Think-ing From Far Away

As many of you know, next week is IBM Think in San Francisco.  Unfortunately I won’t be able to be there and neither will my fellow Lifetime Champions Julian Robichaux and Theo Heselmans so we wanted to do our own version of “Think” for those of us who are missing out.  Starting next week we plan to record a daily 30 minute audio podcast discussing the news coming out of Think and some of the presentations and sponsors that are there.

IBM have published a list of sessions that will be available for streaming here https://www.ibm.com/events/think/watch/ so we will be watching remotely and we have several guests who will be at Think joining us each day.  This is our attempt to bring some Think and collaboration news to those (including us) who can’t make it.  Here are our planned topics for each day

Monday: The Collaboration Community
Tuesday: Keynote
Tuesday or Wednesday: Showfloor review
Wednesday: Futures and Innovations
Thursday: Domino News
Friday: Wrap up

The podcasts will be published on our blogs each day, We hope you enjoy them.

 

Branding and Re-Branding

On user community day here at IBM Think I was asked to fill in for a presentation that was originally going to be presented by a social marketeer who would talk about how to brand yourself.  Unfortunately I’m not a social marketeer or any kind of marketeer however I have recently been putting a lot of work into changing both Turtle’s brand image and my own personal brand.  With that in mind I thought it would be useful to talk through how I ended up with a brand at all and my thought processes that took me through the recent changes.

I hope you find it interesting.  A big “thank you” to Chris Miller of “idonotes” fame who read through and sanity checked this with me with only 1 days’ notice.  He’s far more of a marketeer and I am and can speak to how to use those social tools to promote yourself, which I really can’t and so didn’t try 🙂

IBM Think so far - well that’s interesting

Curse you Vegas.. you’re not meant to be cold, and by cold I mean I have to wear a light jacket everywhere.  I’m very disappointed in you.  I’m also not doing well with the massive crowds here at the conference, but that’s because I struggle in crowds.  Anyway that’s all the bad stuff out of the way.. now the good stuff

DJs everywhere - music everywhere.  I find it hard to be sad if there’s music to dance to. Lots of snack foods and healthy snack foods like veggies with dip. Purell stands everywhere because 30k sweaty people create a lot of “ew”

This conference is BIG - in every way BIG.  Breadth of sessions, number of sessions, number of attendees,  range of topics, amount of walking. Much of it feels way outside my pay grade but that’s a good thing - I get excited, energised, confused, scared and a little bit intimidated all at once.

First the “excited” stuff - Domino, Notes, Sametime etc v10

Much of the Domino v10 news was announced in the webcast on Feb 28th which I talked about here but the really really big news is Domino Apps for iOS.  Know what that is?

It’s a Notes client application deployed on iOS that is able to run your Notes applications directly from your Domino servers with no programming changes required.  Lotuscript, formula language, ACLs, reader fields all of it works even replication to the device.

Mind.Blown

Not only can you use your existing Notes applications on an iOS device but you can use Notes application development and the Domino servers to deploy new mobile applications

After that my presentation with HCL talked about changes to the Notes client, Sametime and Verse on Premises coming in v10.  The presentation is linked below but some highlights

  1. Delayed mail send - allowing you to choose a time for the server to release a mail message you create
  2. Invite others to meetings - controllable by the meeting chair to allow invitees to invite others, invite others with chair approval or not invite.  This can be changed for an appointment anytime and that kind of granular control is not something any other calendaring tool has
  3. Team calendars - where every member can equally create, manage and edit the invites. It can also be used as a team inbox
  4. Pre send mail hooks - allowing the administrator to determine via policies warnings that are shown to the user pre-send for example “attachment size is too large” “subject is missing” etc
  5. Sametime entitlement extended to mobile devices
  6. a commitment to a smaller client footprint, an upgrade from FP10 to v10 directly

The speed at which HCL are developing Domino and Notes (and there’s much much more to come before v10 releases in Q4) is a big change from where we’ve been in the past few years.

