Wednesday, July 17, 2002

Goodbye Org Charts - Hello Social Networks Soon - we can see this with blogging already - we will find out what the real organization is underneath the formal structure of an org chart. The real organization will also transcend any formal organization Here is a great introduction to the idea. More later when we look at Malcom Gladwell's ideas of Ideas as Memes that are like bacteria which can either infect us or be resisted by our immune system 11:42:58 AM    comment []

Communities of Practice - The New Learning Structure I have assembled much of this article from George Por's excellent site which is linked and referenced on the first page. The article contains a number of sources making what I think are insightful remarks and definitions of COP's I hope that this helps you see their nature and power - we will not collaborate just for the sake of collaborating. Nor will all of what we do be confined within a traditional corporate structure. I think that our Communities Of Practice will become our stable social home in the network age and the age of the Free Agent. It will transcend any formal organization that we may belong to or work for as a contractor. It will transcend geography and time. The Free Agent and the Creative will be more of the true adopter of  the Peer to Peer technoogy than the corporation whose general culture works against collaboration. I wonder if the folks at Groove are too focused on the corporate market? 11:11:41 AM    comment []

Our Environment is changing so fast and so fundementally that we need a new Learning Model Until now - we have relied on formal institutions, schools and univeristies to "teach" us. Our social and business environment is now changing so fast that these organizations cannot keep up. Those of us that are on the edge of a field are ahead of any school, college or univeristry. What is happening is that we learn from our Community of Practice. Will Communities of Practice be the new schools? Will being a contributing mamber be the key to knowledge? The attached article suggest that this is happening already. It suggests that only organizations that understand this will thrive. This is an important context for new tools like Weblogging and Groove 11:03:58 AM    comment []

Collaboration - The hardest work we can do Here is the first of an ongoing series that will examine why it is so hard to collaborate. There are some great new tools such as Groove and Weblogs available now - I think that these tools on their own will not be enough to change the habits of a lifetime (collaborating = loss of control/power and even suggests "cheating") and that new social processes such as the AAR (The After Action Review) will be required to help folks use these tools. We will look more deeply into the social structure that makes collaboration so challenging and we will look at a number of organizations that are using a set of social tools to create the environment for collaboration. Why collaborate anyway - we will look at that too in the context of the need for organizations to learn much more quickly in a time of bifuraction 10:50:51 AM    comment []