SG Enterprise 2.0

My Hopenhagen Project - How to reduce carbon emissions from car

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 07:10:00 +0000

This morning, I read a piece of news that we ought to be proud of. The Singapore Government has pledged a 16% cut in emission versus projected business-as-usual levels by 2020. While the amount is not a lot considered to the world’s entire carbon emission, this is definitely a good start and will help to facilitate the UN Climate Summit at Copenhagen next week.

One of the propositions to reduce carbon emission raised was to impose taxes on carbon emissions or to purchase carbon credits, but this means the cost of doing business and living is going to be increased. This will be extremely painful at a time when the world’s economy is not doing well.

I wonder whether this is going to be effective or not? The correct way to bring about lower carbon emission is to encourage instead of penalizing people. It is not feasible to slap higher fuel taxes to reduce fuel usage. Does it mean when taxes are applied on oxygen, people will be breathing less oxygen? People will still need to travel to work and goods still need to be moved. While it is possible to pay extra at the moment, are we going to increase the taxes or the price of the carbon credits if emission still continues to grow?

The really sustainable approach to bring around lower fuel consumption is to tackle the root causes. We need to reduce on the needs of unnecessary consumption and wastages. According to EcoBridge, about 33% of the US carbon dioxide emissions come from vehicles. As of 2008, Singapore got a total car population of 550,455 making 4.3millions trips. Assuming if each trip is only 1 kilometre and the best case of 120g per kilometre, the total amount of carbon dioxide emitted is 516 tonnes. It is definitely higher because our trip is longer than 1 kilometre.

Teleworking may be one of the sustainable solutions. It is definitely more energy efficient to move a bunch of electrons than a human being from point A to point B. It is a possibility with today’s technology and infrastructure. It is an irony when we can outsource jobs to thousands of miles away when we can’t let our citizens to do their work at home once a week. If the government gives tax incentives for companies to do teleworking, it can help to reduce the carbon emissions and also reduce the office rental expenses for business. The pro-family policy could possibly bring forth a reversal in our aging population pattern. It can also reduce the road congestions during the peak hours, thus improving our productivity.

It might not be feasible to implement teleworking fully now, but if the government can do something to encourage partial teleworking or to take the lead, I believe we can make Singapore a better place to live and a good example to the world.

Image by Burning Image at Flickr

How to become an Enterprise 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:12:00 +0000

While Enterprise 2.0 gains its popularity in the market, there's still a big misconception out there.

This comic strip by Oliver's Geek and Poke put this misconception under the light

Dion explains the details in his blogpost - 14 reasons why Enterprise 2.0 project fail

How come Enterprise 2.0 is not everywhere yet?

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:14:00 +0000

This is a cross post from Akeles.

Check out the article at http://akelesconsulting.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/how-come-enterprise-2-0-is-not-everywhere-yet/

SaaS Asia 2009 Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:02:00 +0000

Last month, I was invited to the SaaS Asia Conference organized by Springboard Research. It was a very fruitful event with lots of insight to take away. This is also the 2^nd time that I heard Michael Barnes (VP of Software Research). I am impressed by his coverage on the state of SaaS.

The short video clip from Salesforce provides a good explanation on the benefits of SaaS (Software as a Service).

After this conference, I am more convinced that SaaS model will be here to stay. It will be especially useful for SMEs:

For applications that the data is not sensitive to be hosted outside the company’s premises
For business applications that are generic enough without the need for customization
For needs that are not critical to the operations of the company
For organizations that are unable/unwilling to commit to a huge investment upfront with the traditional licensing model
For a small number of users which is difficult to justify for the purchase

At the same time, the management from the bigger companies may want to consider these factors to see whether SaaS is suitable for them. I believe the SaaS vendors will also have to think about these issues to make their offering more attractive.

