Enterprise 2.0 Principles for Technical Documentation

Guest Post by Anne Gentle

Meeting business goals with emergent social software, this is Enterprise 2.0. As a technical writer, do you doubt that Enterprise 2.0 can happen where you work? Consider this. Even the most influential and gate-keeping newspapers now allow comments alongside their strictly styled, investigated, and copy-edited content. A browser sidebar from Google called Sidewiki enables annotation on any page on the entire web. Traditional technical communication may not have enabled readers to talk about the content or talk to each other alongside the content, but the times (and The Times) are changing. 

You Are Here

Across the software industry today, writers are proving their worth by aligning with business values such as education, training, customer support, presales, marketing, or development. We seek our fit into the overall content strategy in any organization. Some of us are the content strategy advocates in our organization. But social media is sometimes a public relations role, or a marketing role, even though our content has a place on the external website and could be strategically integrated into the overall website. Social software can be overwhelming and a time sink without knowing how to narrow down the choices. Without a strategy, it seems like a hit or miss proposition. Make a map from business goals to social software to get there.

Where is There?

Enabling content creation or content curation through social software is no simple undertaking, nor is it the right fit for every organization. Depending on the business goals and key performance indicators for your success, you can discover where "there" is. For customer support content, responsiveness is important as well as customer satisfaction. For education and training, the amount of time a user spends with a learning product, or how often they share it with others can indicate success. Only you know where "there" is for your success factors. Certain qualities for your content will help you achieve nearly any business goal, such as those in the following list.

Searchable

Searchable content can be listed when searching with major search engines and is available on the Internet. Google's home page is the first page users go to prior to finding the answer to their question from your content. Also, once a user is in your content collection, search within a smaller set of content may be critical to their success. Searching is easy, finding is hard. Make finding as easy as possible.

Shareable

Due to the economy on the social web where reciprocity and reputation are highly valued, and the currency is attention paid in links and time spent on a site, shareable content means that users can participate in the exchange of links for motivation or payment.

Sociable

Sociable content is interactive, conversational, engaging, and increases a sense of community or belonging when participating on a site. Sociable content works well when customer loyalty or lead generation is important. 

Syndicated

Syndication means that a user can subscribe to content updates that are important to him or her. Syndicated content puts the user in control of how much information they receive and how they use it, whether it's on a mobile device such as a smart phone or in their email inbox. Syndication can work well in a development or support environment when notification about the latest updates is crucial to the business.

Getting There

To find our place in Enterprise 2.0, technical communicators should understand that social media and collaboration is a part of our job to provide a content offering from their company. By approaching the enormous potential of the social web with Enterprise 2.0 in mind, we can make it manageable and avoid time sinks. Getting to know customers through the social web is a good first step. We can also participate with customers on the social web as appropriate. Finally, building a community or platform that enables content sharing and collaboration is the ultimate reach and influence builder for your content. Content that is shareable, sociable, searchable, and syndicated can go far and wide on the social web, helping customers meet their goals, and companies reach theirs.

 

About the Author: Anne Gentle is the author of the book Conversation and Community, The Social Web for Documentation. She also writes a blog JustWriteClick about Technical Communicators.

Technorati Tags: technical communicator,social documentation,enterprise 2.0

Is Your Technical Communication Career a Dead End?

“You’re position in the company is of little value,” he said indifferently neither in attempt to injure or blame but merely in the tone of stating a situational fact as he’d say to another man, ‘you'll always be worthless you can't help it. It's in your blood.’  Or to be more scientific, your conditioned that way.

The role of Technical Communicator, Product Content Creator, Usability Specialists, etc. haven’t always been the fastest path to the executive suite.  In fact, those that seek those levels of Management typically divert into other roles.  That’s because Technical Communication roles are not seen as strategic. 

Perception is that they don’t contribute to revenue or cut costs.  Most executives don’t even realize the importance of documentation.  It’s just not what they think about when they consider the strategic aspects of a go to market plan.  Sorry, it’s true. 

“Here is the raw, unvarnished truth: If you want to make a life as a technical writer, you must sustain yourself by your enjoyment of writing, because you cannot get any satisfaction from your work any other way. For you there will not be the kinds of rewards that others can expect. Raises, promotions, company perks of some kind – forget them. You won’t see them. Technical writing will always pay significantly less than engineering or a type of work that is more central to the company’s business.” Tom Johnson’s I’d Rather Be Writing (Guest Post by Keith Hood)

So is Keith right? No.  At least not anymore.  There are now many ways to break the paper ceiling.  There’s more opportunity and chance for career enhancements then ever before.  It’s right before you. 

(click here for the large version)

Because of the Enterprise 2.0 tools and solutions available, you now have the ability to turn your product/service documentation into large communities, sources of revenue, a cost reduction tool and centers of learning.  There are companies doing it today.  This is not pie in the sky stuff. 

In fact, as you begin to learn more about this recent phenomenon made possible by Enterprise 2.0 tools, you’ll see more potential than you ever thought possible for your future. 

Your job is to learn more about it.  Learn how other companies are using these new tools and learn how companies are turning to their product documentation to jump start their communities instead of starting from scratch. 

Are you going to climb ladders or allow your career to slide into obscurity?  Do you want to be seen as incredibly strategic to your organization or just another replaceable pawn? 

I know what I’d want. 

10 Questions to Ask Technical Communicators Delusional Enough to Believe They Don’t Need to be on Twitter

According to a recent Edison Research study 51% of active Twitter users follow companies, brands or products on social networks.  That means they are most likely following your brand and your product. 

That means they are discussing how, why, when and where they use your product and service.  And you’re not there? 

Twitter now has 105,779,710 registered users with 300,000 signing up every day.  180 million unique visitors use the site every month.  It’s a giant laboratory and meeting place and it’s likely your product is being discussed.  I’ll bet if you did a Twitter Search right now, you’ll find someone talking about your product, company or something you product solves.  Try it.  

The point is that if you’re participating, you’re learning more about how your products and services are being used.  You become more effective as a Technical Communicator because you’re discovering more about your customers.  You’re also able to socially curate the best of Twitter in order to learn more about your industry, competitors or problems your product solves.

