My Two Top 2008 Technologies

December 30 2008

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For a year-end post I’d rather not try to recap the year in technology, or in anything else.  Let’s be honest — with the exception of our truly historic presidential election much of the noteworthy news of 2008 was bad to really bad. I also don’t want to offer predictions for 2009. They’re usually embarrassingly inaccurate, plus at this point prayers for the coming year feel more valuable than predictions.

So I thought I’d wrap up this blog for this year with a bit of reflection, and talk about my two favorite technologies of the year (I just got my first iPhone yesterday, but will consider that a 2009 technology). The first is the Amazon Kindle, which I ordered in May after my former student Rivka Spivak told me it was a ready-for-primetime technology.

And she was right. Minor ergonomic quibbles aside, it’s an amazing device. The killer feature for me (beyond the digital ink screen, which was developed at the company where Andy Mulkerin, another former student, worked before coming to HBS) is the built-in permanent wireless connection, which allows me to purchase books anywhere, any time. When I’m acting as an unpaid member of the Kindle sales force and trying to convince friends to buy one, most of them have a hard time believing that this is the case. They assume that when I say "wireless" I mean "wifi," and that the Kindle piggybacks off my home network. I have to go to some lengths (just as Rivka did with me) to convey that the Kindle has a built-in permanent and free mobile phone plan that its users never have to give any thought to –  they just pull books down from the ether whenever the fancy strikes them.

The Kindle adds essentially nothing to the weight of my carryon and takes up very little room, but solves one of my nastiest travel problems. I like to travel light, but have a near-phobia about being trapped on the road without something good to read. This meant that even on a short trip I’d take enough books to start a decent library. Doing so probably compressed my spine and certainly made me feel like a neurotic dope. I now travel with nearly 30 digital books (the current total on my Kindle) and can get more at any time, at a total weight of just over 10 ounces. And very cool covers are available for it, thanks to former student #3 Andrea Nadosy and her company Bobarra (website coming soon; Amazon ordering now available).

Francois Mitterand said that "a man loses contact with reality if he is not surrounded by his books" and the Kindle helps me avoid that fate. My other favorite technology of 2008 helps keep my pendelum from swinging too far in the direction of solitary bookishness.

I grew up with my nose in a book and am glad I did; I agree with Emerson that "In the highest civilization, the book is still the highest delight. He who has once known its satisfactions is provided with a resource against calamity." But the bibliophile’s fallacy is the notion that books are always more interesting and informative than people, and generally preferable to them. The bookworm runs the risk of truly believing Oscar Wilde’s quip that “The brotherhood of man is not a mere poet’s dream: it is a most depressing and humiliating reality.” As I wrote a while back, the phenomenon of Web 2.0 has shown me that this is witty but wrong. It’s not an overstatement to say that technology, paradoxically, has deepened my faith in people and showed me the phenomenon not only of collective intelligence, but also of inherent human decency.

I saw this over and over again with Twitter, which I started using in June of this year after being egged on by prolific user Amy Senger and other people. Soon after I joined I used Twitter to ask how I should use Twitter. Stowe Boyd wrote back that I should simply follow a hundred people and let the magic happen. He was echoing E.M Forster’s exhortation in Howard’s End: "Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon… Live in fragments no longer." And he was right.

I’ve written about Twitter several times (see this post, for example), concentrating on its utility for business purposes. But it’s also been a great way for me to meet people and learn more about them, to renew old ties and strengthen current ones, to ask questions and get amazingly interesting and helpful answers, and to immerse myself in a community of friends even when I’m in modern society’s least friendly places: airport terminals, chain hotel rooms, trains, deserted restaurants, my desk in the middle of some workdays, etc. I saw, in short, just how prescient the Catholic visionary Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was when he wrote in 1961 about the "those astonishing electronic machines… by which our… capacity to… combine is reinforced and multiplied by the process and to a degree that herald as astonishing advances in this direction as those that optical science has already produced for our power of vision." With Kindle I’m never far from my books, and with Twitter I’m never far from my people (If you’d like to become one of those people by following me, please do !).

