For those of you who lurk, there should be absolutely no shame. It
simply shows that you have much greater self-control than the rest of
us who can't help but put fingers to keyboard. Nonetheless, sooner or
later you'll find a topic to jump in on.
I guess since we seem to be in the mode of introductions, I should
probably say hello. Many of you know me, if not through my posts here,
through my presentations and work for ARMA. (Shameless plug: I'm
speaking at the Mile High Denver Chapter [http://www.armadenver.org/]
of ARMA this coming Tuesday.)
So I'm Patrick Cunningham, CRM, not to be confused with Ray "Mr. Salary
Survey" or George "The Consultant". Ray is a little shorter than me and
George is more distinguished. I'm the guy doing the John Madden
impersonation. And none of us are related.
I've been in this business for over (gulp) 20 years now. I've been a
List member since 1993 (and I still have a printout of Listserv
commands from then as proof!). My early jobs were with the Illinois
State Archives, in the trenches of local government records. I moved on
to the Archdiocese of Chicago and managed the records of closed
churches and schools, while getting comfortable with my first PC on my
desk at work. I then went to Household International (now HSBC North
America) and learned about big-time imaging technology. From there, I
did a consulting stint and picked up a ton of Internet and related
technology experience. I decided that I preferred corporate life and
went to Hewitt Associates as the Corporate Records Manager. This past
summer, I moved to Motorola as their first Corporate Records Manager.
Along the way I have been very active in ARMA, culminating in my
present lame duck term as Treasurer. Many of you know me from my
presentations across North America. The rest of you, well, you
thankfully tolerate my periodic rants here.
I'm sometimes asked why I seldom post where I work. Well, many moons
ago, I found out (the hard way) about the power of the List. I wrote
some factual things here that cheesed off a vendor -- who made a point
of writing to my boss and expressing their displeasure with my
comments. Since then, I have almost always posted from my personal
email account. When I write, I write for me alone. But I do sign my
name and most folks can pretty easily figure out where I work if they
so desire. I just don't think that my employer's name needs to be next
to mine on every post. (On that point, I'm like our good friend from
Down Under, Glenn Sanders.)
That said, the reason that we do these rounds of introductions from
time to time is that people have periodically come here doing drive by
postings. We don't know who they are, they don't explain why they are
asking for some bit of information, and they get all huffy when no one
responds. In the 15 years that I've been here, I've seen numerous
instances where someone has popped up here and, in effect, said, "Do my
work for me." And it is pretty galling when the person doing the
asking is a consultant and has represented him or her self to their
client as an expert. I've found that you have to give in order to get.
I've also found that you need to "show your work". (And I even wrote
about that the other day --
http://readingandthinkingwhiledefyinggravity.blogspot.com/2008/01/show-your-work.html)
Welcome one and all, but please do try to abide by our customs here.
Lurking certainly helps you understand how things work on the List, so
I always see that as a good thing.
Patrick Cunningham, CRM
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"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
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