most experienced A/R folks and also, uh-hum…some not as experienced. So one size does not fit all.

My doubting mind also wonders if there is a funnel that throws some opportunities at the sales department from this sign up process?

I also wonder if it’s a Hey, work with us on our terms ’cause we’re tired of 50 companies coming at us 150 different ways? Well, I guess there is only 28 hours in the day anyway.

What about the A/R consulting Firms?

In some cases, they are quite knowledgeable. I’ve read many of the articles from the above mentioned folks and they have good advice, some which should seem intuitive, but there are those of us who are slower learners than others, so I find them helpful…if nothing but for a reminder. Some like Carter Lusher have ventured to the dark side when he was head of A/R at HP so he knows the life we live day in and day out.

So Why All the Articles at Once?

When the moon, is in the 7th house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars…..wait, this isn’t the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, there has to be a better answer. It must be that there is a need or opportunity out there, or it wouldn’t be happening. Capitalism just works that way. It must be some combination of the A/R world needing refining and the Analyst world trying to narrow the funnel. Anyway, I’d recommend that one goes to these sights, heck, you’ve already either seen them or written one of them anyway.

The Institute for Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR), specifically David Rossiter who has many links to those who have written on this subject.

He points out some indiscretions here:

• the UK company that publishes a company profile - but gives no indication that the piece was commissioned by the vendor (and for which the vendor was effectively given copy approval)
• the analyst that writes blog posts promoting a project that his consultancy is involved in - without disclosing his connection
• the division of a large group that prioritises briefings based on the likelihood of selling reprints of the resulting company profile
• the analysts that use a briefing as an opportunity to pitch their own services
• the global company that says its analysts are more likely to recommend vendor clients to prospective buyers (because the analysts know clients better than those that are non-clients)
• the vertical firm that refuses to take briefings with non-clients because it’s so busy doing consulting work it can only handle briefing requests from clients
• and what about this experience highlighted by the corporate AR team at HP?

I’ve worked in the A/R field for a few years now, so I’ve seen some of these pop up, and in some cases had to deal with it. One must always be wary if there is money on the table to keep independence in the forefront. Conversely, if there wasn’t money on the table, the analyst wouldn’t be able to stay in business, so it’s a bit of a dichotomy.

My .02
For the record, there are those on the vendor side who also take advantage of the relationship also. Like calling a consulting a briefing to get out of paying. Trying to get something for nothing, also done but should be. That swims in the pool of un-ethics (sic) also.

What about when the analyst firm comes calling?

Here’s the first clue, the account representative is on the call or initiates it. You know there is a fee or it is a paid study. That should be a clue that money is on the table and you can’t be surprised when it comes up. I’m not knocking the Account Reps. Heck, in a way, I’m the analogous person from the vendor at times. They help me get a lot of work done, but when they are there, money is on the table.

What is the A/R responsibility?

Well, it isn’t that tough to know how much you have for a budget, what’s the priority for your company or group, and what you can or can not do. What if it’s in that nebulous area or the HP example ?.  That was underhanded.  The Aberdeen example is shady, but it was paid.

You better have a good working relationship with the analyst firm to know when you are about to be asked for money, or know that you are not on good terms….. or your product is suspect and will be called out. Then you have to know how to defend and deflect.

On non paid reports, can you be caught blindsided? Yes, in fact we had a recent report published that we weren’t sent a draft for fact checking, to our detriment. We met after it was published to correct the facts and to make sure that it didn’t happen in the future, but sometimes it does slip through the cracks.

You can work through the issues of the big groups who feel the opportunity to sell is greater with another company. Yes I work for a big company, but I (l)earned my lessons at a small firm when IBM was the competition, and was the big dog during the mainframe and very early PC days. To be successful and weed through the process, you have to have a compelling reason to talk, pick and choose your openings, not be willing to settle for the brush off and don’t lie. When you promise the universe and deliver a pebble, your cover is blown as are your chances of a next briefing.

So I’m not excusing the behavior of the above listed offenses, but there are ways of dealing with it, like looking out for and beware of what the situation is before it happens.

For the most part, almost all of my dealings to the 99th percentile are ethical and even enjoyable. There are always a few bad apples, but it doesn’t spoil the whole bunch.

At least in the realm of this discussion, nothing is as bad as this.

Rather than give you a lesson you should have learned in middle school, read this story and enjoy the art of using words to bring an inanimate object to life, while describing an mission that could have killed him.

Major Brian Shul: I loved that Jet.