I’ve become somewhat popular on Twitter but have yet to receive a single flame message or gratuitous insult, even though it would take all of 10 seconds to write and send one. Instead I’ve been received with a blend of consideration, goodwill, respect, friendliness, maturity, tolerance, and good humor that astonishes me. The Beatles sang that "in the end, the love you take / is equal to the love you make." but I can’t believe that’s true in this case. If I’ve been a good colleague or friend and been helpful on Twitter I’m happy to hear it, but I can’t see how I’ve given half as much as I’ve received.

Twitter and the other emergent social software platforms I’ve used in 2008 have moved me away from Wilde’s view of humanity and toward Mark Twain’s, who said "In all my travels the thing that has impressed me the most is the universal brotherhood of man, what there is of it." One of the things I’ve learned this year is that thanks to 2.0 technologies, there’s a good bit more of it than there was previously.

Happy New Year, all.  Best wishes for 2009.

Quoi Faire a Paris?

December 8 2008

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I’m going to present our research on IT’s impact on competition and our ‘Full House’ hypothesis at the WISE conference next weekend, which is being held in Paris, lucky us. I haven’t been to the city in a year and a half, so I thought I’d shamelessly use this post to ask for advice.  What must not be missed in Paris these days?  What should be seen / eaten / drunk / experienced? 

I know I’m going to eat at L’Ami Louis (yes, we have a reservation), visit the Musee du Quai Branly, check out L’Eclaireur (less need for me to visit Zara now that we have a couple in Boston), and stay in the Marais. Beyond that, I’m open to suggestions, and eager to hear them. What are the best exhibits up right now (I’m sick that I missed Serra’s sculptures at the Grand Palais )? The coolest places for a late night out? Any good concerts happening Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?  I speak decent French, so there’s no insurmountable language barrier.
Let me know your suggestions, please.  If the place you’re recommending is so cool that the world must not know about it, feel free to email me. And thanks!

When #Andyasks, What Are the Answers?

December 7 2008

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I launched my completely unscientific ‘#andyasks’ Twitter experiment on November 25. Since then I’ve asked a question a day on Twitter (I forgot yesterday – whoops!) and invited any and all to respond.

I don’t know how to judge whether or not it’s been “successful” (beyond the fact that it helped get my Twitter grade up to 99.7 – woo hoo!), but it’s been a lot of fun. As expected, it’s taken me very little time. Whenever I think of a question I write it down in a google doc, then fire ‘em off each day in about 20 seconds. Also as expected, I’ve learned a lot, and I think others have, too.  #andyasks-related tweets have been retweeted, and I’ve seen them lead to some conversations in the Twitterverse.

So the experiment will continue. And I’ll also periodically post recaps here, starting with this one.  Here are some of my questions, and a few of the good answers received to each one. I’m using no selection criteria here that I can articulate; I’m just grabbing what grabs my fancy right now.

If you want to participate, just follow me on Twitter. I usually ask my question at about 2 pm US East Coast time. If you respond, please include “#andyasks” somewhere in your response so that hashtags work.

I’ve found Tweetdeck to be a great resource for watching the conversation unfold, and Twitter itself has a robust search function (to prepare this post, I’m using it to search for “@amcafee” and “#andyasks“).

November 25

amcafee: #andyasks your favorite recent non-food purchase under $20?

sethgray: @amcafee another Moleskine notebook: http://bit.ly/Sz91 (expand) and The Killers’ new album: http://bit.ly/OuqB (expand) #andyasks

bevbarnett: @amcafee Recent purchase: Concert ticket to see http://www.robinsongs.com acoustic duo at Fremont CA coffeehouse, $15 #andyasks

sengseng: @amcafee #andyasks: “i’ve never” playing cards from urban outfitters: http://tinyurl.com/6m2kx9 (expand)

cbandler: RT @cbandler: @amcafee Ashton Classic cigar (favorite because it was enjoyed while playing Torrey Pines last Sunday) #andyasks

amcafee: My answer = Injinji 5-toed athletic socks: http://www.injinji.com/ #andyasks

mnoreen: @amcafee #andyasks Flip Clock turns your iPhone into a retro-style timepiece. $1 http://bit.ly/Nnri (expand)

davidvivero: 400+ miles worth of gas for my Prius #andyasks (Former student!)