Scalability – what happens if there is more usage? Which model will be more cost effective
Network response time – Web applications requires a high response time to be effective and user friendly. It is more challenging when it is housed outside the intranet.
Crisis Management – In time of crisis, will the service provider be able to react in time to all their customers? Try to imagine one big raincloud with multiple locations on fire. Is it possible to put out all the fire? Sometimes the bit of slack is required to handle unplanned emergencies.
Exit strategy – What is the cost to migrate to another application? Can the data be exported out?

Here are the other related articles from the event for your reading interests

Can Twitter Serve as a Personal Knowledge Management Tool?

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:56:00 +0000

I came across Bill's blog post on whether Twitter can serve as a personal knowledge management tool. Here's the comments about it.

I think you have raised a valid point that Twitter reminds you of de.licio.us

While Twitter is definitely good in dissemination of information, I doubt it will be useful for long term personal knowledge management.

As the amount of information increases, it will be harder to retrieve what you want. There is a limit on the amount of information that can be stored with 160 characters. There is a scientific word for this - entropy

There are a lot of meta-information that is required for a feasible large-scale knowledge base. One good way is to use emails to see what Twitter is currently lacking.

Who - source or participants of the information
When - When was this information created
Context - as in previous emails discussion. Can we link up all the threads on twitter?
organization structure - as in email folders or tags

p.s: I decided to keep this in my own knowledge base :)

Can ads continue to fund the boom of Web 2.0?

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 06:08:00 +0000

One of the key reasons for the boom in the Web 2.0 is the power of free. With just an Internet connection, anyone can have access to useful applications like Google, Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube or Flickr without having to pay a single cent. So how do they get the money to buy the hardware, recruit the development team and pay for the utilities? Some of them probably got a group of rich investors, otherwise the companies are earning the money through web advertisements.

The ads model has been very effective so far, and it also attracted countless bloggers to publish content on the internet. Even I myself has signed up on Google Adsense to link with this blog (though I have yet to see any returns).

But the question is whether there are sufficient ads to go around and can ads generate enough revenue for the company or not? Will the investors continue to pump money into the company when they cannot see any profits in future? (Will you deposit your money in a bank that does not pay you interest?)

I also noticed the trend that there are some services to scrap off the ads from the actual site with addons like GreaseMonkey and Jetback. And if you access facebook from mobile devices like Apple Iphone, only the key content is presented (without the ads).

Even if you do not scrap the ads, how often do you click on the advertisement on the webpage? Yes, the amount of revenue is determined by how many people clicked at the advertisement on their sites.

So the big question here is sustainability. If you run a cafe, how long can you continue to offer free drinks before you get paying customers who are willling to pay for your drinks? Likewise, if people is unwilling to pay for the usage of web services and also unwilling to help that company to earn the revenue, then what will be likely consequences? Can you imagine what happens one day if you cannot access your Gmail or Facebook? Will there be a "Web 2.0 crisis" after the current financial crisis?

Will you start considering to pay for this services? Or what are your thoughts on it. I am interested to know.

It's Time to Get Serious About Enterprise 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:36:00 +0000

Robert Mahowald, Research Director, IDC, discusses how organizations today are using innovative Enterprise 2.0 tools for more efficient business operations across the extended enterprise.

BCMPedia Wiki

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Thu, 14 May 2009 09:53:00 +0000

BCMPedia wiki was featured on the ST Digital Life this week:

To standardize about 250 terms used in a business continuity management (BCM) course, BCMI (Business Continuity Management Institute) based in Singapore has turned to the Wiki community

This has helped to allow people from different professions and background to talk in the same lingo.

With BCMPedia, together with an online forum, BCMI is able to increase its visibility online and has levelled the playing field to compete against more established rival institutes.

How we survived through a computer breakdown

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 07:46:00 +0000

Check out my personal experience on the benefits of web applications after my laptop crashed.