Here are the questions to ask yourself or your Technical Communicator  

1. Out of the 55 million tweets per day, how many are about your product/service or about something your product solves?
2. If 180 million unique visitors use Twitter every month, why aren’t we asking them questions about our product to learn more about how we solve their problems?
3. Why aren’t we building a following on Twitter so that we can ask our followers to help us with market research?
4. Why aren’t we monitoring consumer sentiment about our product or service so that we can take action to rectify or improve negative situations?
5. Since there are ongoing conversations about our product/service, why aren’t we participating in them to build good will?
6. Since we can segment and target users on Twitter, why don’t we convey information about our product directly to customers and prospective customers?
7. Why don’t we provide valuable links to reports, videos, whitepapers about our product to Twitter users? 
8. Why aren’t we asking Twitter followers to help improve our product documentation?
9. Why aren’t you following and networking with other Technical Communicators to learn more about trends, strategies and best practices?
10. Did you know that there are many organizations that provide drip learning through daily tweets about their product or service?  Follower counts increase as a result.

As we enter into this social, Enterprise 2.0 world of business, it’s becoming more and more about customer service. What we do after that is secondary.  The fact that you can publically reply to tweets about your products or what your products solves is incredible. 

You’ve never had that kind of reach before as a Technical Communicator.  Word of mouth is the game now.  Word of mouth is how it used to be, and is now that on steroids.

So how do i get started? Read Anne Gentle’s article on the subject.  Also see Amit Agarwal’s use case on Dell. 

Any objections to using Twitter as Technical Communicators seems trite.  The medium has proved itself.   That some still believe technical communication can still be done with Microsoft Word and a static webpage  is illusory and quite anachronistic.

But as obvious as that may seem to some of us, there are still quite a few people that believe the field of technical communication is still about one-way communication with our customers.  No sharing, no feedback, no curation. 

Which leaves us with one more big question.  Why are Technical Communicators not embracing new Web 2.0 technologies like Twitter?

Stop Wasting Money on Community Building – 5 Powerful Reasons to Use Social Documentation Instead

Every major brand is struggling to launch a community site around their company’s products. Maybe it’s an indirect community that you hope brings traffic and future sales, or maybe it’s a community about your product that has been designed to increase sales. 

But unless you are a very big brand with a passionate following (e.g. Apple) these communities are difficult and expensive to build.  Not impossible, but it’s hard work. 

Yet companies are starting to build communities around their product/service documentation.  Yep, something every company has but never views as strategic. 

They aren’t starting from scratch.  There is already web traffic from their current customers on the product documentation page seeking resolutions to their issues with your product.  So the foundation is in place, it’s just been moved topsy-turvy into the corporate attic as an afterthought.  

But that’s a mistake.  There are major benefits to socializing your product documentation.  I’ve listed the major ones by department in the infographic below: 

Companies like Autodesk get it.  They understand that shipping 15 DVD’s full of product documentation for a single product won’t work.  Nor is it strategic.  They’d rather host the certified documentation online and let the community build out the rest by enabling them to add tutorials, how to guides, articles and comments on how to improve existing documentation. 

They also understand that social documentation benefits the rest of the organization. 

5 Reasons Social Documentation Benefits the Corporate Departments

#1 The Sales department understands that social product documentation will drive sales opportunities because they can track every digital footprint on their documentation site.  If a customer that bought product X is looking at product Y’s documentation, then Sales sees a cross selling opportunity and can choose to act on it.

#2 The Marketing Department realizes that building a community around their product documentation is easier and less expensive.  They make it easy for their community to evangelize their product to their peers by having them post content on their site and share with their buddies.  It works.  As an important bonus, all of the rich community contributed content shows up in Google search.  Which means lead generation.

#3 The Research and Development teams are finding that simply observing the interaction with their online documentation is giving them ideas as to how to improve the product or to create new ones.  They are also able to view community questions and answers, conduct surveys and form ad hoc focus groups to gain valuable insights.  This wasn’t possible in an Enterprise 1.0 world.  It is now.

#4 The Customer Support Department is reducing costs and headcount by enabling the community to help the community.  Some are even offering free support from community contributed documentation but charge for company support.  But it all starts with product documentation.  Documentation with a community wrapper that continues to build and evolve over time. 

#5 Technical Communicators are the house documentation Directors.  They author and curate community content.  They help socialize the community and act as corporate cheerleaders to their most enthusiastic community contributors.  They have the tools to monitor article effectiveness, poor search results, and product documentation health so they can take immediate action to better the effectiveness of the content.  Their role moves from trivial to exceedingly strategic.     

What the CEO Needs to Know

I’ve been there.  It’s about building incredible, ground breaking, innovative new products.  It’s about creating the next iPhone that sells itself and is so easy to use that your customers don’t require a product manual.  How many of us actually get there? What’s your Plan B?

Has any CEO ever started a discussion about a new product or services with: “How will we document the product in order to maximize sales, build community and reduce costs through community driven support?”  My guess is no. 

But you should.  There’s tremendous hidden value in content you’ve already created.  Just look at how 3rd party sites like YouTube, GetSatisfaction, Epinions, and Amazon.com are utilizing and building traffic to their sites by discussing your products.  WHY!?!

Because those sites make it easy for them to contribute user driven content and you don’t.  You don’t because you’re fearful of the consequences.  Yet discussions about your product are occurring regardless. And on higher traffic – higher page rank sites which make them show up higher in the search results.  So you’ve lost control of the message anyway. 

Best to enable user generated content on your site and curate the rest from the web.  

Then you regain product authority.   Are your current community efforts doing that? 

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Technorati Tags: social documentation,getsatisfaction,house of social documenation,curate

Why Technical Communicators will need an Enterprise 2.0 Content Curation Strategy

Ever wonder how Wikipedia maintains such a high degree of quality material on any given subject?  They have an army of unpaid content curators.   They also have you. 

The all-volunteer team of curators is constantly checking new submissions to ensure they meet  the rules that Wikipedia established that were designed to prevent self-promotion, that articles only reference reliable sources, and establish levels of 'notability' for things that get their own article.  Those that don’t meet the guidelines, they improve or remove. 

