03 April 2002

Software for the people People use tools and software that work for them rather than for the company hierarchy or the IT dept. "People... cultivate personal networks of people inside and outside their companies and call on them when their expertise is needed for a project". KM fails because it is top-down: "designed to manage knowledge within enterprises rather than support individual networks". IM succeeds because it allows the user to set-up and get on with it easily. Related: Clay Shirky's Enter the Decentralized Zone: "Faced with an IT department that thinks not opening attachments is a reasonable option, end users have done the only sensible thing: ignore the IT department." 4:22:11 PM     comments