IBM's conference call and the new cool
I, along with a few other bloggers and some press analysts, sat in on an Executive Panel call with Rod Smith (IBM VP of Emerging Technologies) and Carol Jones (IBM's expert on Web 2.0) this morning, and got some good open discussion and feedback on the Web 2.0 stuff coming down the pipe from IBM. Not surprisingly, most of the talk was about Connections.
Talking with IBM about Web 2.0 technologies is a little surreal. Hearing a century-old East Coast company talk about technology with this level of artistic language leaves me wondering whether they're looking at how artists work. When the VP of Emerging Technologies talks about "remixing data" and "mashups" and identifying what's "in fashion," I find myself wondering if I'm really at a NAMM conference.
And I think that's a good thing. Knowledge work in the western world is rapidly becoming more of an exercise in creativity than information processing. And if they're using this kind of language, then maybe -- just maybe -- IBM will start thinking hip. Maybe they'll look outside competitors' slack email products or ugly, text-driven blogs (sorry, Mary Beth... I love the content and conversation at your blog, but as a website interface goes, it's awful. Which is TOTALLY not your fault.) and start looking at real, cutting edge, bold software for inspiration on how business technology can and should work.
There's still the traditional IBM problems. In spite of statements to the contrary, I remain convinced that IBM's current crop of Web 2.0 technologies were developed in a relative vacuum and are a major challenge to get up and running in your own environment. They can do this stuff better, and I honestly believe they will, and my great hope is that, recognizing this newfound creative orientation for business software, they'll really think about how creative people work.
So here's the key thing, for Rod and Carol and the rest of the IBM team that's looking out at an increasingly creative world...
Artists use trial and error. They improvise. They prototype. And then they throw it away, and start again.
Creative people go through 100 bad ideas before they get to one good one. This happens in music. In art. In fashion. In literature. If you want to see how productive an artist has been, you don't look at what's on their sketch board or monitor or desk. You look at what's in the garbage can.
If IBM can build products that work in this kind of creative mode, then they can be successful in this new world of business cool. That means allowing prototyping of entire environments. That means allowing fluid transitions between those environments. That means allowing flexibility and choice at every turn. That means building interfaces that get the heck out of the way and let the user reach flow. And while all of these goals are a whole lot of work, IBM is one of the few companies that has a chance to achieve this on a large scale for corporate customers. They're pointed in the right direction -- it's just time to get on the gas.
Comments
With Connections and Quickr they have built "propositions" that feel very much like they have come from a small, niche, dynamic software company (whether the technical facts match up to that once we've had to deal with WAS, Portal etc. is a different matter) - we ought to give them credit for what they have achieved already....
Posted by Stuart McIntyre At 12:22:03 PM On 06/20/2007 |
I'm just trying to think big here. 'Cause Web 2.0, and Enterprise 2.0... they're big, Big BIG ideas.
Posted by Nathan T. Freeman At 12:42:33 PM On 06/20/2007 |
You're saying that Connections 1.0 is like Birth of the Cool. Soon IBM will make an related acquisition that will become Kind of Blue. Then a new release will come out that will be Miles Ahead of the competition, hitting all of its Milestones. Unfortunately, as artists do, things will veer off course In a Silent Way. After that bad trip, IBM will reinvent itself in the web 3.0 era into some kind of Doo Bop product that will be Live Around the World. Finally, the product will crash and burn just on the cusp of one more legendary reinvention, posthumously realizing it still had Miles To Go.
At least it will be a better Groove.
Posted by Ed Brill At 01:03:58 PM On 06/20/2007 |
I agree that IBM is starting to hit some of the cool areas. I feel like a kid waiting to open a present though. The anticipation is killing me for what's next.
Posted by Jeff Picco At 03:08:48 PM On 06/20/2007 |
Posted by Lance Spellman At 05:51:55 PM On 06/20/2007 |
Posted by Stuart McIntyre At 05:27:31 AM On 06/21/2007 |