Books

Book reviews

2020 Workplace

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In The 2020 Workplace, Jeanne Meister & Karie Willyerd make 20 predictions at the end of the book. William Gibson said, “the future is already here –  it’s just not very evenly distributed.” Here are my thoughts on where we are with some of these predictions:

Your mobile device will become your office, your classroom, and your concierge. We’re already seeing this with young people. They’d rather go without a car. Mobile computing is the future that is already here.

Web commuters will force corporate offices to reinvent themselves. Yes, working online IS different.

Job requirements for CEOs will include blogging. How else can you communicate with everyone effectively and efficiently? It’s sure not by email and face-to-face is difficult in distributed organizations. I would include podcasts & video in this statement.

Social media literacy will be required for all employees. I give this perhaps 24 months. We no longer offer training on email. Connecting to online social networks for working and learning will be a fact of life much sooner than later.

The lines between marketing, communications and learning will blur. I’ve called this the integration of organizational support. What we at the Internet Time Alliance call working smarter is a culture supported by social learning; collaborative work and a leadership framework. Technology enables this but the three pillars are more important than any technology platform.


Makers – Review

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I don’t read much fiction but I must say I truly enjoyed Cory Doctorow’s Makers, set in the near distant future. It is neither techno-utopian nor dystopian. Doctorow has matured as a writer since Eastern Standard Tribe, an interesting novel but lacking the depth of characters and story line of Makers. I think it’s also better than the more recent Little Brother, which is oriented more to young adults but is still a good read.

The novel, told from the future, includes human drama as well as several business plans and their unfolding. It’s a business book written as fiction and is better than most business plans I’ve read. I’ve also learned more from this book. Doctorow delves just deep enough into the future of open source, crowd-sourcing, personal video surveillance and other current trends to give some idea of their large scale potential. However, it’s not so deep that it detracts from the story, which includes some interesting and complex characters. Here’s Lester, one of the protagonists and a real “maker”, talking about the constraints of working inside a large corporation:

“Working here. They said that they wanted me to come in and help them turn the place around, help them reinvent themselves. Be nimble. Shake things up. But it’s like wrestling a tar-baby. You push, you get stuck. You argue for something better and they tell you to write a report, then no one reads the report. You try to get an experimental service running and no one will reconfigure the firewall. Turn the place around?” He snorted. “It’s like turning around a battleship by tapping it on the nose with a toothpick.”

I purchased the book, as the form factor was best for a 400 page novel, though you can download it or read it online as well.

The New Social Learning – Review

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Let me say just two words about The New Social Learning by Marcia Conner & Tony Bingham – buy it.

OK, that’s for people who want it short and sweet. Let me add a bit of explanation. This book covers not only the why of social media for learning but also the how, with plenty of examples and case studies. Marcia and Tony have mined the collective knowledge of hundreds of specialists and practitioners and blended it all together with their own insight. This is an impressive work and it is just as accessible to the novice as the expert (if there is such a thing in this new field).

The book starts with just enough theory to cover the rationale of why networked learning is so powerful and includes detailed notes and references for those who want to dig further. The companion website offers more information, videos and links. You can also connect via Twitter to @NewSocialLearn. However, there is enough information in the book to get you started, convince your boss, or dig deeper into a particular medium, like micro-sharing or immersive environments.

As they write in the book, the time has come for social learning :

The convergence of three key trends accelerates the need for social learning. Although some of these trends have been observable for decades, their influence compounds.

Three Converging Workplace Trends

  • Expanding opportunities for personal connection.
  • Emerging expectations from shifting workforce demographics
  • Increasing reach of customized technology.

If you liked the ideas discussed in A Framework for Social Learning or The Evolving Social Organization, then The New Social Learning provides greater depth and many resources all under one cover (without the hyperlinks, but that’s the limitation of print). It’s like a snapshot of a field just on the cusp of major growth and publicly perceived relevance. I think that this book will be seen as key to workplace learning, much like Gloria Gery’s Electronic Performance Support Systems (1995); Marc Rosenberg’s e-Learning (2000); and Jay Cross’s Informal Learning (2006). All of these books contribute to the understanding of workplace learning as much more than the delivery of courses.

