Like buses. Wait around for ages, then two big projects go live at once…
Written by Erica Packington, 12:25
Well, it is all go at Achordus HQ today - we are launching two new Achordus engagements today and tomorrow.
The first, which went live at 9am this morning is for Ashridge Business School. The Ashridge Dialogue brings together a community of staff, associates, alumni, friendly clients and current students to have a discussion that will feed into the development of a 2010 - 2015 strategy for Ashridge.
The discussion will be in two parts - the first, running for the next 10 days, is a wide ranging look at some of the massive contextual changes that may require a rethink in how Ashridge does what it does (provide world leading business education and change consultancy). The second phase, from the 20th - 30th of January, narrows the focus and asks participants to think what these changes in context mean in terms of developing a strategy for the next 5 years for the organisation. The discussion will feed into and inform other activities around developing the 2010 - 2015 strategic plan, as well as providing some really rich material for interesting articles and (ahem) blog posts.
I am really excited to be part of bringing this conversation to life - I have been doing a Masters degree for the past year and a bit with Ashridge and I'm due to get going on my dissertation this Spring. Hopefully, I'll have lots of interesting material.
Our second project is a bit different. 38 Degrees wanted to open up a conversation with some of their 60,000 members on what they should do during the upcoming UK General Election. As 38 Degrees is a community action group, rather than a business organisation like Ashridge, it is a different type of conversation. I have a hunch that participation and energy around this discussion is going to be pretty high.
I am fascinated to see how the two communities come together to develop and use discussion to help shape the strategies for the two, very different, organisations. Watch this space....
If you fancy finding out more about 38 Degrees, and getting involved in the conversation around what they should do during a UK General Election, you can do so here.
Some mid-engagement thoughts, rough and ready…
Written by Erica Packington, 07:38
Our UK Government Department Achordus is generating surprises and challenges and much useful conversation across the board.
I am:
- Hugely impressed with the gusto, dedication and willingness to experiment that is being demonstrated by my clients and fellow conversation co-ordinators within the organisation
- Happy with participation levels (but not yet thrilled)
- Thrilled with the quality of the conversation ad the value that organisational clients (mainly policiy leads) seem to be getting from it
- Sure that, in some as yet indefinable way, this is generating some change in the culture of the organisation - both operational change (in the content of the conversation) but also cultural change (in the means and manner of how it is being conducted). Some great, challenging, bright ideas coming out of the conversation already - and the fact that they are being co-created in this transparent way is so exciting.
- and finally, hugely interested in how deeply my expectations of participation were shaped by a culture of "speaking up and out" within IBM.
One of the real exciting aspects of the next few projects we have lining up to go live is that I am so interested to see how different organisational cultures react to the invitation to participate in this sort of engagement. This engagement is our first go at this within a culture that is completely different to IBM - different sector, different work, different approach to leadership and hierarchy. It means I having to really think carefully about my own assumptions. It is fascinating!
A more thought out, post engagement piece to follow. At the moment I am a bundle of excitement and firefighting and deeply operational focus. Hope to surface when we close the this week.
OMG: An entire UK Government Department is using Achordus to have an All Staff Conversation. And we launch tomorrow.
Written by Erica Packington, 19:10
So, tomorrow, an entire UK Government department - everyone, top to bottom, left to right, here and abroad - will have the chance to come together online using Achordus to have a conversation about an important organisational issue. The conversation is open for two weeks, giving it some time to build up and generate some really good stuff to inform further activities.
This is the first time this organisation has hosted anything like it and they've done a brilliant job through bouts of (understandable) nervousness. I've run lots of these engagements. Sometimes, I forget just how challenging it can be for organisations, leaders, participants to have this type of conversation, in this way. I can see how the openness, transparency and public nature of the conversation could feel pretty threatening. And then of course, it is happening "online" which to some people is still a really unfamiliar landscape. Of course, it is at this 'edge' - this mixing up of people who rarely, if ever, have the chance to come together in this way, THAT'S when the magic happens.
So, we've been planning for a couple of months, working very closely with the internal change department and comms team to make sure that this engagement will count. We've engaged senior leaders, we've crafted the copy that frames the conversation, we've trained and briefed the moderators. We've been buzzing about it and sent the invitations. We've done pretty much all we can - it's time to let go, hand over the space to the participants and let them get on with having the conversation they need to have. Really hard to step back and let it unfold.
No matter how many times I run Achordus engagements - and how many times participants respond enthusiastically and creatively - I always panic that no-one will turn up. It's like hosting a party - I always get a huge burst of anxiety "ohmygod-nooneisgoingtocomeit'llbeaDISTASTER!" And then later, when it's swinging and everyone's having a good time, I look back and smile.
So, tomorrow it is then. Still at the stage of nervously eating the nibbles I put out for guests, but also really looking forward to seeing what happens. I'll keep you posted.
Spam Comedy
Written by Alex Edghill, 11:08
So spam is just a fact of life that anyone online has to deal with. Run a website with comment capabilities and you open the floodgates. Even on our little site we field upwards of 20 spam comments a day. Generally a drag but occasionally you get the odd gold spam nugget that makes your day. Enter a comment I got recently from the very skilled pen of 'Occakegam'
"Why hello associated forum people! I straight wanted to establish myself here as this looks like a dialect right absorbing forum! I myself am engrossing in things like writeing and computer revamping so if anyoune needs steal farm out me remember! I also Suffer from Sciatica so if you aslo secure this disease suffer to me recognize so we can allowance some stretches!"
