Woo Hoo - I can now take Activities offline!!

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Suzanne Minassian reported on her blog that we can now take Activities offline! The trick is that you need to start using Notes 8.5 and modify a configuration parameter. Here's what you need to do:

1. Download the new Notes 8.5 beta client here.
2. After getting Notes up and running:
3. 1. Stop Notes
   2. Edit \framework\shared\eclipse\plugins\com.ibm.openactivities.client.common.service_3.0.1.2008MMDD-HHMM\plugin.properties
   3. Reset the final setting... activities.enable.offline=yes
   4. Re-start Notes

I downloaded the Notes 8.5 client, but the Activities plug-in is still not part of the Mac client. A co-worker and I have been trying to figure out what the issue is there, but no one seems to know.

Anyway, I kicked off my Windows XP VMWare image in Fusion and downloaded and installed the Notes 8.5 client there. When you launch Notes 8.5 and open the Activities sidebar, you'll notice a new 'Online' section.

When you click on it, you are given a configuration dialog and you can choose which Activities to take offline!!

After a couple of moments, the Notes client downloads all your Activity information and you can start working offline. It simply doesn't get any better than that! Thank YOU, Lotus Connections dev team. This is great!! (oh, and please hurry with the plug-in for us Mac users )

Collecting usage metrics in Lotus Connections

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Lotus Connections v2 (which will be released in less than 2 weeks) adds some very nice capabilities to visualize usage metrics. These metrics are useful during a Pilot and/or Production phase of deployment.

During a pilot, it's important to see how much the servers are being used so that we can use that information when estimating a deployment architecture for production. It's also valuable to see how adoption is progressing. I, however, wouldn't rely strictly on usage reports to gauge the adoption within an enterprise. Instead, I think that's a task that the Atlas component for Lotus Connections can do much better!!

During production, it also helps to see how the system is utilized to help gauge whether it needs more capacity. Don't, however, rely strictly on these reports. You should definitely use better server reporting tools.

Anyway, I figured I would share with you some of the reporting capabilities that will be available in less than 2 weeks! Here's a preview of what you can expect:

Activities:

Blogs: (updated 06/05/08 to add missing Blog screenshot)

Communities:

Dogear:

Homepage:

Profiles:

Why did IBM create Lotus Connections ?

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Have you ever wondered why IBM/Lotus created Lotus Connections? What's the actual business value to us as IBMers? And for our customers ?

Suzanne Minassianminassian@us.ibm.com, product manager for Lotus Connections, gets interviewed by a fellow IBMer,
Douglas Spencerdwspence@us.ibm.com, to figure out why Lotus Connections was created. Suzanne discusses the roots of Lotus Connections, the research behind it, and how it was adopted internally at IBM

One of the key important points that I always talk with my customers is: integration. Integration is critical for user adoption!! Think about it! If you have a BlackBerry, do you use TwitterBerry or Facebook on it? Doesn't it make it easier to adopt those tools when it's pervasive in everything that you do? I think so!

Thus, I also like this video because Suzanne, also discusses the free integration capabilities that ship with Lotus Connections. The video finishes with some things that IBM is looking at beyond 2.0. Enjoy!

Should we add workflow to social software ?

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Today, was one of those days where I got the same question from multiple people. And you know that when that happens, it's time to blog about it! I first got the question from a customer during a 2 hour workshop on Lotus Connections and its business value and integration power. The question was: "Is there a workflow associated with a user creating a forum thread or a blog entry?"

I asked what kind of workflow they were thinking about and the answer was a simple 2 step process asking for management approval.

Later in the day, I got the same question from David Clarkecdavid@ca.ibm.com. My answer to both is: "No, and I don't think workflow is such a good idea in social software. In fact, I would argue that workflow would be a huge turn off and would be a barrier for user adoption".

The customer didn't seem too convinced. To which, of course, I said: " Lotus Connections does have tools, however, that let you, as an admin, manage inappropriate content. And, it's not that complicated to customize the application if you need it".

But, the question remains: "should we add workflow to Lotus Connections (and other social software)?"

Would you:

• blog as often as you do if you knew your blog entry was subject to management approval each time?
• create a forum thread as often as you do and wait for management approval?
  
• upload videos to YouTube and wait for the powers-that-be to approve it?
• upload photos to Flickr and wait for someone to approve it before you can share with family/friends?

What are your thoughts ?

Socializing with my customer

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Today I had the pleasure to "socialize" with one of my customersmitch_cohen@colpal.com. And no, we weren't wasting our time. In fact, we were collaborating and discussing the migration from Beta 2 to Beta 3 of Lotus Connections V2. He then asked how we were coping with the loss of a recent employee. I said that it wasn't that bad since with Lotus Connections we have captured all her knowledge up to the point when she left! He said: "You know what? That's so true. That's a great selling point for Connections!" Indeed it is! The funny thing is that we used 3 different tools to communicate in a span of 1 hour:

1. It all started with GTalk
2. Then we used Lotus Sametime
3. Finally used Twitter

As we finished discussing the upgrade process, he told me "I'm in Westford this week". I said, "I know I saw it on Twitter". Then he said "I saw your voted in the primaries", and I'm like "Yeah, it was interesting" and he finished by saying "I know, I saw it on Twitter". A light bulb lighted on our heads. We both realized it at the same time. With Twitter, we can quickly let everyone what we are up to, so that when we collaborate, it's truly about business. It's as if Twitter removes a barrier to communication! Pretty cool!