| 18/11/08 | | What is effectiveness? |
I just opened the book "Semper and Score: Enhancing Organisational Effectiveness" by Tom Graves and was taken by the elegantly simple answer to this question on page 2. Effectiveness consists of, or arises from, four distinct dimensions, plus another sort-of dimension that ties the others together:
- efficient - makes the best use of available resources
- reliable - can be relied upon to deliver the required results
- elegant - supports the human factors in the context
- appropriate - suports and sustains the overall purpose
- integrated - linked to and supports integration of the whose as whole
I like this sentence as well..."the point here is that efficiency is neither the same as effectiveness, nor separate from it, but a subset of what's needed for overall effectiveness". The book is self published and is available from Tom's website.
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| 22/06/08 | | Innovators are a bad choice for change |
I'm thoroughly enjoying reading Influencer at the moment and the story of Dr Everett Rogers grabbed my attention. After finishing his PhD his first job was to help Iowa farmers adopt a new strain of corn which promised much higher yields. He spoke to many farmers and couldn't get a single one to try out the new strain. They just didn't trust this researcher who was so different from the farmers. He was a city slicker who was naive about farming practice, so what would he know.
Dr Rogers persisted thinking, if only he could get one farmer to try it out and then they could influence everyone else. After a time he did find someone to try out the new corn, a hipster dude who wore Bermuda shorts and fancy sunglasses. He enjoyed a bumper crop but the other farmers were unimpressed. This maverick farmer derided their way of life, he was an outsider and there was no way they were going to adopt anything from a Bermuda short wearing weirdo.
This failure springboarded Dr Rogers into a career of studying why good ideas are not adopted.
"Rogers learned that the first people to latch onto a new idea are unlike the masses in many ways. He called these people innovators. They're the guys and gals in Bermuda shorts. They tend to be open to new ideas and smarter than average. But here's the important point. The key to getting the majority of any population to a adopt a vital behavior is to find out who these innovators are and avoid them like the plague. If they embrace your new ideas, it will surely die."
It turns out it is a much better strategy to get on board the early adopters, the opinion leaders (about 14% of the population). Mind you if the opinion leaders don't like your idea, then you are sunk.
The book suggests the best way to find the opinion leaders is to ask everyone to list the people who they believe are most influential and trusted. When the same names keep being suggested (perhaps 10 times) they are the opinion leaders. I wonder about the practicality of getting this list made. Would it be done as a survey? A social network analysis survey would find this information as well as uncover those people who are most connected.
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| 19/06/08 | | Indexing books with stories |
I've started a new practice of jotting down, inside the front cover of a book, the anecdotes it contains. It seems to work best for modern business books that have a liberal smattering of stories throughout. It is a useful practice because, like most people, I can remember a story much better that facts and reasoning and the story index is a quick reminder of the key ideas. Here's an example from Clay Shirkey's book, Here Comes Everybody.
It would be terrific if publishers created a story index as a matter of good book publishing practice. Mind you, the act of creating your own story index is a tremendous way to crystallise your learning.
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| 14/06/08 | | Some books you might find useful |
As you can probably guess I like to read and manage to get through quite a few books in the year. I noticed Amazon allows you to list books in a set of categories, so I've put together a preliminary list of books I recommend on the following topics:
- change
- collaboration
- communities of practice
- complexity
- storytelling
Are there obvious ones I've missed?
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| 7/06/08 | | Your brain and presentations |
Garr Reynolds is the presentation guru and he's developed a series of book reviews done in an engaging and informative way using, you guessed it, presentations (search slideshare for Garr's presentations). Here's one on, Brain Rules.
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| 25/05/08 | | What do you notice about these recent books on collaboration? |
They are all written by single authors. Is it too difficult to write a book collaboratively?
By the way, the first and third books are excellent. Evan Rosen promises to talk about culture but spend most of his time talking about technology.
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| 19/03/08 | | Grasping the truth requires more than science |
I've just started to read Otto Scharmer's book, Theory U, and this passage grabbed my attention.
Twenty-three hundred years ago Aristotle. arguably the greatest pioneer and innovator of Western inquiry and thought, wrote on Book VI of his Nicomachean Ethics that there are five different ways, faculties, or capacities in the human soul to grasp the truth. Only one of them is science (episteme). Science (episteme), according to Aristotle, is limited to the things that cannot be otherwise than they are (in other words, things that are determined by necessity). By contrast, the other four ways and capacities of grasping the truth apply to all other contexts or reality and life. They are: art or producing (techne), practical wisdom (phronesis), theoretical wisdom (sophia), and intuition or the capacity to grasp first principles or sources (nous).
