Month: April 2008

A new organisational lens

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In 1999, Jon Husband coined a new term, wirearchy:

a dynamic two-way flow of power and authority based on information, knowledge, trust and credibility, enabled by interconnected people and technology

As I bump against corporations in my work of implementing networked learning, collaboration or business, I am beginning to realise that Jon’s organising principle is what’s missing. As companies try to move to Enterprise 2.0 or Web 2.0 they are constrained by Organisation 1.0. They may be using the tool, the terms, or some of the techniques but they are still mired in industrial management. The major premise of The Future of Management is that real innovation only happens when you change your management model. All other changes are incremental but management innovation can be exponential.

I’ve worked for some interesting start-ups doing some innovative work, but I’ve noticed that they all use the same management methods as the companies they’re trying to subvert. Even Google uses mostly instructor-led classroom training, for no reason other than that’s how training is done. I think that these industrial-age management models will be like a weight around these initially innovative companies, especially as cycle time decreases and competition for creative people increases.

I’m doing some work with a start-up in the HR field and I wonder if there are “2.0” versions of tools and techniques we take for granted in this space. Is there a better alternative to the organisation chart? Do job descriptions actually tell us anything? Do most businesses need regular hours of work? Is compensation based on time really necessary?

These kinds of questions don’t get asked until you start looking at the entire organisation with a different lens.

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Ability-based Curriculum

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Jacques passed on a mention of Alverno College while we were discussing the issues around early French immersion in New Brunswick last week. I took a look at the web site for this women’s college in Milwaukee and found that the program is based on ability-based curriculum, which is fascinating and reflects many of my own beliefs around education and learning:

Alverno doesn’t use standardized tests and traditional exams. Each student is unique, each learns in unique ways. But life is competitive, and so are we. Rather than measure performance as a snapshot in time, against a curve that strips away individual achievement, we focus on measurement that’s about you, and only you. The lessons you learn are applicable in real life, they become part of who you are. Alverno students learn more in class and retain the lessons longer. Our eight cornerstone concepts represent the very building blocks needed to create an effective and relevant learning experience.

The eight abilities (Communication; Analysis; Problem Solving; Valuing in Decision-Making; Social Interaction; Developing a Global Perspective; Effective Citizenship; Aesthetic Engagement) could be the cornerstone of many educational programs, even at the high school level, and make more sense to me than most outdated subject-based curricula. This program has been around since the 1970’s and is an excellent example of how an institution can be a place of real learning for every individual.

Community of Practice Handbook – Company Command

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Company Command is the most practical community of practice (CoP) implementation guide that I’ve read so far. It traces the story of the development of an online community designed to share knowledge between US Army company commanders, past and present. If you can get over the military jargon (and even some acronyms that I, an ex-soldier, couldn’t figure out) the lessons in this book are transferable to civilian life.

Here is a summary of the key concepts from Chapter One:

  • Knowledge resides primarily in the minds of community members
  • Connecting members allows knowledge to flow
  • Relationships, trust, and a sense of a professional community are critical factors for an effective community
  • Content development emerges from needs expressed in conversations
  • A decentralized network is best

The books authors go on to tell stories about how the community grew and discuss the types of roles that are necessary for an effective knowledge-sharing community [I’ve changed to non-military terms].

  1. Initial Core Team of two or three people who desire to share knowledge.
  2. Early Adopters who are members of the community that you are serving, especially those who are already well-connected.
  3. Mavens with deep knowledge in an area that is valued by the members.

The book is filled with practical ideas and I’m sure that anyone involved in building online communities will find something useful here. I will be using much of the advice here to help start a CoP that a client is launching over the next nine months, and I appreciate that the folks at Tomoye, who provide the technical platform for CompanyCommand, passed on this book to us.

Being there

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The Web is great and lets me connect with more interesting people than I could have hoped for only 10 years ago. I usually work at a distance from my clients and colleagues and from time to time we’re able to get together. Often these times are busy trying to get lots of work done or attending conferences where there are many other interesting conversations competing for your attention. Sometimes I feel like a lone paddler:

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Even though I know that we’re all working together:

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Today, Jay and I had the opportunity to just wander around Ottawa, take pictures and talk. All this and the first signs of Spring in the frozen North. :-)

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Open Source for the “R” Word

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RWW features a story about DimDim, which is an open source web-conferencing platform. I’ve used it and it compares well with the various proprietary systems around. RWW talks about DimDim’s three business propositions:

  1. Big company – cut your Webex/GoToMeeting bills by 50% or more
  2. Established online venture that needs online meetings to close sales with end users – no hassle revenue share
  3. Start-up with enough techies, but no cash – use the open source base with normal GPL rules (and thus grow the platform for DimDim and everybody else)

I’ve discussed open source business models a lot on this site, and dug up these 3 basic OS business models from Matt Asay (2004):

  1. Product Proprietary or Commodity Model
  2. Commodity (Brand & Servicing) Model, e.g. Red Hat: make money from your services
  3. Transitional (Pragmatic) Model. The transitional model is focused on solving problems (e.g. MySQL and JBoss) and is open source in the sense that code is open, but may be closed in terms of controlling the development process and the developers.

DimDim’s model would be #2, making money from services, including software as a service, but still remaining open to engage a wider user/developer community to fuel growth. When times are tough (can you say recession?) then cutting costs takes on a higher priority and it will be interesting to see if there is a forthcoming spike in OS adoption.

I’m preparing a talk that I will be giving next month to NRC-IRAP industry technology advisors and one of the themes will be open source business models. I’ll be updating my research and would appreciate any other unique or interesting business models around the use of open source software or OS content. Wikipedia would be an example of the latter, but I’m looking for lesser-known examples. Of course I’ll summarize and publish my findings here.

Departures & Arrivals

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The Capitol Theatre will be presenting a bilingual presentation of Carol Shields’ play, Departures & Arrivals this month.

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Given all of the discussion about the need for bilingualism in the province, let me just note that our son, who is in the early French immersion program, is acting in this production which is showing on 18 & 19 April 2008 in Moncton. There is also a shorter and free show at the Moncton Airport on 27 April. Come out and support bilingual theatre in New Brunswick!

From the Facebook Group description:

Conceived through the genius of Carol Shields in 1990, this play demonstrates why she is among the most distinguished and honoured of all Canadian writers. To more closely reflect the cultural predispositions of people in southeastern New Brunswick, portions of the play have been translated into French by Jeanette Landry. The result is a fast-paced truly bilingual piece of theatre with its own percussive musical score created by Etienne Levesque. This play for the whole family is directed by Tim Borlase and assisted by Annie Laplante. It is the first time that a bilingual production has been mounted of this piece.