Different – Review

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Different, by Youngme Moon, discusses how market competition creates a herd mentality amongst competitors and results in a wide array of very similar products. The more mature a market category, the less deviation there is. I see this in the learning management system (LMS) market. Basically, they’re all the same and currently all are adding “social” to the mix, as they try to keep up with each other.

Tim Kastelle, who writes on innovation, was also struck by what I would describe as the key graphic in the book.  It shows what happens when you benchmark yourself against your competitors. Over time, everybody starts to look the same. A radical, and different, approach would be to emphasize your strengths and ignore, or even celebrate, your weaknesses.

The herd mentality is to keep up with the competition, but as the author writes, ” … if you’re looking for a unique solution, the last thing you should do is ask for a vote”. Youngme Moon describes three major types of idea brands that don’t try to compete: reverse, breakaway and hostile. Descriptions and examples are provided in this book filled with anecdotes from the professor at Harvard Business School.

Just being different is not enough for business success though. The difference has to have meaning, such as Harley Davidson creating a real community of bikers, numbering over a million. Difference has to resonate, not just be superficial.

I like the author’s approach in writing this book, as it reminds me of life in perpetual Beta or the process of blogging, where the final product never really gets out.

This book is very much a working draft, which is another way of saying that I have tried very hard to approach it with the same lack of self-consciousness that I feel if I were simply thinking out loud, on paper. I think I’ve gotten some of it right, but I’m sure I’ve gotten some of it wrong, too. It is a leaky, leaky boat, this book of mine.

This book is an easy read and different from many management books in the sense that it does not offer a specific  formula for success. I would recommend Different for anyone working in marketing or product development. There are also many insights for entrepreneurs and freelancers.

The Learning Layer – Review

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learning layer cover

The Learning Layer : Building the next level of intellect in your organization, begins with some solid insights on how learning is the key to performing in the networked workplace. Learning has been the traditional realm of HR while most systems are supported by IT. This means that HR supports the people who produce the tacit knowledge while IT supports the systems that store the explicit knowledge. Steve Flinn, the author, uses the analogy of knowledge as stock and learning as flow. An organization’s intellectual capital is a factor of both, which “makes it really clear just how inseparable the management of a business’s knowledge is from the learning processes”.

The proliferation of current web technologies now presents us with two major opportunities:

“The knowledge and insights within the heads of people can be leveraged without overtly taking actions to make it so. And that systems can actually learn, and more specifically, learn from latent intellectual capital.”

Previous legacy IT systems used hierarchical structures, making them unsuitable for real learning applications, so “if we want an integrated organization of people and systems that effectively learns, we should start with a focus on a network-based architecture that has the capacity to reshape itself over time and that is layered over what came before, because that’s how the brain works.”

Flinn goes on to explain that Web 2.0 technologies have created “socially aware” systems that can identify some behaviour patterns between systems and users, giving us various levels of adaptation. Amazon.com is the best known commercial application of this, with its product recommendations. Very soon, adaptive recommendations in work systems will become ubiquitous, providing some extent of contextual and personalized learning on demand. The learning layer is an amalgamation of socially aware, adaptive systems with social networks [uniting KM and SoMe]. The social network is the larger network of connected people with smaller workflow processes inside:

“Because the workflow is woven right into the learning layer itself, it also offers the opportunity for ‘recombinant’ processes, where process sections can be cleaved off and recombined to form new, synthetic processes. This is the ultimate in flexibility and efficiency, and can serve to make the benefits of processes realizable in even the most complex and fluid of work settings. Think of it as basically the mass customization of business processes.”

Flinn also shows how learning value is created, can be measured and then assessed against project value, providing a clearer picture of the value of intellectual capital. He further recommends changes in how we develop ideas for innovation and suggests reversing the traditional idea funnel. Then Flinn takes these ideas and compares them against the three business archetypes: Product Innovator, Relationship Owner & Supply Network Architect.

The first three parts of the book are full of good ideas, insight, and analysis, but Part 4 is a bit of a letdown. Implementing the Learning Layer, a mere six pages, doesn’t tell you much. However, there is a lot in the previous sections for guidance if you already understand processes and technologies from IT, HR, OD and  social media. If not, you could engage ManyWorlds for consulting and then implement on their Epiture platform.

In looking at the specifications for Epiture (aka “the learning layer”) the company describes it as a Web 3.0 system that includes enterprise level web site management; document management;  social networking and tagging & ontologies. Even without a full product comparison, I would say that several other platforms, including open source, like Drupal can do much of this.

