Impressions halfway through the Lotus Knows IdeaJam

August 21 2009

Well, we're not quite at the halfway point, but close enough.  The Lotus Knows IdeaJam has been hugely popular, with 12K votes, 1500 comments, and 700 ideas.  We're getting good global participation, though still more than half the visits are coming from the US.  One of my personal goals for the Jam was to increase the visibility of the Lotus community outside of North America, so I'm hoping you're out there and ready to join in during the remaining day+.

There are two very notable things going on in the Jam that I want to call out.

First is, many of the ideas are not "new".  This is NOT a bad thing.  When I say they are not "new", that means that they are things that we have discussed before, either internally at IBM or in the community.  From the perspective of the ones that have been internally discussed, at least it validates to me that we have some really talented, smart, creative people on the inside, and that sometimes these things come down to right place / right time or resources or whatever.  Still, my team and the extended Lotus team should find it immensely validating to see things we are already working on being called out as ideas -- at least I can already confidently predict with 100% certainty that IBM will be implementing some of the ideas from the IdeaJam.  I also like the fact that passionate people have not "given up" on ideas that have been thrown around for years -- and in fact, have been able to show some really significant support for those ideas concentrated through the Jam.

Second, I am really happy to see that the IBMers participating in the Jam are doing so with the same creativity and willingness to challenge ourselves that we do privately in the halls and concalls of IBM-land.  In other words, this isn't all happy talk on the Jam -- IBMers are telling other IBMers what we should be doing, and we are casting their votes in favor of your ideas, too.  This is an incredible level of transparency, and from what I've seen, you all are responding positively.  I have to admit I didn't quite expect this -- in fact, when a colleague put in one of their first ideas before the Jam opened, I "moderated" it because I didn't want that particular topic discussed in public.  Lesson learned *very* quickly -- the topic came up through a suggestion from a customer or partner, and the discussion that has ensued has been really useful.

I feel a bit of a fatigue coming on after the initial wave of the IdeaJam.  I haven't had much time to read in the last 12 hours, but the same ideas are at the top of "popular" right now at 10 AM in Melbourne as were when I went to bed in Sydney last night.  My ask of you for the remaining Jam time is to check out the newest and some of the less-popular topics.  Be sure to read into the ones that are coming in from names you don't know -- I have been thrilled to see so many good ideas from people I've never met or encountered online before.

Link: Lotus Knows IdeaJam >

Ed Brill Melbourne, VIC Australia Category:  Lotus Knows  Add/View Comments [23]

Post a Comment

  1. 1  Graham Dodge  | 8/20/2009 7:54:31 PM

    I had a list of six ideas ready to go but by the time I got there (12 hours into the event) those ideas had already been posted. Reading the existing ideas first saved me some typing.

  1. 2  Bruce Elgort http://elguji.com/products | 8/20/2009 8:07:35 PM

    To quickly review ideas you have not voted on use the "Unvoted" link at the top of the page. This is what I am doing now to review ideas that I have not yet voted on.

  1. 3  Bruce Elgort http://elguji.com/products | 8/20/2009 8:08:38 PM

    { Link }

  1. 4  Craig Wiseman http://www.Wiseman.La/cpw | 8/20/2009 8:47:18 PM

    @Bruce - did y'all add the Unvoted link today? I swear I looked for it last night and didn't see it....

  1. 5  Bruce Elgort http://elguji.com/products | 8/20/2009 8:58:33 PM

    @Craig yes we turned it on this morning.

  1. 6  Nathan T. Freeman http://nathan.lotus911.com | 8/20/2009 10:06:19 PM

    It's fascinating to watch how the process is such a microcosm demonstration of democracy. There's a PoliSci doctoral thesis in this 72-hour window.

  1. 7  Thomas Bahn http://www.assono.de/blog | 8/21/2009 3:19:57 AM

    "[...], though still more than half the visits are coming from the US. [...] increase the visibility of the Lotus community outside of North America, [...]"

    Writing the campaign starts in North America and will come to other countries sometimes eventually doesn't help to motivate...

    (Nonetheless, I posted 28 ideas myself)

  1. 8  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 8/21/2009 4:12:06 AM

    The *advertising* component of the "Lotus Knows" marketing campaign starts in the US. The themes are being developed now, as part of this Jam, for use during the next 18-24 months on a global basis. Please don't hold back!

  1. 9  Matt White http://mattwhite.me | 8/21/2009 4:48:16 AM

    @6 - There is a load of academic research around this area, and indeed, a lot of evidence to support the idea of time limited Jams at around the 2-3 daysmark, though we have had customers use them for as little as one day and as long as a month, it all depends on the specific requirements at the time.