prewett: a couple Gin and Tonics so I can stand hanging out with guys like @vecheva #andyasks (Former student dissing other former student!)

suzannefrederiq: @amcafee #andyasks Anthony Robson’s recording of Albinoni double oboe & string concertos: http://tinyurl.com/5utuef (expand) – Baroque perfection.

mickierops: RT @amcafee: #andyasks your favorite recent non-food purchase under $20? Mine: cute fuzzy pjs for 5 y.o. Matthew.

KristianT: @amcafee #andyasks a detailed map of the rural corner of France where I go with my family next summer.

jklopson: @amcafee hmmm…I appreciate the exploration of what you’re doing with the #andyasks… but signal to noise has clearly gone up ^2. Balance?

November 26amcafee: #andyasks favorite motto / slogan / saying of <= 140 characters? (if room, include source)

JeanneYocum: @amcafee #andyasks “I try to leave out the parts people skip.” Elmore Leonard – I keep it taped on my monitor at all times!

LouisColumbus: #andyasks “Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion” (Friedrich Hegel)

bevbarnett: @amcafee Follow those who seek the truth and run from those who say they’ve found it (anon?) #andyasks

amcafee: #andyasks my answer: “Sit down and read. Educate yourself for the coming conflicts.” – Mother Jones

jensonsdaniel: #andyasks Le secret des grandes fortunes sans cause apparente est un crime oublie, parce qu’il a ete proprement fait. -Balzac-

jensonsdaniel: #andyasks The secret of great fortunes without apparent reason is a forgotten crime because it was done properly.

schlosna: @amcafee “Perfection is attained, not when no more can be added, but when no more can be removed.” – Antoine de Saint Exupéry #andyasks

planetrussell: Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est. – The designated hitter rule has got to go. #andyasks

driessen: @amcafee #andyasks “A problem can never be solved at the same level it was created” – Einstein

DonnaM519: @amcafee #andyasks You must be the change you wish to see in the world. M. Gandhi.

ldesautels: #andyasks The ability to focus attention on important things is a defining characteristic of intelligence. Robert Shiller

mnoreen: #andyasks “Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.”


November 27amcafee: #andyasks is predictable today, but still important: aside from loved ones and health, what are you thainkful for?

adrielhampton: @andyasks #andyasks Thankful for God, democracy, BHO, and that fact I’ve been on a spending plan the last two years and am financially sound

a32b: @amcafee No problem with asking the obvious. I’m thankful that Matt Cassel has made this Pats season better than anyone expected #AndyAsks (former student!)

sengseng: #andyasks I’m thankful for every failure, every heartache, every loss, every pain, every mistake & every night of missed sleep.

amcafee: @sengseng my favorite words along those lines: http://bit.ly/12k3S (expand) #andyasks

NextInstinct: Yes, that is a keeper of a poem. Thanks @amcafee http://bit.ly/12k3S (expand) #AndyAsks

amcafee: #andyasks my answer: I’m thankful for my students over the years. I’ve learned much from them, and some have become friends. Lucky me.

nadosy: #andyasks Obama (former student!)

narcise: @amcafee #andyasks I’m thankful for a fresh start with a new administration poised to go to the whitehouse.


November 28amcafee: #andyasks: Who’s the best live performer you’ve ever seen?