Wikipedia visitors (the crowd – and maybe you) help the Digital curation process by updating, tagging and categorizing content.  They may also link from one internal article to another thus increasing an articles notability.  Many users flag articles to help the official curators determine whether articles meet Wikipedia guidelines. 

There are actually two simultaneous curation events occurring with Wikipedia articles.  One internally and the other externally.  The internal are the unpaid volunteers weeding out the spam or irrelevant articles (level one).  The external are the thousands of people curating the best articles simply by organizing, categorizing and linking to them from external sites (level two).

If you’ve ever linked to a Wikipedia article, Dugg an article, or Tweeted about it you’re micro-curating those articles. Why? Because in aggregate those links, tweets, bookmarks and tags are categorizing the best content into buckets of information to be consumed by other people. 

Then the categorized or popular content is display on leaderboards where a content consumer can simply click on the most popular/relevant articles.  In theory, this leads visitors to the best most relevant content as curated by the crowd.  So instead of one curator, you have thousands (Wisdom of the Curators). 

Most Level One (A single domain website) content is not curated while Level Two (external sites that link to your content) content is being curated.  Level two content is curated by social bookmarking and linking sites. 

A valid argument could be made that Google/Bing/Yahoo search is a level three content curation tool due to the automatic algorithmic curation (like Page Rank) and subsequent search results displayed by relevancy. 

The content curation debate

Some curation purists will argue that true curation can only occur if the curator has been trained in the specific field she is curating.  I disagree.  In fact, if that were true, then sites like Digg, Stumbleupon, Reddit, Slashdot and Twitter would never have been successful. 

Why? Because we would have gone to the experts to find and consume the best content and not the crowd. 

Why did we go to the crowd?  Because there are either not enough experts to curate the content or the experts aren’t very good at curating for the masses.  Especially when addressing the long tale of online content.  

Steve Rubel wrote about the  The Digital Curator in Your Future where he predicts the current century to be remembered as the Digital Renaissance.  I couldn’t agree more.  But what to do with all that content?  Enter the digital curators.  Like Wikipedia, these are unpaid individuals and companies that are curating the web to unearth and package high quality content. 

Since there is not an expert test for the millions of subjects being curated today, the task must fall to the crowd for news content and companies for their brands.   Either through an approach similar to Rubel’s or an approach based on popularity of the content (or both). 

In the latter scenario, some of the content can automatically be curated by applying a curation formula (like Google Page Rank) or by the likes and dislikes of people consuming the content (think Facebook Like feature) 

What’s missing in content curation today

Robert Scoble wrote a thought provoking article The Seven Needs of Real-Time Curators where he examines seven key needs for real time curators.  The tools don’t exist yet, but they are right around the corner. 

You’ll see Google Buzz, Google Reader, Facebook, and Twitter bring to market tools in the near future that help curate, bundle and distribute the best content into organized categories and subject matter.   That’s good for the individual but what about an organization’s documentation about their products and services?

Why should that matter?  Curating the web is hard enough right?  It matters because the same information overload phenomenon is happening around your organization’s products/services.  Whether you’ve built a community around your organization or someone else has, the amount of quality information exists in numerous silos around the internet. 

Who then is curating the best and most relevant content for your customers and prospects?

Technical Communicators Take Note

If you’re a technical communicator you need to develop a strategy to curate your organization’s Level One and Two content.   Have you considered it?  If you don’t who will (or is)?

So what you may be thinking, why should I care?  It’s my contention that as the tools for user generated content become easier and more widely used, the online content  about your brand will be overwhelming.  So overwhelming that you’ll lose control (I’d argue you already have) to search engines and social networks. 

You’ll have your very own Wikipedia problem of curating the content related to your organization. 

Your job and value to the organization then shifts from simply creating product documentation and content, to aggregating, curating and editorializing the crowd’s contributions about your organization’s products/services. 

In fact, you should be encouraging your online visitors to contribute content directly on your site.  Make it easy.  Your job then becomes curating the best of the contributions in order to provide the best experience possible for your potential and current customers.  

The benefits to your organization and to you personally are numerous and important.  I’ve highlighted a few really powerful benefits in a recent article I wrote.   I promise it’s worth your time to examine (especially the infographic).  Give it a shot. 

P.S. Are you sold on the idea of curation?  Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. 

5 Powerful Project Management Features You can only do on UnaWave (Google Wave)

Google Wave has been lambasted for its lack of a killer app or specific business use case.  A new application built on Google Wave seeks to become that first killer app. 
UnaWave is a new work management solution built on Google Wave.  They call it work management since it’s been developed to work the way you do - Collaboratively and intuitively.  To me it’s also more of a Social Task and Social Project Management system.  Try it out here:
Do they make the grade? See the summary below. 

1. Dashboard Views into Projects

One complaint that I’ve had from Remember the Milk or 37Signals or some of the other task or project management sites that I’ve used is the lack of a relevant project dashboard.  UnaWave makes it simple to see what’s happening on a project by keeping it front and center.  Yes, they need to add graphics and additional detail, but it’s a good start.

Note See it Live Below in #4:

2. Collaborative Task Management

Another complaint I have with existing task and project management systems is the disconnect between content, documents and media from other team members.  Meaning, it’s very difficult for your team to collaborate on items that are linked to a task in one place and in real time. 
UnaWave solves this problem by leveraging the Wave platform.  Here, collaboration within a task is extremely powerful and easy.  Best of all, it’s all done in one place.

3. Tasks that Bubble Up in your Inbox

Another issue with current task management systems is the problem of checking task lists.  Either I forget to check the list, or an email is sent out reminding me to log back into the tool to see what’s changed.  Most of the time, the email reminder gets buried in my inbox (I get 200 emails a day on average) and I forget to check it.  With UnaWave, the tasks bubble up to the top as people collaborate on them so they are always on top.

Note: you can also use the email notifications (pull down next to the inbox link) to notify you of Wave changes. 

