Lotus knows that yellow is the new aircover

by Volker Weber

lkideajam.jpg

The Lotus Knows IdeaJam is over. It had a lot of traffic, ringing up as many hits an hour as IdeaJam usually has in a week. That is two orders of magnitude. A positive and bonding experience. It's over and you can add two phrases to your bingo card: "almost a thousand" and "more than twentythousand". It is going down in Lotus history as a win in itself.

But it's only a means to an end. Lotus said, they wanted ideas. And for those who have been hanging around for a while, many, many of those ideas were somewhat familiar. Actually, Lotus has been told these ideas for years on end. Don't do fluffy brand marketing, show the product, involve students and universities, make Lotus technology available for home users, etc. etc.

I have asked last week why there was so little attendance by the German community. I gave a few reasons, but the biggest ones came back in emails. "Why do I have to tell Lotus again?" - "NATO - No Action Talk Only", etc. etc.

So now it is time for action. There has been plenty of talk. Remember "yellow is the new black" from a past Lotusphere closing session? Ended up as mail footer. Or "air cover" from a more recent? Nothing happened. But, boy, is it going to happen. The ball is in IBM's court.

Comments

I have no idea if IBM knows that in August Europe is on holidays.... me, too.

Albert Buendia, 2009-08-26

Well, it was one of the reasons I submitted an idea. "Global" initiatives are often US-American. And they don't necessarily know that all of France, Italy and Spain are on vacation in August. ;-)

Volker Weber, 2009-08-26

I am really interested which ideas will be followed up by Lotus in what time frame. Maybe a consolidated public list (on IdeaJam) is a good start that something is going to happen at IBM.

Thomas Rickert, 2009-08-26

Very true... the ball *is* in IBM's court. I am cautiously/cynically optimistic that this time will be different. Actions will ultimately tell the story.

Thomas "Duffbert" Duff, 2009-08-26

Volker I think you have summarised it all quite well. IBM are just going to hear alot of what many of old hands have been whining about for years.

If IBM had some foresight in this process they have started, they would have let the voting continue after the close to provide a clear picture of intent, and also let the wider community give feedback, rather than the yellow-zealots who will not really provide any new insights than we already have.

Given how they've shut the site off so quickly, it comes across as disingenuous of this process they are proposing to follow. Hopefully I am wrong about this...

Giulio Campobassi, 2009-08-27

Old vowe.net archive pages

I explain difficult concepts in simple ways. For free, and for money. Clue procurement and bullshit detection.

vowe

Paypal vowe