The beta program for v10 starts in April

Now the energised and intimidated stuff 🙂

Some of the best and most brain hurting sessions for me were recorded and are available for live replay (they don’t seem to require registration or login).  I can even catch up with ones I missed https://www.ibm.com/events/think/watch/replays/

Some of my favourites that I recommend you viewing..

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Think Week - With More Than A Little Help From My Friends

IBM Think starts tomorrow for me in Las Vegas.  So obviously here I am in a LV hotel room drinking lots of water, trying to plan the sessions I want to see, when I’m going to be free and and then sign up for several of the labs.  This year as well as my technical sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday,  I will be moderating and contributing to several “soft skills” sessions that are not about technology but about how we work.

Thank you in advance to all the people shown below for joining the panels.  Here’s where I’ll be this week.

Technical Sessions

Monday 19th @ 1.30pm
A Guide To Single Sign-On for IBM Collaboration Solutions
Mandalay Bay South, Level 2 Surf B
Single sign-on, single identity and even password synchronization—in this session, we will take you through all the options available to minimize or eradicate logins across IBM’s Collaboration Solutions (ICS); whether it is a Domino web server, IHS, Notes client, Traveler, Sametime, Connections or Verse, on-premises or cloud. The discussion will cover security certificates, password synchronization, IWA, SPNEGO and SAML Federation. I will explain what you can (and can’t) do, and how to do it.

Tuesday 20th @ 2.30pm
Deep Dive: What’s New in Notes, Sametime and Verse On-Premises for Users and Administrators
Mandalay Bay South, Level 2 Surf B
with Ram Krishamurthy of HCL
Join this session to understand the recent advancements in capabilities for mail users and administrators. Learn about what to expect with Notes, Verse and Sametime Chat V10 on the server, on the desktop and on mobile devices.

Soft Skills Sessions

Sunday 18th
User Community Day including IBM Champion Day @ MGM Conference Centre

10.35 (#9219)
How to create, maintain and change a personal brand

11.15  (#9268)
How to become a different kind of Champion - reaching across the aisle
with Wannes Rams of Ramsit and Social Connections

11.35 (#9241)
Roundtable on managing the noise and home working
with Florian Vogler of Panagenda
Sandra Buehler and Andreas Ponte of Belsoft AG
Rob Novak of Snapps

Monday 19th @ Mandalay Bay Conference Centre

9am
Think Academy Soft Skills Pop Up - Remote/Home Working: Creating a Balance
with Adam Brown of ISW
Sandra Buehler of Belsoft AG
Julian Robichaux of Panagenda
In this presentation the panel will share ideas around how to best manage remote working (if you miss working directly with a team), home working (over committing and temptations) and working for customers on different timezones. There are many approaches we all use and we can learn from each other which ones would work best. There are also many tools available to both manage tasks and time and stay engaged with others but which ones prove the most useful for different types of work.

Tuesday 20th @ Mandalay Bay Conference Centre

11am
Think Academy Soft Skills Pop Up - Managing the Noise
with Theo Heselmans of XCeed & Engage UG
Francie Tanner and Tony Holder of Panagenda
Maria Nordin of Infoware Solutions & Social Connections
Many of us are in multiple real time chats in Watson Workspace in Slack in Skype in Sametime i addition to all the online forums we need to at least monitor if not participate in. How can we best manage all the noise generated around us whilst we work and how can we contribute effectively. Also aimed at owners of those communities, what is it reasonable to expect of participants and how do you stop people from failing to join in just because they blinked at the wrong time and missed a discussion.

Wednesday 21st @ Mandalay Bay Conference Centre

9am
Think Academy Soft Skills Pop Up - The Imposter Syndrome
with Maria Nordin of Infoware Solutions & Social Connections
Jon Schultz of Prominic
Tony Holder of Panagenda
Impostor syndrome affects nearly everyone in one way or another and results in feeling intermittently underqualified or even out of place in our work. No matter how successful you are there are multiple ways it can sneak up on you. In this session hear and learn from our panelists about how they each deal with different with their own aspects of it. 

