I should have expected this wonderfully defensive response, and I could have
guessed its source ;-)
I apologize for being very non-specific with my general whining. Not having
saved copies of all those surveys over the years, I'll not belabor the point
with an itemized response, but I stand behind my whining anyway, having
rarely if ever seen a survey from either HP or Interex which was not flawed
_and_ obnoxious, probably because once everybody got their finger in the pie
there was no time for a final edit before public presentation. (And of
course HP & Interex are not the only parties guilty of creating bad
surveys!)
Fortunately all these surveys have contained valid questions from which
valuable info could be gleaned, and were thus at least somewhat worthwhile,
but go figure: Every Interex survey in which I've ever participated has
sorely reduced my enthusiasm for the next one. And in the course of filling
out these surveys, I'm acutely aware that many folks will hit WindowClose
long before they make it to the Submit button, simply because questions are
typically pre-loaded with the desired responses, and are as such
unanswerable.
I was also pretty vague with "demographic info": again no examples, just a
bad taste left over from must-be-answered survey-irrelevant questions
included with genuinely important questions.
Having said all that, I'll assume that Interex is listening and the next
survey will be relevant, verified for accurate answerability, and about 1/10
as long.
Tracy Pierce
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Denys Beauchemin [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Friday, June 14, 2002 9:35 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: OpenMPE Inc. endorsement - My Take
>
>
> I do not speak for HP.
>
> I also do not officially speak for Interex; I am just a
> member of the board
> of directors of Interex.
>
> However, I need to interject something here in response to
> Tracy's comments.
> Interex is an advocacy organization, our stock in trade is
> knowledge, both
> of the industry for the benefit of our members (articles, publications
> conferences, etc...) and of our members for the benefit of
> proper advocacy
> to HP and other vendors (surveys of the membership.)
>
> In other words, Interex takes surveys and presents the
> results wherever it
> is deemed appropriate to present such. It is through these
> surveys, SIBs
> and other such data gathering activity that we can ascertain
> what is needed
> and what needs to be done. If Interex is to advocate issues
> and positions
> on behalf of the members, Interex needs to know what the
> members want and
> why.
>
> The demographic information is VITAL for a proper advocacy
> position. I was
> in a board meeting this past weekend, where survey data was
> presented to
> HP's Dave Wilde. When a question is posed such as "Yes, but
> who really
> wants this? Are they in a position to really make a decision
> about so and
> so?", having the demographic data is critical. If someone
> says, "How many
> people in the survey have a 9x7 running on 5.5 and HP
> support, and have a
> say in the decision to move off MPE?", we can get the answer
> and sway a
> decision
>
> The demographics are not collected "obviously for obnoxious marketing
> purposes...". They are collected to lend weight to the
> advocacy position.
>
>
> Denys
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
> Tracy Pierce
> Sent: Friday, June 14, 2002 10:55 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: OpenMPE Inc. endorsement - My Take
>
> > From: Larry Barnes [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> > just a thought, could it be that by not responding to survey's many
> customer
> > have voiced their opinions? Sometimes silence rings very
> loud and to the
> core.
>
> HP's already made the assumption that users of old stuff are
> not CUSTOMERS.
> HP and Interex have repeatedly made the mistake of too-heavy
> survey usage,
> along with un-answerable questions in those surveys, along with the
> requirement that the survee (do I get credit for a new word?)
> repeatedly
> enter his various demographic info in fine detail, obviously
> for obnoxious
> marketing purposes.
>
> Silence in this case indicates "don't give a damn, our
> HP3000s are boat
> anchors". If you know anybody who's using MPE (they might
> not even know
> it), get them to submit a response to this survey.
>
> Tracy Pierce
>
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