Graphing Out Your Twitter Network

July 31, 2008 at 11:34 pm · Filed under KM, social networks

Ever wonder what your Twitter network looks like visually? And what it might tell you about your network connections, your career, your business — even your life?

Valdis Krebs at Inflow has created a fascinating Twitter network map, showing everyone connected with him on Twitter:

This Twitter map shows 3 network clusters. Each cluster consists of a group of people with shared interests:

• Green – consisting of people in various economic development projects in Cleveland and Northest Ohio
• Red — a group that Valdis dubs the Digerati, i.e., well-known people in the online technology communities
• Blue – knowledge management consultants

The map is immediately helpful visually because it helps you “see” important information. In a blog post entitled “Twitter Maps,” Valdis analyzes his own network. He even provides a short list of 7 action items to expand his network.

For instance, he says he needs “more diversity of info/topics/knowledge to monitor.” He goes on to say he should also expand his network to include conversations around electronic music, his hobby.

This is an interesting analysis of your own professional and personal development by looking at who you are connected with on Twitter.

Open question: could businesses that use Twitter do a similar type of analysis to understand their Twitter “user base” better? What kinds of things would such a map tell them?

Combing Enterprise 2.0 Products from Services – Part Two– Function1’s RSS Reader and Lockdown

July 31, 2008 at 8:13 pm · Filed under Reviews

In my last post I conveyed the first part of my conversation with Matt Chiste and John Pusey from Function1. They provide services to AquaLogic (new name for Plumtree) customers and develop products to strengthen the AquaLogic line. In my first post I discussed one of these products developed from client work, their Exchange Portlet Suite. I also provided more context about the firm and Plumtree’s evolution. In this post, I will cover a two more examples, an RSS Reader for the AquaLoic environment and Lockdown for enhanced security management.

Their RSS Reader was co-funded through a major consumer goods firm that is a Function1 client. This customer is heavily embracing Enterprise 2.0, and wanted to start with even basic functionality like an RSS reader. Unfortunately, the out-of-the-box AquaLogic portlet offering left a lot to be desired: while users can specify multiple feeds in the portlet, it only shows one at a time (with a drop-down list at the top to select others). You only see a list of articles and have to manually expand to see the summaries, and there’s no concept of a “read” article (i.e., the portlet only displays what’s on the feed, not what the user hasn’t actually read yet). Below is a screen shot of this portlet:

Using the “Web 2.0” technologies Function1 applied to the Exchange portlets, they developed a much richer UI to address all of these shortcomings: An easy list of feeds on the left, individual “read” status, configurable tabbed interface for reading articles, and search functionality:

They have since re-sold this product at other accounts, and have passed the incremental enhancements back to the original customer.

I will now turn to their Lockdown security management utility. Matt said that one of the hallmarks of Web 2.0 is that it is almost entirely open (i.e., Wikipedia); security is often an afterthought and there are often missteps along the way (i.e., Facebook security gaffes). In order to truly bring Web 2.0 to the enterprise and allow open collaboration between specific teams and individuals, security needs to be considered from the beginning, ensuring that only the right people are seeing the right knowledge. This is an issue that most enterprise 2.0 firms are addressing in their various niches.

Matt said that the AquaLogic portal has a relatively primitive security management infrastructure: users click page-by-page through the administrative taxonomy, click another button to modify security, and when security privileges are changed, the only option is to copy the entire ACL (Access Control List) down the tree, rather than just applying the changes made to that one object. So for example, if a user is applied to the security list on a top-level folder, and subfolders have their own security settings, administrators can’t remove that individual user without wiping out the security for all of the subfolders, or manually clicking page-by-page (hundreds or thousands of times) to modify the ACLs. Consequently, security configurations are often compromised due to the inconvenience and pain of properly configuring them.
Below is a screen shot of the out-of-the-box administration tool:

Function1 again took the model of co-funding a project to produce a rich security management tool that relies heavily on AJAX and tabbed interfaces to allow more effective security management and rights propagation:

So now I have gone through three examples of creating Enterprise 2.0 products from services work in these tow posts. Leveraging their ongoing client services experience, Function1 intends to become a significant player in the Enterprise 2.0 space for the AquaLogic product line as it migrates its way into the Oracle environment. I think they are taking a great path. Not only are the products coming out of real client needs but the services work provides an ongoing revenue stream to support the development of the products, at least that was my experience when I was involved in this type of development in the 80s.

Combing Enterprise 2.0 Products from Services – Part One – Function1’s Exchange Portlet Suite

July 31, 2008 at 9:08 am · Filed under Reviews

Last week I talked with Matt Chiste and John Pusey from Function1. The firm was started in January 2007 by Matt Chiste and Ashish Bhutiani after a combined 10 years working with Plumtree/BEA in the consulting division. They chose to go independent to continue to service AquaLogic (new name for Plumtree) customers and devote time to developing a third-party ecosystem of products to strengthen the AquaLogic product line. I was especially interested in what they are doing, as I served as the executive sponsor of the Plumtree relationship for a while when I was with a large consulting firm a few years ago.

