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No doubt all this technology is changing biz models and the way social systems interact.  The tools change us and we change the tool - it's an onging dance. 

Much of my work is helping people adapt to reality, but it takes a nuanced hand.  Right now a lot of what I'm doing is about helping people see that the change is coming and helping them discover for themselves that is they too will have to adapt and if you choose to adapt it's much more pleasant than having change thrust upon you.

Very gratifying when it happens.  I wrote about some work I did with people in my field earlier this month on our blog if you're interested.

Hi Lgarrick,

I guess my mind was still on the IE Radio session with Andrew McAfee today. To be more transparent, I worked for a directory publisher some years ago (2001-2002-ish)..YellowBook to be precise. They were buying up all the directories such as McCloud Communications when the main competitor such as Verizon Superpages was selling off the publication and was said to have been focusing more on Superpages.com (press release said so)..Yellowbook also had manned teams that performed manual processes leaving a paper trail that I noticed could have been replaced via solid software. I also thought that they should be leveraging the data rather than focusing on physical growth of markets. I sent this opinion in an email to the CTO/CIO that had an office the next building over. Didn't hear a peep..or even an auto responder..or a response by an asst. I did however get flak by the staff (majority) and seemingly was pushed out for trying to sabotage manned jobs and disagreeing that the publication would be going strong 50 years from then..which I replied with "if you see a yellowbook in a hotel in 2025 for other reasons than decor, GET OUT!"

I still believe that social software would have been significantly beneficial in that situation...and collaboration to improve their processes reducing operating costs would have been harnessed and triggered simply AUTOMATED with key strokes.

Then facebook happened. I feel that directory publishers had the capability to build such and "they shall come" virtual economy.

Allow we to collaborate:

I'm saying it is not  only about the technology.  Real collaboration also includes humans and the work they are trying to accomplish and the technology is a powerful enable that creates unique opportnities when we let go  of the idea that it is just an extension of the physical world.  Nearly everyone can recount an experience being on the remote end of a video or telephone conference where they were basically ignored . I have interviewed lots of users in a variety of organizations from the very largest to the very smallest.  The one consistent finding is that there are real barriers to collaboration that have less to do with technology than human behavior and assumptions about how much technology alone can do.

You may mean something different that I do by "collaboration." I work with organizations who are seeking to improve the level of functional collaboration virtually and in person.  Many people are familiar with video conferencing, and curious about the plethora of new products, yet overwhelmed by the hype about the technology. It is offten the case that people meet on a video conference but don't necessarily function effectively in terms of working together - which reduced productivity and innovation.  Even at tech companies where there is a high degree of comfort with technology, dysfunctional teams take their dysfunction online.

I'm am very much an advocate for what is possible with virtual collaboration. I'm a partner in a virtual company and we work in virtual space daily. We live on three continents, and we only meet in person once a year, but we are not representative of the norm.  Most of what contributes to our ability to work together is the result of a willingness to respectfully speak the truth, no matter which platform we are working from.

lgarrick,

Are you saying in sum, "it's about the social, not the technology"?

"The virtual world is not a substitute environment of the real world; it is a complement and requires new and complementary work processes."

hardly a substitute but more of a replacement of OLD PROCESSES. I mean from paper trails procurement at a yellowbook like company to  employee posting items (blog/wiki/video or all),  with every single related item a mouse click away on that page. This non-exempt employee created item may surface as the most commented and/or most viewed which at that point is ripe for the decision making executive to view and perhaps SHARE or collaborate on.

another scenario you had fun at the company retreat playing softball and riding a wave runner?

allow your employees to send it to twitter, circling to facebook to SELL YOUR BRAND.

• "how to build trust when people can't meet face-to-face
• how to invite people to experiment and learn
• how to create a virtual team culture that survives crises and conflicts."

I've been on so many goto meetings and webex sessions that I don't recall what it's like to sit down at a table discussing something I can do more efficiently via the above mentioned. Conference calls got a step better..and tinychat.tv works pretty nicely (and I think it's free).

I firmly feel that the best way to adapt to survivng crisis and conflicts is via a strong enterprise 2.0 deployment.

Sure every team doesn't need the same tools. Why would the customer service  dept require competitor analysis and tracking with real time search capabilities tha the sales and marketing teams would utilize?

Andrew McAfee reported that the most common failure of virtual collab is we built it and nobody came. No surprise when you consider adoption is misunderstood.  If collaboration is the goal, then Enterprise 2.0 is a means to and end. 

Researchers keep reporting increased adoption but technology adoption is not the same as virtual engagement to complete real work and collaboration often implies a level of peer accountability and leadership.  Asking IT management about adoption plans is  akin to asking someone who is writing the next great novel whether or not they have installed Word yet.  It's not that the tools are insignificant, but they are also not the point, unless you're a tools vendor.  What gets the work done is work processes adapted to the virtual world.

The most common pitfall for teams going virtual is to assume that real-world collaboration environments translate directly, without recognizing that virtual collaboration requires new principles and norms in order to open up new possibilities. The virtual world is not a substitute environment of the real world; it is a complement and requires new and complementary work processes.  I say compelementary because people often work in a blended world.

In addition to questions about technology adoption, we should be asking:

• how do you plan to build trust when people can't meet face-to-face
• how will you learn to invite people to experiment and learn
• what are plans to create a virtual team culture that survives crises and conflicts.
  

This is a great chance to probe what businesses are really doing with wikis, blogs, and presence on social sites. I'm looking forward to this!