This week in links - week 37, 2009

Here are three important pieces on Enterprise 2.0 from this week.

"E2.0: Unleashing the Potential" by Paula Thornton:

How is 2.0 thinking different? It relies on a shift away from many commonly held beliefs. It is not an abandonment of such beliefs, but requires that they be suspended to move to a more flexible, adaptive middle. It requires the ability to embrace dichotomy, to simultaneously consider opposing concepts to find new possibilities.

Enterprise 2.0 unleashes the potential of corporate resources by shifting control. While management does not go away, it is not an activity in the hands of a few.

While digital technologies contribute to the structure, they are only seeds. At the lowest level construct, Blog technology is not different than a Wiki: both provide functions to create and display content in a specific format. The main distinctions in Blogs and Wikis are the functions and formats they provide. But the same is true for all other common desktop applications. A Blog or a Wiki is no more inherently social than email.

There is no prescribed starting point for Enterprise 2.0, but there is one capability that emergence fundamentally depends on: the ability for people to find each other by things that define relevance – work, topics, skills, affiliations, trust. As well, people must have ready access to relevant ‘raw materials’ for their work. Shorten the distance to finding relevant resources.

To be truly emergent, Enterprise 2.0 must be seamlessly integrated with knowledge work. It cannot be an appendage; it should not require adoption.

Enterprise 2.0 is inherently social. It is not about managing knowledge but is about rendering knowledge. It is enabled by, but is not achieved by installing a digital technology. It unleashes the potential of humans not with workflow, but by flowing work and thought on persistent conversations.

"Defining Social Media" by Mike Gotta:

Social media enables public and transparent participation models where people and organizations interact as peers.

Social media possesses low-barriers to expression, engagement, and contribution to promote exchanges, relationships, and sense of community among its participants.

Social media strategies include practices that facilitate behavioral and cultural contexts necessary for social media to be adopted and leveraged by its participants.

Social media itself is not a single technology or set of technologies as much as it is a design point for the application of social tools or leveraging of social platforms. Social media leverages a variety of network and infrastructure services, including end-user devices and form factors, to deliver contextual and situational user experiences that bond people with other participants in a trusted fashion.

"Rules are for impatient people" - guest post by Stewart Mader on Dennis Howlett's blog "Irregular Enterprise":

To me, a term like Enterprise 2.0 is a nice label to affix once you recognize that there is something visibly different about how an organization functions. For example, universities that have encouraged wide adoption and use of technology in teaching and learning, developed online courses in addition to traditional ones, and changed the educational environment to emphasize learning for understanding instead of content delivery and memorization could conceivably be given the label “Enterprise 2.0.” Universities are enterprises, and 2.0 represents a change from 1.0.

In sum, here are several timeless patterns I’ve observed in my years of working with a variety of organizations on technology adoption. As Merlin Mann said in a recent speech, “This is not a list. It is a list of four things, but don’t think of it as a list. Because that makes me mad. Item 1.”

1. Never underestimate how busy people are, and how quickly they will ignore or dismiss something they don’t see as useful.
2. What has worked for me, time and time again, is to work my way through an organization team by team, department by department, and find out what day to day problems people want to solve.
3. Rules are for impatient people. You need to observe patterns to see what works well and where the weaknesses lie.
4. The best strategy for long-lasting technology adoption comes from running a small pilot, working out the kinks, telling a good story with relevant examples from the pilot, giving people permission and encouragement to find the best uses, and letting them guide their peers.