Reminder: AppGap Webinar on Facebook - today at 3 p.m. EDT

June 25, 2008 at 12:03 pm · Filed under Webinar

A quick reminder to readers of The AppGap that Jenny Ambrozek, a contributor here, will be leading a discussion on research she and her colleagues have conducted over the past six months on how companies are using Facebook Groups.

Find out more and be sure to register here.

A Mosaic Created from 1001 Web 2.0 Company Logos

June 24, 2008 at 10:03 pm · Filed under Reviews

I found this nice application in my inbox and wanted to share it. It is a world mosaic created from 1001 web 2.0 company logos. The logos appear in full-size when you hover over the mosaic. Click on a logo to visit one of today’s web 2.0 sites. Here is what it looks like but you have to go to the AppAppeal site to see the real thing.

The mosaic was created by AppAppeal.com. While we focus more on enterprise 2.0 applications at the App Gap, their mission, similar to ours, is to guide their visitors through the world of web 2.0 applications. They also provide independent reviews of web applications.

How to Find Productivity Tools to Help You Get Your Job Done

June 24, 2008 at 12:15 pm · Filed under AppGap Tips, Tips + Pointers

In a recent post we discussed how to evaluate your existing productivity tools and applications to see if they are a match for your needs.  And should you discover that they aren’t, you’ll need to find replacement or supplemental tools to increase productivity.  How to go about doing this?

Research.  Once you’ve evaluated the tools and methods you’ve employed, you’ll likely have surfaced some problems or challenges you need to address.  When you notice these problems, you’ll have to do a bit of research to solve them.  Are there better tools out there with the features you need?  Is there a productivity or efficiency system you haven’t tried yet?

Your research can start simple.  If you have a cluttered inbox, you can simply input “how to unclutter email inbox” in your favorite search engine and start from there.  You can also look at the reviews of existing productivity tools to see if they are for you (my colleague Bill’s many reviews here at The AppGap may be a good place to start).  Note down everything relevant that you discover during the research process so you can easily go back to these ideas later.

Testing and Tweaking.  Once you’ve found a list of new tools and methods, it’s time to test them.  Of course, it’s best to test them one at a time rather than as a group so that you can accurately evaluate each change you’re making.  Set a testing period of 7 to 10 days, or earlier if it’s obvious that your new tools aren’t working out.  Here are some things you should look out for:

* Ease of use.  Are the commands and interface intuitive?  Can you easily access the features you need whenever you need them?
* Features.  Does the tool have the features you need? If not,c an it easily integrate with another tool to compensate?
* Lifespan and reliability.  Do your new tools have many bugs?  Is technical support available?  Is the company reliable enough that you’re likely to get updated versions for the next few years?
* Collaboration-friendly.  If you’ll be using your tools with a team, it’s important that they have options for collaboration, or that everyone in the team can easily adapt to using them.

Don’t be frustrated if your new tools have imperfections - it’s almost impossible to find a tool that will perfectly pair up with all your needs and expectations.  That’s why it’s important that you learn how to integrate different tools and make them work together to form a unified system.  After all, there’s no way to get everything you need out of a single application unless you have the resources to hire a reliable programmer to make you the ultimate productivity tool from scratch.

During your testing phase, you might find that you’ll also be using non-computer tools such as index cards or a whiteboard.  This is perfectly acceptable, and, in fact, encouraged.  The point of the testing phase is to find out what works for you and your team.  Whatever tools you need, no matter how bare and simple they are, you need to incorporate them into your workflow.

Also, don’t be surprised if the testing process takes a few weeks - it’s a necessary step to finding the best tools and system for you.  However, it’s very important that you record and measure the results of your testing phase.

Re-evaluation.  Now that you’re done with testing your new tools, it’s time to evaluate the results.  Did they make a significant impact on your productivity?  How much time did it cut back on your previous number of working hours?

This is like a debriefing process that allows you to review the lessons learned from your testing period.  If you’re doing this with a team, it helps to have each individual’s input.  Not all members of your team are guaranteed to have success with your newfound productivity system.

What’s guaranteed is that there are many valuable lessons you’ll learn when it comes to finding new tools and getting them to increase your overall productivity.

Will the future of work involve any travel at all?

June 23, 2008 at 7:33 pm · Filed under Distributed Work, Web Commuting

I think we may be at a genuine tipping point. The rising price of gasoline and other energy appears to finally be affecting people’s actual behaviors - on the job and off. There’s growing evidence that sales of gas-guzzling SUV’s and trucks are dropping like a rock, while more and more people are trying to find ways to reduce business travel, including personal commuting.

