Eclectic Bill

Technology Driving the User Instead of the User Driving the Technology

2008-07-17T11:56:00.002-05:00

Had an interesting lunchtime discussion with some colleagues about the shortcomings of Blackboard (the learning management system). Basically, what the users wanted to do is technically-possible but not managerially-possible because of the desire of the office that controls Blackboard to maintain "control" of the system. I see the point of this because the office has the responsibility of providing service to the entire campus and they can't just let people mess with the system and damage it. But, this also explains the rise of distributed and user-managed Web 2.0 tools in organizations where people want the ability to mold the technology around their needs instead of meeting the needs of the IT department.

Didn't we have this same conflict over 30-years ago when people started bringing in personal computers to do their work rather than having to wait for weeks on a processing job from the IT folks who ran the mainframe? Remember how that revolution turned out! :-)

Six Commandments of Social Networking (Plus One More)

2008-07-15T13:34:00.002-05:00

Lisa Schmeiser of ITWorld gives six commandments of social networking which will help you avoid the more juvenile aspects of online networking. I especially like the Sixth Commandment:

"Thou shalt remember: We are all still figuring this out"

Isn't that the truth? :-) And to this, I would like to add the Seventh Commandment:

"In any new IT project: Give your team the patience and time to work out the process and bugs."

I wish more managers and users would follow that Commandment.

Online Collaboration using Google Sites

2008-07-11T09:06:00.002-05:00

I recently volunteered to put together a process for creating a newsletter for a local professional organization. This is something that they have struggled with for several years because of the perceived complexity in publishing a newsletter and the little free time the officers have.

To answer those objections, I designed a Google Site to automate much of the process. The first page is a set of instructions for the guest editor who downloads a Word 2007 template. The second page is a set of file folders that contain the content and images which are then downloaded. The editor opens the template, puts the content and images in the appropriate places, and publishes a PDF. The PDF goes to an editorial review board which uses a checklist to make comments. The editor then revises the PDF and sends out the final version to be published on the website.

The key here is to break down the process into manageable bits and use the Google site tools to guide the process flow. I will do a test run this month to test out the process.

Anyone else using similar tools to help their nonprofits manage complex tasks?

Risks of Social Networking in Organizations

2008-07-09T12:01:00.002-05:00

The July/August 2008 issue of AIIM E-Doc Magazine has a good article on the relevance of social networking tools in organizations. According to a survey of 441 IT and business professionals, 13% said their organization has implemented social networking tools while another 13% had acquired the technology but haven't started using it. Twenty-five percent said that their companies are planning to use social networking tools soon.

With this interest in social networking, Bob Violino (the author) points out several risks associated with the tools. First is the just the decline in productivity as employees spend their time gossiping rather than exchanging work information. The second risk is the inadvertent disclosure of sensitive or propiertary information through employee blogging or wiki articles. There is also the risk that private information such as credit card numbers could leak through the holes in the social network. A fourth issue which is not so much a risk as a management issue is the need for evaluation measures to ensure that value of social networking can be measured against corporate goals. Figuring who should have access to the network is the fifth risk while preventing lock-in with a particular vendor could be the sixth risk.

As social networking gains in prominence, these are vital issues that need to be managed before implementing an organizational social network. These are certainly issues that management will bring up and the knowledge manager should be ready to address them.

The Fall of Google Starts with the Day Care?

2008-07-07T13:46:00.003-05:00

Article in the New York Times about Google's plan to raise daycare costs up 75% for their employees because Google's experiment in creating a state-of-the-art daycare is becoming the most expensive daycare facility in Silicon Valley ($37,000 per year per child compared to the average $12,000 per year per child for other companies such as Cisco). The end result is that this company "benefit" is being priced so high that employees can't afford the benefit. This is also led to a telling statement from Brin who supposedly stated that he had no sympathy for the parents and that he is tired of "Googlers" who expect such perks as free bottled water and M&Ms.

I mention the article because it demonstrates how Google is losing focus of its core mission and is starting to believe its own press. Expect to see more defections from Google as the company continues to stumble. And check out this interesting posting from a former Googler who went back to Microsoft. Being innovative is a great core competency but confusing "cool" with innovation can be disasterous.

Taking the week off. . .

2008-06-30T14:06:00.003-05:00

See you on July 7th.

