The subconscious desire to lose money and sabotage my travel plans yesterday has me reflecting on my decision to represent MWT. The risk of buying equipment and incurring travel expenses to cross the country in order to meet the people that will support my effort to offer Scopeware in Southern California must be more anxiety-producing than I was willing to admit. I?m hooking-up with Scopeware because it is an awesome product. But the follow-through and ethics of the people here in New Haven can make or break my business venture.
I will learn a lot about what I can expect during my training today and tomorrow. I?m nervous about the encounter because a successful outcome is very important to me.
?Alpine Coffee Shop
I sauntered from my hotel through the Yale campus on my way to MWT?s office. It is a beautiful campus and I was transported back to my first experience of being here when I lived in a dorm for a week during a UUA General Assembly some years ago. Even though it was early in the day the heat and humidity was already becoming uncomfortable, so I stuck to the shade and prayed for a little breeze.
When I reached MWT?s office I was 45 minutes early. People were arriving for work, but Rob Coverdale was not yet in (he commutes in from New York City for such events about once a week). So, I went to the lobby and found a little coffee shop where I could hang out for a few minutes.
No wireless access points so far. Not in the airports, hotel or here. I looked for warchalk, but found none on my stroll this morning. I do not have an Ethernet cable, so a wireless access point is my best bet for a broadband Internet connection. Maybe MWT will have one.
I?m impatient. I want to get into the training process. I went to sleep last night at 12:15 AM and awoke at 5:30 AM refreshed and raring to go. I pampered myself and took everything at a casual pace, but still I?m way ahead of schedule. I?m relaxing now and will be as centered as possible when I go back up to MWT?s office.
?Lunch time.
Peter Sonenstein and Rob Coverdale are handling the training. I am the only student.
Comfort washed over me quickly as we got into the details of Scopeware. Peter went through a technical overview presentation and I asked scads of questions. I better understand both the power and weakness of Scopeware. The power revolves around making unstructured data available quickly and easily no matter where it is located or where and when it is needed.
The weakness revolves around including structured data in the Scopeware stream. Fortunately, structured data is already easily accessible through the application that structured it and Scopeware can include basic information even when it cannot fully integrate all of the structured details. So, in the final analysis, Scopeware is an extraordinary application.
?Back at the hotel.
Rob started the basic technical training this afternoon by showing me how to install and configure Scopeware. The actual process is fairly simple. What complexity there is flows from deciding what Scopeware pulls into its repository and planning how to permission users to see it.
I was counseled to not worry too much about this planning phase. Most businesses have already thought through these issues when configuring directory structures and user permissions for the OS. It is true that Scopeware is much more powerful, but the plan only addresses default behavior and the folder structure and existing permission scheme usually provides sufficient guidance for this purpose. Each user can easily make changes on each document to fit their need.
It felt very good to work with Peter and Rob. I asked many questions that had never been asked before. They consulted with key development people a few times to get answers. Some of my questions nailed skeletons embedded in the software and others uncovered features soon to be added in the next Scopeware release and others pointed to features not yet under consideration?the guys took a few notes to share with the development team at the next brainstorming session.
Rob was full of real-world examples taken from the installations he has handled. I learned that very big enterprises have rushed to embrace Scopeware. Rob tells stories of growing pains that flow from the relative no-brainer decision to purchase once an enterprise sees a demonstration. In each story I heard more and more reasons that any business would have to say ?yes? to Scopeware, big reasons, any one sufficient on its own merit to justify acquiring the tool.
Tomorrow I will install Scopeware on my Latitude and will look at the backroom behind the administration interface. Then Jeff and I will talk marketing.
