Collaborative Thinking

A Lasting Legacy

Very sad news – but what a lasting legacy not only for his family but for the rest of us who were moved by the video and his life story.

'Last Lecture' professor, Randy Pausch, dies at 47 - USATODAY.com

Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon professor who became a YouTube phenomenon with his "Last Lecture," died Friday of complications from pancreatic cancer. He was 47. He died at his home in southern Virginia.

RELATED: Professor Pausch's life, 'Lecture' go from Web to book

VIDEO: See 'Last Lecture' on YouTube

PHOTOS: Randy Paush's life in pictures

AUDIO: Hear a clip from 'Lecture'

'Last Lecture' professor, Randy Pausch, dies at 47 - USATODAY.com

Let the man play...

I’ve been a Packer fan since I was 8 years old (circa 1966). I’ve been through the glory years and the “let me hide and suffer in misery” years. As much as it the current situation might be be difficult or uncomfortable due to poor communication, lack of understanding and (gasp) ego – Brett can still play the game, and play it at a level better than most QBs in the game.

Let the man play…   

FOX Sports on MSN - Jason Whitlock - Hey Ted, I'm here to help

Hi, my name is Jason Whitlock. I'm sure you've heard of me. My reputation in football circles is well established.

I'm the guy who told Bill Belichick to stick with Tom Brady over Drew Bledsoe years ago. When Bill Polian was debating Peyton Manning vs. Ryan Leaf, I was the voice on the phone at 2 a.m. the morning of the draft assuring Polian that Manning was the right choice. I told Parcells to take a long look at an undrafted quarterback from Eastern Illinois.

I know quarterbacks, how they think, what motivates them and whether they're any good.

You're in a jam in Green Bay with Brett Favre. You need me. You need my guidance, my expertise. If you're not careful, you're going to continue to mismanage this situation and go down in history as the dumbest general manager in the history of professional sports.

FOX Sports on MSN - Jason Whitlock - Hey Ted, I'm here to help

Another Analyst Departure

Hmmm .... first Charlene and now Rachel - two well-known analysts leaving on the same day in the same coverage area ... ok - who's next? Bueller...Bueller...

In any case, best of luck to Rachel as well!

While at IDC I've gotten to meet more interesting people than I could mention here and see a huge array of technology and corporate innovation.  It has been a wonderful experience.

Alas, because of my operational experience, I am too antsy to remain on the sidelines as an analyst. I want to dig in a little more, work with companies to get their social media efforts off the ground successfully, and help develop hardened best practices and measurement guidelines.  As an analyst I can report on trends but I can't really understand the ins and outs what companies struggle with on a day to day basis.

The Social Organization: Leaving IDC...Joining Mzinga

She Set The Standard In This Space

Wow ... I wish Charlene the best in whatever she pursues next - at a pace that fits her priorities (work/life balance is a challenge in many professions, including ours). Like most others who follow the social computing/media space - I know we all look forward to her next adventure...

Why I'm leaving Forrester

Forrester has bent over backwards to be accommodating and flexible, but in the end, I have decided that I need to have greater control over how I allocate my time between work and family. As any working parent knows, there’s no such thing as balance – only a series of compromises on both the work and home front. For me and for now, that compromise needs to happen on the work front, so I have elected to leave Forrester on July 18th to have greater control over exactly when and how much time I devote to work and travel.  This was a difficult decision for me to make and I’ll be taking a few weeks off this summer to figure out my next step -- it is my goal to remain involved in this space, in a manner yet to be determined.

Why I'm leaving Forrester

Free Webinar: Deciphering Corporate Social Networks with Burton Group & NewsGator

Sorry for the short notice - still catching up on my work and life backlog! The link below will take you to a registration page...

Deciphering Corporate Social Networks

Burton Group & NewsGator

2 pm ET on June 19, 2008

The number of businesses looking to deploy social networks in their secured business environment continues to rise. There are a variety of business benefits associated with social networks that include: better expertise location, improved collaboration, an edge in recruiting and retention, or capturing knowledge from retiring workers.
Companies want to leverage the benefits of social networks within their enterprise; however there are some unique elements and conditions of social networks in the context of the workplace that should be considered. It’s impossible to ignore the impact on business and IT when implementing social networks in the enterprise. In this webinar Burton Group and NewsGator will leverage our experience in professional social networks to help identify:

• Key concepts of enterprise social networks
• Current trends and future predictions for social networks in business
• Critical differences between consumer and business social networks
• Benefits and challenges of business social networks

Free Webinar: Deciphering Corporate Social Networks with Burton Group & NewsGator

A Display Of Sportsmanship Worth Noting

Having coached Little League/Ponytail softball for 11 years, this story just struck me as an inspiring and selfless act that deserves attention (it has gotten a lot of coverage). The teams involved were battling for a playoff spot. The player who was hurt (Sara Tucholsky) was a career .153 hitter and this was her first home run - ever. She was a senior and it was senior-day. The opposing player (Mallory Holtman) who came up with the idea to help her was the all-time home run leader for the conference. While the team that carried her around the bases eventually lost the game, they accomplished something much more important.  Watch the video - it will make your day.