Going on a TOC Odyssey

2008-06-25T16:37:00.001-05:00

Goldratt is coming to Louisville, KY for a five-day training in TOC! Didn't even think twice about signing up! :-)

Are stronger professional associations the key to better work literacy?

2008-06-23T17:25:00.004-05:00

Tony Karrer and Harold Jarche were kind enough to comment on the post about the crisis of work literacy. They both agree that companies are not willing to invest in better work literacy for their employees so it appears that the employees will have to come up with their own resources. Jarche proposes that professional associations and communities of practice could fill in this gap which is where I think the solution lies.

But, having been a member and an officer of several professional organizations, this can also be hit-or-miss. Some organizations that I have been in are great resources in networking and development while others just seem to be nothing more than an occasional email newsletter. Communities of practice are great but, in my experience, they are very localized and I have found it difficult to keep up the same energy once I have moved out of the daily contact with the other members.

A colleague has suggested that we should just revive the guild model or create unions for knowledge workers. Having been a union member, I just don't see them as a place to further develop my skills nor do I believe the unions would be interested in helping workers develop out of the dues-paying jobs that keep the unions going.

To me, the answer lies in strong professional associations with both an active national presence and active local chapters. But for that, you need professionals who are willing to take time out of their busy lives to put in the volunteer hours to make this a reality. Everyone benefits but, as my experience has demonstrated, you end up with a "tragedy of the commons" effect in which a lot of noncommitted members still benefit from a small core group of highly-active volunteers.

So another paradox arises: everyone could benefit from strong professional associations but it invariably happens that a small group of volunteers overworks themselves for the benefit of all. If there was a way to insure that the volunteer effort was proportionally rewarded, I believe professional associations could be a key to managing work literacy.

Ignorance is My Greatest Strength

2008-06-19T16:03:00.002-05:00

Jack Vinson has an insightful posting on how the fear of mistakes often holds us back. Allied with that is the strong fear of looking stupid or uninformed especially in front of our peers. As I tell my students, don't be ashamed of your ignorance on a subject - as long as the ignorance is only temporary.

My grandfather was a great admirer of Benjamin Franklin and one of the first books he gave me was a biography of Franklin. It was here where I learned about Franklin's lifelong habit of picking five new topics a year on which he educated himself. I started doing that in Junior High and it has been a great personal development tool.

Any topic goes and over the years I have studied opera, how to run a bed-and-breakfast, and the impact of the railroads on the American West. What has impressed me most about this exercise is how knowledge in one area can be applied to another area with some amazingly innovative results.

This has also given me a healthy ability in educating myself on any subject. Thus, I don't mind admitting my ignorance in a certain area because I know (and have proven numerous times) that I can easily get up to speed on the subject. And the best lessons I have learned where I went into a subject completely wrong about the core concepts and ideas and, through correcting my mistakes, I have gained a deeper understanding of the subject.

To paraphrase Alanis Morrissette, "Thank you ignorance. Thank you failure."

Has the Internet Become a Major Factor in Political Campaigns?

2008-06-18T07:22:00.004-05:00

According to the latest Pew Report, it has:

1) "A record-breaking 46% of Americans have used the internet, email or cell phone text messaging to get news about the campaign, share their views and mobilize others."
2) "35% of Americans say they have watched online political videos--a figure that nearly triples the reading the Pew Internet Project got in the 2004 race."
3) "Second, 10% say they have used social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace to gather information or become involved. This is particularly popular with younger voters: Two-thirds of internet users under the age of 30 have a social networking profile, and half of these use social networking sites to get or share information about politics or the campaigns. "

What is interesting to me about this report is that of the campaigns, Obama's was the biggest user of social networking currently. Considering that the Edwards campaign made a concentrated effort to utilize every tool for social networking they could find, this makes the argument that the tools are only an enabler and that it's the content that makes you successful.

New Organizational Models and the Crisis of Work Literacy

2008-06-17T13:41:00.003-05:00

Harold Jarche is absolutely right about the current crisis of work literacy in which employees just don't have the tools to learn on their own. Even in academia, I routinely encounter this issue when colleagues are trying to learn the latest computer tools or how set up a classroom using social networking tools. But, I fear that this crisis is going to continue as long as the speed of change continues to increase.