The U.S. public celebration of women’s history began in 1978 as “Women’s History Week” . In honor of this, I thought about who would be appropriate as a role model for this occasion. It became clear to me that Kathy Olevsky and her many accomplishments in both life and the field of Martial Arts would be appropriate.

A while back, I wrote about a PHP programmer who was an expert at at a number of the Martial Arts in “Not all Geeks are Wimps“. Now for the rest of the story.

This bloggerview is with Kathy Olevsky, wife of the geek and one of (if not) the highest ranking female martial artists in the world, and Martial Arts Hall of Fame inductee. Until this century, the Martial Arts have been dominated by males both in practice and teaching, and sometimes by culture. “Mrs. O.” broke a lot of ground (and ice) for women both personally and professionally. There are many who have studied under her, both male and female. I am one of them and have admired many aspects such as her contribution to the art, empowering women to take care of themselves and giving back to the community.

Why this interview is important covers a range of topics. The Olevsky’s run a highly successful dojo at Karate International together, but contribute to it differently as she runs the business while he is the head Sensei. I’ve helped Mrs. O. with the grading of students at Meredith College and it became clear that her giving back to the community is a very important attribute that all should strive for. Further, she is responsible for “keeping” many of the kata’s (forms) for the KI dojo’s so that we all perform them accurately and consistently. She is featured on “How things work” for Karate. Here is a link to her breaking roughly 20 inches of concrete.

It also became apparent that just as a husband and wife contribute differently to the upbringing of a child, so it is to how they run a business and contribute to the various levels of students they have taught.

I asked some specific questions about these topics and why women should consider the martial arts, and I got some pretty decisive answers. I think you’ll enjoy the read.

What is your background (ranks) and how did you get started in Karate?
I am an 8th Degree Black Belt in Karate, 2nd Degree Black Belt in Jujitsu and a Brown Belt in Judo. I started in Karate immediately after returning to Raleigh, after college. (this was in 1979)

Is it true that you are the highest ranking female in the Martial Arts?
I was inducted into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame as the first Female Master instructor 2001. I am not sure if I am the highest at this time, but I was when I was inducted.

Is it true that you got knocked out on your black belt test? How did that happen?
I actually got knocked out on my Purple Belt test (which is the same as our Green Belt with brown tip). I had finished my test, and was doing something called the “Line Walk”. A long time ago, Karate International had a practice where after you completed your skills test for the ranks of Purple Belt and above, you walked a line of all of your class mates, and got their approval before being promoted. If they did not salute to you in the “line walk” that meant they were not convinced you should be that new belt level. They had the right to step out and spar you for 3 minutes. If you convinced them in 3 minutes that you were worthy, they saluted you back. If you did not convince them, then essentially you failed your test that day. On my Purple Belt test, I was the first female in the dojo to have that rank, and probably because of that I had 5 different people challenge me. The last one was a 1st Brown Belt with a great wheel kick. He kicked me in the jaw and knocked me out. I got up shortly after and was saluted by him and completed my line walk and got my belt.

I took my Black Belt test with 2 cracked ribs. Needless to say, back then, as a woman, I had to prove myself, and the contact and control of the situation was not as customer service oriented as it is today!

How did you get started in the business end of Martial Arts?
Mr. O and I bought the Raleigh Karate International school from Mr. Jan Wellendorf in 1979, and basically Mr. O and I both shared the business of running the school for a few years. Then it became apparent that I was a little better at it and enjoyed it more, so I took over most of the business responsibility for the school.

What are the biggest challenges of the business?
Well, first of all, Karate has never been very mainstream. Martial arts are very acceptable now, but for many years, it was not considered a “normal” activity for people to get involved in. While gymnastics schools flourished and enjoyed a great reputation, Karate was always a struggle to be treated as “typical or normal”. Now the challenges of being in the business relate to the expenses and pitfalls of being in a small business. We are not that different from any small business now.

How do you split up the duties with Mr. O?
Well, from our early years, I ran the business and Mr. O was responsible for the teaching aspects of the school. We have since come to divide the instructional portion of it now that I am higher in rank. As an 8th dan, I now have the responsibility of reviewing katas for advanced rank Black Belts for their promotions. SO, now I manage the employees and all of the aspects of the business, and some of the instructional duties.

What are the best parts about the business of teaching Martial Arts?
The best parts of being in this business, is that I go to work everyday to a job that I enjoy. Most people practice the martial arts as a hobby. It is not lost on me, that I get to practice my hobby everyday of my life.

