Dreaming of the Documentum Community and Conferences

Dreaming of the Documentum Community and Conferences:

I had a dream that I was at the upcoming  Documentum Developer Conference and TechSet next month here in the DC area. (Seriously, I did. Was a little strange, even for me.) I was wandering around, saying hi to people I knew, sharing a quick drink. Soon enough, the next set of sessions started and everyone went to go learn while I went off to….no idea actually as I then woke up.

I decided to take the dream as a sign that I needed to write about the event. Why? Because this reflects a return to something that was a regular occurrence back before EMC took over the conferences. It deserves recognition.

Oh, and I plan on swinging by to say hello and want to see you there.

The Resurgence of the Documentum Developer

One of my early complaints about the merging of the Documentum Developer Conference and Momentum into EMC World was the overlap. I had to choose between the business/product sessions and the Developer sessions. There was also an issue of sending everyone to the same conference. People couldn’t very well send the entire team to the same conference as someone had to keep the lights on back home.

The biggest issue was the overall reduction in content. As I observed after the 2009 EMC World, the total number of sessions were down almost 50%. Even now, if you went to EMC World last year, there was a shortage of technical sessions (though it was better than 2010).

EMC seems to have finally heard and they are having a one day Developer conference followed by a three day TechSet allowing a deep-dive into the more in-demand technology areas. Those areas:

• xCP Advanced: xCP is all about configuration, but there are a lot of tips and tricks to be learned to really take full advantage of the platform. If you are thinking of getting certified, or just live with this tech, you should settle in and attend.


• D2 Configuration: D2is new and offers great potential. WDK interfaces look old and people are noticing. I wish I could attend this one so I could learn what is going on behind all of the hype.


• Captiva Dispatcher: Captiva sells well and I was seeing a shortage of experts out there last fall. Research shows that the paper-free world is important but there is work to be done.


• Document Sciences: Nobody out there knows this well enough and clients are asking for it. EMC still has some work on the marketing and pricing model, but this capability is important for the back-end of business processes.

Would be nice to have an architecture track, but given that it might all change with NGIS and the easier scaling that comes with the 64-bit versions, I understand why that may have been left out. It is also possible they couldn’t pry the right people from Pleasanton to run it.

The Biggest Benefit of Conferences

Networking. That is the biggest benefit of conferences. As a developer, you trade war stories and learn from others what has, and has not, worked for them. As a business user, you can learn how peers are attacking business problems that will help you come up with innovative solutions for your own problems.

That is why I always went to EMC World and always tried to encourage the business side to attend. Each year, more attend and each year they get greater value. Last year, I said that EMC World was finally truly safe for business users to attend and gain real value. I meant it.

I will not be attending EMC World unless EMC decides they need someone from AIIM to talk about the convergence of Social, Mobile, Cloud, and Big Data in the industry. (*hint-hint*) It is a shame really because the Momentum section of the conference was really coming into its own last year.

I will be dropping in on the Developer Conference next month. Unlike EMC World, it is in my back yard and I can swing by the unofficial end-of-the-day events. I know speakers and attendees and it will be nice to see everyone there.

When I took the job of CIO at AIIM, it wasn’t because I was running from Documentum. I was a part of the Documentum Community for 12 years. I will always feel connected and will maintain my ties as I can.

That is the joy of a real community, it is always part of you. Come to the Developer Conference. Attend EMC World (early bird rate through February). Don’t just be a developer, user, or manager of Documentum.

Become part of the Documentum Community.