But if Armadgeddon wants Luther-style manifestos here is one. A Call for Open Source Analysis.
Along these lines I was wondering just this morning whether we should even call them “briefings” at RedMonk any more.
A briefing sounds more like a one way communication. but RedMonk doesn’t do one way communication, as anyone that has spent any time with us knows. We’re into analysis as a conversation.
what is a briefing? Let’s ask dictionary.com
brief·ing  ( P ) Pronunciation Key (br  f ng)n.
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| Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
While we’re thinking about language here is some advice for any vendor, assuming you’re doing a briefing. Think about the etymology of the word.
Briefing comes from “brief”, which means concise. A deck with 50 slides is not suitable for a briefing, or a one hour conversation. If you want to pay an analyst to help you with focus, then by all means come along with a hundred charts. But if its value you want, and some time to gain insights from the analysts knowledge of the market, its players and dynamics, then keep your slide deck short.
Leave 10 minutes of time, by keeping your deck to a manageable 15 or so slides, and you will probably get three or four times the value out of the interaction. (unless of course you’re dealing with Claudia Shiffer analysts, you know the ones, the ones that won’t get out of bed for less than $50k)
It is a stated RedMonk goal that any vendor that spends an hour on the phone with us will come away with at least one key, actionable, insight. That is, we feel that information flow is a two way affair. Not every insight is pay for play. Which is one reason we find it, if not disgusting, then quite weird and certainly unethical, that an industry analyst firm would even consider charging for a “briefing”.
RedMonk likes to create feedback loops and that means putting something in, making a contribution. This is, after all, the Age of Participation.
I am not sure what to call them rather than briefings? Perhaps you have an idea?
Maybe we should just offer RedMonk conversations (1 hour, unpaid), and RedMonk consultations (more than one hour, paid).
Here are some alternatives for “briefing” – for obvious reasons we’re unlikely to call them “hot poop” or “dope sheet” sessions….
6 entries found for briefing.
| Main Entry: | briefing |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | informing |
| Synonyms: | conference, directions, discussion, guidance, information, initiation, instruction, meeting, preamble, priming, rundown, update |
| Antonyms: | secret |
| Source: | Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.1.1) Copyright © 2005 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved. |
| Main Entry: | announcement |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | proclamation |
| Synonyms: | advertisement, advice, briefing, broadcast, broadcasting, bulletin, communication, communiqué, disclosure, dissemination, divulgence, edict, exposing, exposition, expression, intimation, message, narration, news, notice, notification, prediction, promulgation, publication, publishing, recitation, release, report, reporting, revelation, statement |
| Antonyms: | secret |
| Source: | Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.1.1) Copyright © 2005 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved. |
| Main Entry: | communication |
| Part of Speech: | noun 2 |
| Definition: | information |
| Synonyms: | account, advice, announcement, briefing, bulletin, communiqué, conversation, converse, declaration, directive, disclosure, dispatch, dope, dope sheet, excerpt, global village, goods, hot poop, hot story, ideas, info, information, inside story, intelligence, language, lowdown, message, missive, news, note, pipeline, poop, prophecy, précis, publicity, report, revelation, scoop, skinny, speech, statement, summary, tidings, translation, utterance, warning, word, work |
| Source: | Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.1.1) Copyright © 2005 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved. |
| Main Entry: | direction |
| Part of Speech: | noun 3 |
| Definition: | instruction |
| Synonyms: | advice, advisement, assignment, briefing, bum steer, directive, dope, dope sheet, guidelines, indication, low-down, notification, plan, poop sheet, prescription, recommendation, regulation, sealed order, specification, specs, steer, summons, tip |
| Source: | Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.1.1) Copyright © 2005 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved. |
| Main Entry: | instruction |
| Part of Speech: | noun 2 |
| Definition: | demand |
| Synonyms: | advice, briefing, command, direction, directive, information, injunction, mandate, order, plan, ruling |
| Source: | Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.1.1) Copyright © 2005 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved. |
| Main Entry: | rundown |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | summary |
| Synonyms: | briefing, outline, précis, re-cap, report, resume, review, run-through, sketch, synopsis |
| Source: | Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.1.1) Copyright © 2005 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved. |
neilwd says:
August 11, 2005 at 6:23 pm
My favourite is probably “bum steer”. Though it would work better for some analyst firms than others…
miko says:
August 11, 2005 at 7:27 pm
Briefs: Tighter-fitting style of underclothing covering groin area. Elastic waistband and leg closure. Fabric ends at top of thigh.
Peter Armstrong says:
August 12, 2005 at 8:37 am
May sound nauseating and trite, but I like them to be an exchange.
john simonds says:
August 12, 2005 at 4:22 pm
wow, clarity on this subject that is needed by all. especially the part about the number of charts needed.
James says:
April 7, 2006 at 11:53 am
Stick to the word briefing as your post tends to address how software vendors interact with analyst firms and not how large enterprises interact with analysts…
Dilip Abayasekara says:
December 19, 2007 at 3:09 am
Your article on briefings, while making the point that communication is a two-way street, fails to take in the essential purpose of a briefing. A briefing is a short presentation or a written note that quickly and effectively informs a decision-make about an issue. The person presenting the briefing, by doing the background research and analysis, allows the listeners to save time and focus on the facts so that the best quality decisions can be made. Certainly Q & A is part of a briefing, but the heart of the briefing is the careful preparation that is done by the presenter and not the “feel good” two-way conversation.