Jarche calls for new organizational models that empowers employees to develop their knowledge and skills. That's a great idea but, in practice, I don't see this coming anytime soon because of the conflict between developing employees and making a profit. For a company to survive, it has to remain competitive and given the speed of change today, management can't give the employee the time to acquire, refine, and utilize knowledge even if that knowledge is badly needed. And if a company does take the time, the employee is soon recruited away by another company which benefits from the first company's investment in that employee.

In fact, as the rise of social network-based learning has demonstrated, employees no longer need the company to develop their knowledge, skills, and abilities. In many professions, communities of practice and professional organizations have replaced the shop floor and company mentors as the source of employee training. I know of numerous individuals who started at a company, took advantage of all the training they could grab, and then left to consult on their own because they had also built a large network of like-minded professionals.

Yes, a part of the solution is to make companies more open and democratic but a larger part of the responsibility is on the individual worker. Whether we are free agents or not, we should begin to act as if we are.

Sabotage as Standard Operating Procedure

2008-06-16T07:37:00.002-05:00

Two fellows from the CIA (of all places!) give the rules for combating change in any organization:

(1) Insist on doing everything through “channels.” Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions.

(2) Make “speeches.” Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your “points” by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences. Never hesitate to make a few appropriate “patriotic” comments.

(3) When possible, refer all matters to committees, for “further study and consideration.” Attempt to make the committees as large as possible — never less than five.

(4) Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.

(5) Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.

(6) Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.

(7) Advocate “caution.” Be “reasonable” and urge your fellow-conferees to be “reasonable” and avoid haste which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on.

(8) Be worried about the propriety of any decision — raise the question of whether such action as is contemplated lies within the jurisdiction of the group or whether it might conflict with the policy of some higher echelon.

Man, I have been in some looooong meetings like this.

Thanks to Jack Vinson for the link to this great new resource - Workplace Literacy).

Mental Models and Customer Support

2008-06-06T07:54:00.003-05:00

Recently, I purchased the Flex 3 Upgrade from Adobe. Everything was going well until I had to enter in my Flex 2 serial number to complete the upgrade. I received a message saying that the serial number was not upgradeable. Being an academic version of Flex 2, I could see why that would be an issue although there was nothing on the Adobe site stating that academic versions could not be upgraded. A quick phone call to customer support was all that was needed to solve this problem. So, I thought.

A week later and a total of eight hours on the phone (six hours on hold listening to scratchy music recordings with two hours of actual conversation), I miss Macromedia more than ever. I was an early adopter of the ColdFusion product and, in those days, you called customer support, you had your problem solved in an efficient and effective manner.

But, when I called Adobe Customer Service, I was bounced around three different departments as the very apologetic representatives tried to understand my issue. They listened only long enough to try to categorize my problem into something that fit their script. "Cannot install? Let me connect you to that department." "That is not an install problem, that is a serial number problem. Let me connect you to that department."

The representatives were professional and courteous but they just could not shake their mental models and thus they could not even understand my problem much less solve it. The end result was that I returned the product. Now, because I need Flex 3 for business purposes, I will need to buy the full product so Adobe still gets my business. But imagine how much better it would have been if a representative had actually listened to my problem and suggested that as a solution. I do not mind paying the full price but I do mind (greatly!) spending eight hours on a phone and being bounced around while having to explain my problem for the tenth time to a new representative.

And all this could have been prevented with some training in active listening and a willingness to go "off script."

More on the Google Exodus

2008-06-02T17:04:00.002-05:00

It seems that more support is mounting for my prediction on Google's eventual fate. As I wrote on May 19th, Googlites are leaving to start their own companies despite being at the best place in the world to work. As Google turns ten, even the founders are worried that Google is no longer the risk-taker it used to be and may even be "settling down."

Well, an article in the June 2008 issue of KMWorld is just further proof that Google isn't the company it used to be. As Stephen Arnold points out, Google only became a powerhouse when it tapped into ad revenue and with 99% of the company's revenue coming from ad technology, anything that threatens ads threatens Google. Google may be the most innovative company around (as evidenced by Google labs) but none of these technologies are close to being revenue streams.

As I wrote before, maybe the lasting contribution of Google is that it provided the infrastructure to help other companies succeed and thrive but it destroyed itself in the process. That is noble but it doesn't make for a good investment. Then, there is the other extreme of Microsoft which is not that innovative but quite good at taking other people's products and turning them into revenue streams.

