Oracle BI Publisher Blog

A little off subject today and not very technical either ... but Im sure you need a break. I was reading the AppsLab blog this morning and Paul's article spurred me into a very long comment; I then thought hey.

1. Im starting to write an essay here not a comment and
2. I have a blog, where I can make a comment and share it - you may not like it but thats blogging for ya - get one of your own :o)

For those of you that dont know the AppsLab blog its Paul, Jake and Rich, three dedicated Apps bods writing feverishly about Web2.0 and Apps. It makes for good reading and is pretty thought provoking at times, like this morning.

Paul was commenting on how the Facebooks and mySpaces of this world have no real relevance when we come to work, he hit the nail on the head for me saying' ,'behind the firewall however, photos and music don稚 go very far' - yep, its interesting to see a colleague's new baby photo but beyond that the share photos, music and 'about' pages do not help you to get your work done, after all thats why we are here.

To be more productive at work I need fast access to files - help, designs, how to's, code 'cook books'. OK, maybe a little too geeky on the latter but most importantly, in my mind, I need access to people.

Knowing who people are and what they do is the toughest thing in Oracle, with circa 60,000 folks with their heads down all beavering away - who is the person that knows ADI inside out, who might be able to point me in the right direction for an Oracle Forms problem. Sure, mailing lists are a help but people are swamped with mail - they may not like to be contacted by a relative stranger but I for one would rather spend 2 minutes on the phone talking to someone rather than exchanging umpteen emails until we had finally worked out what the question really was about and given an answer.

Theres a tangent coming here but we'll get back on track - interacting with you folks out there in customer land is challenging, Im a great advocate of having more interaction with you, hence the blog and a lot of activity on the forum on my part - but for me its not enough. I would love to host a bi-weekly phone conference with customers to work through some issues, convey new features, walk throughs, etc. We do it internally why not outside - in fact I'll look into that if there is interest?

Recently the AppsLab team released a new improved version of our internal employee directory and Paul mentions today that they were astounded at the rate of uptake by the rest of the company. The growth of the employee directory was explosive but just being able to add colleagues to a network is not enough. I'd like to see the number of folks now using it over the alternative directory once the initial buzz of having colleagues accept the invite to their network had died down. Paul even comments on the frenetic act of checking his Facebook to see if any one had accepted his offers to join him - invite me Paul, I'll be your friend ;0) 

To make me bookmark it, put it on my Links bar or even stick it in my search box options I need more information. Who are we are, what do we do, what Oracle experience do we have, what useful files or info can we share, what are our interests (remember this one)  - now that would make adding folks to my network really useful. I could even 'sell' my network as a commodity to others - 'get your ADI gurus here only $2000'. I've got it, the new dating service for lonely Oracle hearts you too can find that certain someone who enjoys 'walks on the beach while reading 'XSLT for Dummies' and eating corn dogs'. I知 not be-littling the app, its a great start just make me want to visit it everyday just like my son's myspace account :o)