I also liked the concept of developing products out of services. In my consulting experience these were always the most successful products as they addressed a recognized need and came out of a proven solution. The trick was to make something that other customers found value in. I think they have done this with the example I discuss here. In the past 18 months, Function1 has released 4 products that have been co-developed with customers, At the same time. they have worked with over 30 customers and partners to provide service offerings such as system Health Checks, upgrade services, and monitoring/support.

To provide a bit more context, Plumtree was acquired by BEA and rebranded AquaLogic. Then BEA was acquired by Oracle in the first half of 2008. Oracle has publically announced ongoing support and resources will be dedicated to most products in the AquaLogic line, which will be rebranded as WebCenter Interaction and merge with other technologies in their portfolio (part of their Enterprise 2.0 division). Function1 remains committed to this product line and will continue to contribute to the portal and E2.0 ecosystem of products and services. I am now going to discuss one of the products that have come out of their work.

Their first product was the Exchange Portlet Suite, and is a good example of the “Web 1.0 -> Web 2.0 -> Enterprise 2.0” evolution. Around 2000, Plumtree released an Exchange Portlet Suite that allowed end users to manage their email, contacts, and calendars within the context of the portal. The application has not been significantly upgraded since then, and is showing its age considerably. Users can’t easily scroll through messages, there’s no rich text composition, and every time an action is taken the entire portal page is refreshed, hindering the ability to quickly perform any action within the suite. Below is a screen shot of this portlet suite:

Matt views Web 1.0 as fundamentally about web sites that provided content to the masses, and Web 2.0 is about user-generated content. I would agree. Around the time of this evolution, new technologies such as AJAX started to be used more extensively, resulting in much richer and easy-to-use interfaces.

During our call, Matt talked about their Exchange portlets coming closer to “Web 2.0.” In this instance, the reference is less about “user-generated content” and more about the technologies commonly employed with Web 2.0. Below is a screen shot of their primary portlet. Features include dynamic folder and email/contact/calendar functionality, fast inline pagination, preview windows, and rich text editing. The user never has to leave the page or refresh anything to quickly access the important details of their inbox:

Now Matt pointed out that for all practical purposes (with the exception of the technology used), this is still a “Web 1.0” application because it doesn’t meet the primary criteria of “user-generated content”. However, they have been working on some integration points to truly capture the essence of “Web 2.0”, and by extension, “Enterprise 2.0”: assimilation of institutional knowledge into the “cloud”. Matt said that years ago, he gave a sales pitch on the virtues of Collaboration Server (a Plumtree/BEA product), and discussed how it allows knowledge workers to better collaborate and share institutional knowledge without it simply getting lost in email threads. The reality, though, is that email is still a deeply entrenched part of the work experience, and still easier to quickly share knowledge among coworkers.

Rather than resisting this momentum and providing more disruptive technologies, Funxction1 is planning on providing an evolutionary step to their offering: integration of email through the AquaLogic portal with other collaborative technologies that already exist, such as Publisher, Collaboration Server, Blogs, Wikis, or Activity Streams. That way, “information” can still be communicated via email, but once an email thread becomes relevant or informative to others, it can be “promoted” to “knowledge” by directly publishing that information into the cloud for others to collaborate or comment on.

Here’s a basic screen shot of their prototype showing the additional publish buttons in the Exchange Portlet 2.0 suite:

In my next post I will cover two more of the products that Function1 developed out of their client work

Web 2.0 is Changing the Way We Work: Report from McKinsey

July 31, 2008 at 6:59 am · Filed under Change Management, Culture, Enterprise 2.0

McKinsey has just released the results of a global survey on adoption of Enterprise 2.0. Its results are not dissimilar from the AIIM survey earlier this year (see my earlier blog post), for example, they state that the principle reasons for slow adoption are: management’s inability to grasp their potential financial returns, unresponsive corporate cultures less-than-enthusiastic leadership

More interesting for the future of work, they asked, “How, if at all, has your company’s use of Web 2.0 technologies and tools changed the way the company is managed and organized?” The responses include:

• It has changed the way we communicate with customers and suppliers (38%)
• It has changed the way we hire and retain talent (16%)
• It has created new roles or functions in our organization (16%)
• It has changed the way our organizations is structured — e.g., a flatter hierarchy (14%)

The survey also broke down the results into the categories of companies who reported satisfaction with Web 2.0 tools and those who did not. Of those who are satisfied, 33% report both that the technologies have created new roles or functions in the organization and changed the way the organizations are structured.

Other interesting notes from this great study:

• Companies in which it is the business units, rather than IT, leading the initiative have more success

• Satisfaction is greatest in Asia/Pacific (40%), with Europe and North America trailing at 20%

• Satisfied companies are using Web 2.0 technologies more extensively for interaction with customers (the “Community 2.0″ phenomenon)

Much more food for thought is in this study (breakdown of the use of tools internally, with customers, etc.) and I do hope that more detail is forthcoming on, specifically, the new roles and functions in the organizations and the ways in which companies are restructuring. This data will point us toward the future of work.

