The Lotus Notes 8.5 User Guide - a book by Karen Hooper
September 13 2010
As it seems that at least the eBook version is officially available, now seems like a good time to congratulate Karen Hooper on the release of the Lotus Notes 8.5 User Guide. I'm thrilled to have an end-user-focused Notes 8.5 book in market, and Karen has done an excellent job of speaking directly to that end-user in a way that is clear, practical, and sometimes even fun.
Packt Publishing approached me earlier this year looking for someone to write this book. About the same time, Karen had sent over her Notes 8.5 end-user training materials and asked me to have a look. It seemed logical to put two-and-two together, and it just so happened that Karen was interested in writing. I am not sure how she did it! She had a baby mid-way through the production, yet persevered to deliver a quality read.
I was honored to be asked to write the forward to the book. Two excerpts:
You are in possession of a valuable resource -- Karen Hooper's Lotus Notes 8.5 User Guide. Within the chapters of this book, you will find step-by-step instructions, examples, and tips on how to make the best use of your Lotus Notes 8.5 environment. New Lotus Notes users and old pros alike will find ideas and reinforcements in Karen's careful and detailed examination of Notes from the end-user perspective. ...I participated in the copy review cycle for the book, and read it cover to virtual cover. The illustrations are excellent, the instructions clear, and the knowledge useful.
In this book, you will find Karen's passion played out on every page. I have met Karen in person during my annual visits to Australia, and enjoyed sharing perspectives about Notes and collaboration with her for the last several years. As someone whose firm is named "Dr Notes," Karen clearly has confidence in her abilities and understanding of the best practices around the use of Lotus Notes, and you see them clearly on display in this book.
Now would be a great time to get a few of these out to your "pacesetters" in your organizations -- the people who provide whack-a-mole support in the trenches, who are seen as "oh she knows how to do that in Notes", and the people who loudly grumble about having to use Notes. It's a book that will pay for itself very quickly in improving the ins-and-outs of Notes for the typical end-user, and isn't that what we all want?
I would be remiss if I did not mention that two friends have also recently become published Packt authors in Tom "Duffbert" Duff and Marie Scott. They have published the "Lotus Sametime 8 Essentials", also a user guide. So in short order, Packt has established two excellent end-user-focused books into market, available broadly, and at a time when your end-users can really benefit from them.
I encourage you to check both books out. And congratulations to Karen, you did an amazing job!
Post a Comment
- 3
Henning Heinz | 9/14/2010 6:59:34 AM
I hope that over time there will be localized versions. End user related materials in English only sometimes does not work well (here in Germany).
But great that there is a book about a current Notes release.
- 4
Mike Robinson http://www.invcs.com | 9/14/2010 8:09:07 AM
Very nice to see a current book about Lotus Notes 8.5.x. Finally I can point users to a non-IBM reference that can be purchased.
- 5
Karen Hooper http://www.drnotes.com.au | 9/14/2010 7:03:19 PM
Hi Ed,
Thanks for your kind words, I must say the eloquence of the forward is what makes the book :-)
- 6
jacques | 11/20/2010 9:10:58 PM
How can I find the elctronic book on Lotus notes 8.5?
- 7
Jack Hawkins | 9/1/2011 5:34:21 PM
Will this book teach me (a beginner) how to create custom views.
After 20 years of using Outlook as for email, I find Lotus Notes to be about the most frustrating program I have ever used.
I would rate myself above average as a tech user and I can code a little but I just cannot work out how to create a view that. . .
Shows me all mail from just my Inbox that meets the criteria I give. . . Usually a date range.
Rather than showing mails from just the Inbox, it seems that whatever I do my custom view always considers all mail that is in the database which makes the feature pretty useless to me right now.
I like some features of Notes but I want to be able to view my Inbox sorted just like Outlook does. In sections categorized by Today, Yesterday, Others This Week, Last Week, Two Weeks Old, Three Weeks Old, Four Weeks Old, Last Month and Older.
If this book will teach me how to this then its a no brainer purchase.
Thx, Jack
Hi Ed!
Not related with the blog post, can you please help me getting the electronic available date of Lotus Notes 8.5.2 in Portuguese?
Thanks!