**
I agree with alot of what Warren voiced. I was disappointed that I had session slots that had no offering of interest. In the past it always seemed to be ... which one should I choose for this slot. Oh no I don't want to miss that one.
In the eight previous RUGS that I have attended I generally came home overwhelmed with new knowledge, completely exhausted (and not from the parties), and eager to implement many of the new techniques I learned. Yes, we always had the sneak peaks that excited us and made us want the next version sooner, and that part was probably no different this year. But what I truly missed were the technical sessions where you learned something about the nuts and bolts. I cannot believe there's nothing to learn ! It just felt like you were in overview sessions, and I don't mean that as a knock on the presentors. They did a good job and many were very interesting. It was more the selection of topics available to developers. Yes, I did another CMDB, my fourth this year, but I think it's finally sinking in and I'm hoping it will still be there next year when we finally get ready to use it.
I definitely preferred the old Tuesday through Thursday format with Friday for travel. I had to get on a plane at noon to be home by 10pm so I missed most of Friday, for which I felt cheated but in other ways relieved. Darn that summer schedule that can make you busy on Saturdays.
I enjoyed talking to everyone, it is always one of the most rewarding parts of RUG. And there are always new people to meet and put a face with a voice or email. I do believe this is one of the friendliest groups I've ever been a part of. And kudos to Dan Bloom for making this a truly lively arlist session. Kelly and Dan might consider a recording some day .... :) I loved the magnetic words and I noticed ALOT of people wore the 10th anniversary pins.
In another post someone commented on room capacity. I had preregistered for the sessions I went too, but many did not. Now I did it so I could print out my easier to read schedule, not so I would have a seat. I think they should have made that more obvious during the registration process. And they need to improve their workflow to eliminate over-booking ! It's obvious people like tables since those spots fill up very quickly as compared to the rows of chairs only.
Another thing I noticed was the lack of Remedy employee attendees. Usually when in the area the support center people attended on a rotating basis so you could mingle with them. If they were there, I didn't see anyone. And it might of been my imagination, but I didn't see the engineers around as much as usual. Also there was the lack of 'Remedy' shirted presence for easy identification, or did I just miss that also. Doug Mueller did an excellent job making himself available.
Evening with engineering needed a BIGGER room.
It wasn't as 'interferring' having the other product people there as I originally thought it would be. Actually I didn't meet anyone that wasn't Remedy customer or a vendor. I guess those might have been the rooms to go in .... ;)
I know we all make our own good time and that's our responsibility. But it just wasn't quite the same and I doubt that it ever will be again. My one big hope is that next year we have a greater focus on 'technical' sessions. I guess it's not too early for us to think of a presentation. Think of what the sessions could be if our top responders on the arslist came up with presentations !
Thanks for listening,
Susan
Susan Palmer
ShopperTrak
200 W Monroe St 11th Floor
Chicago, IL 60606
312-529-5325
spalmer@shoppertrak.com
On 7/19/05, Rick Cook wrote:
**
Warren, I agree with some of what you just said, but I don't agree that the conference was shorter, except that it let out a couple hours earlier the last day (for those who hadn't already left). They used to go Tue-Thur, this year it was Wed-Fri. Each had two days of tutorials on the front end. I know that there were more parties this year - could that have affected math skills? :)
While I agree that the CMDB was a bit beat-us-over-the-head, I think the message that BMC needed to express (and that anyone paying attention got) was that CMDB is the linch pin of Remedy's and BMC's offerings in the future, and we need to get on that train sooner or later if we're going to keep up.
Given the tighter integrations between BMC products that we saw previews of for v7.0, I hope the sales focus will be lighter next year, with a greater focus on the customer business experience vs. All CMDB All the time.
Rick
P.S. Now, who's up for inventing a drink called the CMDB for next year's parties?
From: Warren Baltimore
Sent: Tue 7/19/2005 10:54 AM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: RUG 2005 - Some feedback
RUG was a very nice time. As always, the most valuable thing about
RUG is the ability to hang out with other "like minded" people and
talk Remedy.
That being said....
There was quite a bit of discussion amongst a number of folks (myself
included) on how disappointed we were in the overall RUG program. In
my opinion, the conference was for the most part a giant Marketing
push by BMC. There was very little in the way of Breakout sessions
that were pure Remedy. Instead (again, in my opinion) they were
designed to market some aspect of CMDB. There was very little in the
way of new information presented. I also found that the information
that was presented was often very basic. Where were the sessions of
yesteryear that discussed the way that others were using ARS? Last
year, we saw sessions like:
Flashboards: Monitoring your Business Process.
Web enabled applications based on Remedy Mid-Tier and PHP
Automated Client and Server Mgt.
The Wireless Help Desk at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Res. Ctr.
Discovering Server groups in 6.0
Supporting JPL's Missions to Mars
Using AR System in a Global Market
Recent Trends in Knowledgebase Mgt.
How to configure and use SNMP with ARS 6.0
etc.
This is just a short list of some things that were offered last year.
This year, the majority of the sessions offered were designed to
discuss CMDB etc. I heard from a number of folks that would go to
what they thought was a promising session only to find out that they
were discussing MAGIC! (boy, that had to hurt).
Now, let me just say that I fully expect sessions regarding the new
CMDB suite and all that is associated with it to be part of RUG. Lot
of people use them and a lot of people are interested in them
(someday, I'm probably going to be more interested in them
myself...just not on my Radar right now). BUT, they should not be the
focus!
I don't know if anybody else noticed this other than Roger Nall, but
it was also one day shorter this year. So, BMC shortened the program,
loaded it up with CMDB marketing and skirted a lot of items that I
would think would have been a lot more valuable to the average Remedy
Developer. If BMC is going to load down RUG like that, then I don't
think we should have to pay for a marketing program. I am going to be
directing some feedback to BMC directly regarding this. If you agree
with me, or if some of what I have said rings true with you, please
forward those items on to BMC. We, the ARSList, have shown time and
time again that BMC does listen to us. I think that they are a good
company, and I have appreciated how they came to our rescue and
released us from the tracks as the Peregrim train bore down on us.
But, they are not perfect. Let 'em know how you feel!
Have a great day!
Warren
--
Warren R. Baltimore II
Remedy Developer
UW Medicine IT Services
School of Medicine
University of Washington
Box 358220
1325 Fourth Ave, Suite 2000
Seattle, WA 98101
The opinions expressed in this e-mail are in no way those of the
University of Washington, or the State of Washington. They are my
own.
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