I’ve only been working with RedMonk for three months, but that doesn’t make it any easier to say goodbye for now to this gig and this blog. I variously described this as experimental or as an apprenticeship when talking with James and Steve about what I was looking for, but I was hoping for something relatively permanent.
Turns out it was more temporary than any of us envisioned. By my reckoning, I make a terrible traditional industry analyst–and as disruptive as RedMonk is, they do that by working within the existing social architecture of the industry analyst/analyst relations/enterprise IT space. I’m a good blogger–could be great, I think, if I stopped undermining myself by trying to do too much in too many places–and good in the new spaces. But I’m not so good at blending into the traditional, primarily because I’m just not interested in doing that.
A further issue is that though I have the background to comment on enterprise software, it doesn’t excite me anymore. And every minute I spend looking at enterprise software is a minute I’m not looking at the latest in social media and social tools and new social forms on the web, my real area of interest.
I’m not ruling out the possibility of working as an analyst–or as something else–with RedMonk in the future and James has kept that door open too. Especially after June, when I hope to have some new child care arrangements in place, I might be looking for some collaborative RedNun/RedMonk projects. We all learned a lot in taking this on, about what works and what doesn’t (though it mostly worked) and I feel confident that if we decide to do any future projects together we will be smashingly successful.
We are separating on the best of terms and we fully intend to keep practicing brokerage together in the world of tech blogging, web development, and enterprise IT. I believe that RedMonk was key to linking Ted Leung into the discussions of opening Flash this week–a bridging of a structural hole in the social network of web and open source technology. It was truly exciting to be a part of that. I am not giving up my interest in what happens with Adobe’s web development technology and I know that I will always be a part of RedMonk’s extended network, as they will be part of mine.
So what are my plans? I’m going to focus the bulk of my time and attention on Web Worker Daily. WWD has seen more success than I imagined, but it has the potential to really take off with a bit more attention. My inability to address things that need doing with the time I had available was a constant source of frustration, as was the disconnect between my industry analyst and pro blogger roles. I will do some web 2.0 coverage on GigaOM. I will dial back the personal stuff on Anne 2.0 and return my focus to the intersection of social science and web technology–I was re-inspired in that direction when I met Josh Porter of Bokardo at Adobe Engage and we discussed what is and is not getting attention in blogging these days. I’m also working on a book proposal in support of one of my big goals for 2007: getting a book contract. On the personal side, my house is a mess, my kids are crazed, and I haven’t picked up a paint brush in six months, much less bought a guitar so I can achieve another of my 2007 goals. These are all things I want to change.
As I walk out the door, I want to say a huge thanks to James and to Steve and to Cote’. They have been generous beyond measure in allowing me to try out the analyst business and then dealing kindly with my complaints as I discovered that it didn’t fit me too well. If I thought that leaving the RedNun gig would mean not working with these guys, then I wouldn’t leave, because that would be near unbearable. But the fact is, you don’t have to be part of a company to collaborate with the people in it in the third millennium. I think I may actually be able to provide more value to RedMonk from the outside, from my natural habitat, Web 2.0.
Thanks also to the many people in RedMonk’s network of clients and bloggers and interested observers who welcomed me. Though my tenure at RedMonk was short, it was rich in relationships that I hope will continue even though I’m not officially a RedMonk analyst any more.
You can find me in the future at Anne 2.0. The tech decentral archives won’t go away, but I will be shifting my link posts back to annezelenka.com and won’t be blogging here.