I will also be joining some of the round table discussioms taking place at the IBM Champion desk @ Mandalay Bay Conference Centre Bayside D including one on GDPR on Tuesday @ 1.30pm

 

My Favourite Things From Yesterday’s Call - What’s Coming …

Yesterday IBM and HCL hosted a call introducing some of the changes on the way with Domino, Sametime, VOP, etc, as a result of the worldwide Domino Jam sessions they have been running this year.  I attended an earlier Domino Jam in London in January which was jointly hosted by IBM and HCL and was very pleasantly surprised by how receptive they were to really unusual ideas as well as honest criticism so I was looking forward to hearing the results.

To start with it’s worth knowing that the strategy is continually evolving, what we were told about and what HCL are committing to is just a first step on a multi-year multi-release journey and that’s good news.

  • Modern development tools and frameworks
  • Easier and extended authentication and admin options *
  • Core performance improvements *
  • Slimmer, faster, better looking Client *
  • Adding mail and calendar features
  • Improved integration for mail and productivity with Microsoft Office

The items with asterisks were those I certainly raised (ok, went on and on about) during the Domino Jam and it’s great to see others did too and pushed them onto the priority list. I was also pleased to hear them talk about Domino as the original NoSQL database server which it was and remains - I honestly believe customers need to be reminded that before NoSQL was what everyone was doing, Domino was doing NoSQL 🙂

The application development innovations include support for Node.js integration and the ability to deploy applications on an iPad - we saw some code but it’s early days for a release due in Q4 and involving such huge amounts of work. There was a definite amount of “teasering” (made up word)  going on and a promise of hands-on access to beta code at Think in a few weeks as well as at user groups like SNOUG (in Switzerland), Engage (in Rotterdam) and Collabsphere (in Ann Arbor).  If you can make it to Think there’s going to be a lot to hear about and get your hands on, but if you can’t then there will be continual opportunities throughout the year before everything hopefully ships in Q4.

One very interesting thing that came out is that a lot of enhancements were already developed by IBM but never released into the product (for whatever reason) and HCL have been able to use those to leapfrog forwards.   Things coming to v10 of Domino include:

  • automated database repair (fixup is nice but wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have to do that at all)
  • removal of the 64GB limit and a new 256GB limit (which suggests a lot of efficiencies in database structure)
  • investment in Domino docker images to be made available with installs
  • update of SAML (to SAML 4) and improved integration with AD

Obviously this isn’t everything, there are more things appearing every day and much is still under NDA but we’re months away from release and there’s a feeling of a team pushing hard and breaking through old models and definitions to modernise and breathe oxygen into these products.

I have always believed that Domino is the best NoSQL database server and mail server out there and it seems HCL believe that too and are going full out to prove it.  Not to mention some of the most exciting stuff being produced is in the area of application development which I’m not best to comment on but still like what I am hearing.

If you were on the fence about attending Think I would suggest climbing off it - not just so you can benefit from learning whilst there but to grab the multiple opportunities to feed back your own ideas.  There are people behind these products who want to hear them.  If you can’t make Think then sign up for whatever user groups you can.  I will be doing the same.

 

Think Sessions & Some V10 Content

IBM Think is fast approaching so in mid March I’m off to Vegas to an entirely new conference without much of an idea what to expect.   What I do have already is a busy week with three sessions to prepare and deliver.

1.30pm Monday March 19th in “Surf B”

A Guide To Single Sign-On for IBM Collaboration Solutions

This is a new session where I plan to talk not just about the technical aspects of single sign on but how to plan for a single identity environment and how to prepare your users.

4.30pm Tuesday March 20th in “Surf C”

Deep Dive: What’s New in Notes, Sametime and Verse On-Premises for Users and Administrators

This is being presented with Ram Krisnamurthy who has moved from IBM to HCL and is the Chief Architect, Notes/Designer/Xpages there.  As part of our presentation we will have content to share on v10 of all the ICS products.

11.30am Wednesday March 21st in “Surf B”

IBM Champion Panel: Stories of Client Success with the Domino Portfolio

An panel discussion with fellow Champions Paul Withers and John Jardin.  We will be sharing some client success stories and answering questions from the room.

I have a few other things in the works, including a possible Nerd Girl session but more on that later.

 

 

What’s A Conference Without A Dolphin Rotunda?

