fall in love with technology again

We installed a beta version of Domino8 this morning. Now to kickoff the beta testing and get cracking in full gear. Let’s see if this baby is worth the hype.. ;)

Hate not..

I’m having a minor mental block planning a major version upgrade. Endless rounds of testing, making sure fool-proof backups are done, mail template upgrades. Beta testing.. etc.

But I tell myself, it’s worthwhile. And everything worth doing, is worth doing right the first time.

..blew my mind. Quickr gives me hope where document management is concerned. Connections may be the holy grail to take our KM efforts to the next level. Those boys in yellow and blue did good. Sorry folks.. Exchange ain’t getting a foot in our door, not while I’m around.. ;)

is tomorrow. I bet they’re gonna harp on Websphere some more. I’m kinda pissed with Websphere coz our recent (haphazard) attempts have failed miserably. But I’m eager to hear about Notes 8, Lotus Quickr and Connections. I’m all about Web 2.0 and even if I can’t write codes to save my life, I love the endless possibilities of good software.

Sometimes when I read about the latest in web development, I honestly wished I could learn up programming. I totally love how some web apps have become such an integral part of daily life, those dubbed as social networking apps. 43T is definitely one good example, though most articles would often quote MySpace and FaceBook instead.

I’d love to see how we (my team of developers and I) can build something that’s user-friendly and simple but at the same time affects how we do business positively. What comes to mind are typically mobile apps, but I have to admit I am yet to see something credible reach the handheld platform, at least where our shores are concerned. We’re talking the next mobile app, beyond email and calendaring. Stuff like sales force automation, automated job completion forms, mobile KM portals, etc. Some of these things are on my project list for 2007. My problem is that we lack the skills that typically support such development.. Java, AJAX, etc. It’s not impossible, these things take time and money obviously. It’s a bit unfortunate that despite us being a leading IT company, getting expertise for in-house projects is still somewhat painful sometimes.

There are days I thought I’d give up on this goal. But then I’d encounter yet one more cool thing like Scrybe or some other web apps that makes technology sexy again. I’ll keep this goal around to remind me to keep the faith. Trust me, it’s not easy especially when the sales pitch is over and you’re left trying to figure out, “How does this work again?”.

I just read Nicholas Carr’s controversial piece (I know, it’s kinda dated) discussing the evolution of IT from a proprietary corporate asset into a utility function akin to transitions in the power industry. It was initially required for my masters thesis, but it has had such a profound impact in my outlook that I am beginning to rethink some of my assumptions, especially since I make a living as an IT/IS manager. No doubt there are detractors aplenty but his vision and persuasive arguments cannot be denied. Still, I will do justice to the many arguments arising from this seminal article. At the very least, I’m sure it will change my perception and expose me to different thoughts and arguments concerning the future path of IT.

is the gap that lies between the sales pitch and what it takes to get things to work. Here you have a person who is blessed with the gift of the gab and tells you that anything is possible. You buy the pitch, converts your skepticism into some kind of faith, signs a bunch of papers (normally a purchase order), get into a room with a few techies and before long, they start shaking their heads.. or frown like some kind of thoughtful sage.. or sigh long and hard.

Uh oh.. not a good sign.

I have been burnt too many times by overly-optimistic sales pitches. Similarly, I have become disenchanted hearing why things don’t actually work the way they’re supposed to.

I am trying to find that sacred middle ground. Where logic ties our expectation, but the evolution of technology fuels our dreams for something better, something that breaks down the walls that forms this obstacle course we call work (or productivity, etc.)

I am trying to find that magic potion that makes people believe, take leaps of faith, make more mistakes and learn from them.. instead of sweeping these “incidents”/”oversights” underneath a carpet called bureaucracy or tucking them neatly into a giant folder labelled “Defunct”. I am trying to band together misfits who are brave enough to say, Yes.. this can be done, and yes, we will do whatever it takes to make this happen.

A tall order? Perhaps. But Rome wasn’t built in a day. Thus my empire will take some time too, and a whole lot of dreaming. At least for now.

I was at a technical briefing on Lotus Notes & Domino 7 today. Initially I was skeptical. I mean.. c’mon, just how much more can you do with a software that began as an email application and has evolved by seven versions. Well, an hour later, I was proven wrong. Apparently, quite a lot.

I won’t go into too much details here, but suffice to say that I was stirred into excitement when they shared the wonderful possibilities that ND7 as well as “Hannover” the next version had in store. I particularly love the web services portion and how it made integration with SAP looked like child’s play. Haha.. that might be a gross understatement, but either Websphere is really THE next best thing since slice bread or those two speakers we had today were some kind of wizards who wove their spells on us and made us think anything is possible with Websphere in our hands.

I practically grew up in my professional capacity on Lotus Notes. And I would probably be dead and buried before they could ever bring in Exchange into my company.. again, I am inclined to exagerrate yet again. But still, nothing else I know can do what Notes can, especially in rapid development of office automation applications to help us track the most mundane of routines, like ordering stuff and even claiming expenses. Seriously, this is cool stuff.

Right, enough gushing like a virgin technofreak who just discovered technology.. but really, this was exactly how I felt today. And it felt so good. :)