How could I say no to such a well-penned comment? I'm such a scrooge.
My thoughts on Google Wave
Written by Alex Edghill, 08:31
So after using it for collaborating here at work and socially for about a week now I think I can give my impressions with the tool so far. In a nutshell i'm very very impressed with many of their features and advancements in the tool. Its still very buggy and no I don't think its revolutionary, not yet anyway.
Pros
- Offline Access - This is a huge plus for me. To have access to your waves to do as you like and then to synch them with access is really cool, not to mention useful.
- Playback - This is essentially the new versioning. Very cool and captures the essence of a conversation and its interstitial parts. Buggy as hell for now though.
- Collaboration - Being able to work realtime with 3 of my colleagues in what is essentially a fancy whiteboard is excellent. It has also completely removed the need for me to use IM at work. Using the wave totally. The ability to start a chat, and then turn it into a Wave and then add others for certain parts etc. is very powerful.
- The plugin functionality is awesome. The standard two of maps and a poll are so so but I can think of so many brilliant apps that i'm sure are underway as we speak. Voice and Video integration comes to mind.
Cons
- Its very buggy. Playback crashes the browser often (Will become very stable in time i'm sure though).
- Lack of interesting and useful apps to date (but again that will change quickly).
I think it got a lot of its hype prematurely in anticipation of how it will be used/modified by the user community but its a great construct. At its core its a hybrid solution spanning IM, E-Mail, Wikis, Whiteboarding, (with potential hook-ins for video conferencing, telephony, learning apps, etc etc). It has a very very solid collaborative core from which I expect some pretty amazing stuff to be built on top of. I fully expect Google to position this in their corporate go-to-market strategy against Microsoft to take over corporate desktops. It does have many similar elements to Gmail, but its is potentially oh so much more powerful.
Generation MMORPG and the future of business
Written by Alex Edghill, 17:53
I have been an avid gamer for over 25 years now. It was love at first sight between me and my sister's Atari. I then progressed to the Commodore 64, various versions of King's Quest that blew my mind and then virtually all of the consoles. I was blessed with a mother who encouraged my gaming who contended it was great for my hand eye coordination. I think that was perhaps her single greatest gift to me (or at least I thought so in my earlier days). Of course, I was the only one of 5 siblings to end up with glasses, but that's just a coincident!
Backstory of geekdom set. I have always hailed the benefit of gaming and tried (usually unsuccessfully) to point out how it has helped me personally in growing up. Examples? Linking the need for access to key services for cities in the classic Sim City really helped my basic understanding and fascination with Geography. A fascination that later lead to me getting my undergraduate degree in applied geography. Playing sports games which i'm convinced helped with my timing and propelled me to having a more than decent eye for ball sports (I have the trophies to prove it!). I was once told that I didn't read enough and played too many games. This incensed me and lead to me spending a few hours of research: I found out that the word count of my favourite console title Final Fantasy VII having over 300,000 words, that's the equivalent of almost 1,500 pages in a novel. Take that uncle!
I made the transition from consoles to MMORPG back in 2005 with World of Warcraft. I played on and off for a few years before giving it up due to time constraints and just having my fill in general. During my gaming days I had a blast and really enjoyed my time, but it wasn't until recently that I fully grasped just how many different skills I was picking up via the game and my guild that would come in handy in the workplace.
- Managing People - Being an 'officer' in a prominent group or guild meant looking at applications for new members, holding interviews for potential people, managing the guild's resources, dealing with conduct issues. In addition, it meant dealing with people of very different backgrounds, languages and motivations and finding common ground to drive them all to a common goal.
- Strategic thinking - Coming up with strategies to beat certain encounters and herding 25-40 virtual colleagues towards a final goal.
- Time management - Ok true of many games in terms of play time, but with group raids starting at a specific time on set days it was necessary to juggle that with personal time.
- Being a 'Team Player' - Being relied on by 30 or 40 other players to accomplish certain tasks, do your job or be 'fired' from your guild.
- Multitasking - Performing your role, speaking on audio conference to the whole raid giving orders, and watching the environment around you = multitask heaven.
- Deadlines - Just like in the business world, there are deadlines and consequences if you miss them. Attempting a new boss encounter and you hadn't read the basic strategy? Or done required quests needed for the encounter? More than grounds for a swift boot from the guild often times.
Now realistically, how many new entrants into the workforce 20 years ago had all or even some of these highly developed skills? The above list is a great shopping list for employers but 90% of all interviewers would not even think about interviewing someone with 'guild leader' or 'class officer' in the interests section of a resume. Oh the oppression!
I think business in general has really benefited from this new MMORG generation of smarter, more dynamic workforce. I know it has certainly helped me in my own personal life. The types and level of skills and experience in rich collaborative environments such as those offered in the MMORPG genre are really giving rise to a new, fully loaded collaborative worker. Forget Web 2.0, these are employees 2.0.