To date the primary focus has been on episteme and we are only beginning to see leaders valuing the other approaches in a systematic way.
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| 9/02/08 | | The Medici Effect by Frans Johansson is now free |
The Medici Effect by Frans Johansson is all about innovation, particularly that type of innovation which occurs when two or more different disciplines, mindsets, ways of doing things, collide and new idea emerges. It seems that Frans learned that "best-selling author Paolo Coelho boosted sales in Russia by uploading a pirate copy of his book, The Alchemist," and decided this was something he would try out but in this case with the permission of his publisher. Get the free version from the Medici Effect website.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Medici Effect and it's full of engaging stories and practical ideas. As an entrepreneur I was anxious to have confirmed that nearly every new business fails a number of time before it gets it business strategy right. Frans goes on to quote Clayton Christensen from his best-selling book The Innovator's Dilemma:
Research has shown, in fact, that the vast majority of successful new business ventures abandoned their original business strategies when they began implementing their initial plans and learned what would and would not work in the market. The dominant difference between successful ventures and failed ones, generally, is not the astuteness of their original strategy. Guessing the right strategy at the outset is not nearly as important to success as conserving enough resources (or having relationships with trusted backers or investors) so that new business initiatives get a second or third stab at getting it right. Those that run our of resources or credibility before they can iterate towards a new strategy are the ones that will fail.
| 20/12/07 | | Strategy and the Fat Smoker |
I’ll remember Strategy and the Fat Smoker (SATFS) by David Maister for two things: helping me realise that creating a resolve in a group to take action is more important than merely creating insights into what should be done; and putting me on to the weight-loss analogy as a way of talking about facilitating change in a business context.
I’ve put both ideas into practice. First, I’ve recognised that our storytelling work is an important way to create resolve in a change initiative, such as developing a knowledge strategy. Second, we have incorporated the weight-loss analogy in our workshops and seminars to help people to think more deeply about what’s required for people to change.
I have to admit, when I received my copy of SATFS I was in two minds about the book. I admire David’s work and I’ve read most of his papers, listened to the podcasts and watched the online videos (is this a little too obsessive?). So when I heard that SATFS was a compilation of articles written from 2005, I thought, “Oh well, I guess it will be nice to have all the articles in one place.”
So I was pleasantly surprised by just how fresh the articles felt and how many good ideas I rediscovered. David creates an appealing flow of topics reinforcing the main theme of getting people to take action. This action-oriented approach makes tremendous sense because, as the business environment becomes even more complex and the issues we try to solve don’t have clear answers (even defining the problems will become more illusive), a good way to proceed is to take action and see what emerges. Then nurture the good and disrupt the bad.
There are two specific writing habits David employs that I really enjoy: first he gives the nitty-gritty details and even provides examples of what you might say in a given situation. For example, when talking about being a trusted advisor and helping clients find a professional service they need when you are not best placed to provide it, David suggests saying something like, “We are not your best choice for that new need. We can do it if you insist, but you may be better served to go to a specialist who can focus on providing the particular client benefit you seek.” And then take the next step to help your client find that needed specialist.
I also like the way David peppers each chapter with questions that prompt us to think differently about strategy. Here are a couple of examples:
“If so many people have offered such practical wisdom, and their work has been so well disseminated, publicized and understood, why do so many managers fail to actually apply all this practical wisdom?”“The essential questions of strategy are these: ‘Which of our habits are we really prepared to change, permanently and forever? Which lifestyle changes are we really prepared to make? What issues are we really ready to tackle?’”
Because each chapter was originally written as a standalone article, it’s easy to dip into the book at any point. I found myself reading from the beginning to about the middle of the book and then I jumped around following my current interests.
My only suggestion for improvement would be to add end notes so we can follow up references more easily.
David’s passion and field of focus is the professional service firm but this book has a much wider appeal and relevance. Personally, I was able to immediately translate many of the ideas in what we are doing in the field of knowledge management and the application of business narrative techniques. Strategy and the Fat Smoker has the main characteristics that I look for in a book: a good read, new ideas, practical, thought provoking, and most importantly, helping to create new conversations. I thoroughly recommend you to pick up a copy.
| 7/11/07 | | Name badges as conversation starters |
Graham Harvey in his book 'Seducing the Vigilante Customer ' tells of his experience in a restaurant.