    A good starting point for reference material is the publications of one of our partners Pete Thomond: { Link }

    @Ed - The What's Hot view on the right of most pages in the IdeaJam is generally used for slightly longer time periods, to get a good overview of what's hot today, you can click on the What's Hot title and get taken into a "drilldown" view here: { Link }

    Generally the ideas with most comments will show as hot, as we have learned that the comment threads are often the most valuable pieces of information in the Jam.

    Matt

  1. 10  Reinhard Steurer http://www.dachser.com | 8/21/2009 7:32:33 AM

    How many votes are necessary that IBM looks at the posts and maybe implement it?

  1. 11  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 8/21/2009 7:53:29 AM

    @10 despite this being IBM, we're not focused on a particular metric or cutoff. Clearly the more popular ones will get more attention and consideration.

  1. 12  Nathan T. Freeman http://nathan.lotus911.comT | 8/21/2009 7:53:58 AM

    @9 Unfortunately it doesn't appear that any of Dr. Thomond's work is available online. :(

    I am curious what the academic research says about establishing a time limit. Clearly this spurs contribution, as evidenced by the 824 ideas submitted to the Lotus Knows Jam at the time I write this, compared to the 2548 submitted over the entire life of www.ideajam.net There are over 14000 votes in the time-limited system vs. the approx. 65000 at the permanent site.

    An interesting stat would be the number of unique voters, by the way. Even more interesting would be a curve showing the density of vote participation -- especially by time.

    "...we have learned that the comment threads are often the most valuable pieces of information in the Jam."

    That's intriguing. I would have thought the quantitative information carried the most value, but you're saying it's the qualitative information?

  1. 13  Roberto Boccadoro  | 8/21/2009 12:44:22 PM

    Ed, if you want us poor souls from Italy to participate in the Jam... do not have it in August. I bet very few Italian ibmers will be present. If you plan to do this again in the future, may I suggest September timeframe ?

  1. 14  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 8/21/2009 1:50:12 PM

    Roberto, that's a very good point and one I raised when we first scheduled this. The thought was that we should get started as quickly as possible, and fill it out with other forms of input as the "Lotus Knows" campaign progresses.

    And "pour souls"? Yeah, ok, we're really sympathetic. :-D

  1. 15  John Vaughan http://jonvon.net | 8/21/2009 3:26:31 PM

    @nathan - man it would be cool if the White House (yeah THAT White House) did an Ideajam...

  1. 16  Neil Wainwright http://www.nexonia.com | 8/21/2009 4:06:28 PM

    It's ironic. Nine years ago I started a feedback / product ideas dotcom so that companies could get direct feedback on product ideas from their customers. It was truly born out of my frustration with the old IBM not listening very well. Nine years later...IBM is doing exactly that ... listening online (but with a much better app). Nice work Ed (and team).

  1. 17  Bruce Elgort http://elguji.com | 8/21/2009 6:25:13 PM

    @jonvon,

    Let's just say that maybe they will be very,very soon... I can't say much more than that. Ping Sean Burgess for details.

  1. 18  Timothy Briley  | 8/21/2009 6:35:59 PM

    I would rather have those of us in America follow Roberto's lead and take the month of August off!

  1. 19  Giulio http://www.buzznotes.com.au | 8/22/2009 7:04:03 AM

    Ed,

    At the risk of being caught out for not making the effort to read the fine print, I have a question.

    Once the 72 hour brain barrage has finished, can everyone still vote and comment on the idea's for a week or so ? I hope that everything will not be shut down and locked away immediately, as it will not allow this activity of idea's to get to be collated and percolate through community.

  1. 20  Thomas Bahn http://www.assono.de/blog | 8/22/2009 4:07:15 PM

    @Guilio: It has been shutdown. It's even not possible to open other views, just the first page of "Recent". :-(

    Another improvement idea for the next time: Since the North American have participated a lot (good!), I think, it would be better, if the Jam hadn't ended on 8 a.m. EST - because ideas entered in the last 12 hours or so hadn't a chance to get voted.

    Wouldn't it be better if the Jam started on 8 a.m. EST, but ended 8 hours later at 4 p.m. EST, and not on Saturday, but on Friday. Thus starting at 8 a.m. EST on Thurstday, 80 hours until Friday 4 p.m..

    And/or moving it one weekday (Monday to Thursday) plus 24 hours of just voting and commenting (until Friday)? The ideas entered in the last hours didn't get their chance...

  1. 21  Bruce Elgort http://elguji.com/products | 8/23/2009 2:50:19 PM

    @Thomas,

    You should be able to read all of the data in the jam. If you are having any problems please drop me a line.

  1. 22  Thomas Bahn http://www.assono.de/blog | 8/24/2009 4:03:08 AM

    @Bruce: My problem was, I tried to login. After that, I had some kind of session, but less rights then Anonymous.

  1. 23  Thomas Bahn http://www.assono.de/blog | 8/24/2009 4:05:14 AM

    And how can I get a list of my ideas (like the Dashboard) now?

    Or is there a view by idea author?