4. Embeddable Work/Project Dashboards

Ever been interested in a projects progression but didn’t have a “seat license” or were not allowed to view it because you were not a project participant?  With UnaWave’s embeddable Dashboards you can quickly embed code on any webpage for everyone to see.  See the example below: 

NOTE: you can also give anonymous access with Tasks and Milestones. 

5. Easily Extend UnaWave with other applications 

Imagine adding other robots, extensions and gadgets to an UnaWave.  The possibilities are endless.  Below I’ve added a Pollo Gadget extension to the UnaWave Project Dashboard in order to poll the participants.  Normally, this is extremely difficult and requires a coder.  With Google Wave, these additions are simple.  

What Project Management decision makers need to know

Unawave is for the 80% of us that don’t want to learn Microsoft Project or find it too complex.  It’s also much more powerful than the current task management solutions that are available due to the added power of being built on Google Wave.  If you have Wave, it’s a must try.  Especially since it’s free.
There are still some usability tweaks that need to be made in order for it to be even more intuitive.  But it’s still a very powerful and easy to use tool.
The other challenge is getting non-Wave users on the system.  They’ll need to be invited since Wave is still in beta.   Once Google opens up the system to everyone, this problem will go away. 
All in all, a great start.  The UnaWave team promises some never before achieved, beneficial features to come that are outside the Wave environment. Their goal is make the management of our work much easier.
And that’s something we all need.

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Disclosure: I am an investor in UnaWave

All you need to know about Chatter –Salesforce.com’s Collaboration Cloud

I’ve had two experiences with Marc Benioff. One positive and one less so.  The positive experience dealt with Marc taking a direct role in helping a friend of mine find a job within Salesforce.  Marc didn’t have to but he did it because he cares about hiring great people.

The second experience was in the summer of 2003 during a Terminator 3 premier in San Francisco.  One of my friends was a personal advisor to Arnold Schwarzenegger and was having trouble with a young hot shot dot com CEO being too aggressive with Schwarzenegger.  He didn’t like the CEO’s aggressive nature towards Schwarzenegger, and thought him out of line. 

My thoughts? The CEO seized opportunity and went after it.  That CEO was of course Marc Benioff.  I remember him a man with an expression so certain of the success of his quest that he could afford to be assertive.  And today he’s attempting to seize a large share of the Enterprise 2.0 space.  Undoubtedly, he and his company will be a contender.  

“What if enterprise sales and collaboration worked like Facebook?”     

Scott Holden Director, Product Marketing at Salesforce.com and I recently had a discussion about their upcoming release. According to Holden, Chatter is a real time central command center for all of your business feeds. 

It’s also their first true enterprise product.   Yet at first it will only be released to current Salesforce.com users for free.  Most of which are in sales.  According to Holden, an Enterprise version will be released for the rest of the organization sometime in late 2010 or early 2011. 

My first impressions are that Chatter is closer to a Facebook for the enterprise. But instead of pesky 3rd party apps pinging you with the latest criminal your friend has knocked off, Chatter will alert you to significant business concerns that have changed. And if they can get ERP and MRP systems to talk to the company through Chatter, they’ll break out of the sales department and into the rest of the organization.  

The Killer Use Case

Chatter’s most compelling potential is in connecting an organization’s employees to customers and prospective customers.  Imagine a scenario where as you’re updating your status about visiting a new sales prospect next week, an individual in manufacturing pings you with a “I went to college with so and so and I will make a warm introduction.”  Holden claims that’s happening three or four times a week at Salesforce.com (they are using Chatter internally now). 

Will Chatter work with mobile phones?

According to Holden, Chatter will work on mobile and for no extra charge.  For sales teams and executives that travel a lot, the ability to see and interact with your Chatter feed from a mobile device is a powerful benefit. 

Envision a scenario where a salesman is making a sales call with a prospect and needs to answer a technical question.  A quick status update with the question may get an instant response from several followers of his stream.  Others may even add to the discussion by arming the salesperson with additional questions to ask.  In effect, making the salesperson more valuable to his prospect in real time.  

The Future of Chatter

Similar to my conclusions on an earlier post of Yammer, Chatter will need to provide advanced filtering to tune into the conversations that are important to you.  According to Holden, the next release of Chatter will have these filters. 

Unlike Yammer, Chatter doesn’t want to replace email –but  only replace the ‘reply all’ button.  Their stated goal is to reduce corporate silos by broadcasting information and allowing employees to tune into their interests via filters. 

Holden claims Chatter will leverage the same robust analytics engine powering Salesforce.com.  Holden did not elaborate further, but I can imagine companies overtly or covertly being able to monitor conversations.  This can be both positive and negative depending on your point of view. 

For me it’s a positive.  All of the solutions like Chatter will need to provide better analytics and reporting in order to leverage the collective wisdom of the organization.  Companies will want to benefit from the conversations taking place and zero in on areas where they can capitalize.  For instance, if you were able to see that a new competitor was being mentioned frequently, your marketing and sales team could take action in order from being blind-sided. 

What else do you need to know about Chatter?

• Follow Chatter Buzz via #chatter on Twitter.
• General release in the summer of 2010, have nearly 500 companies in Chatter beta now.
• Chatter will only work in the cloud – no on-premise.
• No pricing yet for Enterprise Chatter.  Salesforce.com Chatter will be free to current subscribers.
•  Robert Scoble of Building 43.com interviewed Marc Benioff about Chatter. Some interesting takeaways.  
• Any app built on the Salesforce.com platform will automatically be able to interact with Chatter.
• More than 12 Chatter-Enabled partner applications are now available in the ChatterExchange on AppExchange 2.
• Larry Dignan of ZDNet covers Financial Force, one of the first apps for Chatter.
• For an accountant’s perspective read Dennis Howlett’s post on FinancialForce starts Chattering

What Corporate Champions need to know

Chatter is going to be a significant addition to the Enterprise 2.0 space.  There is some overlap with Jive Software, Lithium, SocialCast and Yammer so if you have those solutions already and want to test Chatter, then plan accordingly. 

Then, if you are a Salesforce.com customer then you should pilot Chatter with your current base of users.  If you derive measurable value, then consider going enterprise-wide when Enterprise Chatter is released.  If not, remember Metcalf’s law and consider whether your organization will derive more value by involving more employees.

