Work

business & working

Putting your body and soul into your work

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Here’s a slightly changed excerpt from a book that I think many working folks could relate to:

Of course, everyone spoke ill of his profession, but, basically, it was all a question of selling his time, like everyone else. Doing things he didn’t want to do, like everyone else. Putting up with horrible people, like everyone else. Handing over his precious body and his precious soul in the name of a future that never arrived, like everyone else. Saying that he still didn’t have enough, like everyone else. Waiting just a bit longer, like everyone else. Waiting so that he cold earn just a little bit more, postponing the realization of his dreams; he was too busy right now, he had great opportunities ahead of him, loyal clients who were waiting for him. . ."

Before you check out the link, ask yourself this question, "What is the profession of the subject of this story?" Make a note of it, and then go to Anita Sharpe’s post at Worthwhile.

Learning through Blogging

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When you write a blog, your thoughts and comments, right or wrong, stay online for a long time. In reviewing what I have been jabbing about for the past year, I’ve pieced together some of my previous conclusions – warts & all:

Starting with learning in general:

It seems pretty clear; the basic unit of learning is the person. This person is indivisible. All learning activities, products and strategies must be centered around the person. We can then go on to develop environments for many people, but the individual is the building block – not the learning object, the course, the programme, or the institution. All of these are temporary organisations that the individual may use, or be part of.

And moving on to learning at work:

My conclusion for a while has been that knowledge cannot be managed, and neither can knowledge workers. It will take a new social contract between workers and organisations in order to create an optimally functioning enterprise. Adding management and technology won’t help either. This is the crux of everything in the new "right-sized, lean, innovative, creative" economy – getting the right balance between the organisational structure and the knowledge workers.

However:

Training without clear performance objectives, that are relevant to each learner, is useless.

And on the positive side:

What’s exciting about workflow learning is that the technology has caught up to some of the theory, and the globalized economy is making workflow learning (or something resembling it) a necessity.

Not only possible, but cheap:

An organisation’s entire KM effort could start with simple technologies. It could provide a blog to everyone, letting workers blog as they wanted. RSS aggregators could keep an eye on blogs of interest, and maybe even a blog rating system could be included in the performance management system. Yes, the better writers would get better rankings, but so would those who solve problems. A bottom-up approach to KM, at a minimal cost, makes a lot more sense than betting that some centralized system, with a huge training bill, will solve all of our problems.

Because:

What I like best about open source is that the development process is a real meritocracy, much like being an entrepreneur. In small business, if you don’t deliver, you can’t make an honest living.

And finally:

Informal learning, facilitated by the likes of blogs & wikis, works well for general education, and for continued learning outside of the "classroom". Informal learning (education in the broadest sense) is messy by its very nature. Training, such as how to drive a car, can use a more scientific method to
optimize training time, achieve the desired performance and reduce the risk of accidents. Training and education can even use the same tools, like simulations, but not the same approach. Education and training are complementary, but distinct.

Still a work in progress ;-)

Small Business Leads the Way

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Rafe Needleman writes in ZD Net how big businesses have a lot to learn from small businesses. His interview with the Chief Technology Strategist from Accenture resulted in the realisation that small businesses set the example in efficiency and optimal technology use. For instance, it was the home office that pioneered the Palm Pilot, avoids technology infrastructure investments (can’t afford them) and is already using blogs for knowledge transfer.

In fact, I think these giant firms, with their one-letter stock ticker symbols, have a lot to learn from small businesses — the millions of companies that constantly do more with less, live by their wits and not their inertia, and actually make up the backbone of the US economy.

Many of my clients are interested in the tools that I’m using (Skype, Open Office, blogs, wikis, open source), or some innovative knowledge-sharing processes, but usually come up against a brick wall with HR, IT, Purchasing, etc. Memo to decision-makers in large firms: look to small businesses to see what "really" works in the networked office.

Via eBiz Blog

The Tantramar Commons …

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I had some great conversations over the weekend, mostly around the
ideas of The Commons Network, first posted by Rob
Paterson, and now being implemented with the Queen
Street Commons. This has given me the impetus
to resurrect the idea
of the Sackville
SOHO Society, though I think I’ll change it to
the Tantramar
Commons.

