The Opening Keynote Session for CODI 2006 began with CODI Vice President Colleen Medling, CODI President Eileen Kontrovitz, SirsiDynix CEO Patrick Sommers, SirsiDynix CTO Talin Bingham, and SirsiDynix Vice-President for Product Development, Berit Nelson. Gone was the glitz of previous openings, with a more cautious and conservative presentation by all parties. At opening session, it was announced that 788 attendees were present.
Using the mantra of Change, Change, Change, to make things better, Pat gave an overall summary of the state of the company, including
Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there—Will Rogers
Prior to the merger of Sirsi and Dynix, the previous internal company analysis was this:
We were not moving fast enough. We couldn’t serve you more effectively; We couldn’t be the world-class company we wanted to be; We lacked the resources to move ahead; We were NOT satisfied. Like many companies, we concluded that a merger of industry leaders would be the right strategic move. SirsiDynix is [now] No. 1 in worldwide installed base and new sales.
But, as Pat put it,
It’s not the change, it’s the speed of change. Nothing actually killed the dinosauers.
Gary Larsen’s famed cartoon of the dinosauer convention with the CEO Leader lecturing them,
The picture’s pretty bleak, ladies & gentlemen, the world’s climates are changing, the mammals are taking over, and we all have a brain about the size of a walnut – Gary Larsen
brought ample comic relief to the group, and to Pat, I think, as did
The key thing to remember when dancing with a gorilla is this: you don’t stop when you get tired. You stop when the gorilla gets tired. – Joe Flower
Read into your own mind who is the gorilla in this scenario :_)
Pat went on further to state,
Our aim is to bring you value as part of a long-term partnership. To be a real partner, we must do straightforward communications, even if we screwed up. What does a partnership mean? Being up front and open with our customers; No over promising; No misrepresentations; Greater attention to detail; [and] Greater dedication to quality and timeliness.
He went on further,
We’re not where we want to be with 8.0. But we must be honest with each other about what it takes to build a new enterprise system…We will not release products that do not meet our standards.
Enter Talin Bingham, a personable and able engineer who has inherited the 8x product line with Jack Blount’s departure. To a certain extent Talin has had to draw a line in the sand and keep his eye on the future. Talin asked, which of the three of these questions is the most important to the customer:
[Is it most important that new releases be] a) Date-Driven?
b) Feature-Driven?
c) SirsiDynix is Quality/Stability/Performance Driven?
While Talin was hoping all of us would say the answer was c), the real answer for the customer is the fourth and largely invisible choice, d) all of the above. It can’t really be one without the others.
Talin followed with descriptions of new regression and testing tools used by the company to further qualify and quantify the testing and validation of releases and processes within the alpha and beta testing. He further elaborated on server specifications, which should be available elsewhere (presumably on the SD Site or within conference handouts).
Berit Nelson followed with an overview of the new tiered support services for migration and stressed that the scripts and migration utilities will not be run by the customer but will be required to be run by SirsiDynix migration specialists for ALL sites. She listed, of primary importance, the goals in beta testing to be the following:
To open the lines of communication, so that we may learn from your experience and expertise; To provide the highest quality software to beta test partners; To collaborate with test partners to improve the products we provide; To ensure that our software meets the diverse needs of libraries; and To ensure that as much real world context has been given to products.
Berit also had the daunting challenge to explain that the company has now shifted what was 8.1 to 8.0 and indicated that “general release” 8.0 will now include the originally announced 8.1-promised functionality, with a new release date for 8.1 being post 2006. This drew pessimism from the attendees, as there’s usually enough confusion about releases and dates without saying the old release has now become the new and the new is now something else.
All in all, a reserved beginning. Again, documents with details should be available on the CODI website or the SirsiDynix website almost immediately if they are not already available.
The overall impression was one of a somewhat somber reality-check. Is the 8x product exciting? Yes. Does it take a tremendous company-wide investment in resources to get it out and make it right? Absolutely? Do the customers believe yet another year’s platitutes about the state of the product and the state of the company, other than knowing that their ability to use it is still in a wait-state of its own? Skeptically, perhaps again somewhat hopefully. We always grow hopefully as customers when we are surrounded by the energy of our peers and company personnel when we attend CODI. Will the energy be enough to sustain us once we go back home?
As an attendee of the director’s workshop sessions later in the day so elegantly stated in response to a company comment,
Promise? Do you Promise?
