BetterECM - russ stalters’ Blog on Exploring NextGen ECM

It has been a long journey but we are finally getting settled in Houston. Thought this shot at night would be interesting. Enjoy. If you click on the photo you will be taken to some additional pictures shot during the evening.

Well, another year has gone by since I started BetterECM.  Wow, how time flies.  Writing posts for BetterECM continues to be a very valuable experience.

This has been a significant year of change. For myself, a big career change leaving the vendor world (software or solutions provider) to that of a major customer with global needs. I am still getting my arms around this massive challenge. For the industry, the changes in the marketplace continue with the recent announcements this past year: Autonomy acquiring Meridio in October 2007 and HP acquiring Tower Software in March 2008.

I am still struggling to post more often, but my new role at BP has made writing posts consistently difficult. I will strive to improve.

Here are some interesting statistics as of today:

• Total Views: 110,606
• Best Day Ever: 575 Readers — Tuesday, August 14, 2007
• Totals

• Posts: 160
• Comments: 254
• And the most interesting metric: 43,435 spam comments

Looking forward to the next year…

Well only two months into 2008 and my travels have made it difficult to keep to my goal of at least one post per week.

Over the last two weeks I was on the road in London for a week of meetings followed by a week in Lisbon, Portugal.

This was my first trip to Lisbon and I had a chance to tour the city and visit Sintra.  If you ever get the chance to visit Sintra I highly recommend it. The Palácio da Pena, or “Castelo da Pena” is a stunning example of Portuguese architecture from the Romantic period.

Well it happened again. My friend Jesse Wilkins who writes Informata, tagged me this last week with my second memetag. I was tagged last year and had to write 5 things you didn’t know about me.

This one is a bit more challenging since I have to come up with eight more things other bloggers and my readers do not know about me. So, here goes, eight things that others don’t know about me, and then I will tag eight people to carry on the meme. I know - sort of like a chain letter.

1. I have tried a great number of professions/jobs throughout my life including; lawnmower mechanic, boat engine mechanic, bowling alley mechanic, security guard, Navy pilot, aviation safety officer and aircraft crash investigator, stock broker, Chief Information Officer (CIO), company president, consultant, Chief Technology Officer, and now Director for Information & Records Management at BP.
2. I love music. I enjoy most genres except country western and played the trumpet and french horn in high school. I listen to music to help grease the creative skids when trying to write articles, papers or need to do some thinking.
3. My first car was a 1958 American Rambler which I paid $90 for. I subsequently restored the car from one end to the other, including rebuilding the engine. I know, pretty slick looking car right?
4. I read constantly and sometimes have two or three books going at once. Sometimes I do not finish a book and lately I have decided that’s OK. I guess I am a learning junkie and I am always looking for new inputs and ways of approaching problems.
5. I love cooking (like Jesse and Alan) and really like grilling. I guess my love for cooking rubbed off on my youngest son who is now a Sous Chef for the JW Marriott Grand Lakes, Orlando.
6. Over the years I have lived in 19 different cities (one of those in Okinawa, Japan) with the current city being Houston, TX.
7. I was very active in Boy Scouts growing up and attained Eagle Scout with a Bonze Palm.
8. I love photography. It started in elementary school when my father bought me a darkroom kit (digital had not been invented yet :-)). I specialized in infrared black and white photography during college and now I am getting into digital with my Nikon D40X and I use Adobe Lightroom for processing and Photoshop CS3 for special processing. I have a lot to learn.

Now, to return the favor and tag eight more: Eddie, Frank, Jason, Arpan, Lawrence, Ed, Joanna, Rob

I added a new page to BetterECM today which has all the presentations I have uploaded to slideshare last year.

I hope my readers find this new feature useful. Let me know what you think.