Laying traps

Terry Doerscher posts a very interesting and eloquent entry on balancing the need for directive control and to give freedom to flourish in the work of Knowledge Workers. Quite rightly he concludes with no prescriptive answer, as there isn't one. I'm no expert on this matter and haven't the time to read even the two books Terry mentions let alone the library of thought that no doubt exists around this topic. Coming at this from a technical view we need to widen roads and lay traps.

People will use the tool that enables them to do what they need to do in the most efficient way. Efficiency means that not having to ask anyone for permission or assistance to get this done. People will sacrifice their contribution to the Greater Good if necessary. In other words, the tools we provide need to be obvious to use and unhindered by bureaucracy. (This reminds me of Andrew McAfee's post on The 9X Email Problem; if you need to make people change from what they are doing now the hill is so much steeper.)

Then there are the traps; not preventative measures but ones that capture what people are doing without requiring them to do anything different. This is the emergent attribute of technology that is at the heart of Enterprise 2.0 software. If we can harness every day activities and link them into the collective organisation in a way that contributes to the Greater Good then we gain something for nothing.

I'll conclude then to say that emergence will be a key technology contribution to the solution.

Planview - Blogs - Enterprise Navigator: Dancing on the Edge of a Razor Blade

Drawing upon the works mentioned and your basic daily observation, we know that knowledge workers, in particular, professionals, tend to be a highly independent sort and very cat-like. When you get right down to it, we like to do what we want and do it the way we want to, not necessarily how someone else wants us to. In fact, we are generally loath to take direction. Nor are we inclined to clue anyone else in on what it is that we are doing or our methods or progress, if we can avoid it. We want to establish our own list of tasks, set our own priorities for them, and figure out how to pull it all off without any help or oversight.

Not so native after all

From an article in this weeks Information World Review, "The idea that the Google generation is the most web-literate is a myth." This from research commissioned by the British Library and JISC.

I have become increasingly sceptical about the hype created over Generation Y, and pointed to it in my Online Information 2007 reportback. I do not doubt that there are differences between the generations. I do not claim that there is nothing to consider. However, the new generation will bring as many challenges as it will address issues.

It may be that GenY'ers adapt to and adopt more easily new technology. It may be that they are more able to work in an environment that pulls attention in several different directions at once - they may be better jugglers. However, they will need to learn how to plan, to analyse and draw their own conclusion, and they will need to learn how to fail.

To tie, as some do, Enterprise 2.0 technology to this generation is nonsensical. For me it cheapens the value argument for Enterprise 2.0. The fact than GenY'ers will be more comfortable working with these tools does not mean they will add that much more value. However, it does suggest that they will participate, which many of my generation and beyond are not prone to do.

The natural conclusion is that Enterprise 2.0 is only valuable if it has the participation of the older generations; otherwise these will be spaces that perpetuate the faults of GenY'ers rather than integrates and matures them.