What recommendations would you give to someone who was thinking about opening/running a dojo?
The foundation for a good dojo or martial arts school is the support you receive from others. Small businesses fail every day. The ones that survive have mentors in the business who can help them survive and flourish. The Martial Arts Industry offers many opportunities for dojo owners these days. All you have to do is be willing to take the advice and support of others. There are countless educational opportunities. Success is determined by those who seek it. Failure in this industry comes to those who think they know it all and don’t seek the help and advice of others.

What is your favorite Mr. O. story?
Oh, I have so many! Hmmmm….Mr. Wellendorf loves telling this story. When Mr. O and I were newly married, he tried to sneak up on me once. I was already asleep for the night. He tells me that he spent 45 minutes crawling down the hallway, making as little noise as possible. When he crept into the bedroom with his stealth like ninja skills, I leaned over the end of the bed and asked him what he was doing. He says he was very disappointed that I noticed him before he could surprise me. Mr. Wellendorf suggested to him never to test my “sixth sense” skills again.

Authors note: I heard this same story from a very frustrated Mr. O. He said he crept up to the room, not moving sometimes for minutes thinking the entire time that he was unnoticed. Needless to say, he was quite surprised and frustrated when she caught him.

How are the Martial Arts good for Females?
Here it comes…my soapbox! Women in today’s world have been taught to take control of all aspects of their lives. They are taught to do well in school, to go to college, to get great jobs and to be great mothers. They are taught to do it all and multi task so that they do it all well! It infuriates me that these same professional women, who would spare nothing to achieve their goals, leave out a very primary skill in their lives. They allow someone else to have control of the “safety” of their lives. They depend on law enforcement and life partners or parents or brothers to protect them, instead of considering self defense just as important in their lives as their education. SO, Martial Arts are good for all people. Women are getting the message, but it has been a slow process. What could be better for a woman than to feel that she was in total control of her life? Why leave out this very important aspect of her education?

Author: At this point, I considered all of the things that I’ve observed about Mrs. O over the years and giving back to the community was one of them. It is something which many could and should do, but don’t. She is well noted for teaching at two local female colleges as well as donating time and talent to the community. I first noticed an inkling of this when I and a number of other black belts helped grade students in her Karate class at Meredith. She was not only helping the students, but helping us, the black belts learn regarding how to properly test students fairly and accurately, which has different requirements based on belt level.

Why is it important to give back to others?
As Mahatma Gandhi said so well, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”. I live by this. I have taught my children and my students. You can’t sit around and wait for things to get better, you must do things to make them better.

In what ways have you given back to the community?
I have chosen to work in the Fitness arena. In the 1994 I was appointed by the County Commissioners to the Wake County Council in Fitness and Health. After 3 months on the Council, I became the chairperson. I remained in that position for them for many years. In the 90’s and the early 2000’s we worked very hard to convince our populous that Fitness had to be a priority as there was an epidemic of sedentary lifestyle that was beginning to result in alarming obesity trends in our children. We did many grass roots efforts to communicate this problem and this need to change. In 1999 we even developed a website, which, although commonplace now, was not an easy project at the time. We met with the Wake County Board of Education and the County Commissioners on many occasions to get their help on initiatives we launched. We helped create programs in the schools and projects in the community, as well as lobbying for policy change that would help increase physical activity overall. Again, at the time, this was like climbing uphill constantly, even though now, it is an easy topic to discuss and work towards.

This Council lead to many other councils and projects. I have been on the Wake County School Health Advisory council for many years. As a volunteer, I worked with BeActive NC, NC Amateur Sports, the Governor’s Council on Fitness and Health as a local liason, Action for Healthy Kids, and many state wide initiatives for physical fitness. I appeared on television many times and wrote many articles for the media.

I continue this quest to improve Fitness and Physical Activity levels in our community, because I believe in it’s importance, even if I don’t see the results in my own lifetime.

Why do you teach at Meredith and other non Karate International venues, and how is it rewarding to you?
I actually just put in my plans to retire from Meredith after teaching there for 18 years. This year, 2008,will be my final semester. I enjoyed teaching at both Peace and Meredith Colleges, for the same reason. I wanted to affect the lives of these young women who were students. I wanted to be the female model in their lives that taught them it was good to be strong and in control of their lives. Over my years there, I learned of many students who had suffered various forms of abuse. I was the first person to ever make them believe they could be in charge of their own personal safety and success. These were good enough reasons to keep teaching forever. I only retire from the colleges at this point, because I have a protege who can effectively take my place and I will have more time to devote to my teaching in my school, my family and my community causes.For many years, we have offered the “Take Control” program, free of charge to our community. I can only take claim to being the author of this program. Now, there are so many Karate International Black Belts certified to teach this course, I rarely have to go out into the community and teach it. They are all great at it, and are wonderful at volunteering their time to teach the program. I do teach it a few times a year, in house. We allow all of our students to bring in any of their friends and family members, for free, to take the two our version of this Self Defense Course. It is always a packed house.

