Fred Stutzman is one of the best technology orators I know of. His ability to distill cutting-edge concepts into laymen’s terms has always been impressive and not surprisingly Fred’s done it again: suggesting we consider Twitter updates to be equivalent to reading subject-only emails.

How does this become relevant in the context of work?

“The enterprise Twitter gives rise to a new channel of communications that offloads  from the inbox…the enterprise Twitter might just be the electronic, distributed water cooler of lore”

The workstream as we initially envisioned it plays this very role: a high-level flow of events, activities and important communications populating in real-time. This means a worker can have ‘awareness’ without the need for distracting deep-dives. As you see things that truly require your attention you dive-in or out as the situation demands.

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Tags: fred stutzman, twitter, twitter subject only emails, workstream

In an article from the Big Idea Blog about how email is going out of fashion, it’s argued that in a rapidly changing business environment (where terse communication is frequently necessary) becoming unnecessary.

Is that really true?

The article claims that Twitter and Basecamp are replacing email for most tasks, and in my opinion, they probably are. Even though twitter tends to crash at least several times per day, people keep using it and it grows every day. Also the company is completely revamping itself with its new funds. It has a significant social aspect and for a person who has at least 200 people following them and who also follows 200 people, they have all kinds of worthless tweets mixed in with work. Although it’s an effective medium for communication, I don’t think it’s perfect in the workplace.

Basecamp is a much better alternative. First off, it is designed specifically for work and allows users to collaborate through its software. Secondly, it eliminates the social aspects of twitter and really allows users to concentrate on work and easily access desired documents.

If this trend continues then the world needs a piece of collaborative software that is easy to use and eliminates the need for email while combining the high points of a twitter and camp. After working on Workstreamer, I think it’s got the potential to do that and more.

Tags: Basecamp, collaborative software, email, Enterprise 2.0, twitter, web 2.0

In recently reading an article from the DM Review website about teams of professionals and how they’re managed and organized, I realized how low the level existing management solutions is and how that can be improved.

The main piece of software that the article talked about is Microsoft Office Project which allows a single person to create a schedule and manage a project. It does not allow for collaboration.

It also talked about email and how managers distribute important documents through it and get everyone on the same page via the documents. However, email also has the inherent flaw that you never which email you’re supposed to look at and which document is the most accurate (assuming your boss sends several copies).

This article called for improvements in service-oriented architecture (SaaS) and collaborative technologies to fill this void. Although the article said that this software is improving, there was no recommended means of managing a project using existing software.

What should the ideal software look like? We think we know, but in truth it varies for everyone. What do you think?

Tags: social software, social tools, software, team management

In late April of this year Fred Wilson posed the question: Is “Social Enterprise Software” An Oxymoron?

Fred’s post resulted in string of 52 thoughtful and important comments. We decided to pluck a few snippets from the Disqus comment thread and re-post them here on the Workstreamer blog. The thoughts below represent a tremendous cross-section of thought surrounding the viability of ‘social software’ at work.*

I spoke to a group of corporate comm[unication] heads, and asked them if employees can read blogs, Facebook, and other places that customers might give them feedback. “No, most of that is blocked” they said. Then I asked if employees are allowed to have their own blackberries or iPhones. Sure. Well, then they’re not blocked at all. They’re just on smaller screens. – Howard Greenstein

As an enterprise that has evaluated a few of these offerings, it’s clear that there is a huge skills gap in terms of selling to and servicing enterprise customers. You may think Web 2.0 is great, but a lot of enterprisers think it’s cute. At best. - Thomas

I moderated a session at O’Reilly’s Money:Tech conference in February called “What Do Hedge Fund Managers Want?” J.P. Rangaswami had several comments on this topic the day of the conference, including the revelation that Goldman employees are using Facebook more extensively than one would think to collaborate with each other. – Cathleen Rittereiser

To place the blame on firewalls or IT security is a much lower level issue than we tend to make it. The real issue is getting top level executives to understand the tangible benefits that communicating with customers, prospects, members, partners, and employees can bring to the organization. Until we change the discussion, we are working at the wrong level of the organization to gain traction and adoption. – M Rowland

I think there’s quite an opportunity to take the Google Apps Suite, add an elegant social network with profiles, updates available on your start page, and cross linking between teams and interests to create a enterprise social software. - Kyle

The term “social” by itself is a problem since it implies external and non-work types of relationships, even though many “social” applications are primarily professional- or task-oriented in ways that are very supportive of enterprise interests. – Dennis McDonald

Enterprises are just a bunch of people trying to work together…The enterprise should not want to replicate social tools inside the firewall because the enterprise is not the owner of an individual’s relationships. - Dsheise

An enterprise activity stream for AP/AR department, for instance, could be beneficial on multiple levels. Think FriendFeed for AP/AR applications. - Raj

Somehow I doubt though that anyone marketing “enterprise class social software as service” is realizing the power of a less is more when a community already exists - Kellan

I think all future social ‘environments’ have to become more like Facebook and less like Skype, that is…. not just the social graph, but also the long tail of third party applications around it. – Vruz

I think this is a big idea, and a huge opportunity. Big idea here. – Dick Costolo

You are also very right about the enterprise to date being “awfully anti-social.” Therein lies the opportunity. – Jeff Dachis

I think the isolated business organization will give way to the community just because it is not as powerful, but will [still] fight it, unsuccessfully – Gregory

Collaboration is the big opportunity, and is probably underserved by today’s crop of applications. They tend to be task-focused (”let’s create this document together”) and not context-focused (”let’s figure out how to help this customer together.”) – Tmcmh

Shared learning streams, and peer generated, just in time knowledge is another killer enterprise application. – Alive88

There seems to be a disconnect between the needs of a large org and the needs of a person,. and the entire reason that social tools have been successful is that they fulfill the needs of the user, and nobody else - Jevon

*Please note we have tried to provide attribution when Disqus profile information was available.