Thankfully, I have been using web applications :)

IBM Lotusphere 2009 - The power of community is closer than you think

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:51:00 +0000

I attended IBM Lotusphere 2009 in Singapore last wednesday. The tagline "The power of community is closer than you think" was really apt because after the event, I feel that a lot of organizations are aware and actively embracing Enterprise 2.0. It is an interesting event to meet up with local champions on Enterprise 2.0 and to find out why and how did they embraced Enterprise 2.0. The presentation slides are still not available on their site. For those who did not manage to attend, here is the the agenda and highlights I have taken down.

Truth happens

This video produced by Redhat Linux is my favourite video of the day. People used to think Enteprise 2.0 is a fade, but it is here to stay now.

Another video to highlight the benefits of virtualization with Redhat Linux

Social Software in the Enterprise

A presentation that shows 3 users doing their day to day jobs in the company and how they use different software to accomplish their tasks.

Social Software in the Enterprise

View more presentations from creckling.

Alloy By IBM and SAP - A Product Tour

With Alloy, business users can easily access SAP software and information from within the IBM Lotus Notes environment, both online and offline.

Boeing Mashup using IBM Mashup Center

A video containing the demonstration to explain the benefits of using Mashup through an example of a disaster relief mashup for Boeing.

Key learnings from the seminar

"Not chasing technology for the sake of technology but to look at the REAL business needs"
- Kwong Yuk Wah, CIO, Info Techology, NTUC
Enterprise 2.0 is not like the software on a shelf. It takes much more to realize the full benefits. One good example will be the Microsoft Powerpoint program versus a well-designed set of slides.
Web 2.0 enables connection with a bigger audience. This is evident by comparing the number of people at the Speakers' Corner versus the number of blog discussions
Web 2.0 is a double edged sword. Need to take care of governance, change management and engaging people
Content is King
A new media study platform
Encourage culture of participation

Free Enterprise 2.0 Training by AIIM

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 08:22:00 +0000

AIIM is giving free training to a module from their Enterprise 2.0 Certification Program at http://www.aiim.org/freetraining

You can click on the Enterprise 2.0 image and enter the code E25PA9 after registering at the site.

p.s: Thanks to Georgina Clelland from AIIM International for sharing :)

Happy Birthday to Wiki

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:03:00 +0000

I just got reminded that 14 years ago, the first wiki was introduced to the world by Ward Cunningham.

Through these 14 years, it has been refined and improved. And best of all, it has survived through the test of time and gained a huge user base. And it implies that this is a great and useful idea.

Happy Birthday to you, Wiki. May you be the next killer app :)

Twitter - Are we using it the right way?

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:57:00 +0000

The usage of Twitter is getting more prevalent with more people signing up and twittering. Even the local press have reported that 1/5 of the US congress is using Twitter.

I myself have also signed up on Twitter to explore on it and played it with a month. But I am really wondering on the effectiveness of Twitter as what many other people have said based on the following reasons:

Potential Security Breach with Tiny URLs
Information Overload
Spam in another form
Room for misunderstanding

1. Potential security breach with Tiny URLs

Twitter automatically converts long urls into short urls in order to meet the 140 characters limit per twitter. But there is a risk associated with tiny urls. It is possible to do phishing (masquerading of sites) by adding extra characters beyond the normal url. It allows hackers to redirect the user to another site with the same screen when he thinks that he is at the correct site to key in his confidential information (e.g credit card number or passwords). There is an blog post to explain how it can be done in greater detail.

2. Information Overload

With only the 140 characters limit, it does not require a lot of effort for people to twitter. This may result in a lot of twitters in the day. Imagine an user following 200 users, who twitter 10 times per day. He will be recieving 2000 tweets. It would be very disruptive and time-consuming to follow up with the 2000 tweets.

Twitter was designed for close friends to be updated about each other, but people are using it to follow everybody they know.

3. Spam in another form

Due to the low cost of twittering, it is easy for spamming to take place in Twitter. And with more companies moving onto the Twitter bandwagon, it is very likely for spam to grow. I have personally received a few commercially-related requests for people to follow me on Tweeter and I saw them using Twitter to do advertising.

