(I've been meaning to do this for months - probably years, actually, but been too lazy/busy. When I upgraded my Radio Userland software recently, the WYSIWYG editing no longer worked. Lazy/busy won out yet again, but this time it was easier to move the blog.)
11:39:47 AM    
comment []  trackback []

IBM's corporate blog strategy is the topic of this excellent article, well worth the read for any company that's remotely open to innovative uses of technology.

IBM started a major initiative last May with three approaches, accomplishing three goals: corporate sponsored blogs on their products (thought leadership), internal employee blogs (internal communication), and a policy with encourages employees to blog publicly on any topic as long as they follow some common-sense guidelines (learning & growth). The reason why is summed up here:

Irving Wladawsky-Berger, IBM's vice president of technical strategy and innovation and the company's highest-ranking blogger, said Big Blue is encouraging employees to bone up on blogging for the same reason it asked them to get savvy about Web commerce in the 1990s.

"We absolutely recognize that blogging, just like the Internet, World Wide Web, Linux and open source, is a major initiative in the marketplace that we should be part of. This best way to be part of it is not to observe it passively but to do it actively," Wladawsky-Berger said.

IBM, like many companies, set up an internal blog capability to get comfortable with the new technology. The postings are evolving over time, from individual postings on personal topics to a company-wide collaboration tool.

Big Blue bit by the blogging bug By JULIE MORAN ALTERIO (THE JOURNAL NEWS, January 9, 2006)

8:36:10 AM    
comment []  trackback []

The Wisdom of Crowds (Beta Version) by Jory Des Jardins (Fast Company, Dec. 2005) highlights a unique business experiment in distributed work. Rob May set up The Business Experiment (TBE) as a virtual incubator/online startup firm based on the wisdom of crowds, but the experiment is not exactly living up to the dream. As Rob states in a post on his home page, "I've struggled for some time to see where TBE is going.  Unfortunately, it is not going to end up where I had hoped, but that's because I was wrong in my assumptions."

Rob's September 10th post, What Have We Learned So Far?, captures some incredible insights into what people need to work best - and not just in a distributed environment. The wisdom in crowds was harnessed to select a business concept, but the five items show other issues are at play in executing that concept.

Rob's second and third "learned so far" items are both about worker incentives, discussing tweaks to the  current points system, and aligning projects with people's passions as seen in various Open Source success stories.

Figuring out the incentive issue is the key to the success of TBE's venture business. It's easy to recruiter philosophers and curiousity seekers to an innovative project, but real contributors will only stick it out during hard times and devote the hard work required if they are appropriately incentivised. It might be about financial gain, or it might be about passion, or better yet it should be about both!

This may start as a philosophical question, but trial and error should be allowed, encouraged, and in fact welcomed. It's a basic part of the innovation risk/reward cycle that many high-risk projects should be undertaken with the expectation that most will fail. The reward from the small fraction of successes will produce a payback to justify the program as a whole.

I suspect TBE is confusing their goal (learning how to harness the wisdom of crowds for business ventures), with the goal of the selected business venture. The solution is simpy to treat the TBE goal as an innovation program, and pursue MORE THAN ONE business venture. Encourage each project to evolve according to its participant's collective wisdom and see which variations thrive. Continue to harness the wisdom of the overall crowds, but perhaps some will be advisors working across multiple groups, while others are more active contributors zeroing in one a specific task.

To Rob and the rest I wish the best of luck. I hope you continue the TBE experiment to its logical - and successful - end.

1:53:06 PM    
comment []  trackback []

Behold the Virtual Company by Sam Varghese (Syndey Morning Herald, December 9, 2005) provides a peek at what the future of work may hold for more and more of us in the IT industry.

The Austrailian IT Register was founded in 2005 by Owen Baker, who sees a real advantages in the distributed development business model. 

The virtual team approach relies on independent subcontractors who for the most part work from home. The company provides a web-based extranet for its staff and clients.

Overhead is low with no corporate office space, and also because there's no cost when staff members are "on the bench" between gigs. They tend to work for smaller clients and see profit margins of around 20 - 30 percent - too small to attract much attention from traditional IT vendors. Despite unpaid bench time, consultants typically make 20 to 50% more than they would as salaried employees.

Baker says "...a virtual company such as ours is seen by many as the way of the future for many organisations - a mobile flexible workforce that can change and adapt as needs come and go. I personally think this is the kind of model that will shape the future of 'work and career' as we know it over the next 20 to 30 years..."

What about the difficulty managing from a distance? Baker's approach, simply put, treats people like grownups: ask for reasonable estimates on each job, and expect people to live up to them. There is a potential advantage in that most independent consultants are self-starters to begin with.

4:22:54 PM    
comment []  trackback []

Organizational tapestry by Michael Lisagor (Federal Computer Week, May 2, 2005) carriers the subtitle "The best managers share information in an open and collegial manner". The passage below highlights the impact of technology on managerial communications:

'Managers' ability to effectively communicate with those around them has never been more important. The rapid growth of technology has increased work complexity and the need to coordinate with many individuals located in multiple places and organizational units.'

But it's his earlier article, Tone-deaf communications (FCW, March 8, 2005), that really captures the issues. Lisagor states, 'According to researchers, 7 percent of our communications is what we say, 38 percent is the way we say it — rate, tone and inflection — and 55 percent is our body language before, during and after we say it.'

The first implication: make sure you choose the right technology to communicate your message best. Email, for example, is perfect for basic status information. Add voice if your message is more meaty. And for emotionally-charged topics, face-to-face is best. These days video is becoming a reasonable substitute for in-person discussions, one that is critical to supporting the increasing trend towards distributed work.  

The second implication: choose your words wisely is always good advice, but when the communication method allows your words to be reviewed over and over, without you being there to judge reactions and clarify your intended message, this advice becomes critical.

6:00:00 AM    
comment []  trackback []