I’m going to start by getting a small group of people
involved in the design of our own Commons. We originally started in
2003 by meeting at the Bridge Street Cafe in downtown Sackville. The
cafe now offers free WiFi service, so it might be even more
attractive as a meeting place. Take a note of this if you’re driving
past Sackville on the
Trans-Canada Highway and want to go online.

Anyway, I’m planning on
heading to Charlottetown in the next few weeks and see how the Queen
Street Commons is progressing and find out what lessons they’ve
learned so far. As we progress (once again), I’ll post my thoughts,
and would appreciate any input or advice. Hope springs eternal!

Giving it away

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In the April edition of Business 2.0 (requires paid subscription) there is an interesting article, "The Great Giveaway", about Amazon, Google and eBay, as they open up their data for others to create innovative web applications and services. The basic realization is that one company alone cannot follow all of the innovation possibilities, so let’s open it up for other developers to expand the potential of our platform. Though not for all kinds of business, opening up some of the data is a growing phenomenon:

Eric von Hippel, a business professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, explains those old rules: "We come from a culture where if you invested in it, you kept it. That was your competitive advantage." The rise of open-source software certainly challenged that notion. The rise of open data and Web services goes even further, holding out the promise of automating the links between online businesses. In geek-speak, such links are known as application programming interfaces, or APIs, through which more and more companies are revealing their vital data. As Vermeulen says, "Those that succeed have to think about removing walls instead of putting them up."

Opening up the data has spawned new companies, such as ScoutPal, which lets you check the price of Amazon’s merchandise, via your cellphone, as you shop for bargains off the Net. The service is particularly aimed at used book buyers who need to know the current market value of the books they wish to buy.

Update: If you would like to dig deeper into API’s and how they are the HTML of Web 2.0 (lots of acronyms there), then go to Seth Goldstein’s post:

As of 2005, the Internet has replaced the desktop PC as the primary platform for APIs. Unlike Microsoft and the desktop, however, nobody controls the web as a platform; although certain companies do oversee enormous pools of user data and have the opportunity to direct such traffic as they see fit. The talk of Google and Yahoo! (and now IAC) as web platforms center around their ability to recycle users through complex interconnecting networks of search, email, dating, travel, shopping, local services and more. This is the web version of the gated AOL community circa 1996. Ironically, AOL is now desperately racing to open their proprietary (Rainman) environment to a public web site (AOL.com) before Yahoo! fully eclipses its relevancy.

Re-mixing the Cluetrain for Education

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Regular readers knows that I often refer to The Cluetrain Manifesto. If you haven’t read it yet, take a look at the 95 theses, but I’d suggest that you read the whole book – online or in print. Scott Adams has taken the theses and re-mixed them for education. I’ve re-mixed a bit more, but don’t have the energy (yet) to address all 95:

  • Learning is conversation.
  • Learners are human beings, not demographic sectors.
  • What’s happening to education is also happening among learners. A metaphysical construct called "The School" is the only thing standing between the two.
  • To traditional educational institutions, networked conversations may appear confused, may sound confusing. But we, the learners, are organizing faster than they are. We have better tools, more new ideas, no rules to slow us down.

Go ahead and play some more – this is fun :-)

“What do knowledge workers want?”

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I was able to grab onto a free copy of the September edition of The Global Knowledge Review (paid subscription required), but only recently read it. I found that the two most interesting articles were by people whose blogs I read regularly – Dave Pollard and Lilia Efimova. Dave’s piece was focused on "What do knowledge workers want?" He summed up his interviews with over 100 front line workers with these general statements on their needs:

I can’t find anything.
I get what I need more effectively from conversations.
Knowledge gathering isn’t the best use of my time.
I prefer private knowledge stocks that I don’t trust others enough to share.

I’m a front line worker in my team of one and I thought about how I’ve been managing my knowledge for the past couple of years. I’ve already mentioned the benefits of blogging, so I’ll take it from there.

My blog forces me to make tacit some of my implicit thoughts and ideas. It also gives a place for some (rather limited) conversation through referrals from other bloggers and comments on this site. The real value is having a searchable database of these tacit tidbits. I probably search this site at least once a day, looking for something that I vaguely remember, in order to put it into a report or an e-mail, etc.