4. Room for misunderstanding

Everyone of us know the communication is very important for the points to be conveyed across effectively. It is very challenging to compress the thoughts within 140 characters limit. I encountered a good example where my friend got into a quarrel with his girlfriend just because he replied with a very short reply.

Another scenario is that someone went on a holiday and did not catch a twitter message from his friend. His friend will wonder how come there is no reply. This problem is more unlikely to happen with emails. People are treating Twitter as a cross between instant messaging and emails.

Twitter is designed for announcements but people are using it to conduct conversations which may be cause misunderstanding.

Conclusion

Lastly I would like to point you to the home page of Twitter which states its primary objective - "telling people What are you doing?

So are you using Twitter in the right way? Or what are your views on Twitter?

Web 2.0 goes to work for business: Enabling the power of participation

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 09:21:00 +0000

A very good case study of how IBM benefited from Web 2.0

Gained US$4.6 million in productivity
Avoided US$2.4 million in costs
Uncovered information worth an estimated value of US$500,000 per year.

View more presentations from rossdawson. (tags: enterprise2.0 e2ef)

Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum 2009 - The State of the Nation

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:49:00 +0000

What’s the latest trends in enterprise Web 2.0 use and how other organizations are using them for? Check it out in State of the Nation by Ross Dawson

Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum 2009 - The State of the Nation

View more presentations from rossdawson. (tags: dawson 2.0)

Ross Dawson has authored a book "Implementing Enterprise 2.0 Report which contains very good advice on how to create business value with web technologies. You can check out the table of contents and the sample chapters

A better way of collaborating and sharing your PowerPoints

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 02:28:00 +0000

This morning, Mary Jo Foley posted a blog entry on DocVerse, a new startup started by ex-Microsoft people. I have signed up for the beta and I am really impressed by it.

DocVerse requires you to do a simple installation for a plugin for Microsoft Office, after which you will be able to:

to synchronize the PowerPoint slides with DocVerse online site
share the PowerPoint with others through a url link
allow people to comment on the DocVerse site and appear in your MS Powerpoint
to allow a group to work on the PowerPoint and automatically keep versions of the PowerPoint

A point to note is that MS PowerPoint does not have an insert comment feature, and DocVerse is able to display the comment on the slide with arrow pointing to the picture/text related with the comment. And the best thing is that the comment does not appear during the actual slideshow.

You can check out the DocVerse site for an overview and slideshow on the features

It will be good if the plugin also allow publishing completed PowerPoint to Slideshare.

And if you want to participate in the beta, do check out the Mary's blog entry for the free invitation code for the first 100 people.

The change has come

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:08:00 +0000

With the inguration of President Barack Obama, the white house has created a blog - The White Blog for the administration to communicate with the masses. While this is one small step for the new administration, it signifies a big step for all the corporate leaders - the possibility and the need to make use of technology to communicate their thoughts and visions to the entire organization.

The 3 ideas raised in the blog resonates with my beliefs that proper use of technology can bring around improvements in Communication, Transparency and Participation

Communication: By establishing a clear communication channel from the top, the way the organization works can be more aligned to the rationale for the directions at the top. More often than not, we often see the case of "good intention, wrong execution" which it probably caused by misinterpretation of the original instructions. Usually the top management will pass down the strategic directions, to be planed by the middle management and executed by the knowledge workers. And the knowledge workers have to interprete the rationale from the actions be planned and unable to respond when factors have been changed.

