Saturday, June 09, 2007
Should I become an Industry Analyst?
I go through mood swings when it comes to my own thoughts about industry analysts and have asked myself how I can improve the quality of research instead of just throwing daggers...
The notion of open source analysis was started by the folks over at Redmonk and has been wildly successful. My thought though is that it can be made even better in several ways. First, I do believe that traditional publishing (aka the monolithic whitepaper) still has a place and that one cannot solely rely on blogging alone.
My second thought is that in order for open source analysis to be successful, someone needs to provide a guidance on how others outside the community can participate. So far, it still seems too one-way and has traits of dual licensing, lack of attribution and isn't done in a way that there is massive demand for output.
Open source software projects hosted on sourceforge allow project leads to put the skills they need for other folks to bring to make their project successful yet open source analysis doesn't have the equivalent. Traditional media such as CIO magazine, Information Week and others also aren't talking about how open source analysis may be a potential solution to the perceived lack of integrity in this space.
Larry Greenemeier of Information Week discusses the problem of credibility of large analyst firms such as Gartner but doesn't propose any form of call to action. What if Gartner were to embrace open source analysis for some of their research?
Anyway, my third observation is that open source analysis seems to be stuck in the world of enterprise software. Outside of work, I am also a passionate gamer and know this space pretty deeply. The gaming industry seems to be only covered by IDC and the Yankee Group which seems insulated from the attacks that Gartner faces from all those folks who question their integrity.
So, when you combine these three thoughts, it demands me to figure out how to become a part-time industry analyst in the gaming market and to bring the notion of open source analysis to this space. I wonder if there are others that would be willing to partner to make a viable business model out of this pursuit?
Of course, I would take all profits and contribute them to worthy charities and along the way encourage folks to use their wealth for the good of mankind which is the ultimate in being open...
| | View blog reactionsThe notion of open source analysis was started by the folks over at Redmonk and has been wildly successful. My thought though is that it can be made even better in several ways. First, I do believe that traditional publishing (aka the monolithic whitepaper) still has a place and that one cannot solely rely on blogging alone.
My second thought is that in order for open source analysis to be successful, someone needs to provide a guidance on how others outside the community can participate. So far, it still seems too one-way and has traits of dual licensing, lack of attribution and isn't done in a way that there is massive demand for output.
Open source software projects hosted on sourceforge allow project leads to put the skills they need for other folks to bring to make their project successful yet open source analysis doesn't have the equivalent. Traditional media such as CIO magazine, Information Week and others also aren't talking about how open source analysis may be a potential solution to the perceived lack of integrity in this space.
Larry Greenemeier of Information Week discusses the problem of credibility of large analyst firms such as Gartner but doesn't propose any form of call to action. What if Gartner were to embrace open source analysis for some of their research?
Anyway, my third observation is that open source analysis seems to be stuck in the world of enterprise software. Outside of work, I am also a passionate gamer and know this space pretty deeply. The gaming industry seems to be only covered by IDC and the Yankee Group which seems insulated from the attacks that Gartner faces from all those folks who question their integrity.
So, when you combine these three thoughts, it demands me to figure out how to become a part-time industry analyst in the gaming market and to bring the notion of open source analysis to this space. I wonder if there are others that would be willing to partner to make a viable business model out of this pursuit?
Of course, I would take all profits and contribute them to worthy charities and along the way encourage folks to use their wealth for the good of mankind which is the ultimate in being open...