Recently, I’ve noticed that I’m commenting on other blogs more than writing on my own. I find this to be more intellectually stimulating and much better for my own learning. With about 100 blogs in my feed reader, there is always something to learn. Tracking these conversations is much more difficult, as different platforms have their unique requirements for following a conversation’s thread. It’s better than the traditional threaded discussion forum, though I still engage in some of these.

The other tool that helps a lot is Furl. This provides another tagged, searchable database of interesting websites. Furl also caches a copy for personal use, so the website will always be there for reference. Furl is very quick and easy to use, and great for sharing sites on a particular topic. For instance, I have a public education category to share with my wife.

Skype (voice over IP) is letting me have more and longer voice conversations. I use the free, computer to computer function for several hours at a time when I’m working with distributed teams. Free telephone service sure helps when your project partners are 3,000 km away.

So to get back to Dave’s statements on what knowledge workers want, I think that as an independent consultant, with my own blog and some free tools like Bloglines and Furl:

I can find most things
I get most of what I need from general written conversations and specific oral conversations – online (though I still like face-to-face discussions).
Knowledge gathering is a good use of some of my time because I’ve developed a few efficient processes.
I still keep some private knowledge stocks, but use the public ones more often.

These cheap and simple tools have made the job of knowledge worker much easier, at least for those of us outside the typical corporate policies and firewalls.

Blogs are here to stay

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A recent article in the The Knowledge@Wharton Newsletter (requires free subscription) on blogging shows how mainstream the medium is becoming:

What is clear is that opportunities for blogging abound. Companies can use bloggers to put a more human face on interactions with employees and customers; marketers can create buzz through blogs; and bloggers can act as fact checkers for the mainstream media. There are dozens of applications for blogs, [Prof. Kevin] Werbach notes, and many that haven’t even been conceived yet. To be sure, the concepts behind blogging aren’t exactly new. Comment and feedback have been around as long as the Internet itself. What’s new is the ease with which anyone can publish their thoughts on any number of topics, whether it’s the latest Congressional hearings, the newest gadget or the hottest pair of shoes. "Blogging is really driven by interest and desires, not commercial activity," says Wharton marketing professor Peter Fader. "It’s rare to see something take off like this when commercial prospects are so minimal. People just want to share ideas."

This article covers a wide variety of perspectives on blogging and is a good read for the uninitiated.

Blogging seems to be taking off much as the telephone did – people just want to connect. In many ways, blogging is not so much a new enabling technology, but a technology that has reduced the barriers thrown up by previous technologies and business models.

The Relevance of Grades

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Are you a teacher, educator or trainer? What kind of evaluation method does your organisation use? Which one makes more sense to you?

Behavior-based grades = grades based on irrelevant behavior-related criteria.


Outcomes-based grades = grades based on knowledge competencies and what one has learned.

From Nine Shift, are a number of critical posts on the state of Western education.

Performance Technology – the missing piece

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This week at the LearnNB quarterly meeting the key area of focus was gaming, especially Serious Gaming. The interest in gaming reminds me of the interest in online learning around 1997. I think that e-learning, however you define it, and serious gaming, however you define that too, each have their place – as possible interventions for improved performance.

However, there is still a lack of pertinent discussion around the essential component in this whole business – analysis, or figuring out what solution is best. We have to better understand how we get from perceived problem to viable solution when dealing with human performance. How do we go from, “Our sales staff aren’t producing” to “let’s use the sales simulation game”. ISPI provides a venue for those discussions, but sometimes it’s a voice in the wilderness.

Another source of information is Jay Cross, with workflow learning, based on some of the principals and theories of HPT. Jay recently highlighted some excellent presentations from Training 2005, and Harold Stolovitch’s handout is a great aide-memoire for any HPT practitioner. You have to have some background in the field to decipher these notes, as the detailed explanation is lacking, but just the section on feedback is well worth reading. Feedback is often misunderstood, and frequently misused. Jay also refers to a Rummler-Brache white paper on business defragmentation (neat term), in this post. As anyone in the field knows, Geary Rummler has advanced much of our praxis.

Until we extend performance analysis into the everyday business workplace, we will continue to chase after each new performance tool. Every tool has its place, but good diagnostics, based on validated theory & practice, will help to make real progress in improving performance.