jessewilkins: #andyasks Roger Waters, Radio KAOS tour, McNichols Arena in Denver
mcornell: @amcafee The Mighty Mighty Bosstones or Primus #andyasks

sengseng: #andyasks oh oh oh. Linkin Park. Hands down. Like being at the pinnacle of where heaven & hell converge

jmcaddell: @amcafee #andyasks Joe Jackson

amcafee: I’m with @jmcaddell: my answer = Joe Jackson. Heard him ealier this fall; he flat KILLED, and clearly loved what he was doing. #andyasks

pair_o_dimes: @amcafee #andyasks Metallica (with Jason Newsted, not Robert Trujillo)

lewisshepherd: @amcafee Phantom Surfers, legendary Cali band, opening for Dick Dale, King of the Surf Guitar, Santa Cruz #andyasks

dkrcarter: @amcafee #andyasks You are gonna laugh… Barry Manilow. I got dragged to a concert when I was 20 but the guy has done every song, jingle

amcafee: @dkrcarter You’re right – I’m laughing. Barrry Manilow!?!?! #andyasks
dkrcarter: @amcafee #andyasks admit it though.. You got Copa Cabana in your head. My close second was Springsteen last year.

amcafee: @dkrcarter If I did have Copacabana in my head I’d never forgive you… #andyasks|

 

Pistachio: #andyasks Ani DiFranco for the sheer awesomeness in all dimensions. Billy Joel for pure showmanship and energy.

kmallwein: @amcafee I’m aging myself but it was Bob Hope doing one of his classic performances for US military troops. He was superb. #andyasks

amcafee: All ‘best live performer?’ responses so far have been about popular music. Any other types of performer merit inclusion? #andyasks

timoreilly: @amcafee How about Ben Zander? His TED talk was the best ever. I’d love to see him conduct. #andyasks

driessen: RT @driessen: @amcafee Yo Yo Ma and Anne Sofie von Otter. #andyasks

suzannefrederiq: @amcafee #andyasks Kurt Masur: http://tinyurl.com/5dtehp (expand) he’s incredible to watch.

ericagee: @amcafee #andyasks Nobody’s saying theatre or dance or musicals? Comedy? Teaching? Trial lawyers?

amcafee: @ericagee Excellent point! I saw Sarah Ruhl’s “Eurydice” in NYC last year. Transported me and broke my heart. #andyasks

mpm: #andyasks best performer? at least one of the best – the de la guarda ensemble in ny. humans as graceful rhythmic projectiles

November 29

amcafee: #andyasks Fill in the blank: I am a passionate fan / follower / aficionado of ____?

alanlepo: @amcafee Bleach Manga #andyasks

JeanneYocum: @amcafee #andyasks I am a passiaonte fan of Penn State football & the Bosotn Red Sox.

sengseng: @amcafee oh oh oh. Lemme fill in urs…red sox, IT, NYTimes Xword puzzles. #andyasks

amcafee: My answer: The Boston Red Sox, crossword puzzles (brava, @sengseng) #andyasks

pair_o_dimes: #andyasks Christ

sbjet: @amcafee – The New York Mets – #andyasks

nadosy: #andyasks aspartame, sadly.

bncarvin: @amcafee Avid fan/follower: Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Mgmt Review, The Conference Board Review, Rotmans #andyasks

shionguha: @amcafee Jethro Tull, J.R.R. Tolkien and the Forgotten Realms. #andyasks


November 30amcafee: #andyasks: What’s the oldest piece of clothing you still wear at least semi-regularly?


KristianT: @amcafee #andyasks that would be the early 90s bandana that I always carry in my suitcase for when a hotel aircon mess up my throat.

kmallwein: @amcafee #andyasks pair of furry mukluks bought in Canadian PX in Germany in late 70’s. Great when shoveling snow.

JBordeaux: @amcafee #andyasks Sneakers purchased in anticipation of entering AF officer program, budget cuts cancelled the appointment. Circa 1989

vendorprisey: @amcafee pair of tan brogues that I bought in 1990. And a tweed coat that was my father’s (1960’s) #andyasks

amcafee: answers to today’s #andyasks are largely footwear and outerwear so far. Other ancient-but-still-used garments out there?

cheeky_geeky: @amcafee Flannel shirts, for sure. #andyasks

amcafee: #andyasks my answer: sweater I bought before junior year in France, 1987. It’s holding up much better than I am.

a32b: @AMcAfee Oldest clothing item I still wear: a José Canseco t-shirt I got in ‘95, his 1st year on the Sox http://bit.ly/Canseco (expand) #AndyAsks

jessewilkins: #andyasks a T-shirt I bought in Panama in 1990. Red with rollable sleeves to create canary-yellow cuffs. Faded to pink but still a fave.

mikaeliand: @amcafee #andyasks Jimmy Buffet concert t-shirt from 1983

nadosy: #andyasks. I like this one! I still wear a cashmere sweater was my grandmother’s in the 70s. I think it must have a coating of asbestos.

