This is the shortest newsletter I’ve ever done, and it largely reflects the season. Our space remains as busy as ever, but by design, August was going to be a light month for me. Of course, if I was AI-first, I wouldn’t miss a beat on current developments, but for better or worse, I remain human-first, and need some time away from all this.

The good weather and scheduled vacation breaks took me offline for much of last month, which I view as the calm before the storm when many things pick up after Labor Day. As such, the updates for August are light, plus my Watch This Space podcast is still on hiatus.

Travel to industry events picks up in the Fall, and aside from new project work, I’m actively working on updates to my website, along with adding another platform for my various forms of thought leadership - and interests outside the tech space. Changes are coming, so stay tuned!

What’s Up? Part 2 – JAA Highlights from August

Below is a digest of JAA activities from last month, including my other forms of original content, along with my social media stats. Details and links for most of these activities can be found on my blog, or posted on my website.

Industry events – none for August - a rarity, but a welcome break

Writing roundup – just two last month - digest is here on my blog – both are still timely, and hope you read them both!
Social media highlights – since these stats change every day, they are just a basic snapshot, but they provide a good sense of reach beyond my blog and newsletter. For my business, I use LinkedIn – I’ve stopped using Twitter/X for some time – so, here are my approximate tallies for LinkedIn during August:
- 48,906 views and 28 posts – views are down a bit from June, but almost half fewer posts; another strong month, and have tallied 20,000+ views for each of the last six months
- My top LinkedIn post registered 7,521 views
- Overall, 6 posts had 1,000+ views, and 10 had 500+ views

What's Coming? JAA Outlook for September

Industry events – three for September:
- Verint Engage, Orlando, Sept. 8-10
- Zoomtopia, virtual, Sept. 17
- Sprinklr Analyst Summit, Nashville, Sept. 28-Oct. 1
Active work to keep watch for:
- White paper just being completed for a cloud platform provider
- Market research study on AI adoption for a leading cloud provider
- Continued guest posts coming – some with my byline and some without – will post about these as they are published – those with my byline will be shared as they are published
- New projects are in play with several vendors, both current and new clients
Another SIPtones gig - I’ll be attending, speaking, and performing at the annual SCTC conference, October 12-15 in Reno, NV. The SIPtones ride again, so if you’re coming, make sure to be there for the opening reception, where we’ll be playing a dinner set and a dance set - and if you don’t know about my fun side, check us out here and here.

Hey, Did You Know?

… my Watch This Space podcast may still be on hiatus, but with over 80 episodes in the archive, there’s plenty to check out. Some episodes are based on current events, but others are more evergreen, so quite a bit will still be relevant.
You can check out the full archive here on my website, as well as here on the dedicated WTS webpage. If you’re not sure what topics to choose, drop me a line, and I’ll be happy to steer you to episodes that align with your interests. I’m also open to new ideas and partnerships for WTS, so let me know if you’d like to explore that path.