"Even though I sort of half guessed what the answer might be, I went ahead and asked the question anyway.
"Why do you have Cardiff, Wales written under your name?"
"Cardiff is where I was born." replied the waiter.
The conversation then continued for a couple of minutes centring on how long she had been in Australia, why she had left Wales etc. She also explained that everybody in the hotel had their birthplace inscribed on their respective name badges and how positive the idea had been in creating conversation between guests and staff."
Although Graham is looking at this from a sales and marketing perspective his point is relevant to any group that is trying to build relationships. A key step in establishing rapport is engaging in conversations on a first name basis as quickly as possible.
You could have a lot of fun with this. Here are a few possibilities from the conventional to the quirky:
* your nickname
* sports you love to play or watch
* the footy team you follow
* your favourite biography
* what's on the cover of your diary
* a thought provoking quote
* your personal motto
* the beginning of an interesting story
Can you suggest any better ones?
Add something interesting or unexpected to a name badge at your next seminar, conference or community of practice kick-off meeting and watch curiosity get those conversations started.
| 29/09/07 | | Why have a knowledge strategy? Emotions count |
The Democratic party in the US has had a pretty rough trot in terms of the number of Democratic Presidents that managed to secure a second term. In recent history Roosevelt and Clinton are it. Professor Drew Westen puts this down to the Democrats being too smart for their own good. They have a tendency to provides the facts, dazzle the electorate with ideas and craft intellectual arguments to garner support. But one thing is missing. Engaging voters' emotions.
Here is a good example from the Bush Snr and Dukaikis campaign from one of the debates.
BERNARD SHAW (MODERATOR): Governor, if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?
DUKAKIS: No, I don't, Bernard. And I think you know that I've opposed the death penalty during all of my life. I don't see any evidence that it's a deterrent, and I think there are better and more effective ways to deal with violent crime.
And the audience thought, “What a heartless bastard. He didn't even mention how devastated he would be if his wife was raped and murdered.” Instead Dukakis gave the rational, intellectual response and according to Westen lost the debate at this point—in the first minute.
It turns out that 80+% of our decisions on who we vote for are based on our emotions not rational analysis.
You can fall into the same trap with your knowledge strategy. Your strategy report, which should be the result of extensive participation but often isn't, can easily be a rational account of what needs to be done having the emotional content of a wet tea towel.
Stories help. You can illustrate why your organisation needs to take action now and why a systematic approach to managing knowledge is important. You can use stories in at least two ways: including anecdotes throughout the report like this one:
“If we tried to find stuff on landholders beforehand you may have had to have made 15 phone calls, 14 emails, you know, try to track all that info down.”
And you can preface the report with a short history (3 paragraphs) on what brought the organisation to this point. This helps people understand why the strategy is being done and puts the activity in context. And if the story is strong people will recount it when explaining why the knowledge strategy is being done. Now there is some emotional content to what you are saying
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| 23/09/07 | | Why we need stories from the edge |
I came across the idea of the power law when I read Duncan Watt's Six Degrees. It's the one that best describes city population distributions, the size of hubs in networks, the popularity of blog sites, word frequencies and the Pareto principle, to name just a few. In power law systems there's one standout (the biggest city, the most frequently used word, the most popular blog) then the rest trail off into a very long trail. Imagine one of those fun drop slides where you hang from a bar, let go and enjoy a terrific slide to the end. The shape of a drop slide is the same as a power law if you graph these distributions. Quite a different shape to the normal, bell-curve distribution we were all told at university best represented the world we live in. Power laws tell us to notice the extremes. Bell curves tell us to remove the outliers and look at the majority.
Do you know the difference between character and characterisation when you are crafting a story? In Story, Robert McKee tells us that characterisation is what you can see, the observable qualities: a person's age, gender, occupation, how they dress. Whereas character is revealed by their action when there are tough choices to be made. In the final season of the West Wing, Bruno (the Republican campaign advisor) finds Senator Santos' (the Democratic presidential candidate) briefcase and Bruno brings it to his boss, Senator Vinnick who's running against Santos. Vinnick is presented with a dilemma: leak the contents of briefcase and gain an advantage in the campaign or return the briefcase to Santos. His actions in tough situations when there is much at stake reveal his character. Vinnick returns the briefcase.