The key difficulty I see in the implementation of a learning layer is getting people to use it. As a layer, it is not integrated into the work tools. Even if socially aware systems collect and analyze data and feed these into the learning layer, the layer has to be used by people. Perhaps it can be effective if only a portion of the work force is involved in the active sharing of tacit knowledge through social networking. While I agree in principle with the learning layer, I’d have to see it in action and understand how the organization got there. I have little doubt in the potential of the learning layer but I’m not sure if it will revolutionize organizational learning.

In spite of my comments in the paragraph above, I would strongly recommend this book. Just the analysis on learning in networks is worth it. Much of what is recommended here reinforces 1) the wirearchy framework and 2) PKM development. Some form of learning layer could become the means by which wirearchies work and also use the cumulative results of individuals and their personal – knowledge/learning – management/sharing – systems/environments.

Other Related Posts:

Knowledge Stock & Flows

BRP & ERP

Working Smarter 2010

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The Working Smarter Fieldbook (June 2010 version) is now out. This is a collaborative effort by all of us at the Internet Time Alliance and was spearheaded by Jay Cross. Our intention is get the conversation focused on what’s important for business, including the training & learning department – working smarter. Learning is just a means and not the end, but this perspective has somehow been lost along the way in many organizations over the past decades.

A toolbox
Years ago, Stewart Brand published The Whole Earth Catalog to provide “access to tools.” It listed all manner of interesting and oddball stuff, from windmill kits to hiking sox to books like Vibration Cooking. The Catalog didn’t tell readers how to live their lives; it merely described things that might help them to do their own thing. Feedback and articles submitted by readers made each edition better than its predecessor.
The Working Smarter Fieldbook follows the tradition of The Whole Earth Catalog. Harold, Jane, Clark, Charles, Jon, and Jay provide access to the tips, tricks, frameworks, and resources that we’ve used to help organizations work smarter. Our goal is to put together an irresistible package of advice.

Trust Agents – review

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trust-agents

Trust Agents by Chris Brogan & Julien Smith could also be called the Miss Manners Guide to Social Media. For long-time bloggers and heavy social media users there is not a lot that’s new here but it’s still an interesting read. What I really like about the book are the various recommendations on how to behave online. Not only do they cover what you CAN do with social media but they always say what you SHOULD do.

“That Guy” can be a man or a woman, but we all know a version of That Guy. He’s annoying. He handed you his business card immediately but barely looks at yours. His attitude is “hand them all out”, which is the business equivalent of carpet bombing …  In your business, you shouldn’t ask for anything almost ever. Asking for favors, getting people to blog things for you, these are things that make people go out of their way and make them feel uncomfortable.

I have met new friends, business partners and clients with social media, and like the authors, I would say that a “no sales” approach works best in the long run. The chapter called the Human Artist covers online etiquette in detail and should be read by any self-described social media guru. Also, three of the book’s chapters reflect The Law of the Few – how small groups of people enable social change or the transmission of new ideas.

Connectors: They talk about the idea of being Agent Zero, or the person who connects groups where no previous connection exists.

Mavens: They also discuss creating value, or doing things that people need, one small bit at a time. In Make Your Own Game, the premise is to find a niche and become an expert in it.

Salespeople: In Build an Army, the authors show the promise and pitfalls of crowd-sourcing and social networks for business.

Create you own blog – review

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CreateYourOwnBlog

I have to admit that I enjoyed reading through Create your own blog by Tris Hussey. The subtitle, 6 easy projects to start blogging like a pro, did not attract me initially but the book is well written, covers a lot of ground and is quite helpful. The first three chapters cover the basics and then there are sections on personal blogs, business blogs, blogs for artists, etc. If you’re 18 years old and a digital native, you don’t need this book and neither do you if you’ve already been blogging for several years. However, there is still a good segment of the population who may be interested in this book.

Create your own blog is quite different from Social Media for Dummies which I reviewed a while back. The introduction says it all, “It’s all about storytelling”. This book is well-researched, based on experience (it seems that Tris started blogging about the same time I began this blog) and includes lots of anecdotes – more learning through storytelling.