Tags: a vc, collaboration, comment highlights, dick costolo, disqus, Enterprise 2.0, facebook work, howard greenstein, jeff dachis, money:tech, o'reilly media, Social Enterprise Software Oxymoron, social software work, web 2.0 office

A while back, Sarah Perez wrote about the socialization of the enterprise, dubbing it the ‘socialprise.’ Phil Wainwright agreed, explaining that,

“Enterprises are no longer the passport to lifetime employment they were in my father’s time. Corporate loyalty from and to employees is evanescent, easily dissolved when a business downturn or a better offer comes along. Loyalty between individuals is much more important today. I often meet people who have worked for the same boss but at several different enterprises. Teams that build successful working relationships stick together and recruit each other to new employers as they hop from one opportunity to another.”

Still, for most people the idea of ‘work being social’ seems oxymoronic, especially in terms of social technologies.

So, what facts do we have proving that work really is increasingly social?

· Morgan Stanley’s Internet Trends report [March 2008] is focused nearly 100% on social applications and how they are “taking over the Internet”

· Gartner’s Report on the Future Worker 2015 and the budding ‘relationship economy’

· The increasingly need for agile communications

· Success of internal prediction markets, and sociality at fostering innovation and economic growth

· Surveys. For example, while 48% of MBA’s are most interested in compensation, 46% cite work-life-balance

· A rise in distributed work environments meaning collaboration and communication are more vital than ever

· Legislation and best-practices favoring social responsibility, social innovation and non-hierarchical organizations

If those links didn’t convince you, here are more trends and reasons for increased enterprise socialization — especially as related to technology strategies:

· Increased cross-over of consumer Internet applications used at work

· Gen-Y is eager to use newer, social forms of communications in the workplace

· As work increasingly demands more time, the need for social, human interactions become necessary within the work context

· Research increasingly points to the benefits of collective and collaborative knowledge sharing: social intelligence, prediction markets and cognitive knowledge are just a few examples

· Global talent wars and ability to find and leverage the long tail of workers (cheaper labor, specialists, etc) results in more businesses interacting with third-party providers rather than looking internally for solutions

· Business is increasingly be done in collaboratively, in project groups with team members who are not necessarily face to face or even from the same company

· The companies consistently named ‘most innovative’ encourage social interaction among employees

· Internal corporate social responsibility (ICSR) and the flattening of the office encourage participation and conversation to foster a more productive and healthy work environment

If you have more to add, please do so in the comments and we will update this post accordingly!

Tags: distributed work environments, Enterprise 2.0, gen y, ICSR, non-hierarchical, office flattening, social enterprise, social innovation, social responsibility, social software, socialprise, work environment

GlobalLogic, our development partners, issued a press release today announcing that they will offer their Version 1.0 software development and advisory services to the winners of the E-Bazaar contest at TIEConn2008.

Workstreamer was also mentioned in the internationally released press piece:

“Workstreamer, a work project and professional networking interface now in beta alpha, has accelerated its release schedule dramatically with GlobalLogic Version 1.0“

…Said Stowe Boyd one of the co-founders of Workstreamer:

“GlobalLogic has been an invaluable partner. The progress we are making is extraordinary. When my team showed me the first working demo on the first day of our meetings, it took my breath away.”

Tags: globallogic, induslogic, international pr, press release, version 1.0, workstreamer, workstreamer alpha

Back in 2006, Baseline Magazine offered a glimpse into how on of the smartest companies in the world handles project management. Specifically the article focused on then Google CIO & VP of Engineering Douglas Merrill who was recently featured in Fast Company and who maintains one of the more esoteric technology blogs out there. Subsequently Merrill has left Google for EMI.

Every week, every Google technologist receives an automatically generated e-mail message asking, essentially, what did you do this week and what do you plan to do next week? This homegrown project management system parses the answer it gets back and extracts information to be used for follow-up. So, next week, Merrill explains, the system will ask, “Last week, you said you would do these six things. Did you get them done?”

…A more traditional project tracking application would use a form to make users plug the data into different fields and checkboxes, giving the computer more structured data to process. But instead of making things easier for the computer, Google’s approach is to make things easier for the user and make the computer work harder. Employees submit their reports as an unstructured e-mail, and the project tracking software works to “understand” the content of those e-mail notes in the same way that Google’s search engine extracts context and meaning from Web pages.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the article is how Merrill sees the “socialization of work as critical to project management at Google:

“What we’re looking for here is lots of accidental cross-pollination,” Merrill explains, so that employees in different offices, perhaps in different countries, can find out about other projects that might be relevant to their own work. Despite Google’s reputation for secrecy toward outsiders, internally the watchword is “living out loud,” Merrill says. “Everything we do is a 360-degree public discussion.”

Thanks to Tech IT Easy who provided the link.

Tags: cross-pollination, douglas merrill, google, google cio, google project management, living out loud, project management, socialization of work