Friday, August 21, 2009

Why does IBM allow Lotus to behave like this?

Everyone who works with Lotus software has the right to expect strict corporate control from IBM but it looks like the blue-suited executives are just turning a blind eye to this problem. Speaking personally, I am really worried at some of the suggestions that are getting airtime over at IdeaJam. Hey, don't get me wrong... there's lots of good stuff too, but some of the ideas are just plain dumb and its just possible that Lotus management might take those ideas seriously.

Thankfully Ideajam also gives visitors the ability to vote against an idea. Even if you have no ideas of your own to throw into the pot, get your butt over there and vote against some of the stupid stuff that people are suggesting:
  • A knighthood for Ed Brill....
  • Change the Lotus logo to a picture of Bhudda...
  • Move Lotus Corporation to the Isle of Man as a tax shelter...
  • Don't sell Lotus software south of the Mason-Dixon line...
  • Revoke the US Declaration of Independence (that one came from somewhere in England)...
  • Re-release Lotus 1-2-3 as a commemorative edition...
... the list goes on and on. Unfortunately it seems that IBM is standing back and letting this event run for the full 72 hours so it looks like its up to us to fix the problem. If you want to protect Lotus Management from stupid ideas then you know what to do. Click here then Vote early and Vote often.

I know I have!
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4 comments:

Gavin Bollard said...

There's nothing wrong with a bunch of obviously crap ideas provided that they don't get too many votes.

The problem I found with the Lotus Knows campaign, is the same problem I've found elsewhere in IdeaJam. There are too many posts of the same idea. Nobody seems to be properly descriptive in terms of titles and categories.

Furthermore, I get the feeling that we're supposed to have "Lotus Knows..." at the front of everything.

All of my ideas seem actually to be based around filling in the Gaps that Lotus doesn't know. It's too much for my aspie/OCD mind to take.

My big problem right now is that I've got a crystal clear vision of the future of computing. Google is on the right track. Microsoft still hasn't found their ... erm... tail... and IBM has a large chunk of the jigsaw together but doesn't seem to realise that there's a time limit for them to put it together.

The next few years present one of the greatest opportunities for IBM as well as a period of the greatest risk.

Chris Reckling said...

wow! I've spent a lot of time on that site and haven't seen those ideas that you point out. I did see one Notes bashing comment, but I think it got deleted.
I do think that people have not exactly (ahem) read what the topics are about. We don't need feature requests right now - that's what the other idea jam is for. This jam is about spreading the gospel beyond the flock.
Chris

Eric Mack said...

I would propose that IBM needs to do a second round and cull/merge these so people can tweak. During this time, they could disable new ideas. The goal is to converge/merge posts.

Chris Toohey said...

1) From what I understand, there are tons of IBMers reviewing the ideas in this Jam. I doubt anyone is going to take the more obviously - how shall I put this - sophomoric "ideas". What I don't like is that said idea authors would muddy the waters and make the section leads wade through the dreck.

... I'd like to think we're ALL professionals here. Sadly, I'm proven wrong every now and then.

2) Some people - as expected - didn't RTFM and are putting feature requests in there. Hopefully those are being ignored as well, but it's yet another post that said IBMer has to wade through...

3) I didn't start my post with "Lotus Knows"... as my idea was more for a marketing strategy than a tagline.

... and I think that's what we're missing with the majority of these posts. I'd stay away from the "Lotus Knows" posts and stick with actual ideas. Keep the "Lotus Knows" for Twitter and other social networks and media.