A few months back BMOC passed its seven year mark. It’s hard to think how much things have changed in those seven years and also how much it has not. But one thing is for sure is that the last year and a half has been the hardest for BMOC. It’s not hard to find topics to blog about. It’s hard to find the time to blog. We’ve always stated our opinions openly. Many of you have shared that this is the reason why you take the time to read us. So as I look back 17 articles we posted this year, of which only seven were mine, I feel I need to share why the drop.
Our Personal Lives
Lee likes to say, “We don’t bite the hand that feeds us.” Neither of us is independently wealthy. One of the biggest reasons that Lee and I to this day remain friends is our understanding and belief in work-life balance. For Lee, I believe it has been a long held belief. For me that’s much more recent. I tell those that only know me from the past two years, that I’m now a “kinder and gentler Marko.” It has been a long year both personally and professionally. While we keep our individual life balances, we tried to avoid creating additional headaches to our work lives, and each others work lives, from BMOC.
Our Professional Lives
May of last year, I shared with you my move to Hyland. And while may have been a small footnote, it had a big effect on BMOC. This was the first time that we were on opposite sides. When I moved to EMC and Lee was still at Armedia, our two employers had a formal partner relationship. What we said was rarely controversial to the other. What was confusing to some was that BMOC was a two author blog. Often what one of us would say would result in question to the other. It was fine while we were still in the same ecosystem. But in moving to Hyland, Lee and I became competitors. Trying to maintain an independent BMOC voice was difficult and adding pressure to our posts.
BMOC the Last Year
For the last year BMOC has been riding a delicate dance. Before “not biting the hand that feeds us” meant neither of us would say anything that might offend our common employer. Not only did we want to keep our own jobs but we didn’t want the other to lose theirs. Now with the two of us working for two very different ECM vendors, we still don’t want the other to lose their job. So we balk on some of the topics we want to write, often discussing them over the phone or via email. This has not helped to foster the debate that was the reason we started BMOC.
What’s Next
Back in October Lee and I both came to the revelation that we were not ready to stop talking. If anything the last year and a half had pent up the need to write. We have opinions we want to state and put out there for debate. We knew that some of what each of us would want to say might cause headaches in our day jobs. Then an idea hit us.
But now is not the time to share, because we need to have work-life balance. So professionally, Lee and I will toast the last seven years, reminiscing about the debates and conversations we have had on-line, over the phone, in coffee shops, and on conference floors. A new year is a good time for a new change.