Transparency: People will be more careful and conscientious in their work when it can be easily reviewed by others (who got the permissions). Similarly, people can also help to give pointers to refine the piece of work or the process. This could help in promoting quality and innovation within the organizations. There is a term that I always like to use "Quality is not achieved by obscurity"

Participation: There is a need to keep employees engaged. By getting in their participation, employees will be motivated to do their best. And it has the plus advantage of gaining access to best ideas. Although there may be some conflicts, but objective conflicts really challenge the original idea to ensure that it is comprehensive and foolproof, and also helps to refine it.

ps: I'm sorry for the long gap between my last blog post. I have been occupied with my dream for the past few months. From now on, I will be in a better position to share my experiences and thoughts. The other blog will be focusing more on Atlassian's tools and knowledge management whereas this blog will retain its enterprise 2.0 theme.

Xtimeline

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 04:27:00 +0000

One thing I like about web tools or mashups is that they can be integrated within other web platforms easily.

Xtimeline allows users to create, share and discuss timeline. I have started a timeline about Enterprise 2.0. Do chip in to add events that is significant. Thanks.

Tip: You can drag within the window to scroll the timeline.
Or you visit http://www.xtimeline.com/timeline/Enterprise-2-0-1 to view the page on a new browser window.

For more, please visit the introduction page of Xtimeline

Wiki as a mentor

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:18:00 +0000

In the ancient days of china, knowledge and skills are usually learned through the guidance of a master. There are many stories about scholars and pugilists who will travel deep in the mountains to find a good master.

During the apprenticeship, the master will impart his skills and knowledge to the disciples and guide them on the way of life. Therefore there is an idiom "A day as a teacher, a lifetime as a father" to illustrate the deep respect for the teacher in the chinese way of life.

However the master will usually pick his top disciple and impart the most advanced skills to his chosen successors. And perhaps this is one reason many valuable skills are lost today.

The wiki or the web definitely offers a better solution in the spreading of knowledge. However, with the availability of tools like search engine, most of us will be more independent in our course of work, thereby reducing the opportunities for fostering of strong relationships.

Nevertheless I feel that explicit knowledge should be recorded on wiki and relationships can still be fostered through other courses of work like guidance. We should not replace the role of a mentor with a wiki.

Awesome Highlighter

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 12:53:00 +0000

Awesome Highlighter is an useful tool that I have found recently. It allows you to highlight the text on a webpage and then give you a link (url) which you can pass to your friends. With this tool, you can

To show others the important part of an article
Reduce confusion about a sent link
Save time for the reader
Save the parts of the pages you find interesting

Coupled with the bookmarklet, you can click on the bookmark to bring up the toolbar at the top of the page to select the text (with a choice of color) and also add in a personal note. You can also choose whether to make the link public or private.

Do check it out yourself

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 12:52:00 +0000

Re: Some Questions You Might Get Asked

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 07:38:00 +0000

Andrew McAfee posted a blogpost on some questions you might get asked when planning to deloy emergent social software platforms. I could not resist putting down my views to the questions.

Here it goes.... (Warning! It's a bit lengthy)

What if employees use the their internal blogs to post hate speech or pornography, or to harass a co-worker?
Every organization will have an IT usage policy that is communicated down clearly to staffs on the Dos and Don'ts. Any violation can be reported and warning can be issued for the first time. Subsequent offenders should be punished severely.

What if blogs are used to denigrate the company itself, air dirty laundry, or talk about how misguided its leadership and strategy are?
It is possible for the content to be posted elsewhere (on the net) or brought up during the grapevine sessions. Having a platform allows people to voice out and the proper clarification or corrective actions can be carried out promptly. Of course, the top management will need to be prepared, as having a platform will cause other people to think that they are given the freedom of speech. Otherwise it can be communicated down that the platform is limited to official work and refrain from any personal views. This will have to depend on the culture of the organization.

What if nasty arguments break out in a discussion forum and the whole thing descends into name-calling and flame wars?
Arguments do break out in the real life as well. Some mediators can step in. But prevention would be the best by having a set usage guidelines. Of course using real names and putting the face to a name does helps in reducing these occurrences.