Those of you that understand the heading to this post know what I mean but for those that don’t.. through 20+ years of Orlando IBM conferences around ICS products, the general gathering place, the place where you’d sit and catch up with people walking by, the place where you could always go to find someone to talk to - was the Rotunda in the lobby of the Dolphin hotel.

This year at Think in Las Vegas there is no Dolphin hotel and no rotunda but I believe we still need a gathering place.  A single location where people can go, get a drink and meet up or catch someone walking by.  Having been to Vegas a lot (don’t ask) and InterConnect last March, I’m suggesting this place - Mizuya at the Mandalay Bay https://www.mandalaybay.com/en/restaurants/mizuya.html

It’s right outside the conference entrance so probably a <5 minute walk

It is basically a bar that opens at 11am and serves sushi all day

It has a live band in the evenings

It doesn’t have to be that place (I’m open to suggestions) but I think we need to put our stake in the ground and choose “A PLACE” so everyone knows where to go and where to find each other.

Anyone?

 

THINK Adventures

IBM Think is fast approaching in March (19-22) in Las Vegas.   I enjoyed the larger scale and scope of InterConnect and this is going to be even bigger so here we go….

Speaking:

I currently have one confirmed session on the Think site, I will be presenting on single sign-on both the technical aspects and the behavioural ones focusing on working across hybrid systems and with external solutions.

I am also confirmed to do another session on Domino that i’m very excited about but more on that later when I can share..(VERY excited)

Finally I will be at Champions day which is taking place on Sunday 18th and hope to be speaking there too.  This is open to all IBM Champions.

Show Floor:

At InterConnect I spent one entire day walking the showfloor (or whatever it’s called) visiting booths and really learning what is new, what is interesting, and what I had no clue about in sectors I don’t usually work in.  I plan to spend a day doing that again. I was very interested in the security products for instance and I particularly enjoy walking up to a booth and watching them look surprised when my response to their “we are out of giveaways” is “I’m not here for those, I want to know what you’re selling”

Make sure you give yourself enough time,  at InterConnect last year there were lots of labs dotted around the show floor between the booths as well.  I’d say you want at least 4 hrs.

Sessions:

So. Many. Sessions.  Make sure you download the app.  Previously I tried to plan sessions in advance but the day and my interests move too fast and there is simply too much choice so my plan this year is to wing it slot by slot “OK what are my options for this morning? - that’ll do”.   Don’t miss out on some of the talks either, there are many theatres doing short and longer talks which have a broad subject matter. Last year my favourites included a talk on Robotics Engineering from Dr Sabine Hauert of Bristol University, a talk on new media from the editor of Buzzfeed, and Linden Tibbetts CEO of IFTTT discussing how they work with large amounts of data.  None of those theatre talks are recorded or come with shareable presentations so you have one shot to see them.

Networking:

The size of Las Vegas actually provides great opportunities for smaller networking meet ups (you can’t go 5 steps without coming across a bar)|.  I will be there along with my colleagues in The Penumbra Group as well as my fellow Champions across all IBM sectors and I really hope to see some of you too.  If you see me (even if I look stressed and caught up with work which apparently is my resting face) please say hi, I love to talk to people about what they’ve seen, what they think and I love to talk about what I think. Sharing ideas and feedback is a very big reason to do this stuff in person.

Vegas:

I won’t lie, I’m a fan of Vegas which is odd because I’m not a fan of masses of people or noise.   I do like sun though.  And cheap high quality hotels.  And bars where you can ask for a cocktail and they know how to make it.  And music everywhere.  And really good food.  Vegas is notoriously cheap in the week and expensive at the weekend.  The last I looked the Luxor which is right next to the Mandalay where the conference is had rates as low as 60 USD per night during the week.  Even if you’re not coming to the entire conference (and I do have a 100 USD discount code for those that might want it), consider coming to Vegas to meet everyone.

So that’s it.  I’ve got lots to do beforehand to prepare but I have 1000 ideas of what I want to do and I’m already getting excited.  OK that’s partly because I really want to see what the sun looks like . but only partly.

I really hope to see you there, it’s not the same without you.