Giving Your Digital Workspace a Tune Up

July 28, 2008 at 6:37 pm · Filed under AppGap Tips

Since your computer is a tool you work with everyday, you need to give it a tune up once in a while to make sure that it performs at peak efficiency. Apart from the usual defragging, disk cleanup, and virus/malware scans, what are the things you can do to give your digital workspace a tuneup?

Upgrade current software. Did you know that 40% of internet users have an outdated version of their web browser ? This makes their browsers more susceptible to security and privacy bugs. Apart from your web browser, you should also update all the other programs you frequently use.

Declutter. This means you have to remove any applications that you don’t really use. Apart from unused programs, you should also make sure that each program on your computer has a unique purpose. For example, if you already have Microsoft Word, why should you also have Open Office Writer? Or, unless you’re a web designer, why should you have 5 different browsers installed?

Do the same thing with your files. Archive unnecessary files onto an external hard drive or an online backup service. As for removing duplicate files, you can do it manually or via an app like Duplicate File Checker.

Evaluate your apps and find leaner, more efficient alternatives. Find out if the current apps you’re using really match your work process. Do they work together well? Are there some features you need that they don’t offer? Are you using too many tools when one tool can do the job just as well? These are things you need to think about when evaluating the current apps you’re using. Of course, if some of your tools need further improvement, search for any plugins that can get you additional features or consider getting a new app altogether.

Do it regularly. Schedule the above tasks so you don’t forget to do them later on. Upgrading software should be done whenever new versions are available (most programs do this automatically). Decluttering can be done from once a month to once every six months - depending on how much digital clutter you accumulate.

As for disk defragging and anti-virus scans, you can do it daily or weekly, again, depending on how extensively you use your computer and what kinds of programs you run.

Although the digital office tune up takes some time and patience, it is something you should do if you want to make sure your equipment doesn’t get rusty in the long run.

Managing in the Virtual or Network(ed) Organization

July 27, 2008 at 9:05 pm · Filed under Collaboration, Communities, Distributed Work, Enterprise 2.0, Talent Management

During my blogging over the past four years I have pointed several times previous to an article in The Economist from January 2006 titled The New Organization (The way people work has changed dramatically, but the way their companies are organised lags far behind. 

The author’s main point is that while most organizations are now effectively functioning as and in networks, their organizational structures and management practices have been slow to make that shift, in a comprehensive sense.

(The Economist article is now behind a pay wall, but I think there must be copies here and there on the Web … it’s a very well-researched and well-written artyicle and worth the time to search for it and read it).

What initially caught my eye in that article (more than other useful points and references) were quotes from the major management consulting firms Mercer-Delta and McKinsey about this fundamental and permanent shift.

Their presence and substance was a signal to me that the types of large-scale changes (to work and to organizational structures and dynamics) about which I and others have written are still more on the horizon than amidst us, though they are rapidly moving to the foreground; witness the rapidly-growing interest in yet another (still) confusing-to-many term, Enterprise 2.0. 

These global management consulting firms will move into this area full force .. they can’t NOT do so.

All that is well and good, and I am sure that they will find and create maps and models and diagnostics and workshops and full-blown strategies, and will capture their markets with prescriptive approaches … that’s what their  business models demand.

What I wanted to draw any reader’s attention to is the work of a brilliant friend of mine, who has written and published a clear and concise exploration of the structure and dynamics of virtual, or network(ed) organizations that I think is seminal.  He wisely chose the Linux Project as the initiative from which to draw inferences about decentralized organization.

I think that the next decade (or two) will see many of the points he sets out adopted and commoditized into management practices and processes, under more euphemistic and saleable names.

His name is george dafermos, and his paper is titled "Management and Virtual Decentralised Networks".  In my opinion it should be required reading for management consultants and line managers / executives working with or in 21st century organizations.

He also wrote "Blogging The Market - How weblogs are turning corporate machines into real conversations" several years ago, more of a cri du coeur at a time when blogging was still fresh and (perhaps) innocent

Essentially, it was a short-form of the book "Naked Conversations - How Blogs Are Changing The Way Businesses Talk With Customers" two or three years before Naked Conversations was written.

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E20portal.com – Enterprise 2.0 Resource

July 27, 2008 at 12:54 pm · Filed under Reviews

This is a review of an enterprise 2.0 aggregation site rather than a software product but I think it provides a useful resource so I wanted to mention it here. I met Nick Barker at the recent Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston. He said he is starting the E20portal.com as a resource for enterprise 2.0. It features, events, resources, a directory, feedback, and their own blog. The about section says, “At E20portal.com we have brought together Enterprise 2.0 news, articles, case studies, events and other useful resources into a single, easily accessible place. Our goal is to provide business decision makers and strategists with the information they need to understand this emergent approach, and how you can use Enterprise 2.0 to bring real value to your organisation.” They invite contributions.

Under resources, they have started a series on featured blogs by writers in this space and they asked me to serve as one of these bloggers. I picked my five favorite blog posts on the topic. The next featured blogger is Andrew McAfee. The resources section also includes case studies and industry reports. The directory section includes software resources and consultants. They have made a good start in each of these sections. But there are lots more to add. Kudos to Nick and his partners for starting this resource. We should support these efforts.