Won't people be tempted to use forums to talk about current events, review movies, ask for advice about camcorder purchases, and have other non work-related conversations?
It depends on the goals of the organization. Whether there is a need to build relationships? If there is, the platform can be enhanced to provide such forums. Otherwise it can be skipped and people are unlikely to misuse it without large scale usage. It will most probably scale down at email or IM level within their cliques.

What if people waste time filling up their employee profile pages with pictures of their kittens and vacations?
Again. It will depends on the organization's goals and the nature of work of the employee. If they are connected to the internet, they can do it elsewhere or do other offline things like reading magazines or gossip with emails. As long the employee are meeting their KPIs, they should be given certain autonomy. My concerns will be the time wasted by people reading the profile pages. One employee's uploading of his travel photos will have a multiplier effect on the time wasted as his fellow colleagues go through the photos. This can be cut down by imposing some disk quotas and keeping the profile pages with limited enhancements. With this, it is likely that the employee will move his acts to public domains where it is reachable to a much larger group of audience and with more convenience.

Will people just use social networking software to plan happy hour, rather than to get work done?
There's always a likelihood of it happening. Sometimes planning happy hour together does get work done much faster due to the relationships. As long the employees are meeting the targets set upon them, it should be ok. If employers are really uncomfortable with the idea, then enterprise 2.0 might not be suitable for them.

Don't Enterprise 2.0 platforms just yield another source of discoverable content -- material that must be turned over as part of a lawsuit or other legal action?
If it is wrong, don't do it. The Chineses have an idiom, "若要人不知，除非己莫为" (The only way to stop people from knowing it is not to do it.). Although there is no Sarbanes-Oxley Act for many countries, the stakeholders of the company will have better trust in the management with tools that helps to surface those irregularities.

If the information on these platforms really is valuable, won't it be harvested by spies and sold to the highest bidder?
Possibly. Information and Knowledge are invaluable. So what is preventing this from happening with the current IT solutions? What happens when experienced employees leave with all the precious knowledge to the competitors? This can be minimized by putting in place a proper set of security infrastructure and policies.

Won't hackers break in to our Enterprise 2.0 platforms and steal their content?
This can be minimized by putting in place a proper set of security infrastructure and policies. Very important information should not be placed on the internet facing platforms. Encryption will also help. What is stopping them from robbing the laptops of the employees?

Don't these technologies make it easier to deliberately or inadvertently leak secrets to the outside world?
Yes, Enteprise 2.0 supports knowledge discovery and sharing especially when searching is all powerful. But it also helps to identify any compromises easily rather than to let people exploit the loopholes easily. There is a need to invest in a platform with good security features.

Don't they make it too easy for confidential information to leap over our internal Chinese Walls?
With proper planning, education and control, it can be prevented. There is nothing to stop a confidential email to be forwarded to someone. For a start, very confidential information should be excluded from Enterprise 2.0 as the platform will be in exploratory stage and is unlikely to be endowed with a comprehensive set security infrastructure.

If we give up tight control over our Intranet's content, how can we possibly avoid running afoul of all potentially relevant regulations and laws around information sharing in all the places we do business?
It is possible to segregate information from the intranet and internet with good usage guidelines. It also establish a need for enterprise 2.0 platforms instead of using public platforms. For those non-sensitive content, by posting it online, it helps by having more people to know and alert the company of any non-conformances and corrective actions can be done promptly instead of waiting for grave consequences.

What if an unhappy customer uses uses our community site to air their grievances, and to talk loudly and often about our lousy products or Kafkaesque customer service? Or a supplier uses them to complain about how we never pay on time?
It allows corrective actions to be done promptly rather to have the bad-mouths taking place at other sites unknowingly for a long period of time.

Are we responsible and liable if people give incorrect information or bad advice on question and answer forums we host on our Web site?
Nope. You can always put a disclaimer. Even television programmes also carries a disclaimers on the views of the participants at their shows.