Pistachio: #andyasks ancient-est garments: USN bomber jacket; pale green formal beaver-collar coat, both ca. 60’s. Or, HS frosh yr(’87) denim overalls

December 1

amcafee: #andyasks Last book that made you look at something important in a whole new way?

leeprovoost: @amcafee #andyasks India Unbound by Gurcharan Das -> understad why India is today how it is by looking at its past

adrielhampton: #andyasks The Future of Work, Malone

ebala: @amcafee #andyasks Information Anxiety 2 by Wurman great read about information design It’s about understanding over data volumes

leeprovoost: @amcafee #andyasks Lords of Poverty by Graham Hancock -> too much money gets wasted in development aid

cbandler: @amcafee Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt #andyasks

psantora: @amcafee #andyasks The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb – made me rethink my view of ‘luck’. Risk and the bell curve can be very misleading.

a32b: @AMcAfee Sounds silly, but I did a 180º on clutter after reading “It’s All Too Much”. It changed my life. #AndyAsks http://bit.ly/AllTooMuch (expand)

LouisColumbus: #andyasks Mindset by Dr. Carol Dweck validated how important a strong work ethic is even for those blessed with exceptional abilities

bncarvin: Thanks @LouisColumbus for the referral of the book Mindset. Going to put that one on order at the library. #andyasks

jessewilkins: #andyasks @dweinberger’s Everything is Miscellaneous.

amcafee: My answer, part 2: The Skeptical Environmentalist, by Bjorn Lomborg http://bit.ly/8Thg (expand) . The data speak, and surprise. #andyasks

Kickstand447: #andyasks A tie between The Omnivore’s Dilemma http://tinyurl.com/6atbfw (expand) and The Long Emergency http://tinyurl.com/2mfg8p (expand)

SteveD503: @amcafee #andyasks “The Theory of the Leisure Class” (1899). Coins “conspicuous consumption:” a manners-driven over-reaching. 100 years ago.

December 2amcafee: #andyasks Coolest website (that YOU DON’T OWN or operate) that not enough people know about?

adrielhampton: #andyasks GovLoop.com

sethgray: @amcafee http://keyboardr.com (this time with hashtag goodness) #andyasks

psantora: @amcafee #andyasks http://amiestreet.com – free/cheap music, http://reddit.com – news, and http://zefrank.com – comedy.

amcafee: @psantora zefrank is in fact strange and wonderful. I remember him from back in the ‘how to dance’ videos #andyasks http://bit.ly/bwWU (expand)

sbjet: @amcafee -I like – http://fanfoodie.blogspot.com/ – reviews of the stadium experience at major sports venues – #andyasks

larissagaston: @amcafee DonorsChoose.org, a place to donate to public school projects of your choice, invest in education for kids in need #andyasks

mcornell: @amcafee #andyasks FuelFrog.com

elsua: @amcafee Just mentioned it before but here it goes again: Vyew.com (One of the very few e-meeting places that *works* :-) ) #andyasks

Pistachio: #andyasks https://www.microplace.com because while the Kiva.org model ROCKS, maybe even more will microlend if there’s a small dividend too

amcafee: My answer: Many Eyes – http://bit.ly/1uMf (expand) – talk about democratizing data… #andyasks

jenrobinson: @amcafee #andyasks I second your vote: IBM Many Eyes is the coolest website not enough people know. My thoughts from w2e: http://bit.ly/ujfW

prewett: http://1000awesomethings.com/ #andyasks (although it is gaining popularity fast)

amcafee: @prewett High fiving babies – perfect! #andyasks

a32b: @AMcAfee I’m partial to http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/ & http://springfieldshopper.tumblr.com/ Both are harmless/nostalgic fun #AndyAsks

amcafee: @a32b Those are both brilliant. #andyasks

December 3amcafee: #andyasks Favorite ad campaign?

