digitalknowledgeworker.net

I just watched great video from the LeWeb3 conference in Paris. JP Rangaswami (author of confused of calcutta) gave a speech on why enterprise2.0 is not going to happen just now. Here the write-up of my takealongs:

Enterprise2.0 is all about empowerment of people which means giving control to people. However, enterprises are still all about hierarchies and keeping information in silos. For new and young people it is very hard to get to all the necessary information. JP claims this concept is not new. Historically it has been the same with priests, doctors, lawyers, etc. First you need to speak in a different language, second, you need put smoke and mirrors in between you and the rest, third you need to make it very hard to understand what you are doing and fourth you need explain that what you do is very complex.

Trust is at the very heart of any community and should be at the heart of the company – but is not! This would require abandoning hierarchies and viewing companies as teams. JP claims that inside the heads of the people in most of today’s organizations there is no attitude of “I want to share this information” but there is the attitude of selling the information to reap potential benefits and claim them for oneself. JP refers to Alfred Chandler’s view of structure follows strategy – and it’s extensions (probably referring to strategy follows structure by Hall & Saias (1980)) where the organizational structure at one point starts to define the actions of the company.

On a personal note, I believe this is the reason why knowledge management has not yet received the credits that it should – there needs to be an atmosphere of sharing personal learnings with others

It is because of the lack of the empowerment spirit in organizations that E2.0 will remain outside of reach in the near future. The technology would be here:

- A knowledge worker needs to search information in the organization
- A knowledge worker needs to be informed about changes of information and needs to subscribe to such changes under a certain set of conditions
- A knowledge worker needs to power for fulfilment, i.e. order and consume a service like booking flights or booking a meeting room

In order for such tools to be employed in the company you need communication. E2.0 is really about collaborative tools and participation.

JP notes that the technology adoption curve has shifted to the young. They are much more literate in handling technology than we are. He mentions an example: Buy a cell phone for your wife and your 6yr old son each. Ask who will be first in figuring out how to take a picture and to send it to the computer. He bets the son will be first. My two cents: If there is money in the game I would say he can be quite relaxed about his chances of winning.

The new workforce is trained – you don’t need to teach them how to use your technology, they will teach themselves very fast. Instead you should look which devices they are using and ask how you can get your system to work on those devices.

JP finally notes that there is increased work mobility and that while his father had one employer, he (in his early 50ies) will have about seven employers and his sone will have seven also, but at the same time. There is a new war for talents that will increasingly take place.

While Moore’s law gave us high price/performance, Metcalfe’s law gave us network effects, but human longevity has not scaled. Instead of 77 years we will now live 79 – what makes simplicity and convenience ever more important. As things become more commoditized, a company needs to know where exactly the true skills are. In enterprise2.0, you need to focus on the collaborative outputs and not worry about the inputs (by e.g. not permitting the use of Facebook or not communication certain data with some levels). We have the literates and we have the technology, but the leaders of today have been born into hierarchical thinking and will not cease to do so in the near future – so enterprise2.0 will remain, at least for now, a non-reality.

"The future is here. It's just not evenly distributed yet." (William Gibson)

here now the vid from http://vpod.tv/leweb3/393628