I’m frequently asked what it’s like to make an announcement at IBM. I’m also frequently told (by analysts):

Why doesn’t IBM just do x,y,z?

Why did IBM do x,y,z?

Who is the person that does x,y,z?

Company a,b and c can do this, why can’t you?

If IBM would spend some of it’s money doing x,y,z instead of stock buybacks, buying this or that, it would make more sense.

So it is when working at a larger company, things are different, especially in a communications function. It’s like working in the military, the congress or the UN sometimes.

IBM is a Big Company

Well, d’uh. But I had to establish the premise for drawing analogies. With big comes a different set of issues. When I worked at a small company years back, many times I made the decision to do what was needed for press, analysts or marketing campaigns.  If I needed money, I just went to see my buddies in accounting that I likely had lunch with and bingo, it was done.  Not so in a biggie company.

Coordinating communications across multiple disciplines, to different constituencies and from different area’s of the company and still seem congruent at the end of the day is also sometimes a feat. When it works, it is a charm, when it doesn’t…you wonder if we all work for the same company. Not only do you have message issues can conflict, you have executive issues…..and conflict.

There are times when the messages are actually competing with another brand or division. Co-opitiion lets you partner with your competitors and when you announce a joint project, it can upset the applecart internally. Oracle competes with our middleware, yet is a services partner. SAP uses our database technology to compete with Oracle, but again competes with our middleware stack. Microsoft is shipped with some of our servers, yet we are all about Open Source and Linux.

To make an announcement, hold an analyst day or any other form of communication, it calls for multiple revisions, making it hard to stay on track.

Working in the Congress

This is when it’s like congress. You have a bill (set of messages) and it covers many states (brands, divisions, groups) which you have to get it passed (make the announcement). There are constant negotiations, earmarks, pork where everyone has to get their message in. In case you didn’t already know, clear and concise messaging is effective, multiple and conflicting messages are not. It is up to the Comms team to keep it on track. Then you have a speaker of the house (executive) that is making the announcement, including the press secretary (announcement team) who field additional questions and clean up.

Then there are the times when we are doing say, acquisitions. We are sworn to secrecy (NDA’s), are given our marching orders (messaging) have a commander (executive in charge of the project) and are basically told when, where and how things are going down. Now drop and give me 20 push ups. This at times can actually be easier as the butt-in-ski’s from various groups don’t get to put in their 2 cents to slow things to the speed of a glacier. But to watch a big company work with the efficiency of an aircraft carrier, I’ve seen throngs of people get organized and get into action in literally minutes….. and it is some of the most effective work in the shortest amount of time you’ll see at a big company.

The UN
Then there are the communications times that remind me of raising teenagers, like nailing jello to a tree. It’s not clear who’s in charge, who’s announcing what and/or why. But we HAVE to get back to TPTB to report progress. I’m sitting back the whole time watching this train wreck waiting to happen. These announcements usually get swept under the rug or butchered if anyone finds out about them. It’s like working at the UN, people posturing about their product or announcement, but getting nothing done and and having no power to enforce anything….
How to get it to work
The net of it is coordination. A/R has to work with P/R, with the executives, with the analysts, with the press, with the WORLD to get the messaging correct and approved, The whole time the internal team has to notify everyone so that when a customer calls, we actually know what to say. All the affected product groups need to be communicated to and worked with. Timing has to be worked out because if you haven’t noticed, we pretty much announce something every day. It’s hard not to step on someone else’s toes, especially if you are communicating to the same mediums. We have to space out the announcements, and getting priority for yours is like going to court and negotiating a plea bargain. Which announcement is more important to the company? Well, what day is it.

The internal negotiations of such machinations is a skill in itself. You learn political, social, communication and flexibility skills in addition to your job. It is very difficult to make such a big company work together effectively, something that we do better than most, but still have a ways to go sometimes.

So when you ask us, why don’t you just do x, y or z, it’s because were going through the alphabet doing a,b and c,,,,plus some hieroglyphics to get it right, not because we aren’t listening to you. When you ask us who takes care of the revalvitating capitulators and I don’t know, it’s because we’re big and a lot of people do a lot of jobs. Oh yes, and since IBM stands for I’ve been moved, people change jobs and who did it last year is rarely an indicator of who’s doing it now.

It’s a good thing I can blog, the only boss I have to run that by is me.