Conditions for “organized emergence”

Emmanuel Gobillot commented on my post on self-organization (here).  I liked his comment so much that I thought it was worth highlighting below:
I have found four conditions which need to be in place for communities to be productive.  I called these
Simplicity (a coherent and simple way to engage),
Narrative (an underpinning story for people to align [...]

Web 2.0 and PMO functions

We’ve just started digging into a large-scale re-architecture of our various methodologies.  As you might imagine, the consequences of our approach include changes to the processes, people, and technologies behind content production and maintenance.  
In particular, leverage social media to author, publish, and distribute much more content than we do today.  We’re pleased with our technology direction.  However, we are concerned about [...]

Surviving PMO Success — Establish an innovation model

During my keynote on “Lessons from a Mature PMO on Sustaining Success”, I spent a considerable amount of time discussing one of the pitfalls of success: becoming satisfied with what was already in place. For example, some global PMO services stopped evolving and improving. Our regions felt like they had to build their own improvements [...]

Sustainable value in the knowledge economy

Whenever Mary Adams comments on Crossderry (thanks, Mary), I always make a point to work through my Google Reader inventory of her posts (here also).  She posted briefly (here) on Jay Deragon’s post (here) and comment thread — including some from McKinsey reps — wondering how valuable McKinsey’s “Premium” offering is.
I dropped the “Premium” subscription [...]

Social Media ROI and Strategy Alignment

I’m not sure that there are many answers — at least for our line of business — but these posts got me thinking about the value of some Enterprise 2.0 initiatives we’ll be kicking off shortly. 
Fluent Simplicity lays out the basic value/return problems here.  Social media initiatives often happen because everyone is doing them, and [...]

Giving up on Web 2.0 as penance?

Tom Davenport’s latest post (here) on Harvard Business Online channels the tone of today’s conventional wisdom.  Many commentators on the Panic of 2008 — including Davenport — are invoking the Great Depression and its harsh lessons.  I guess hairshirts and flagellant confraternities will be coming back next.
While I love mortification of the flesh as much as anyone, I think Davenport’s seriously off-track [...]

The Royal Mail still amazes, 8 across

Very cool story (here) about an artist — Harriett Russell — who decided to test just how dedicated the Royal Mail really was to getting her posts delivered.
[She concealed] the addresses of 130 letters to herself in a series of increasingly complex puzzles and ciphers. Among the disguises she employed were dot-to-dot drawings, anagrams and [...]

IT/Business Marriage Counseling

I agree with most of Susan Cramm’s pieces, but she goes on a bit of a rant on the role of line managers in making IT’s life impossible (here).  While there is at least a grain of truth in her complaints, the IT “can’t do” attitude that infuriates line executives pervades the piece.
IT managers are tired of [...]

Reviving Failed Ideas and Lost Causes

I liked Pavel Brodzinski’s comment (here) on my networking post.  His point is right on and I wished I had elaborated on the point myself.  As Pavel notes, coming from the outside with fresh energy can revive previously-lost causes.  I also see some additional benefits/approaches to surfacing ”already failed” ideas during your initial networking:

As an outsider, you [...]

Networking after moving into a new role

This Harvard Business Online article on networking after a promotion caught my eye (link here).  While it’s pitched to the recently-promoted, it has great advice for anyone moving into a new role.  The piece starts fast:
Most people aren’t naturally networkers. But if you’ve just been promoted or are about to move into a new job, [...]