I’ve seen two major articles just this week about companies considering four-day work weeks, launching or expanding telecommuting programs, and doing everything they can to reduce inter-office and (sometimes) even client-related travel. And in our own consulting work we’ve even heard one CEO think out loud that she may have to offer her employees incentives or subsidies to come into the office to meet with their colleagues.

Here are the articles (well, it’s one article from the International Herald Tribune and one press release from the Institute For Corporate Productivity).

The Herald Tribune (June 10):

“As gas prices rise, some US employers look at cutting down on workers commutes”

The Institute for Corporate Productivity (June 23):

“With Fuel Prices Rising, U.S. Companies Work Quickly to Reduce Employee Travel”

I found this paragraph from the Herald Tribune story particularly intriguing -and a sign of things to come:

This week [the week of June 9], the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation requiring the head of each federal agency to set policies allowing qualified workers to work from home or another convenient location [emphasis added]. Giving relief from high gas prices was one factor cited by the sponsor, Rep. Danny Davis, an Illinois Democrat.

What’s happening in your organization? Would you rather work from home (or nearby) one or two days a week, or commute as usual but do it for four ten-hour days? What other things are you considering as a way to reduce driving time and cost for your employees?

Special thanks to Lisa Horner of Citrix Online for pointing me to the Herald Tribune article.

Tags: telecommuting fourdayweek gasprices futureofwork productivity

Web 2.0 in the Enterprise. From Dilbert to Dude

June 22, 2008 at 12:21 pm · Filed under Collaboration, Communities, Enterprise 2.0, Intranets, Web 2.0

Earlier this week I was on a panel at a Churchill Club event in Silicon Valley. Hosted by Charlene Li of Forrester, the panel discussed web 2.0 in the enterprise and how social media is changing collaboration behind the firewall. On the panel with me were leaders from Best Buy, Serena Software and Oracle. Titled “From Dilbert to Dude: Succeeding with Web 2.0 Within the Enterprise” the panel discussed how grass roots social media efforts take on a life of their own as they move from being “under the desk server” initiatives to enterprise wide programs.

Steve Bendt of Best Buy talked about Blue Nation, a social networking site that connects employees at the retail outlets to the corporate offices and to each other. Now, the employees who are on the front lines talking to customers everyday, have a platform to discuss new products, exchange ideas and provide feedback to headquarters on what products, display formats and marketing strategies are working. It is a perfect example of a company taking advantage of the wisdom of the crowds concepts. Also, interesting is that after the launch of Blue Nation, employee retention has gotten easier as employees feel a part of something special and important. No thank you email from a CEO can compare to the satisfaction that people get when they feel they have contributed to something larger. Turnover of employees who use the site is just 8 to 12 percent while company turnover is much higher. 

Serena Software is another interesting company and I blogged about them a few years ago (on another blog) when they first rolled out their Facebook Fridays initiative. Rather than trying to build a behind the firewall social networking enabled intranet, Serena chose to build their intranet on the Facebook platform. But not just that, they also built tools to allow the Facebook pages to connect with company data sources in a safe and secure manner. So rather than bringing the employees to the intranet, they went to where their employees were spending most of their time - on Facebook. 

In the case of Oracle, what’s most fascinating was how quickly Connect, the internal social network got adopted. Within an hour of launching the site 270 people were using it. The next morning the site had 8,000 people on it. Currently, the site has 10,000 active users who share information, news articles, powerpoint presentations and discuss budgets. This again was an initiative that began with no funding but tapped into the inherent nature of people to connect with each other in a purposeful and productive manner. Paul Pedrazzi from Oracle also discussed the risks. He mentioned that a person wearing a religious head dress like a turban could claim denial of a job because someone saw his profile picture and refused to interview him.

In discussing the Avenue A|Razorfish wiki and some client examples, I highlighted how understanding the motivations for use are important. We’re not on these social platforms just to socialize. Different people have different motivations and aligning those motivations with the social platform and the business needs is key to success. The wiki is viewed as a marketplace of ideas where people share their best thoughts and expect more in return. Sometimes the sharing even takes the form of bookmarks, blog posts and photographs - not just the regular word documents or powerpoint files. Through use of the wiki, natural experts who are the most passionate about specific topics get the attention and the focus that they deserve. 

