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Brian Schanen joined Autodesk in 2005 as a Product Designer and currently is a Customer Success Engineer for Autodesk’s Data Management products. Brian has taught at Autodesk University numerous times and has authored white papers on Vault and Productstream. He works with customers to implement a complete digital prototyping solution specializing in Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Vault and Productstream. Brian lives near Detroit, Michigan.
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Congratulations APAC Central!
August 25, 2006 07:32 PMby Grant RochelleOur class finished yesterday, and I want to extend a big thank you to the Autodesk APAC Central sales and technical teams. They have been stuck in a class with us for the past 4 days, putting in long hours and learning in a different language! A dedicated bunch, they worked together and made this one of the best training classes I've ever participated in.
I took time this morning to visit the Tsukiji fish market, about 10 minutes walk from the hotel here in Tokyo. It's mad! There are people whizzing around on forklifts, bikes, motorbikes and these bizarre trucks that look like barrels with wheels. These blokes are busy and tourists like me are always in the way. You have to watch what you're doing unless you want to end up in the ice with the tuna. Speaking of which, I think I saw the head of the biggest fish imaginable while I was down there. It was literally the size of a dustbin lid - something you're blissfully unaware of when you're shovelling your face with tasty little bits of sushi. Unfortunately the battery died in my camera last night, so I can't share any pictures with you.
For me it's the end of a 10 day road trip and today I'm Portland bound. Have a great weekend!
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A home way from home
August 22, 2006 06:27 AMby Grant RochelleIt's an island, it's green, they play rugby and drive on the correct side of the road. Why wouldn't I feel at home in Japan? One thing that will always set Japan apart from the rest of the world in general however is the level of politeness demonstrated in every day life. After taking the bus from Narita Airport to my hotel, a recorded announcement informed me in Japanese and English that "Portable telephones should not be used on the bus as they annoy the neighbours". I like that, I like it a lot.
I haven't had chance to get out and see Tokyo much since arriving, but I had a great evening tonight after our training class with a key Japanese customer, Dai Nippon Screens. Together with our local sales and business development staff we headed out for a traditional 73 course dinner. Absolutely fabuluous in nature, this is what some of it looked like slightly prior to being served up:
Round about course 36, we paused for a quick breather and a team picture:
From left to right meet: Kobayashi-san, Nakajima-san, yours truly, Yoshino-san (from Dai Nippon Screens), Otani-san. On the way back to the hotel I had the chance to take in the Tokyo skyline from a high viewpoint, and it's every bit as spectacular as you might have seen in any movie:
And now as I'm getting ready to turn in, I can only wonder if I'll get a full night's kip or wake up at 3.50am again. Still, there's always IM...
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Tokyo Bound
August 19, 2006 10:36 AMby Grant RochelleTime to hit the road again. I'm off to Toyko today to help deliver data management sales training, and I'm really excited about this for all kinds of reasons. This will be my first visit to Japan, so I'm armed and dangerous with my digital camera and notebook - this is going to be a a great opportunity to learn and share with you all.
Right now I'm sitting in SFO waiting for my flight, and it's already been an interesting morning. I'd like you to meet Bill:
Bill works at "SFO Hairport", which you'll find located just by security in the International Terminal for United. After perusing the "Hairfares" in the window, I went in and asked Bill for a haircut. Without further ado, he sat me down and did exactly that. The best part was he never even asked me how I wanted my hair cut, and during the whole process we didn't exchange a word and I couldn't see what he was up to in the mirrors. Now, there's a few things that are noteworthy about this whole experience.
First; it's pretty usual not to talk when you're getting your hair cut by another bloke. My wife often finds this amusing but having had my hair cut in 2 seat barber shops for years I've never known much different. At least until I was introduced to the world of Supercuts and Great Clips where I quickly realized you'd better be prepared to deliver and receive a dissertation on life, spouse, kids, last vacation, job etc.
Second, there was a sort of implicit trust there. Bill looked like he'd been cutting hair for years so I trusted him to do a good job. I later found out he's been a barber for 45 years so that answers that question. So, us software vendors can talk all we want about being a trusted advisor to the customer; but letting someone cut your hair without even stating what you want - now that's trust!
I've actually done this in a lot of different countries around the world and generally it's worked out OK. The only time I got a bit worried was in Thailand years ago when they whipped out a cut throat razor and proceeded to dry shave my face of a weeks worth of stubble. Talk about Sweeney bloody Todd.
So, did my experience with Bill work out OK? Looks good to me, but you can be the judge.....
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Meet the team
August 18, 2006 07:46 AMby Grant RochelleDid you know that the DM Product Management team has changed quite a bit over the last few weeks and months? I decided it was time to parade this group of shady individuals in front of you so that you know exactly who is driving the DM bus so to speak. Obviously you all know me by know, I have the dubious title of being "the outbound one" which roughly translated means I get to do most of the fun stuff. This includes writing the blog, preparing newsletters, organizing wee shindigs at AU plus a bunch of number crunching when it comes to research and data reporting. As for the rest of the gang, read on....
Eamon O'Gorman
Eamon is my new partner in crime since Mr. Roepke became Product Design Manager. Eamon is "the inbound one", which means he literally translates all of our market requirements into something digestible for the dev guys. When he's not sweating over that, Eamon "enjoys" competing in triathlons, pints of Guiness (never figured out how those things go together) and long walks on the beach. As you can see, Eamon is also pretty cheap with his haricuts:
Marco Mirandola
In much the same way as James Bond was "our man in Shanghai" or wherever he happened to be topping someone at the request of Her Majesty, Marco is "our man in Europe". Marco is also an "inbound" product manager and takes care of requirements gathering for Productstream Compass. Marco lives in Italy, is married to Vera and spends his free time chasing an energetic Max, aged 9 months. Meet contestant number 2:
Milt Capsimalis
Milt "The Greek" Capsimalis takes care of all our integration projects and technology partners. Milt lives in San Francisco but please don't hold that against him. He has promised us faithfully that he doesn't drive a hybrid or eat granola. Meet our deep technology guru:
Jim White
The product management buck stops with Jim - he's our boss. Jim is a Kiwi, which for the uneducated is not only a small, furry fruit but also the national bird of New Zealand from whence he hails. Jim claims to have lost all his hair managing us, but we suspect it has a lot more to do with his passion for driving very fast motorbikes (usually Italian) very fast for the last 20 years. Best case of helmet rub we've ever seen, but you can be the judge:
Burn these images into your memory, and if you happen to be at AU or any other event this year please take the time to say hello and bring us your comments and feedback.
Cheers!