If you are not currently a Salesforce.com customer, and your organization is not Enterprise 2.0 evolved, then consider waiting until you can point to some early successes in your industry.  Recognize that this approach is a follower model, but is a safer, more well traveled road.

If you are not currently a Salesforce.com customer and your organization is ready for a solution like Chatter, then wait for the Enterprise Chatter edition and pilot it.  Try it within Sales, Marketing and your Executive team first, then if successful roll it out to the rest of the organization.  Again, these types of solutions carry a lot of risk (especially when cloud based), but if you have the political capital to spend, then spend it. 

The future is now as they say, and you need to make yours.     

Imagine there’s no I.T.

 

Imagine there's no IT responsibility, it’s easy if you try

No software to install, only cloud software to buy

Imagine all your employees, working on the fly

Imagine there’s no Microsoft Office, it isn’t hard to do

Nothing to download and install, and no updates too

Imagine all of your employees, working online to get things done

You may say it will never work, and you’re not the only one

Maybe someday you’ll change your mind

And be more inclined

Imagine there’s no cloud dissenters nearby, Always asking why

Their claims of cloud insecurity, a reason not to try

Imagine IT solving your problems, I know you can

No excuses just a strategic plan

It’s a choice if you want it to be

Just issue the decree

Operation Enterprise 2.0 – How to Save The Corporate Patient

Many corporate champions liken the process of implementing Enterprise 2.0 solutions to corporate surgery.  The corporate patient realizes that an operation is needed, but may procrastinate until on life support.  It’s the enterprise equivalent of ignoring the pain to prolong the inevitable. 

It doesn’t have to be.  In fact, I’ve created a simple E2.0 operating guide for you - complete with symptom and cure.  Beware, implementing the solutions requires a steady hand.  And if you’re not ready to implement on your own,  I’ve also provided the names of people that can help:  Take a look:

The Enterprise 1.0 Treatments

Acquia	MindTouch 2010
BrightIdea	SharePoint 2010
Spigit	Jive Software
Yammer	ThoughtFarmer
Chatter	OpenText
Oracle Beehive	SocialText
Unawave (Google Wave)	Confluence
Lotus Quikr	KnowledgeTree
Telligent Enterprise	ConnectBeam

The Enterprise 2.0 Surgeons

Jeff Dachis	Susan Scrupski	Dion Hinchcliffe
Mike Gotta	Michael Krigsman	Larry Hawes
Dan Keldsen	Oliver Marks	Sameer Patel

What Enterprise 2.0 Corporate Champions Need to Know

The guide above is simply that.  To poke fun at the Enterprise 1.0 organization but recognize that it’s still not easy to implement Enterprise 2.0 solutions.  We recognize it, and are working hard to give you the anesthesia to dull the pain. 

We also know it’s your company and your patient.  If you need to delay, then delay.  We’re patient. 

We can go on and on about why you shouldn’t, but we know you have a sick patient to look after.  

 

P.S. Thank you Robert Lavigne for the related video suggestion.

Is Microblogging for Your Organization? Dan Keldsen Answers

Never short of an opinion on Enterprise 2.o topics, Dan Keldsen tells it like it is.  It’s refreshing to hear an unvarnished opinion on topics concerning today’s corporations and Dan doesn’t disappoint.  When we spoke a few weeks ago, Dan was more than happy to share.

I  am breaking up our discussion into two distinct parts.  The first, this one, on the value of Microblogging.  The second, a look at the future of Enterprise 2.0 and whether IT is going to participate or not.  As always, you’ll learn something about these subjects and about Dan. 

But first a short Quiz:

By the way, Dan will buy the first person that selects all the right answers dinner at the E2.0 Conference in Boston. :-)  Send him a note on twitter to @dankeldsen with your answers.  We’ll reveal the correct answers in the next article.  

On Microblogging, Yammer and Silos

Dan Keldsen’s biggest push back on microblogging is the silo it creates. “Yammer is yet another Enterprise 2.0 silo.  And while there is always a need for real time answers, and Twitter has proven that (although some suggest dubious value) versus the closed silo of mass email, I don’t personally or professionally believe Yammer is ramping up fast enough to compete with all of the other Enterprise 2.0 solutions that are introducing similar offerings alongside a larger suite of collaboration tools.”

Before I began my deep dive into the microblogging market, I may have agreed with him.  His view is perfectly sound and reasonable.  Where I differ with him is that if the microblogging solution vendors can successfully become the communications hub of the enterprise (where both tools and people link into it), then they effectively are removing information silos not becoming another one. 

Moreover, while it’s true that Enterprise 2.0 companies are adding microblogging functionality, their limited resources and focus will make it difficult to go as deep as SocialCast or Yammer in terms of communication benefits.   The trick for microblogging vendors is to convince companies that there is real value in broadcasting information from their corporate data assets.

On the Future of Microblogging

Dan I do agree on the fact that microblogging solutions can be mission critical to the enterprise especially involving automatic alerts and signals.  Alerts from enterprise systems provide compelling value especially in an emergency situation.  Imagine your supply chain management system alerting the manufacturing team to a potential supply shortage or sending customer demand metrics to the sales team. 

The untold secondary and tertiary benefits of the broadcasts are countless and impossible to summarize here.  But I can imagine Marketing eavesdropping on the broadcasts and exploiting the situation above.    

Dan believes that microblogging providers will make the conversations and data platform agnostic.  Meaning it will work on a mobile device, an iPad,  a laptop and other computing devices.  Even integrated with Enterprise 2.0 platform providers.  He believes the data needs to be free and open source so that any system can quickly utilize it. 

Still more valuable, you’ll begin to see insightful reports and analytic Dashboards that expose companies to valuable information mined from the conversations.  You’ll be able to identify trends, measure sentiment, and focus on problem areas not exposed by any one thread or discussion.   It’s all going to happen soon. 

Considering a Microblogging Solution? 

Dan will tell you to either wait or pick a platform with integrated microblogging.  He believes a microblogging solution without a platform is simply another data silo.  He also reminds us to ensure there is a business problem first and not pick a solution in search of a problem. 