adrielhampton: #andyasks Got Milk?

blm849: @amcafee #andyasks “Leave Nothing” by Nike, directed by Michael Mann (ok, technically favourite ad of that campaign)

jensonsdaniel: @amcafee #andyasks Bud. Real men of genius.

amcafee: @jensonsdaniel NEVER get tired of hearing those… #andyasks

Kickstand447: #andyasks Old Superbowl add from E-Trade http://tinyurl.com/6letj8 (expand) (now somewhat anachronistic)

JBordeaux: @amcafee #andyasks Coca-Cola commercials during the 60s. Teach the world to SING, dammit.

amcafee: @JBordeaux Those are clearly timeless. #andyasks

amcafee: #andyasks My answer: Burma-Shave – http://bit.ly/OLpC (expand) . So clever, and a great bit of Americana.
davidvivero: @amcafee Favorite ad campaign: http://bit.ly/WQoT (expand) #andyasks

prewett: Terry Tate Office Linebacker http://is.gd/a5SN (expand) or the old Seattle Mariners Commercials are really good (none online) #andyasks

amcafee: @prewett Terry Tate was complete genius. And he put a mean hit on people. #andyasks

nadosy: #andyasks. just a commercial. . . http://tinyurl.com/2myxoj (expand)


December 4amcafee: #andyasks professionally meaningless achievement you’re striving for?

benzumsteg: #andyasks @amcafee qualifying for boston marathon through chicago marathon in oct 09. easier said than done.

JeanneYocum: @amcafee #andyasks Professionally meaningless goal I’m striving for? To have a thousand followers on Twitter.

sbjet: See a game with my son in every Major League park #andyasks

pair_o_dimes: #andyasks Summa Cum Laude

SteveD503: @amcafee #andyasks Create a YouTube video that gets 1,000,000 hits.amcafee: My answer: winning the New Yorker’s cartoon caption contest http://bit.ly/ljuG (expand) – #andyasks

jsolar1844: @amcafee #andyasks – complete the Goofy Challenge at Disney (but not ’till 2010)

driessen: @amcafee Building Lego Mindstorms robots… #andyasks

ldesautels: #andyasks .. To play the violin with total abandon – I don’t know how to play it yet!
prewett: extracting the value of my HBS education by staying at friends places for as long as possible. #andyasks

a32b: @AMcAfee My meaningless achievement would be getting my cat into the WSJ. He’s been in BusinessWeek, the Globe, & almost the NYT #AndyAsks

December 5

amcafee: #andyasks Moment or experience that made you first realize the power of social media?

maczter: @amcafee When I got a DM from Guy Kawasaki. #andyasks
natenash203: @amcafee #andyasks Someone in my company pulled me onto a job based on my Wiki contributions. In other words “was shown the money”.
jmcaddell: @amcafee #andyasks 2006:Rec’d a comment from Australia to a blog post, elaborating on my topic, opening up a world of new contacts &ideas.

bhc3: @amcafee When my humble little blog got picked up by a mega blog, and social media got me a new job (http://bit.ly/UMHR (expand)) #andyasks
thedrake: The first time I saw Iped fix a tough analytic challenge #andyasks

CherylMcKinnon:

The Enterprise 2.0 Recovery Plan

December 1 2008

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Recent events in the news have inspired a thought experiment: I asked myself what I would do if I were put in charge of IT as part of the turnaround effort at a big US automaker. To be a bit more specific, I imagined that one of the big 3 American auto companies was taken over tomorrow by enlightened and aggressive new leadership whose only goals are to restore the company to operational and financial excellence. This leadership is enlightened (in my book) because it believes firmly in the power of IT to help businesses achieve their goals and differentiate themselves in the marketplace, and will fund and fully support whatever initiatives I propose (this is a complete fantasy for several reasons, but thought experiments aren’t supposed to be constrained by reality.).

So what would I propose?

