Hi list,
 
First, it's great to see Cheryl writing for CMSWire--if you haven't had the opportunity to chat with her, do so immediately. She's sharp.  Also, CMSWire is a wonderful group of folks who support their authors without question. Cheryl's obviously received the opportunity to express her opinions freely.  But having read the article a number of times, I'm confused. 
 
Honestly, the profile of the Records folks in the article doesn't match any of the colleagues I know.  Do you know how many times I call people at the office during the afternoon on Pacific Time? It's after 5pm their time and like me they're either working at home or they're still in the office, preparing a slide deck for the C-level, devising strategy, researching the Next Big Thing (and they welcome the opportunity to take a break!). And they're fully aware of the realities of Good Enough.
 
There may be some colleagues out there who do only what's expected of their title because they're ALSO volunteering for ARMA or AIIM. If you devote equal time to both, that's a VERY long day; your employer and these professional organizations will accept everything you give them.  We ought to give these colleagues credit. They're learning softer skills sets in a somewhat implacable environment. It's not a positive or negative--it's just different.  Good for them! 
 
I like to think that I'm a typical Records person. I read a business or technical book a week. I write articles. In the past three years I've learned several programming languages and technical environment reverse engineering.  I have several Records projects at the moment; one of them is a SharePoint 2010 development environment (and because I want my organization to implement SharePoint 2010 only, I'm customizing PowerShell scripts). In my organization I work bottom up, middle out, top down. Just because I'm not frequently on twitter (and my Facebook posts are light and airy) doesn't mean the profiled Records person is me. 
 
In short, what's strange to me about this article is it seems to support an alarming trend: how can it be positive for any of us if admired authors claim that the majority of Records colleagues are professionally deficient?
 
Look at how many times this article has been tweeted or liked. Consider the harmful implications.  If we're really in danger of extinction, then publicly, Records folks need positive reinforcement. Our professional literature should encourage and educate.
 
Thanks for the opportunity to bend your ear for a moment. My bluntness is not meant to be tactless toward the author.  Simply put, I'm VERY concerned that we're sending the wrong message to each other--never mind the general public.
 
Mimi Dionne.

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