Dan continues, “As a former CTO, and now consultant, I don't care whether you're in IT, or on the business side, focus on the BUSINESS VALUE first, and not the features, or you're only making the problem worse.”

From my viewpoint, the biggest opportunities are in the future.  But if you have a business issue that can potentially be addressed by a microblogging solution, then try it now. Don’t wait.  I expect the more innovative companies to use microblogging solutions to better understand and address their internal needs as well as their customers’.  There’s real ROI there, and a huge business need.

Yammer - What You Need to Know

My boss walked in and just started laughing.

Not a condescending laugh, but a contagious chuckle at my expense.

In a company of 5000 people, I had emailed all of them in search of a team or individual that had handled a similar challenge as the one I was facing at a large retailer. 

It was out of frustration that I launched the missive pleading for help on an initiative I knew had been done before by scores of our consultants.  But the crowd’s reaction was swift and negative.

After calculating that I wasted at 500 hours of our employees’ time, she course corrected me by giving me the names of three people whom she thought could help track down the information I was seeking. 

But it still took me two days to find the team that had the answers.  Two days I could have spent on site with my client.  There had to be a better way. 

There is a better way

Steve Apfelberg of Yammer believes their 100% focus on real time, searchable communication will make us more productive.  I tend to agree. 

Yammer provides a more practical method to enterprise-wide communication versus the mass “boil the ocean” email approach that in the past have failed.  Especially in large organizations where information silos exist. 

Even if I had been emailed back the information by a sympathetic coworker, that information is not searchable by anyone but me.  So the next person that has the same issue, will need to duplicate my effort to get the same answer. 

And that’s not working for anyone. 

Yammer at a glance

 

What value does Yammer provide?

Think of Yammer as the communication circulatory system of the enterprise.  Except this system extends beyond a single body or location (insert Matrix or Borg reference).  In fact it can securely extend to partners and customers with Yammer Communities.

Better, employees using a Yammer communication network can tune in to the information they are most interested in.  Like Twitter, users can add a hashtag before a search term to see a more narrow activity stream of relevant information.   

Then, Yammer makes it easy to create a custom set of radio stations tuned to exactly the information you want to see. Oh and they’re archived and searchable too.  Metcalf’s law applies here, but the benefits of a widely used, filtered corporate communication system are numerous.  I’ll list a few:

• Salespeople can tune into customer opportunities, feedback or complaints and take immediate action.
• Since the activity streams of all employees are saved, searching and mining information can help unlock information silos.  
• Use Yammer as an extended R&D tool especially around a project with a short duration.  Capture information from employees, customers and suppliers prior to investing in a creating a new product
• Expert search: Just ask the community.
• Customer support: set up a secure connection with your best customers and allow them to directly interact with your support staff.
• Employee engagement: I’ve used the term psychological currency to describe the impact that tools like Yammer have on the psyche of the individual.  In short, everyone can be important and get rewarded for contributing.  The effect leads to even more discovery and sharing which equals greater corporate value.

There are many other use cases that Luis Suarez has put together that you can review.  The point is that Yammer is one of the easiest Enterprise 2.0 solutions to justify in most companies.  It’s a simple solution with a high return in value. But it needs to go much further. 

The future benefits of Yammer

According to Apfelberg, Yammer’s mission is to become an organization’s primary communications platform.  They plan to do it by slowly replacing email and instant messenger over time.  They also plan to provide communication connectors to all of your enterprise systems. 

Apfelberg claims the company is exploring vertical applications for specific departments like Yammer for Sales, Marketing and Finance.  Focused solutions to address the specific needs of each department.  Smart idea, but hard to execute on more than a couple.  Expect Yammer to partner with OEM’s or VAR’s to help bring some of them to market. 

I’d also expect Yammer to tie into ERP and CRM systems in order to create alerts and reports for those responsible.  For example, if a customer is 90 days delinquent on paying a large invoice, the ERP system will start a Yammer thread to which the right people can act on it.  I see a lot of high value application in this area. 

According to Apfelberg, SharePoint 2007 integration is just a few short weeks away, while SharePoint 2010 integration is around the corner.  Smart move, as the SharePoint customer base is large and ready for an application that drives adoption.  I suspect Yammer also has intentions of cozying up to Microsoft for a potential exit option. 

With all of that content being created by thousands of employees, Yammer will need to provide much more powerful reports and dashboards to effectively mine the data and capitalize on it.  Outlook 2010 will be doing this with email, but Yammer has a higher value play here because the data can be made public.  Outlook 2010 will be reporting on anonymous data.   

What decision makers need to know

Expect to have a solid business case before recommending an organization use Yammer. I’ve listed some above, but find the pain points in your organization and tailor the messaging. 

It’s critical that you define the business goals for your micro-blogging initiative and how it will be measured.  Try using productivity metrics around reducing email usage or how many questions have been answered in a prescribed period of time.

Since Yammer operates on a Freemium model, try it out for free with a large team.  Remember however Metcalf’s law and that you’ll see real value once the network increases in size.  This is important to note as you set internal expectations. 

In Summary  

As Yammer continues to enhance the discipline of solving real business problems by providing a rich conversation layer to your mission critical data,  using their solution will help place you ahead of the curve and make you more competitive. 

Remember though that introducing any new solution puts you at risk.  Read my past articles on Enterprise 2.0 adoption or visit the Adoption 2.0 Council (now part of Dachis) for further implementation strategies.  

Yammer may or may not be the best E2.0 solution to try now.  Maybe it’s Spigit or MindTouch.  Only you know.  

But whatever you do - don’t sit on your hands. The do nothing strategy leads to nothing. 

Mr. CIO Check your Premises

When a new CIO steps into office he is given three envelopes in the event he runs into trouble. Inside the 1st envelope a note reads “play it safe”. If that doesn’t work than he opens the 2nd envelope which reads “blame the business unit”.  If neither works than he opens up the 3rd envelope which reads "prepare 3 envelopes".

We all have certain preconceptions we bring with us into a new company or project.  Maybe it’s that most people are resistant to change, or that there’s only one way to solve a problem, or that it’s impossible to introduce new technology solutions in a large company.  These conclusions shape the mind of many executives in corporations around the world. 