There are also details on podcast blogs, video blogs and fairly up to date information on Twitter and Facebook. It’s the kind of book you give your boss, your colleague thinking about blogging, or someone who is looking at a second career as a free-agent. I have several clients for whom this book would be perfect and the list price is very reasonable. On top of that, Tris lives in Canada!

Would I recommend this book to someone starting out blogging? If you’re over 30, definitely yes, because you probably won’t dig through all the online forums to find out what you really need.

You can check out the book’s website for more information sixbloggingprojects.com.

From the Summary:

One of the hallmarks of blogging has been its culture of transparency and openness, which means that it is expected that you will disclose affiliate links and other similar things (like when I receive a free product for review that I get to keep). Not disclosing this information can get you in hot water. It’s happened to even prominent bloggers (who should know better), so don’t feel alone, but it’s best to just avoid the whole issue and let people know.

[Disclosure: The publisher, Pearson Canada,  sent me a complimentary copy of this book and I am an Amazon.com affiliate. If you click through the book link and order a book, I will receive a small commission. Over the past few years I have only used these commissions to purchase more books and write reviews on them. I have given most of these books away – to clients, friends and conference attendees.]

The Social Network Business Plan – Review

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SNBP_silverThe Social Network Business Plan: 18 strategies that will create great Wealth by David Silver

The central premise of this book is how to build “recommender networks“.

“The next great wave of online communities will focus on specific interests such as health, travel, improvement of government services, wealth, beauty, neighbourhood watches, hobbies, protecting one’s estate, and rating the abilities and prices of lawyers, realtors, electricians, hospitals, physicians, judges, school teachers, and vendors of a host of products and services for the home.”

David Silver is a venture capitalist and explains the type of online communities that he would invest in. He then goes on to explain several (18) models. You might think that Facebook already has the social network market cornered, but Silver thinks differently:

“Although the earliest social networks get their launch value by attracting massive memberships, the ones with highest revenues per member, are, at the end of the day, the social networks that have found the empty chairs in the musical chairs game of recommender social networks. It is the best execution of the cleverest business models that will decide the winners.”

This reminds me of the MD community of Sermo that charges sponsors about $100,000 each because it is a gated community for US registered physicians only.

Silver even thinks that recommender communities will one day usurp MySpace, Facebook, and other general communities. There are lots of specific tactics in this book so it’s quite appropriate for entrepreneurs. There is not much theory on groups or networks, but lots of anecdotes. For the theory behind social networks, read Connected: the surprising power of our social networks and how they shape our lives. For me, this is the kind of book to keep handy and refer to with the various communities that I’m engaged in. Who knows, maybe it’s time to start one myself.

A linchpin culture

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Here is Seth Godin being interviewed by Hugh Macleod:

In a sta­ble envi­ron­ment, we worship the effi­cient fac­tory. Henry Ford or even David Gef­fen… feed the machine, keep it run­ning smoothly, pay as little as you can, make as much as you can. In our post-industrial world, though, fac­tory worship is a non star­ter. Cheap cogs are worth what they cost, which is not much. In a chan­ging envi­ron­ment, you want peo­ple who can steer, inno­vate, pro­voke, lead, con­nect and make things hap­pen. That’s my the­sis. This is a new revo­lu­tion, and just as Marx and Smith wrote about the indus­trial revo­lu­tion, I’m wri­ting about ours.

Godin’s new book is called Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? and he hits the nail on the head that the industrial model for work design is no longer of much use. The work that we will be paid for is the difficult, innovative, one of a kind, creative stuff.

The cynefin model (below) shows that emergent practices are needed in order to manage in complex environments and novel practices are necessary for chaotic ones. We will be facing more complexity and chaos in our work. There are fewer easy answers, easy jobs with good pay, or simple ways to keep a job for life.

I don’t believe that it’s any longer a question of whether standardized work will be outsourced or automated, but when. How much time do we have to prepare people for the new revolution? Any scenario that I consider – peak oil, global warming; globalization; Asian dominance – still requires that the developed world’s workforce deals with more complexity and even chaos. We need to skill-up for emergent and novel practices and that means a completely different mindset toward work.

cynefin linchpin

It’s not enough that I am ready or that you are prepared. We have to be able to deal with change as a society. How can we help get our communities out of their comfort zones or overcome their fears and get their innate creativity flowing? Becoming a linchpin is the first challenge, but enabling a linchpin culture is the greater one.