There has to be a happy medium and if you find that company, buy as much of the stock as you can. :-)

Winning a Campaign through Social Networking

2008-05-29T14:56:00.002-05:00

Great posting in Network Weaving about how the Obama campaign's deft use of social networking has made him a serious contender in the 2008 Presidential race. Whatever your politics, one can appreciate how Obama managed to propel himself past two heavy favorites (Edwards and Clinton) to essentially clinch the Democratic nomination. According to Network Weaving, this is because Obama understood that the sociology of social networking came first and then the technology of social networking strengthens and empowers the existing social networks. This is from the observations of political columnist, Richard Cohen, who writes that the new political reality is "[i]ts the networks, stupid."

When I was working on my Masters in Political Management back in 1995, the Internet was just enjoying an explosion of mainstream attention. I did an independent study on how the Internet could transform political campaigns but my focus was more on the logistics of the campaign office rather than building networks of supporters. Of course we were dealing with Web 1.0 but you could see the social networking possibilities in the Usenet groups and listservs. But it took the technologies of Web 2.0 to achieve the vision of someone who understand the power of social networking in building movements.

Call to Action to the Personal Knowledge Management Community

2008-05-23T12:15:00.002-05:00

I was browsing around the Personal Knowledge Management entry in Wikipedia and noticed it needed a lot of work. So, I am going to spend the next week or two working on the entry. Would anyone like to join me? I see Dave Pollard is mentioned in the references but where are the other pioneers in the field like Jack Vinson?

Think of this as community project like cleaning up school playground. :-)

Twine - Promising but needs more work

2008-05-22T12:04:00.000-05:00

I finally received my invitation for the Beta test of Twine which promises to be the major web app for the Semantic Web. I especially like the feature of having items recommended to me based on my browsing habits but (and I fully realize this is a Beta) there is a lot of work still needed to make the interface work better. For example, their Basic Bookmarklet tool just doesn't work while the Advanced Bookmarklet seems to hang. I have created my first Twine around mental models and I am anxious to see what recommendations Twine comes up with.

How to “[Lead] a Learning Revolution”: The Story of the Defense Acquisition University

2008-05-21T14:49:00.001-05:00

It took me some time to find this book because it’s Library of Congress classification has it shelved in Military Affairs when it is really about building a highly-effective corporate university. Whatever it takes, do read Leading a Learning Revolution by Anderson, Hardy, and Lesson because it is the best book I have seen on building a training organization.

As the authors write, the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) started off as the typical training department in the Department of Defense. The DAU had great teachers, committed staff, and followed the standard practices for the training industry. It was well-suited for its role as the traditional 20th Century training department.

But, the new president (Frank Anderson) wanted to transform DAU as a key component of the “Total Learning Environment” which uses the new technologies to create on-demand training that is in alignment with the DOD’s strategic goals.

Here are the key takeaways that I found most useful:

1) Chapter Two: Organizational Alignment – “Alignment is the single most important action a learning enterprise should take to optimize performance” (p. 21). The authors describe a great process for doing just this.

2) Chapter Five: Establish A Learning Architecture – Starting with an actual idea on a napkin, the authors tell the story of how they created the “Performance Learning Model” which guided the transformation of the DAU. Surrounded by a ring of “Continuous Learning”, each level of training is reinforced by job experience leading up to a capstone class. After the structured training is over, communities of practice and “Performance Support” reinforce the training and make it stick.

And for anyone who has to lead a transformation project can appreciate the pain of the three years it took to make the transformation work. Of course there was incredible resistance against the new changes (up to a few folks filing formal grievances) but, as the results proved, the effort was worth it. The most valuable lesson here: “It’s the people, not the technology, that determine the success of a twenty-first-century learning organization. That may be a surprise, but it’s true.”

3) “New Technology + Old Organization = Costly Old Organization”

4) Chapter Six: Develop A Smart Evaluation Strategy – It’s not about ROI; it’s about “progress toward the vision and the mission execution.”

There is a lot more in this book from building a good reporting system to the importance of delivering training in different formats. If you are planning on building or reinventing your training department, I would use DAU as the template for the project.