I’d be guided by a couple facts and a few principles. The first fact is that on day one I would know virtually nothing about the company’s IT environment. I wouldn’t know, for example, what major enterprise systems needed to be deployed, integrated, consolidated, upgraded, etc. I also wouldn’t know about the health, status, and importance of the large projects currently underway. I’d set about trying to learn answers to these questions, of course, but this would be a long, slow process.

My colleagues on the new management team would be similarly in the dark on day one about other critical questions:

  •   Which of our current vehicle platforms under development will be hits in the market?  Which will be duds?
  •   Are our current platform projects largely on schedule, or are they falling badly behind?
  •   Where are our biggest opportunities to cut costs without losing valuable capabilities?
 The second fact (actually more of a very safe bet) is that the company would have a static and fragmented Intranet, and that employees would communicate with each other primarily via email. In other words, Enterprise 2.0 would not be advanced within the company, nor would it be universal.
  
As I got to work and tried to deliver results and benefits as quickly as possible, I’d be guided by a set of principles, many of which I’ve discussed in this blog:

  1. The company ‘knows’ the answers to our questions. The knowledge required to answer them exists within the workforce. This knowledge is widely diffused, constantly changing, and not contained in the mind of any single person (As Friedrich Hayek pointed out many years ago), but it is out there. Most executives, I’m pretty sure, believe this to be true. What’s frustrating them is that they don’t have great ways to collect and access this knowledge.
  2. Most people want to be helpful to each other, and to the company. I think it’s self-evident that people are largely good; if we weren’t, we would have wiped each other long before now. And we are to some extent wired for altruism and reciprocity. Finally, American carmaker employees have ample reason to fear for their industry, their company, and their jobs, so they have extra incentive to pitch in and help out, and to experiment with new ways to do so.
  3. Expertise is emergent. It’s logical and natural to think that all the good new product ideas come out of the design department and R&D labs, that the folk in the IT department are the best ones to help you with your computer problem, and that the engineers are the only ones who can figure out why the doors start rattling after 5,000 miles on the road. But this is not always going to be the case. The more we look, the more we see that a very effective way to solve a problem is to expose it to a highly diverse set of potential problem solvers, then let them have at it.
  4. People are busy. Most knowledge workers have more than enough to do with their normal jobs, and aren’t going to go too far out of their way too often, even though they do want to be helpful. This implies that any new tools need to be perceived as ‘in the flow’ of work, rather than ‘above the flow.’ There are a few ways to achieve this. One is to make the new tools extremely simple, easy, and intuitive to use, and to ensure that they’re never more than a couple clicks away. Another is to ‘widen the flow’ so that job descriptions include ‘enterprise-level helpfulness / collaboration.’ A series of three posts advocating this is here, here, and here.
  5. Weak ties are strong. Weak-tie networks are great places to look for novel information and introductions to valuable people. And social networking software (SNS) is a great tool for building, maintaining, and exploiting networks of weak ties. Instead of being a time-waster, enterprise SNS would be a powerful resource.
  6. The ability to convert potential ties into actual ones is valuable. At present we rely primarily on human brokers and connectors to introduce us to valuable colleagues. These organizational matchmakers are extremely valuable and influential, and there aren’t nearly enough of them.
  7. Platforms are better than channels , for a lot of reasons. Channels like email hide information; platforms like blogs, wikis, Facebook, and Twitter make it visible, persistent, and widely consultable.
  8. Search is the dominant navigation paradigm. People navigate online content by typing words into search boxes rather than navigating through menus. This implies that we should do everything we can to make sure search works well.
  9. The mechanisms of emergence should be encouraged. For search to work well, online content needs to be heavily interlinked. So people should be given the ability to link to content they find valuable and encouraged to do so. They should also be encouraged to tag, vote, rate, and to all the other things that help identify what a particular piece of content is about, and how good it is. In addition to this explicit work people also vote on and rate content implicitly as they browse through it. 
  10. Anyone can learn the new tools, but they need to be educated, trained, and encouraged. I do think that digital natives use technology differently than us older digital immigrants, but we can learn. The new tools of collaboration don’t require any skills beyond point, click, drag, drop, and type. They do require users to adopt a particular philosophy about sharing information and interacting with each other, and this philosophy can seem strange at first. When I first heard about Twitter, for example, I said something like "What on Earth would that be useful for, and who on Earth would ever want to use it?" Now, however, I’m a fairly frequent user, find it a really novel and valuable resource, and think that it has strong potential within the enterprise (here are my blog posts on Twitter, and here’s a research report on Enterprise ‘microblogging’ from Pistachio consulting ).

