Connect 2013: Gettin’ Smaht

Just to clarify, “smaht” is Massachusetts-ese for “smart”, as in when Tommie tells Kevin on This Old House,  “Ainchu the smaht one?”

All across the Connect 2013 show you see and hear stuff that is “smart”:  Smarter Commerce, Smarter Workforce, Smarter Cities, and more.  When I first came across these “smarter” products I confess I was skeptical.  I mean, Agent 86 had a “smart shoe”, that wasn’t actually very smart, right?

But a message coming through loud and clear for me here at the show is smarter is where we need to go.  Let’s face it: The fundamentals of collaboration are the same today as they were 20 years ago at the first Lotusphere: Saving information and sharing information with people and teams.  A Connections community is logically pretty much the same as a circa-1999 Notes teamroom.

There is a difference though – the community is smarter.  It sends notifications and makes recommendations, just to name the top 2 clever things a community can do.  These are individually small things, but their cumulative effect makes a major difference.

But I have to say the smartest thing I’ve seen at Connect 2013 so far was They Might Be Giants in the OGS:

After 30 years these guys still have it.  They did this number for us, one of my faves:

Leaving out the whistles and bells … all time greatest – and smartest – song about a nightlight, ever.  Well done, OGS!