Stories are told at the edge and from the edge. We recount remarkable events which in turn communicate those events that reveal our colleague's character. This is why stories are at the heart of organisational culture but they don't magically appear without a trigger. They come from remarkable things that are happening.
Sometimes people say to me, “does that story really represent the majority of what people think?” My first response is to say we are less interested in a single story than the patterns many stories reveal. But the question does reveal bell-curve thinking where the outliers don't matter, they're an aberration to be ignored. But think of every major breakthrough in how things are done. Each one came from the edges. The trap we make for ourselves comes from the wonderful minds we have and their ability to make sense and explain things after the event. “Of course Google had to happen, 911 was a foreseeable tragedy waiting to happen, the ability to show videos on the net would result in a multi-billion dollar purchase”—bollocks! In hindsight it all makes sense to us and we believe we can predict what is coming next by analysing past events. Those days are well behind us now. From now on we need to design for serendipity, furiously take action, make mistakes, but most importantly create situations where ideas can bubble up and and be tried out.
Stories are a double edge sword. On the one hand they deliver the messages from the edge. On the other hand they are the carriers of sensemaking, explanation and encapsulate the causes that brought us here today. Stories help us simplify what happened. We need to be both wary of and embrace stories. Get used to paradoxes. Charles Handy said it was the age of unreason and I think he is right.
While I haven't finished the book yet I'm finding The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb an inspiration that's generating so many thoughts. Last week I had the good fortune to have a hour long chat with Tom Peters at the AIM Convention. It turns out we both share many intellectual interests such as Karl Weick's work on sensemaking, a love of storytelling and a desire to challenge the status quo. In that conversation Tom said I was crazy if I didn't read The Black Swan. I'm glad I took his advice.
Technorati Tags: black swan, karl weick, nassim nicholas taleb, tom peters
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| 23/08/07 | | Genius everyday |
I've been keeping my eyes open for something entertaining to read on a long plane journey. I'm a fast reader and easily bored so the usual fare at airports barely lasts until I am flying over the West Australian coast. That leaves about another 20 hours of flying time to fill. So wandering past the Socrates store in Eastland last Sunday afternoon the cover on this book in the window display caught my eye. After a quick browse through the pages I decided I had found my travel companion.
I don't mind admitting I am an absolute Leonardo-phile. And I am not deluding myself into thinking any book can turn me into a Da Vinci equivalent. Since I took up scrapbooking in earnest in 2002 I have expanded my creative endeavours into book-making and mixed media art. But I have been continually frustrated by that little voice that tells me I can't draw and and I can't paint. I know when I was teaching, I never met a prep class child who could not draw, paint, sing or dance. Seek out a four or five year old of your acquaintance and ask them. Not only can they do it but they are more than willing to demonstrate it to you right there and then. And look at you oddly for asking such a silly question.
No, this is more about studying Da Vinci and learning from his work in order to utilise our potential to the best of our ability. And Leonardo's 500 year old techniques still work. Finding metaphors in nature was one of his favourites. Velcro was invented by someone who took a close look at a burr hooked to his trousers after a walk outdoors. The ease with which you can "open" a banana inspired the inventors of the ring pull tab on aluminum cans.
The book is centred around the seven fundamental principles (named in Italian) that Michael Gelb has drawn from his study of the man and his work. I'm struck by how they reflect much of what we at Anecdote believe and do.
- Curiosita - an insatiably curious approach to life and an unrelenting quest for continuous learning
- Dimonstrazione - a commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence and a willingness to learn from mistakes
- Sensazione- the continual refinement of the senses as the means to enliven experience
- Sfumato (literally "going up in smoke") - a willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox and uncertainty
- Arte/Scienza - - the development of balance between science and art, logic and imagination. Whole-brain thinking
- Corporalita - the cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness and poise
- Connessione - a recognition and appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things and phenomena. Systems thinking.
Leonardo had the ability to see and live with paradox. Relentless hard work was not the solution. Taking time with a problem, sleeping on it and letting the solution incubate gave better results. As Michael Gelb points out - the ability to trust your gut when dealing with ambiguity is still critical even in the age of information overload.
