Each year I bring with me a large collection of questions and enhancement requests that I first vet in the Meet the Developers lab.  Those questions which I either don’t get a satisfactory answer or get an answer that I think others would like to hear, I will bring them to the Ask the Product Managers or Ask the Developers sessions.  Often questions would be asked in one session that really needed to be answered by someone in the other session.  That wasted time.  This year they combined the two sessions, which was great for streamlining the process and more people got to hear all the questions (and answers).  One other change on my part: I tried to provide most of my questions in advance, so they could have time to research the answer or at least make sure the right person was on stage to answer it.  (often the person who would have the answer wasn’t present.)  Yes, it does mean IBM isn’t so much “in the hot seat”, but this got more complete answers as a result, which is what we really want.

The room was smaller too, with only one aisle and thus, only one microphone.  I like this because it makes it easier for people to queue up to ask their questions. While I asked the first question, I made it a point to let others go ahead of me whenever they got in line.  This worked well as I was able to keep the conversation going with questions while waiting for people to come to the microphone to ask a question. Here is a list of my questions from this year and the responses I got for them. (as best I remember, anyway)

1.  Can we get a roadmap published for Connections Cloud?  (See this article for a detailed explanation)
I was able to provide this article in advance and the response was that they definitely see the point to my request and the value it would provide.  Expect to see this one addressed soon.

2. We need a migration path to Connections Cloud that removes all servers from on-site.  This requires a solution to 3 items:
– Mail-in databases and Rooms & Resources
– Importing Holidays
– A Relay Host service to route mail from on-site applications to the Internet
RESPONSE: We have had these requests by others and are actively working to address them.  The relay host presents additional challenges and may be more difficult to resolve.

3. The administrator console for Connections Cloud is fragmented and awkward to work with.  Authentication occurs in three places.  Can this be made more seamless and provide improved functionality for administrators, including such things as Message Tracking?
RESPONSE:  The request for Message Tracking had not been seen before, but that should be possible and makes sense to have.  We are going to work to improve the administration console too.

5. Once moved to Connections Cloud, the client version information is no longer maintained in the Domino Directory and there is no way to make Smart Upgrade work in SmartCloud Notes environment. Can these please be addressed?
RESPONSE:  We should be able to capture and push back the client version information.  As for the Smart Upgrade, they are using a new upgrade process with the browser plugin and expect to port that over so it will be available as a method for upgrading Notes clients in the future.

6. A fix is needed for overlaying Google calendars on the Notes calendar.  This broke several months ago when Google pushed out their new process for accessing calendars.  They had warned this was coming more than a year ago.
RESPONSE:  We have a fix, but it did not make it into the next Fix Pack.  We are in the process of determining how to make this available.

7. We need the ability to use groups from the Domino directory in the contact list in Connections Cloud Chat.
RESPONSE: Great recommendation.  The developers will look into making that happen. (I also spoke with the developer on this and was already thinking of how to solve this issue)

(asked in the lab only)  8. Administrators need a way to change the mail/calendar delegates for users in Connections Cloud.  Currently the process is very awkward and involves the admin logging in as the user to perform the delegation.  The developer flagged this one as a critical item and we should see a fix soon, so I did not ask this in the session.)

9. We need a graphical user interface for administering Connections (Thank you Ray Bilyk for asking this question!)
RESPONSE: I forgot exactly what they said.  If you remember, please post it in a comment.

10.  When will it be possible to launch the video chat from the embedded Sametime client in Notes?
RESPONSE:  I just don’t remember what was said here.  I got to ask so many questions this year, I felt like I was co-hosting the session.  That may be the closest I get to presenting at this conference.  I thought the overall attitude in the room was warmer and IBM was more receptive of the feedback from the people asking questions than in years past.  Next time I will be sure to record the audio of the session so I can give a more accurate recap.  If anyone has a recording of the session, please let me know.

Here are a few more questions I didn’t get to ask.

10. Allow voting down ideas in Connections
11. Allow viewing all ideas posted by a particular person in Connections
12. Provide a Top Innovators list in Connections, similar to IdeaJam.net

If you like these ideas and want to see them implemented, be sure to log into Greenhouse.lotus.com and find them and vote them up.  Also (and more importantly) open a PMR and ask that they add your company to the request for the SPR that I have already created for these.