The panel was also covered in Infoworld. 

ReadWriteWeb’s Advice on How to Comment About Your Company on a Blog

June 22, 2008 at 11:10 am · Filed under Reviews

We get a lot of comments from software vendors on this blog, especially on the reviews I do of other companies. I was pleased to see (via Puneet Gupta) this excellent advice from Marshall Kirkpatrick on ReadWriteWeb in his post: How to Comment About Your Company on Blog Posts, Without Being Spammy. ReadWriteWeb writes about new technology and gets many comments. Marshall draws from their experience and reactions and speaks to those who might comment on their blog. I pass this on to those who might comment on this blog. Michael mentioned that less than one in a thousand who reads a post leaves a comment, so more comments please – just follow this advice.

There are five types of comments from company representatives that ReadWriteWeb likes to get: updates on new product developments, clarifications on your product or market position, articulation on product differentiation, kind words about the other companies, and comments that add humor or insider insights. Michael provides excellent concrete examples in his post for each comment type. He says these comments work best when they are delivered in humble manner and adds they are most effective when, “gently engaged with competitors and focused on adding value to the discussion of the whole sector.” You are also advised to be transparent about yourself and your interests.

Go to the complete ReadWriteWeb post to get the full story but I wanted to bring this to your attention.

Enterprise 2.0 — The State of E2.0 as per Practitioners

June 20, 2008 at 2:33 pm · Filed under Change Management, Communities, Enterprise 2.0, Reviews, Web 2.0, social networks

I’m still integrating and thinking about what I heard at the E2.0 conference in Boston a week back. My thinking was helped by a review of the excellent videos that are now available. Andrew McAfee moderated a panel whose membership was drawn from people who presented their (successful) case studies of E2.0 implementation. The panel represented a number of perspectives on introducing social tools:

• Simon Revell, of Pfizer,* adopted a “just do it” approach, introducing the tools, creating edgy introductory videos (see “Meet Charlie”), and nurtures the successes.
• Ned Lerner, Sony Computer Enterprises, responded to top-down management directives to use these tools (easy in a company whose business is internet gaming).
• Pete Fields, Wachovia*, who developed a concept for an integrated tool set that connected to corporate communications policies, and worked across the organization for 18 months to get buy-in before launching.
• Sean Dennehy and Don Burke, CIA*, who were inspired by Cal Andres “The Wiki and the Blog” to explore Wikipedia and see how discussion and history pages could naturally support the way that intelligence analysts work.

(* indicates a video of this case study is also available, on the same page linked above).

McAfee started by acknowledging that Enterprise 2.0 hasn’t yet taken over the planet, for a variety of reasons:

• The tools are not yet perfected
• Management is impeding adoption in some way
• Users are slow to take up the tools

There was general agreement that the current use within these organization is less than 10% of the employee populations, but each see that the growth is continuous in a positive direction.

Many of the “lessons learned” from these early adopters will sound quite familiar to those of us who have been on the leading edge of introducing technologies for collaboration and knowledge management into organizations, but there are some new twists. What works:

• Acknowledge and reward the early adopters and champions
• Pfizer has consultants available to help business groups get started and use tools appropriately
• Change management is essential. Wachovia involved organizational development, organizational pyschologists, and corporate communications, but still underestimated the difficulty of traction beyond the early adopters
• Look for ways to implement the tools “in the flow,” as part of work. Look especially for existing work processes that can be vastly improved and implement there. Organize around big problems, and don’t keep all the social tool usage under the radar.

Cautionary tales:

• Middle management can be harder to convince than senior management. (They are rewarded for “making the trains run on time,” not for encouraging people to spend time learning new tools.)
• It’s faulty to assume that what’s true on the web will work the same way in the enterprise
• Fight against lockdown. Turn down requests by users to have “private” spaces accessible by only a few people (yes, this one from the CIA!)
• Not all organizations are ready for transparency.
• Don’t assume that because everyone can have a voice that decisions will be made by the majority (the crowd). Leaders must learn to use the opinions of the crowd to inform and shape decisions, not to make them.

True to the spirit of web 2.0, the conference site (linked above) remains available as a community archive of presentations, comments, and interactions. What is the spirit? I liked Pete Fields’ definition of “Enterprise 2.0:”

Connecting people for the purpose of deriving business value

Browsing through this site should help you find people with whom you might connect to delve deeper and find more… to help with your own journeys.