There’s a saying in Politics (Israel politics at least) that every new public official gets a 100 days grace period. Personally I think that’s too much. 100 days? that’s more than 1 quarter ! In corporate life, grace period is a lot shorter. I like to think 30 days, but usually it’s less. I feel like my grace period was just over, 20 days (21 almost) into the job. Next week is quite busy for me, 2 meetings per day, most of them with customers, presenting my portfolio. There’s a learning curve of course, but I feel next week is my first ‘true’ week as WPLC sales specialist.
I have never seen my calendar as full as it is now. I’ve been driving (or commuting for US readers) a lot, customers, business partners, presenting at IBM and other events, and I see a shift in my working hours. I try to come in around 09:30 (if I don’t have morning meetings), but I stay longer, sometimes until 20:30 – I’m a night guy, like to work when it’s quiet and late.
As for support from within – I get plenty of that. First, many colleagues have offered their help and assistance, without asking. For those who works for large corporations, there are many systems and processes that you have to learn, and that can be frustrating at times, because it takes a lot of time to learn. And it’s purely administrative. Second, there’s lots of information available, both internally (IBM Intranet) and externally (ibm.com/software/lotus). My del.icio.us account has grown in the past 20 days, with new bookmarks. Some internal (that you can’t access obviously unless you’re an IBMer) and most are external, so feel free to browse. So I read a lot. That’s good. Third, blogs. Yes, you heard me right, blogs. There’s a new folder in my Google Reader that’s entitled “lotus and portal”, and I’m tracking over 15 blogs – most of them are sales/marketing oriented, but some are also technical ones. Good to know, and try, when I have the time. You can see the list of my lotus/portal blogs at the bottom of this post.
Gotta to now, lots of stuff to read, presentations to prepare, fact sheet to memorize…
Here’s a list of the blogs I follow, in the ‘lotus and portal’ folder (in random order):
Adam Gartenberg, Carl Tylor, Chris Peppin, Collaboration Loop, developerWorks, Ed Brill, eKrantz, Enterprise 2.0 News, IBM Lotus Notes Hints and Tips, IdoNotes (and Sleep), Lotus Geek, Lotus Rock Star, Lotus Viral Marketing, Mary Beth Raven, The Connections Blog and The Quickr Blog.
