Thinking about writing - what's worth writing about?

        When I first started writing blogs, it seemed merely as a way to get my story out. Looking around at blogs and sites, we quickly realize that there is a potential to use this as a real professional communication tool. Some like Eckel and Greenspun put up full books with all the knowledge and professional experience. Actually, in a blog its much easier than taking on a full book project. Once I started thinking seriously about writing professionally related articles, I had to think of what to write. My experience is in semiconductor marketing and engineering. I also held field positions in storage networking (Fibre Channel) and EDA. As they advise you in creative writing: "write what you know". So this advice I am going to follow. I plan to research and write about the world of technology marketing. Starting from what to say (outbound marketing and product marketing) to what to actually do (product definition). I also have an opinion about work and business of technology. Which sadly not many people take as seriously as the "core" or "raw" technology itself. While these areas cover a great deal of territory, I will focus on a few specific fields.

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Phil Greenspun's - "Alex" book; first published 'on the Internet' as a revolutionary move!

The ideas I have for writing here span a few areas:


• Marketing in technology: product, strategy, experience, knowledge, etc.


• Opinions and analysis of current events in the technology business.


• Resources in marketing, product management and technology sector


• Personal stories on technology career and work.

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Eckel's - Thinking in Java; author says that the book was much better because of release on the web
Well, like all ambitious or trivial projects, "the proof is in the pudding", so let's get started. Eventually, the work will speak for itself. So enough with that.
      The next area of articles will deal with looking at product web sites. The last articles on Adobe Dreamweaver and Microsoft FrontPage are a good start. They are general enough for most people to get the basic concepts. My experience is in Storage, EDA and semiconductor, which tend to be more complex marketing area. The world of technical marketing (i.e. for highly technical markets) tend to focus less on 'simple messages' and much more on competitive technology. I am not sure if this is a correct approach. That's is what is worth looking at. Do marketers and technologies "think seriously about what they say and how they say it?" Do companies put full emphasis on strategies and actual deliverable messages which potential users can use and act upon? Finally, it is interesting how companies and individuals position, direct and eventually deliver their marketing message.
        In general, I believe that marketing is taken seriously by technologists, but I believe that the resources to do match other areas in the mix (engineering, research, operation, manufacturing, etc.) This concept is not new. Others have written and advise on more resources and more professionalism in technology marketing. One of the people who makes this his 'raison d’être' is Ralph Grabowski. His basic tenant: invest in marketing, otherwise you are dead. Others tend to say it with their basic spin: do what I have done: P/R, product definition, positioning, sales strength, etc. Well, all these ideas and resources will come up as we get into the writing.

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Grabowski's diagram of marketing investment vs. product success (actually company success)
       My experience is that in most technology based companies marketing is indeed under appreciated and under funded. Also, it's been my experience that technologies in general do not know what to ask from marketers. Technologies know to ask for customers to "see" or "demonstrate" (try out) their product. But they do not know about the core marketing tasks and what to make of them in their context. This is an area that is also well worth writing and researching here.
        Well, this is a start in explaining the aim and interest of this blog. Hopefully you will find it useful and interesting. Reading other blogs and seeing how people write on the web, its obvious that subject, points of view and strong opinions shift as people comment and get involved. PLEASE leave a comment or e-Mail me. I do not to be controversial to the point of eliciting a comment, but in all these discussions its useful to see what other know and have experienced. Also, when it comes to resources, nobody is a 'master of the Internet' ~ there are always things to know and to find out. So please lend me a hand with resources, comments and information. T H A N K       Y O U !