I'm looking forward to reading more about these principles and the examples that Gelb provides, following along with, and doing the activities. I may even return from my holiday able to draw.
| 22/05/07 | | How Gehry designs—the full story |
On the recommendation of Johnnie Moore, I read A Perfect Mess by Eric Abrahamson and David Freedman. I was really looking forward to this book because it held the promise of providing an interesting view of issues dear to my heart: chaos, complexity and messiness (I also hoped it might give me good reasons for maintaining my messy desk). Sadly I was disappointed with the book because the authors spent too much time trying to categorise mess and messy people (The archaeologist, the order prig, the mess distractor), relying on a single source for major arguments (see Corporation's Big Plan and their use of Starbuck's 1992 journal article), and relying heavily on newspaper sources (more that a 1/3 of the 50 sources).
Despite all these flaws I found one story about the renowned architect Frank Gehry and his firm which got me excited, but again I was let down.
Gehry Partners were engaged to design and build the new business school at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. Gehry is renowned for using models to convey how the building will look and feel. As told in A Perfect Mess, Gehry is mindful of how difficult it is to translate the emotion impact of the building when you collapse the model into a two-dimensional blueprint. Abrahamson and Freedman write:
“The school approved the design and brought in a small army of contractors to build it. The contractors duly admired, in a shocked and fretful way, the model of the God-awfully complex structure they were about to undertake, and then asked for the blueprints, to which Gehry's team replied that there weren't any. The contractors thought the group was joking, but Gehry and his associates assured the contractors they were serious. ... Gehry's group maintained that the contractors could derive the measurements they needed by studying the model of the building ...” pp. 87-88
The story continues and the contractors work together with Gehry Partners to co-create the building. The building in delivered on time, on budget and everyone is thrilled with the result. Furthermore, the contractors develop a multitude of new skills and techniques such as new ways to bend steel beams, survey sites, affix unconventional materials. Wow! I was impressed. This was very similar to our three journey approach. The first journey was Gehry and Partners creating the scale models, the second journey was involving the contractors in co-designing the building, and the third journey was its construction.
But something bugged me about the story, so I started surfing the web to see if I could find the source referred to in the book's end notes. I learnt that as the building was designed and constructed the academics from the Case Western Reserve Business School, lead by Professor Richard Boland, were studying the process. There were a number of papers written as a result and I read this one called Design Matters for Management. The first thing I was struck by was how Gehry Partners makes extensive use of computer models in their work. Hmmm, don't you need measurements to make computer models?
So I emailed Richard Boland and he seemed as surprised as I was. It turns out that Gehry does use models in lieu of blueprints a long time before a blueprint is created. The firm works with speciality contractors who are crucial to the success of the project early in the design phase and works with them to create the design. Gehry avoids the traditional approach of drawing something up and saying “here is the blueprint, go build it.”
I think Abrahamson and Freedman failed the plausibility test because that's what we listen for when we hear a story; is it plausible? You can see from the picture I included just how complex (and I think this is complex and not merely complicated) his building are. To think they were built without blueprints seem implausible.
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| 3/02/07 | | How to store your Moleskine PDAs |
From the time of the first bound books, right up until the 17th century, books were shelved with their spines facing inwards and the pages facing out. There was a practical reason for this seemingly perverse practice. Books were typically bound in leather and the technology for decorating a book was primitive. Bookmakers applied embellishments to the front and back cover but avoided the spine because it had to bend and flex and created problems when you affixed adornments.
So how do you know which book is which on your bookshelf when you can’t see the spine? Well, you decorate the fore-edge (the paper) of the book—much like you did with your school books. And if you’re a renaissance book collector you engage an artist to decorate your outward facing pages. This is what Odorico Pilone did when he employed Cesare Vecellio to decorate 172 of his books. Here is an example of this beautiful work.
So how does all this relate to Kathy Sierra’s excellent post on how to use your Moleskine notebook to keep your life in order? I’ve been a Moleskine users for a few years now and have a small collection of completed notebooks. I found it difficult to label the spine on a Moleskine so I simply reverted to the pre-seventeenth century practice of shelving the notebooks with the fore-edge facing out and decorating my fore-edges with the dates I started and finished each notebook adding a simple label for reference. Here they are on the left.
Petroski, H. (2000). The book on the book shelf. New York, Vintage Books.
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| 28/06/06 | | A new book on conversation gets a tougue lashing from Steve Denning |
Last week I ordered Conversation: A History of a Declining Art by Stephen Miller from Amazon. I’d heard the author interviewed by Phillip Adams on Late Night Live and it sounded interesting. Today I read Steve Denning’s stinging review which I thoroughly enjoyed. Denning didn’t like Miller’s inability to clearly make the case for declining conversations; his arguments lacked evidence according to Denning.