It’s a common argument formula and it looks like this:

Since change is difficult, and new initiatives are change, it follows that new initiatives are difficult to execute.

In larger companies another element is added to the formula and looks like this:

I am being paid a lot of money, do I really want to risk my career on a new initiative?

The premises in the original formula appear to be sound which leads to a logical conclusion that new initiatives are difficult to execute.  The trouble is that this type of short term thinking is causing IT to be less and less relevant.  It’s not proactive, it’s status quo. 

If you can’t get to where you’re going go someplace else

Status quo is safe.  Executives swear by it.  I’ve seen many of them fall into its gravitational pull.  Launching something out of it is difficult.  

That’s why when you’re introducing a new initiative into the organization especially when it involves the terms “social” or “Enterprise 2.0” or even “innovation” you get resistance. 

Like when you first presented your Enterprise 2.0 vision and the CIO gave you a glance like the visual equivalent of the words “are you insane?”

His response to your presentation was, “there's a fine line between a vision and a hallucination.”

That’s when you decided to go to the VP of Sales to pilot the initiative.  He was a risk taker, a rising star, someone who couldn’t afford to stand still.  Sales velocity was slipping and he was open to trying a new solution. A solution that directly connects customers to his sales team and the rest of the company. 

Strategy is 90% theoretical, while the other half is experience

The VP of Sales argument went something like this:

Companies purchase our solution to solve their problems, a lot of companies have the same problems, therefore finding new companies with similar problems will lead to increased purchases. 

His premises and conclusion are also sound.  Yet he concluded to move forward with your initiative.  Which begs the question, how did the CIO and VP of Sales end up with entirely different conclusions considering they are in the same company?

It’s easy to observe that they are approaching the initiative differently.  While their arguments both make sense, their experiences and circumstances lead to different conclusions. Multiply it across the enterprise, and it leads to conflict, confusion and chaos.  

Hence strategy becomes contextual to an individual’s past and current experience and the tug of war between different departments produces little output. 

Is the squeeze worth the juice?

So it’s up to you to decide whether to work with the VP of Sales or not.  While not acting appears to be safe, it’s not going to advance your career and it’s not going to help the VP of Sales.

On the other hand, acting is fraught with danger.  The CIO may sabotage you, your peers may ostracize you, the project might fail, and your children may starve (ok probably not the last one).

The best approach is to check the premises of all parties involved (including your own).  Can each parties’ arguments being aligned to the corporate strategy?

Can you alleviate the CIO’s concerns by piloting the solution with a receptive business unit?  Can you take sole responsibility for the success or failure of the initiative? Can you create and lead a change management plan? 

Will the VP of Sales give you the proper support to be successful? If it fails, will he provide cover?

If you find alignment of interests with the parties involved then proceed.

If you can’t and still proceed, prepare three envelopes.    

P.S. Thank you Yogi Berra for inspiring the sub-headings

The 14 Key Events that led to a Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Revolution

The last quartile of the 20th century was marked by a rise in software development by companies, individuals and hobbyist groups.    Key among software development methodologies was a controversial yet innovative idea about giving away your software code for others to use and improve upon it.  

Those new to the free and open source community may not appreciate how radical and dangerous the idea of giving away your source code for free was for people.  Those that did subscribe to the ideology sacrificed tremendous profits and fame yet helped create what we now call FOSS today. 

A business model that has helped lower the cost of ownership of software and has given us the ability to inexpensively deploy cloud solutions today (via an open source stack).  

So what were the origins of FOSS?  How did the revolution begin? 

Let’s take a look:

The FOSS Revolution

On our Research and FOSS History

We noticed how often early FOSS pioneers used revolutionary themes and language to describe the battle with proprietary software vendors and IT departments.  Therefore we thought the revolutionary theme appropriate. 

We know and understand that there are huge bodies of FOSS history that we have missed.  But we tried to cover the primary highlights and educate our readers at the same time.  It’s a great story and one we enjoyed putting together.  

 

P.S. Who do you believe is the Benedict Arnold of Free and Open Source? Please give us your comments below. 

The 10 Best, Must Have iPad Apps for Business

 

The iPad’s digital coattails are long and there are no shortage of people riding them.  The most persistent appear to be rotating around its axis as if trying to acquire a suntan by means of the occasional ray.  Their status being elevated by merely being in proximity to one.

Is it all hype? Or does Apple have another big winner on its hands?  Judging by my friends’ responses, version one is a fantastic first try, but wait for version 2 (here’s another perspective by David Winer).

But if you already have one or are getting one,  then start with these apps for business. 

The Judging Criteria

Below are all iPad apps that were made for the iPad (not simply an iPhone port).  They were also highly rated by the community and/or suggested by Steve Bjorg and others when a request was made via Twitter. 

#1 Autodesk SketchBook Pro

Autodesk SketchBook® Pro for iPad is a professional-grade paint and drawing application. Using the same paint engine as its desktop counterpart, SketchBook Pro delivers a complete set of sketching & painting tools through a streamlined and intuitive user interface designed exclusively for the iPad experience. 
Who is this for? The occasional designer or professional illustrator

 

#2 Square - Accept payments. Everywhere.

Quickly and securely accept payments for your business, service, charity, or even your couch. Generate email and SMS receipts for cash and card payments, maintain frequently sold items, calculate sales tax, and effortlessly manage and visualize all the money you take with an intuitive web-based interface.

Who is this for? Mobile businesses or those retail establishments that want to check their customer’s out in the shopping aisle.

#3 Evernote 

Evernote turns the iPad into an extension of your brain, helping you remember anything and everything that happens in your life. From notes to ideas to snapshots to recordings, put it all into Evernote and watch as it instantly synchronizes from your iPhone to your Mac or Windows desktop.

Who is this for? The multi-tasker, project manager, or lifestreamer. 

