"No Product is just One Man"
I have been delighted to receive no small number of e-mails (mostly via LinkedIn) in relation to my last two posts and my departure from SPSS. A fair percentage of them have expressed concern for Data Collection now that I am not there.
These concerns are very kind, however it needs to be made clear that as influential as I was in the shaping of Data Collection (into its current form - and that of its next release later in 2010), I was not the only person on the team.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swingometer
In the British election of 2005 Peter Snow famously used the Swingometer to help predict the election result based on which seats were won a lost. As a keen watcher of election nights (geek that I am) I have always used a similar principle to look at the potential damage inflicted on a team when it looses a staff.
In my case I use a dart board. Positioned on the dart board are people who influence a product, be they developers, marketeers, sales people, company directors or strategists. The closer they are to the centre the more important they are and the bigger the impact if they leave.
The board is not static, not only are people added and removed as they join/leave but people move in and out as their influence waxes and wanes.
In 2004 when I joined SPSS I was very much on the outer rim and when I left, in 2010, I was indeed much closer to the centre.
During those 5 years, Data Collection definitely took a number of serious hits. The most notable of those in the early days was Paul Petersen. His drive, influence, imagination, the strength of the team he ran and the respect he had in the industry resulted in his departure being a "significant loss". However people not quite so near the centre, like Lance Nichols, stepped up to help fill the gap. There is no doubt that I (still travelling inwards took up a certain amount of Paul's responsibility).
An equally big loss happened in 2009 with the departure of Patrick Quigley. His loss was probably more noticeable to me than Paul's because I had worked with him for longer. As most strategic customers will know Patrick was a shining light in the SPSS organisation and helped Data Collection grow as a product by delivering new customers and ensuring existing ones stayed.
But again his leaving gave others the opportunity to step up. Dave Suedkamp (still at SPSS) is now probably closest to the centre his knowledge, willingness to help customers understand how to get the most of Data Collection is immensely important as is his influence in the higher echelons of SPSS. And lastly, but certainly not leastly Jane Moore (Sales Person of the Year 2009 at SPSS - well done Jane) is an ever present who I most enjoyed working with and who is helping IBM understand that Data Collection is worth investing in.
So yes, there will be an impact to Data Collection now that I am no longer there, but it will recover. As a result it may be slightly different in the future but it should still be the best survey platform in the world and worth including in your software portfolio.