If we try to take advantage of lead-user innovation and ask people to submit their ideas to us, who owns the resulting intellectual property -- do we have to share resulting revenues and/or profits with the submitter?
It will depends on the arrangement up front. Usually companies will put up certain terms of conditions during the submission. Nevertheless, if the idea is really that good, the submitter should be aptly rewarded.

Is email the root cause of the attention problem

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:18:00 +0000

Recently, there have been a lot of ongoing discussions about problems related with emails. Some of the interesting ones are:

Studies by Basex has concluded that 28% of a person's day is consumed with "interruptions by things that aren't urgent or important, like unnecessary email messages -- and the time it takes to get back on track." And one of the solutions being offered around is another tool (possibly Enterprise 2.0 tools).

While Enterprise 2.0 offers much other benefits over email, I do not agree entirely that a new tool can solve all the problems completely. There is much likelihood that we will shift from one house into another house with the same set of baggage. Let me visualize what could possibly happen if email is ever replaced by other tools.

"You got new feeds" - Most of the email client are configured to check for incoming emails regularly. This problem will still stay if users configured their RSS readers to check for changes at every 5 minutes interval. Personally I will always check my inbox after leaving my desk for some time. The best way to work around this is to re-configure the frequency of checking for incoming emails. It will be better if users can configure rules to download high priority emails within shorter intervals.
"Hi there" - Even without email, users can still use instant messagers to poke at their counterparts causing interrupts.
"Ring ring" - There are people who will always use the phone for every small matters that doesn't warrant immediate attention.
"Spam" - Besides spams from the advertisers, there are also "spams" from friends and colleagues ranging from chain emails, and useless FYIs.
The "control freak" - There are some managers who always wanted to included in the all the distribution lists for all emails. The person could be subscribing all the RSS feeds or notification emails to track all the changes.

Therefore in my opinion, the mindset will also have to be addressed together to solve the problem. There is a need for a set of email ettiques and clear understanding that time and attention is limited. Perhaps a system for charging emails being sent will help more. The tools can only help to alleviate the problem by guiding the users to the desired behaviour with the well-designed user interface.

It's in the wiki

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 03:18:00 +0000

It is a common sight for speakers to dish out a lot of IT terms during IT presentation even though the audience are not that IT-savy. This is because those terms have been so internalized to them when they breathe and speak it.

This can also happen to any knowledge repository where everyone is so familar to its usage and unintentional habits like the following can develop over time:

It's in the wiki, how come you did not know/check/read it?

The requirements for a collaboration system and a knowledge repository system are different and wikis being so flexible and extensible should be managed carefully to avoid being non the wiser.

Some of the proposed solutions

Establish the correct ettique of usage - Users should try to search for the information first instead of posting questions.
Proper usage of tools - Users can use RSS or watches on changes to receive notification on any changes for those collaboration projects
Inculcate responsibility - Content owners should guide other users to the published information when there are some important information to be disseminated instead of assuming users will pick up the information by themselves.
Good organization structure - Users will be able to navigate to the required information through the use of content pages. Searches are only useful when people know what they are searching for. Users can also use tagging to categorize similar group of information.
Linking to the information - Links to the wiki instructions should be placed prominently within forms and templates to remind or lead the users to any important instructions
Clear and concise writing - It really helps the users to locate and understand the written knowledge easily

It is important to manage the expectations early rather than to wait for things to happen. Otherwise over time, people-related issues will start to pop up and it might become a political tool to shift responsibility.

Additional references

Microsoft Sharepoint Forum 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Sim Hua Soon) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 03:11:00 +0000

Microsoft is organizing a Sharepoint Forum in Singapore in July.

Compared to wikis, Sharepoint offers another perspective of using documents for collaboration and the line is blurring according to the latest development. It will be a good opportunity to pick up ideas and insight to improve on the way we work.

Date: 1 July 2008 (Tuesday)

Time: 8.30am - 5.30pm

Venue: Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre

Level 3, Theatre

For details, please check out here