 

#4 Numbers

Numbers is a very innovative spreadsheet app designed for mobile computing. It’s the application you know and love for the Mac, completely reworked from the ground up for iPad. Tap the bright Multi-Touch display to create compelling, great-looking spreadsheets in minutes. 250 easy-to-use functions, an intelligent keyboard, flexible tables, and eye-catching charts, are at your fingertips. Caution: no Excel exporting yet

Who is this for?  The numerati on the go

 

#5 Keynote

Keynote is a powerful presentation app designed for a mobile device. It’s the application you know and love on the Mac, but completely reworked from the ground up for iPad. It makes creating a world-class presentation, complete with animated charts and transitions, as simple as touching and tapping. Caution: Read the comments before downloading

Who is this for? Presenters, speakers and sales people

 

#6 OmniGraphSketcher

Use OmniGraphSketcher for iPad to make elegant and precise graphs in seconds, whether you have specific data to report or a concept to explain.

Who is this for? Most employees need a graphing tool

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#7 iBooks

iBooks is an amazing way to download and read books, designed exclusively for iPad. iBooks includes the iBookstore, where you can download the latest best-selling books or your favorite classics – day or night. Browse your library on a beautiful bookshelf, tap a book to open it, flip through pages with a swipe or a tap, and bookmark your favorite passages.

Who is this for? All employees

 

#8 Webex for iPad

Attend WebEx meetings on your iPad, wherever you are. Use this application to get the full meeting experience with simultaneous data and audio. Don’t just listen in to a meeting. Join in.

Who is this for? Webinar attendees and those hosting webinars

#9 Outlook Web Access 2003 for iPad

Not rated yet

Connect to any implementation of Outlook Web Access 2003 with this custom-built application. If both of the following are true, this is the application for you:
✔ You connect to Outlook Web Access 2003 using a web browser to view and send e-mails
✔ IMAP, POP3, and SMTP are disabled in Microsoft Exchange
The Microsoft Exchange functionality built in to the iPhone or iPod

Who is this for? Anyone with Microsoft Outlook 2003

 

#10 Citrix Receiver for iPad

The new Citrix Receiver for iPad app makes it easy for iPad owners to take their virtual office with them on the go. One simple touch gives iPad owners secure access to all of their corporate Windows applications and desktops, making it easy to work from anywhere, while still enjoying the great user experience they bought an iPad for in the first place. Caution: Citrix XenApp or XenDesktop infrastructure required for production use.

Who is it for? Telecommuters, traveling salespeople and virtual employees

 

Did I miss any useful Enterprise or Business apps developed for the iPad?  If so please share in the comments below. 

Separated from Your Parade

You’ve seen it all in your career, your certain of it.  It’s not often that you’re surprised by events or actions taken by Executives or Boards of Directors.  Certainly not when you’ve always been a top performer.  But there’s always those outliers. 

Outliers like when you accepted a new job at a new company.  A huge promotion in theory.   But the new company had new rules with new views on business.  Rules like shipping hazardous products, selling vaporware to Wall Street and blaming your under-paid, under resourced employees for not meeting the number.  Ring any bells?

It usually doesn't. 

So when you started and held your first team meeting, you were shocked to hear all of your direct reports bemoan your changes.  Changes they asked for.  You thought: “what is wrong with these people?  I am giving them what they want.”

“Oh, sir” a skeptical voice cried out, “Look here.”  By the sound of her voice you imagined the worst. The corporate equivalent to a whiny 4 year old complaining about the meal you’ve just served up. Bad news. A skeptician possibly.  But you never imagined this.

“Things don’t change here” she said. “I’m not doing anything new ‘cuz every time I do the boss gets fired and I have to start all over again.  Our last boss lasted one day” 

“One day?”, you blurt incredulously. “How many managers have been in my position in the last 2 years?”

“I lost count, but I remember four of them”, she said. 

Your due diligence on the company never revealed this hidden fact.  In fact you heard a series of stories about former employees that had abused the authority granted to them by the executive team.  Losers, leeches and louses.  You felt sorry for the company. Genuine compassion!

Alas, all’s not well that starts well. 

You remember thinking, “Let’s try to keep an open mind.”  So you did. But even you must have known what a longshot this was. 

It did start well.  They were throwing virtual parades in your honor.  Building shrines to your ideas and welcoming your delicate management style. 

But then…

You don’t have any specific memories of the end and context eludes you. But the grumblings started in month four.  First it was a Board Member who didn’t like one of your slides.  A mouse and cheese reference that worked on paper but offended the Board Member.  “He took personal offence”, you learned later, “to your use of cheese and rodent to explain the concept of enticing the channel to sell our products.”

Then it came from the CEO in a review meeting.  A schizophrenic character and a case study on the rather fraught nature of Freud’s structural model of the psyche.  His review of your first 180 days was marked by one’s and fives.  Nothing in between.  Comments such as, “this young man has delusions of adequacy” were matched with, “you are the smartest person I’ve ever met”. 

“Odd”, you thought, “but okay, I can learn from this.”

By the end of the meeting the CEO laughed which made you laugh.  He closed with, “I know I should have brought some of these items to your attention sooner, but I figured I’d let you get your feet wet first.”

“Seriously though, I want you to run this place when I retire.  I need to find my replacement and I think you’re the right fit”, he said. “What do you think?  Are you up for it?”

He watched closely for your response.  An engaging gaze that studied your face for any clues of defiance.  You tell him how honored you are and that you will not disappoint him. 

“One more thing though before you go”, he said almost absentmindedly, “I want you to apologize to your team for pushing them too hard.  They think you’re using them to make yourself look good.  They think you’re after my job. Silly huh?” 

You try to hide the confused look on your face but you’re sure it appeared.  Subconsciously probably.  “Well, okay”, you say, “I’ll make arrangements.”

“No really”, the CEO quipped, “I want a progress report.  Let me know weekly to whom and how you apologized.” 

You agree to the bizarre terms and return to being productive.  Productive but apologetic. Meetings within meetings that started out with a request for your team to do things more efficiently followed by an apology for doing your job. 

Thirty days later after the last apology was made and the last report was given to the CEO, you’re employment was promptly terminated.

A short explanation was given. Something along the lines of causing a stressful work environment.  A lawsuit waiting to happen.  You see your stretch goals and tasks were creating longer work hours.  And who wants to work harder? 

Does your team work longer than 7 hours a day?  You’re probably a bully. 

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