Actual Video

Additional Stories

What is sportsmanship

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

By Travis David Sports Writer

Central Washington's Liz Wallace (left) and Mallory Holtman (right) are pictured carrying Western Oregon's Sara Tucholsky around the bases. Tucholsky was injured as she tried to round the bases on her own after a home run. (Submitted photo).

... As I was skimming through espn.com the other day I came across a very touching sports story involving sportsmanship in the positive way. The story came from a Western Oregon and Central Washington (Div. II) softball game on Saturday in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game.

Western Oregon senior Sara Tucholsky stepped to the plate in the top second inning in a scoreless game. The senior was batting a woeful .088 on the season heading into the game. Then on an 0-1 pitch she belted a three-run homer over the center field fence for an early lead. The homer was the first of Tucholshy's career.

As Tucholsky was approaching second base when rounding the bases, she realized she had missed first base, and as she was circling back to touch the base, her knee gave out, collapsing just short of first base.

Before head coach Pam Knox motioned for a substitute runner to take the place of the fallen batter, opposing first base man Mallory Holtman, who is incidentally the career leader in home runs for Central Washington, and Central Washington's shortstop Liz Wallace picked up Tucholsky and carried the injured player around the base paths, helping her gingerly touch each base and giving way to a swarm of Tucholsky's teammates waiting at home plate.

At the time it was made clear that if Tucholsky could not round the bases on her own power a substitute could be brought in and take over at first base, giving her credit for only a two-run SINGLE and not a home run. But Holtman, a senior herself, playing on senior day knew that her and her teammates could help and it still count as a home run.

Greene County Daily World: Story: What is sportsmanship

Re-org at Microsoft relocates UC head to its emerging markets unit

Anoop Gupta resurfaces in the Unlimited Potential Group:

Taking Poole's place at UPG is Anoop Gupta, whose most recent project at Microsoft has met with some success: Unified Communications, the company's strategy to move telephony onto the PC platform where the software industry can have a stake. Gupta is a veteran researcher and educator, having served over a decade at Stanford University as a computer science professor, and thereafter having served Bill Gates as his personal technology assistant.

BetaNews | Re-org at Microsoft relocates UC head to its emerging markets unit

Apple snags 14 percent of US-based PC retail sales in February

Impressive. 

Growth in Apple's personal computer business continued to outpace the industry average last month, with Macs accounting for a 14 percent unit share and 25 percent dollar share of all US-based PC retail sales, according to market research firm NPD.

The results -- first revealed in an investor note from Pacific Crest Securities analyst Andy Hargreaves on Monday -- represent 60 percent unit growth and 67 percent revenue growth over the same period one year ago. At the same time, overall US PC retail shipments grew just 9 percent on a 5 percent increase in revenues.

AppleInsider | Apple snags 14 percent of US-based PC retail sales in February

Burton Group Catalyst Speaker Submissions

Catalyst (North America) is Burton Group's premiere event for technologists and executives. If you are interested in speaking at our Catalyst event, please see the links below to submit a proposal (note the deadlines):

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What A Yahoo! Acquisition Might Mean To Microsoft

Notes from the conference call this morning:

• Press release: "Transaction valued at approximately $44.6 billion in cash and stock; provides 62 percent premium to current trading price for Yahoo! shareholders; combined entity to create a more competitive company, providing superior value to shareholders, better choice and innovation for customers and partners"
• Updated: Forgot one thing Microsoft also picks up that is interesting: Yahoo! Pipes and Yahoo! Mash.

Benefit #1: Yahoo! helps Microsoft when it comes to search/advertising.

Solid business boost for Microsoft without doubt.

Benefit #2: Microsoft becomes a stronger social media player

Through Flickr and del.ico.us, Microsoft gains additional assets that help with its community-building and social networking efforts across consumer segments. Also, Microsoft's ability to leverage the install base of people using Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger is also compelling.

Benefit #3: Infrastructure matters. Microsoft's cloud just got bigger.

Data centers are not cheap - economies of scale kick in.

Benefit #4: Combining Talent pools.

Yahoo! has some brilliant people. While not every idea played out effectively - the creativity of Yahoo's employees (including those over at Zimbra) are clearly additive to where Microsoft wants to go concerning social media, collaboration, etc.

Benefit #5: Derivative impacts to the enterprise

Yahoo! recently acquired Zimbra. Zimbra has one of the most modern platforms for enterprise messaging (in terms of user experience, architecture). Zimbra has made inroads in some market segments (e.g., educational institutions). While some platform components may not fit cleanly (those based on Java and XMPP), there are synergies overall with what Microsoft is delivering re: Office Live Workspace. I'm sure the Exchange team would love to chat with its Zimbra counterparts on what works and lesson's learned. In fact, I think the user experience around Zimbra Collaboration Suite is so good that the Office and SharePoint teams would benefit from such insight. Also, it would be interesting to explore the possibility of Microsoft leveraging del.ico.us as its strategic tag/bookmark component within SharePoint as well as Office Live efforts. Microsoft also picks up some interesting mashup tools and social networking technologies: Pipes and Mash.