RE: i NATION ListServer Confusion/ownership

Leif,

You wrote "I have still not gotten the T-shirt or whatever it was (so long
ago that I forget). What does that say about commitment?"  Now I don't know
if this was just a rhetorical question, or you asking seriously.  If not,
forget the rest of this nonsense.

If you're looking for some answers, then it's a REAL good question, which
has a few implications.  But I'll have to say the same to you as I said to
Buck: "Don't know as I have any answers, but here's my best guesses."


I don't know whether it says more about commitment, or more about (what some
would term) mismanagement.  I think it might also be useful to look at it
like a missed delivery schedule.  It may be worse: a case of goods on ad
being out-of-stock.  Of course, everyone's wondering if it's somehow going
to turn into a case of bait-and-switch.

No matter what, it definitely doesn't look good, especially since it's
everyone's first experience with the iNation and the supposed benefits of
being an Citizen.  But when you look at the real, actual, hard benefits that
***the Citizens could deliver to each other***...  well, then the luggage
doesn't seem so important.


The commitment question is not so simple, because sometimes people think of
IBM as an entity, where it's also 250,000 individuals.  It's both.  IBM
doesn't have one voice, any more than the iSeries Community does.  Can any
of the Citizens produce a list the top 10 changes the iSeries Community
wants to see?  I'll check back in a century or two...;-)  IBM obviously does
a better job of speaking as if they had one voice.

I'm somewhat ignorant about this subject, so this is totally IMO:  But it
just seems to me that when you're looking for a commitment from IBM, it's
somewhat like looking for a commitment from a harem of 250,000 wives.  Maybe
it's a stupid analogy, maybe not; I can't decide.  If you read Selling
eServer Solutions, you know that someone like Alan Jay Zwiren knows what
there talking about.  He wrote a couple articles recently, that I scanned
too quick, about partnering with IBM.


But I do know it would be way out of line for me to say this problem with
the iNation is mismanagement.  Mr. Haines was gracious enough to take a
phone call from me once.  So, even if the iNation _was_ totally mismanaged,
I think it would be uncharitable (and unfair) to say or act like it.  That's
one reason, maybe the main reason, I would avoid the implication.  It amazes
me that some of Mr. Haines closest allies in the Community can get away with
that kind of stuff, but I'm not one of them.

There are two other reasons it would be a mistake to write this off as
mismanagement.

Nobody could have predicted how it's grown.  I swear I wrote something to
someone that said "what would happen if 10,000 people signed up" (can't find
it now though).  That was in the very early stages, and I know, at the time,
it seemed utterly and completely absurd.  I think the problem is when a
company as big as IBM gets caught unprepared it has a difficult time
changing gears real quickly.  Nature of the beast, you know.  I hate to keep
coming back to the same point, but that's another advantage an organization
like the iNation could have, if it was done right (i.e. with Citizens
input).

Here's a much bigger reason it is not correct to view these kinds of
screw-ups as a case of obvious mismanagement.  This has been alluded to, I
think by Chuck Lewis over on IGNITe and others. (Again can't find the
post...)  Somebody was complaining about the bags, and Chuck (I think) was
saying how there are a lot of people inside IBM who are working against the
iNation, and how Mr. Haines is working his way through a mine-field.  The
iNation is not necessarily going to benefit all people equally.  Careers are
at stake inside IBM.  And commitment depends a lot on who's in power.

The ironic thing is IMHO (and I couldn't possibly know for sure) I would
think that all the complaining about the iNation is making the folks, who
are fighting tooth-and-nail against it, breathe easy.  These same people
don't want to see constructive criticism help the iNation.


But at least IBM has an organizational structure, so they can offer a
commitment.  I don't see a lot of commitment from the iSeries Community at
this time; but the real problem I'm seeing at the moment is (assuming they
wanted to commit) how _would_ the Community make commitments to the iNation?
Clueless...  But that's a bridge that can wait, I guess.  Of course, if you
assume IBM is going to provide everything for the iNation, you don't have to
worry about any of this at all...


Thanks again, Leif.  Hope I didn't make you sorry you asked...  (Always
wanted to buy your e-book, but haven't found the time...)

jt


(Tired...  Getting packed for a computer-free weekend.  Y'all enjoy...:)


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-midrange-l@midrange.com
[mailto:owner-midrange-l@midrange.com]On Behalf Of Leif Svalgaard
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2001 10:27 PM
To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
Subject: Re: i NATION ListServer Confusion/ownership


I have still not gotten the T-shirt or whatever it was (so long ago
that I forget). What does that say about commitment?

----- Original Message -----
From: jt <jt@ee.net>
To: <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2001 9:13 PM
Subject: RE: i NATION ListServer Confusion/ownership


> Buck,
>
> Don't know as I have any answers, but here's my best guesses.  (>>)


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