While I've got my analysts analyst hat on, let me discuss a bit about how research has changed in the 8 years that I was wasting my time chasing the dollar - I mean doing marketing.

Basically in the mid-90s, an analyst's ability to research stuff was based upon his/her client base. It's really hard to find the time to do surveys and interviews and all of those other things that research involves. That is, unless you sell surveys. At META, I had 400 or so clients that I could call when I had a question. I always called myself an information broker because that's what the job was. I would get information from one spot, verify it a few more times, and then communicate it back to the rest of the community.

Back before the Internet and blogs, there was huge value in that. If you think I don't have time to do surveys, think about your typical IT manager. They had no time, so picking up the phone and calling an analyst, who could then relay back what a bunch of other folks already learned was a huge value. It was a good business and really helped customers do their job better.

But let's fast forward to the present day. Now there is no lack of information, in fact there is too much information. The job of the analyst (in my opinion anyway) is not to gather and find information any more. It's to narrow down the infinite amount of information out there. It needs to be both digestable and useful to that same IT manager who is still too busy to tackle the problem themselves.

Basically, I starting thinking about this after readying a post on Kim Cameron's blog (here [1]) where a reader wonders how Kim has the time to read all of this stuff, link to it, and still do his day job. Kim's point is exactly right. That's how you stay current. You don't need to go to a conference anymore to meet with a bunch of people and figure out what's going on. You can do it by reading people's blogs.

Is there a problem with a certain firewall? Odds are someone has blogged about it. What's going on with Vendor X? I'm sure someone out there has an opinion. Just check out the blogosphere. Of course, this is one way communication. But most of the folks I've met through blogging have been very willing to discuss a point either through email or on the phone, if something needs to be clarified.

I'm sure my wife is thinking what the hell is the value in that? It's not so much in building and nurturing the network (though having a good network does help), it's in helping people to wade through the crap and figure out what's important to THEM. The only way to do that is to wade through the crap yourself. That's why I follow over 300 different blogs and read for a significant portion of my day. When I'm stumped, I pick up the phone and call someone that can help me understand.

The value add is that I've done this long enough to recognize the patterns and be able to figure out what is important for most of you. That's why I get up in the AM and do The Daily Incite.