So what would adherence to these principles lead me to do? I’d roll out as quickly as possible a single integrated suite of emergent social software platforms (ESSPs) to all employees of the company. This suite would include blogs, wikis (including collaborative document production tools like Google Docs), discussion boards, SNS, a microblogging tool like Twitter or Yammer, a tagging utility, prediction markets, ways to vote on good content (a la Digg) and ways to give praise or good karma to particularly helpful colleagues. Lots of vendors both big and small are working to develop such suites; for now, I’m going to assume that a complete one exists.

As I wrote earlier, SNS helps with principle #5 above, and a blogosphere (broadly defined here to include a Twitterverse) helps with #6. And the whole idea of ESSPs supports #7. To put the other principles into practice, I’d insist that:

  • The tools be trivially easy to use, primarily by copying the look, feel, and user interface of the most popular Web 2.0 resources. Too many ESSPs intended for the enterprise try to reinvent the wheel, and they do so poorly. (helps with principles #4 and #10)
  • All content is cross-linkable, taggable, and Diggable. (#9 and #3 and #8)
  • The ESSPs contain some initial content and suggested structure, but that these are modifiable over time. (#4)
  • There be few initial rules or policy statements beyond ‘use your judgment’ and ‘highlight any behavior you find inappropriate.’ (#2)
  • Most platforms be available company-wide.  I’d probably allow only group collaborative document production tools to have limited membership. (#3)
  • Training on the tools be made mandatory for all employees (#4 and #10)
Of course, I’d also make them as device-independent as possible, and give people the ability to access them from home, the road, etc. Somewhat more controversially, I’d also make E2.0 part of every knowledge worker’s job. A series of three blog posts on this topic is here, here, and here, and generated a raft of great comments. I’d introduce this change by announcing on the ‘go live’ date of the new E2.0 suite that participation will become part (10-20%?) of everyone’s performance evaluation, starting in six months.

But what about principle #1 above, that the company knows the answers to the critical questions it’s facing?  This is perhaps the most important one, yet is not directly addressed above. To start to get answers, I’d set up prediction markets for the biggest projects, both IT and otherwise, within the company, letting people trade on whether they’ll be finished on time, nearly on time, or nowhere near on time. These markets would very quickly provide accurate and valuable information. I’d also set up markets to predict sales volumes and competitors’ moves.
I’d also start asking questions via my own blog, and listen to the comments and responses I got back. I’d work to create an environment in which people feel safe and free to speak the truth.

How would I know if Enterprise 2.0 was working well over time? The accuracy of prediction markets is easy to assess. It’s also easy to conduct surveys and find out if employees like the new tools, and prefer them to previous ways of collaborating. I’d also partner with academics to design and execute research investigating whether various attributes of performance improved after the new tools went in.
But the point of having the trust and commitment of my management colleagues is that I wouldn’t need to justify this kind of expenditure. If they’re on board with the principles then they’re on board with the investment required to put them into practice. And this investment is not huge. I’m pretty sure E2.0 wouldn’t cost as much as the typical ERP project at a car company.

I used Twitter to float this idea before writing this post, and a number of people responded that "IT isn’t the problem at the car companies!"  I totally agree. But technology can be a large part of the cure for what ails them. And I’m confident that the biggest and fastest bang for the IT buck at a US automaker today comes from ESSPs and Enterprise 2.0. 

Do you agree? Or do you think there would be better uses for investment dollars and managerial bandwidth after the hypothetical leadership change of my thought experiment? I don’t, but I’d love to hear your thoughts and reasoning if you disagree. Leave a comment, please, and let us know.

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