Brain Rules for a more Personal Knowledge Management

2008-05-20T10:47:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Presentation Zen for pointing out this new book which are twelve rules for better working with your brain. Dr. Medina has distilled the latest neuroscience research into twelve principles that will help optimize your brain power. I believe these rules have a real impact on how to be a better knowledge worker and for creating a great personal knowledge management system.

Google Prediction Coming True?

2008-05-19T14:03:00.002-05:00

Back in January 2006, I wrote a letter to Business 2.0 (no longer around in print but has been archived at CNN Money) about their cover story on four scenarios concerning Google. These laudatory scenarios ranged from Google just becoming the whole Internet to Google acquiring Heaven. In response, I wrote a scenario in which Google just becomes another small company after surviving it's overhyped reputation. The scenario was published in the March 2007 issue with little notice (except for a colleague at work who thought it was "cute"). Ironically, soon after that, I was invited by Google to start using their tools in my classroom because I was perceived as a "cutting-edge educator" (as were the thousands of other teachers who received the same email :-) ).

Flash forward to the May 26, 2008 issue of Fortune which has a story concerning the mass migration of talent from Google. To sum it up:

1) Yeah, Google is a nice place to work but the smart people want to start their own Google rather than just work at one. "It is better to rule in Hell, than to serve in Heaven," Khan.
2) Google's cash cow is the ad service but they don't have any other successful technologies out there. I actually disagree here because I believe that Google has an interesting technology that is yet to receive widespread attention. Termed "Google Glue" by Stephen Arnold of KMWorld, this is a unique application environment in which anyone can use Google technologies to create great business solutions. I predicted this was Google's lasting contribution to the Internet but it would lead to the destruction of the company itself.
3) And Google is just becoming too big and is taking less risks than it used to. This is echoed even by Page and Brin.

So, is my scenario coming true? Well, I see Google becoming yet another small company in the third incarnation of the Internet ("Uninet") in 2020, so they still have a good ten years ahead of them. ;-)

Back to Blogging

2008-05-12T16:00:00.002-05:00

I picked up two training classes and a three-week course for May so I've been much busier than I thought I would be. Currently reading Leading a Learning Revolution: The Story Behind Defense Acquisition University's Reinvention of Training which I will review in the next day or two.

See You on May 1st

2008-04-19T13:20:00.002-05:00

Need some time off to finish up grading, close out the spring semester, and work on two new training classes.

Playing with Flexible Rails

2008-04-07T12:43:00.002-05:00

I picked up a copy of Flexible Rails which finally convinced me to adopt Ruby on Rails. For the last two years, friends of mine have tried to convince me to switch from Fusebox to RoR but I was never impressed with the clunky way to build interfaces using RoR. Meanwhile, I have been playing with Flex and Open Lazlo which have great interfaces but take a lot of work on the backend.

Like the old commercial where an accidental collision created Reeses Cups, combining the power of RoR with the design ease of Flex makes for powerful Web 2.0 applications. What makes this possible is the WebORB which bridges the gap between the applications. Knowledge management folks should spend the time learning about this technology because it makes creating powerful knowledge management applications relatively easy compared to the other frameworks.

2008 - The Year of Social Aggregators?

2008-04-01T14:27:00.004-05:00

Hinchcliffe is calling 2008 the "Year of the Social Aggregator." Something needs to be done to stem the tide of fragmented virtual identities floating around. As I work with my students to create positive and professional online identities, their past profiles on Facebook and MySpace pop-up at the worst times.

Knowledge Management for the Household

2008-03-31T14:08:00.002-05:00

Doug Cornelius over at KM Space writes about "household KM" or using KM practices to manage the busy life of your family. These are a great set of postings with some wonderful tips on how to share calendars and keep track of everyone.

I can see some great potential here for people who are caretakers. Since 2004 until August of 2007, I was helping with the care of an elderly relative while trying to juggle teaching, school, and consulting. My girlfriend and hired nurse used a combination of whiteboard calendars, text messaging, email, and notes tacked to the refrigerator to track our patient's doctor visits, medicine refills, and dealing with Medicare.

Wouldn't it be great if there was a household KM system that could automatically interface with the systems of doctors, pharmacists, and Medicare systems so that caretakers would be able to automatically schedule refills, set appointments, and monitor the patient from work? I think I see a market here for a bright, young Web 2.0 company. :-)