Joel Spolsky’s latest Inc column really resonated with me. As the months fly by I find it harder and harder to find the desire to engage in public discourse.
When I worked for Microsoft on CRM it just felt natural. There was information which I had that others wished to consume. At the blogging was ‘going mainstream’ (some would say jumping the shark) and it seemed like the perfect medium. The content was raw yet knowledgeable and it lacked the often sterile corporate tone of technical Microsoft sites.
Then I went on to Azure. The project was ‘half-secret’ and much of my work was internally focused. There just didn’t seem to be much to talk about.
Now I find myself out in the real world. It’s hard to talk about recent customer interactions without betraying their confidence. I spend time in our private Avanade CRM distribution list – quickly answering questions and disseminating topical info. In our industry I think it’s critical that one participates in a technical community. For now that community is closed: its my customers and it’s my peers. In short: less blogging – more emailing & meetings.
That being said I do want to become more involved with Open Source. The CRM space is ripe for activity here. With CRM5 on the horizon I think there is a great opportunity for a group of like minded individuals to go after a specific ‘problem’. With a small time investment by a core team (backed up by a larger community of testers and tirekickers) I think we could some cool things. I’m tired of seeing ‘dead’ CRM projects on CodePlex. It’s time we did something with some life…
March 3, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Sounds like a GREAT idea!
March 4, 2010 at 2:14 am
I agree with your article (but not really very much with Joel’s).
I’ve been a reasonably prolific blogger for six months over at http://www.techedbackstage.net – which I run as a value-add for the work we do with Microsoft around TechEd each year. I find writing content for it really, really easy and the blog has been really well received internally at MS and by the community who go to TechEd. We hit /., TechCrunch and heaps of main stream media on the Rick Rolling incident last year.
On the other hand, over at http://www.codify.com – totally different story. We have the same issues as you around commercial confidence – but also, somehow, the work we do on a daily basis just seems too boring to comment on, even if you are allowed.
The lesson I learned is that blogging is really valuable on specific compelling topics. Unfortunately, most blogs are neither specific nor compelling.
The other thing I notice on a lot of technical blogs is that they can inadvertently reveal a lot about someone’s level of competence. I recall a while ago about reading a blog from a certain person who banged on and on and on about the best way to assemble strings in .NET. I’m sure they thought it was riveting stuff – but any competent SE would read that and cringe thinking “Is he serious?”
As an Internet marketing consultant presenting at Microsoft once told me: “Everyone has a book inside them, and for most people, it is best off left there.”
March 14, 2010 at 12:05 am
Eagerly look forward for your open source contributions Phil. Let us know how we can support/sponsor your initiatives.