James Governor's Monkchips

On How To Brief Analysts what we are, and expect

Share via Twitter Share via Facebook Share via Linkedin Share via Reddit

What he said

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   Audio pronunciation of "briefing" ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (brfng)
n.
  1. The act or an instance of giving instructions or preparatory information to someone.
  2. A meeting at which such information is presented.
  3. The information conveyed at such a meeting.

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.

 

6 comments

  1. My favourite is probably “bum steer”. Though it would work better for some analyst firms than others…

  2. Briefs: Tighter-fitting style of underclothing covering groin area. Elastic waistband and leg closure. Fabric ends at top of thigh.

  3. May sound nauseating and trite, but I like them to be an exchange.

  4. wow, clarity on this subject that is needed by all. especially the part about the number of charts needed.

  5. 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…

  6. 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.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *