We seem to be in the mood for reflective end-of-career episodes (see Dan Pressman’s episode one & two if you haven’t already as Al’s is very much in that vein). Al has seen a lot in his career (yes, he’s retired although we recorded this before that was made public), thought a lot, and done a lot from Essbase consultant to Oracle EPM management. For those of us still in the workforce (Which I am guessing is practically everyone except my mother, who listens religiously to hear her little Cammy. Thanks, Mater, it is nice to know that you’ll always be a fan. I hope.), hearing the thoughts of those who have completed the arc of employment might trigger our own thoughts of wither our so-called careers.

Does the example of others inspire you or perhaps make you ponder where you’re going and where you might end up? That’s for you, Gentle Listener, to decide.

Join us, won’t you?

EPM Conversations Episode 34 – A Conversation with Pressman, Dan: ASO Man, Part 2

The Official Mnemonic Alphabet

To be used in all Telephonic Communication

At the

Chase Bank on Wentzville Parkway

Letter Pronunciation Example
----- ------------- -----------------------------------------------
A R How are you?
C Q Pool cue
D W Double U
E I Eye
F Weigh There’s no “F” in weigh
G N Gnat
H Ah Hour
I E Iwo Jima
J H Jose
K N Know
L Y Llama
M N Mnemonic
O W One
P N Pneumonia (or Swimming – the silent Pee)
Q Key Quay
S C Sea
T Z Tsunami
W Y Why
Y U You

It's a lot better at epmconversations.com, but you get the idea.

That, as a joke, encapsulates, personifies, is an exemplar, and simply sums up his unique (and generally quite corny but also quite loveable) sense of humor. That vein of humor runs through this second episode.

Here’s a couple of bon mots:

• I was fired from projects for making things too fast.
• “Don’t shut him down, hire him!”
• I never learned when to keep my mouth shut
• Take chances on yourself
• Don’t be too concerned with dollars instead of long term learning and challenge. “That’s the fun part”.
• Teach yourself, it’s always faster than being taught.

Oh my, those aren’t jokes: they’re heartfelt pieces of advice gained from a lifetime of experience and reflection.

Join us, won’t you?

In my so-called career, I’ve known four geniuses: one evil, one chaos made flesh, and two nice; Dan is in the last group.

There are many theories around what makes someone a genius; I define it as the ability to make connections where others cannot see them. Dan is professionally (at least in EPMland) best known for his deconstruction of ASO Essbase, understanding its architecture and fundamentals, and how to optimise it.

If you were in his "Essbase ASO Performance: When NOT to Depend on MDX" session at Kscope 2010, you know just what I’m talking about

I was sort of slack jawed by the end of the presentation. How on earth did he figure this out? BSO Essbase’s architecture was (and is) fully documented. Thank Arbor Software. The same was (and still is) not true for ASO Essbase. Thank (or don’t) Hyperion Solutions.

Dan took apart ASO Essbase, hypothesising, testing, rejecting, confirming, and simply intellectually beating the product halfway to death to mirror Codd’s 12 rules for OLAP. His work revolutionized (and made my life considerably easier amongst many others) ASO Essbase theory and practice.

If you weren’t there and you practice Essbase, you probably have a copy of Developing Essbase Applications: Advanced Techniques for Finance and IT Professionals.

You can still (it came out in 2012!) buy it here on Amazon. One day Oracle will change the architecture behind ASO Essbase (maybe this has already happened – I’m out of that space now), but until then, and maybe even in future if they mimic the way ASO works/worked, Dan’s chapter is the place to be.

Listen to the podcast and hear how Dan did it and of course more back story of a fascinating man in an equally fascinating industry across time.

In editing (and yes, I did it this time round and yes, I’m not very good at it as you’ll hear glitches in the recording – sorry) an episode, there’s always a temptation to cut content to fit an hour long format for brevity. However, EPM Conversations is about, well, conversations and if you were sitting in a coffee shop with Dan, you’d want to know a bit about his personal life – that’s more in the second part although you’ll get a good feel for him in this episode as well.

Be seeing you.