Kscope20 presentations come in threes

Good things come in threes?

Just what are the brilliant creations of Hergé doing in an EPM/CPM blog about ODTUG’s Kscope20?

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While you are all, I trust, ardent fans of Captain Haddock, Tintin, and Snowy just as I am, I am not suggesting that Kscope20 has become a place to meet, discuss, and learn all about what are surely the greatest fictional Belgians outside of Hercule Poirot. Wait. That would actually be awesome. Beyond awesome. But alas, no. Tintinology is not within the scope of what is after all surely The Greatest of All Oracle Conferences. Perhaps it should be in future? But I digress.

Why the triumvirate? Does putting this sketch in his blog mean that Yr. Obt. & Hmbl. Svt. finally has a chance to get that Masters in literary criticism he really ought to get via Hergé’s oeuvre? No. Thankfully. Probably. Most especially for me. Instead, the above reflects friendship. Tintin and his chums travel the world, getting into one scrape after another, fighting evil, righting wrongs, and generally doing Great Things including fighting Bolshevism, breaking international opium rings, restoring rightful governments in the face of fascist usurpers (this one is my favorite, probably because it’s the first one I read), wearing a kilt, landing on the moon, &c. They always do it together, because they are friends; because they do it together, they are successful.

Beyond the brilliance of these comic novels (You. see, those who mock my inability to match the spirit of this age are wrong as I am in fact able to enjoy such modern things such as graphic novels so long as they were written before most of you were born.), they are rich fodder for blogging – as you will see in a moment so long as you have made it this far and if you have made it this far don’t now close this page in dismay and disgust – and illustrate one of the things I love most about Kscope: my comrades in arms who I’ve met through the conference, the meetups, the webinars, the just-about-everything that is ODTUG.

With that in mind, let me move beyond Tintin, Captain Haddock, and Snowy and get to the point of this post: I’m presenting at Kscope with three of my dearest friends.

My copresenters upon learning that they are, um, copresenting with me

As you shall see, it is not with unalloyed joy. Who can blame them?

My cowriter, copresenter, and coenabler, Tim German aka Tintin. He is young (well, younger than me), blond, and does have a dog, albeit named Forest, not Snowy. Regardless, he too seems somewhat surprised, but his stiff upper lip prevents the display of emotion others might have.

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My Younger Taller Smarter and Definitely Better Looking Brother From Completely Different Parents, Celvin Kattookaran aka Captain Archibald Haddock. Note the beard, the look of dismay, the utter gobsmacked surprise. One never knew he was a naval man or that he smoked a pipe (the first is possible, barely, but the second surely not). Also, note the beard – Celvin sometimes has one, sometimes does not; when he does, it’s quite the full beard.

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And lastly, but most definitely not leastly, my super duper bestie Natalie Delemar upon learning that we shall be partners in crime; she is in fact Bianca Castafiore. The Jewel Song from Gounod’s Faust is her only solace upon reading the dreaded news. As an aside, Natalie does have a beautiful voice. Note that Captain Haddock Celvin is expressing some astonishment at the news.

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And here of course is Yr. Obt. Svt., Professor Cuthbert Calculus sometimes known as Cameron, upon learning that he has three different presentations on his plate. Eeek.

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Here’s just how we’re (or at least I’m) boring and torturing enlightening our fellow Kscope attendees

These are, somewhat unbelievably, all scheduled for Wednesday, 1 July. Eeek again. I suppose this means if there was ever a day to skip Kscope, that’s the day. I shall apparently be omnipresent.

10 Habits of Highly Unsuccessful Implementations and How to Break Them

Wed, Jul 01, 2020 (08:30 AM – 09:30 AM): 310, Level 3

Summary

EPM projects are important to the business. EPM projects must be ambitious to make that big impact. Yet EPM projects are hard. And EPM projects can fail, sometimes spectacularly. Scope, governance, budget, change management, process (business and consulting), and oh yeah expertise must all occur or the implementation is at best flawed or at worst an utter failure. Natalie Delemar and Cameron Lackpour have (just about literally) seen it all and can tell you exactly what you should do and just what you shouldn’t to ensure that your EPM implementation is successful. Join these BFFs as they try to one up each other on past implementation disasters and how they learned to mitigate them.

Groovy and Planning use cases: a theoretical (mostly) and practical (with code!) review via use cases, use cases, and more use cases

Wed, Jul 01, 2020 (10:45 AM – 11:45 AM): Ballroom C

Summary

Don’t come to Kscope to learn Groovy and don’t come to Kscope to learn to write Groovy-in-Planning code; come to Kscope to learn the when and when not, then the why, and finally the how of Groovy because what you do with Groovy is largely governed by your understanding and imagination. Theory leads to use cases and that leads to practice, but good practice in Groovy requires more than just code. Join Celvin Kattookaran and Cameron Lackpour as they go a little bit higher (that’s the theory), focus on the middle (that’s the use cases), and get down to brass tacks (that’s the code) to help you master the most powerful, most flexible, and most useful part of the Planning toolset.

What now, Essbase?

Wed, Jul 01, 2020 (03:30 PM – 04:30 PM) : 302, Level 3

Summary

Essbase has seen engines, features, owners, use cases, and technology fashions come and go and yet Essbase abides. But now Essbase faces an identity crisis: will it (and should it) remain a standalone platform as Essbase 19c or become subsumed within a larger product as Free-Form Enterprise Planning? Customers face the same scenario: does Essbase as Essbase still make sense? Join Planning bigot Cameron Lackpour and Essbase zealot Tim German as they try to tease out what Essbase was and is and will be to you via use cases, benchmarks, and a no-holds-barred ranking.

And there we are

I and my copresenters have an awful lot to write. A lot. Eeek for the third time. Ah well, through hard work and the bonds of friendship (although I fear there is a chance that they shall never speak to me ever again after our sessions) we shall succeed.

Tintin, Captain Haddock, and Madame Castafiore came together in what really is a rich and imaginative world across 24 books, two radio shows, two television series, eight movies, seven plays, and five video games. I think Kscope20’s scope is somewhat smaller than that but not by much.

Come for the content, enjoy the experience that is Kscope, and as EM Forester wrote, Only connect!

Be seeing you.

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