Denning, presumably based on Miller’s book, makes a number of useful observations about good conversation which are worth remembering when we sit down next to our next friendly chat.
- an open-minded exploration of multiple viewpoints makes for a good conversation
- a single-minded attempt to destroy others’ ideas kills conversations
- good conversations include amusing banter
- conversation works best among equals
- conversations have been a rare phenomenon
This is a timely topic for me because in one hour I will be recording a podcast with Patrick Lambe, Nancy White, Matthew Moore and Kaye Vivian where we plan to have a series of informal conversations on knowledge management related topics. I’ll let you know how we go.
I would also say that I have noticed that people in organisation rarely seem to have (or make) the time for conversation. Most talking is done to achieve a task which must reduce the ability for people to explore new ideas, innovate and revitalise their thinking.
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| 27/05/06 | | What Dave Snowden is reading |
I always like to hear what Dave is reading; he seems to pick up the most interesting books. The Cognitive Edge website (still under development) now has a list of recommended reads. You should check it out.
What are you reading now Dave?
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| 15/03/06 | | A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink |
If I were to write a book laying out the argument for our Anecdote approaches, I couldn’t be happier if I’d written A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink. This book makes a simple and powerful case: to thrive in a complex, outsourced and topsy-turvey world people need to augment their rational, linear and analytical thinking (how you got ahead in the information age) with empathy, creativity, meaning and the ability to sense patterns (required to flourish in the conceptual age).
Pink wants us to increase our skills in 6 areas:
- design
- story
- symphony (ability to see the big picture and integrate)
- empathy
- play
- meaning
You can imagine my excitement when I read this list of what Daniel calls ‘the 6 senses.’
Here is a short article by Pink describing the basic argument of how outsourcing to Asia, the abundance of almost everything and automation are creating an environment where right-brain thinking (the creative, holistic side) increases in importance.
And here are a couple of mind maps describing the book.
But neither sources replace reading the book.
Of course I quickly flipped to the chapter on story and I was pleased with Pink’s reasoning for including story in his list of 6 senses, which includes the observation that facts are so ubiquitous that people need to place these facts in context and deliver them with emotional impact; a role served superbly by stories.
I have, however, one concern with the story chapter. A reader without a background in narrative techniques might believe the only use for narrative is how to craft a persuasive story to affect change. I’ve talked about the difference between storytelling and story listening before, and Pink provides examples of story listening, such as the use of narrative medicine. But these ‘listening’ example follow compelling stories of Robert McKee’s script writing workshops and Steve Denning’s World Bank storytelling examples.
And because it’s a best seller you should be able to find a copy at your local bookstore. Or if you are like me, just pick one up at the airport newsagent.
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| 27/02/06 | | Malcolm Gladwell has a blog |
For those who enjoyed The Tipping Point and Blink you will be pleased to hear Malcolm Gladwell has a blog which will expand on aspects of his articles (found here) and other writings for the New Yorker. As he says:
I have come (belatedly) to the conclusion that a blog can be a very valuable supplement to my books and the writing I do for the New Yorker. What I think I’d like to do is to use this forum to elaborate and comment on and correct and amend things that I have already written.
And if you want to remember what you read in Blink and the Tipping Point, Malcolm has summarised the chapters (using Blink as an example) as a reading guide, provided a suggested reading list, and expanded bibliography.
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| 21/01/06 | | Data Visualization |
Ever since reading Edward Tufte’s book Envisioning Information way back when I’ve been f
ascinated with how to best present complex information. So today I made a great find, a set of 12 charts by Karl Hartig. Each one can be downloaded as a PDF so you can get a really good look at it.
[via Guy Kawasaki]
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| 8/09/05 | | Book review - Wisdom of Crowds |
Fast Company calls it an ‘idea-driven narrative’. This genre, made famous by Malcolm Gladwell, takes a simple (but important) idea and uses research, case studies, and personal experiences to enable the reader to see the world from a new perspective. Wisdom of Crowds, by James Surowiecki, is a notable addition to this enriching genre.
I enjoyed reading this book. The simple idea upon which Surowiecki builds is that, under certain conditions, groups of people make better decisions than any individual could hope to make. There are three conditions: the group must be diverse; the individuals should make their decisions independently; and the people must be decentralised, thus ensuring that decisions are based on local knowledge.
This book is essentially about the theme of complexity, and how group decision-making provides a way of tackling uncertain situations and solving apparently intractable problems. Three types of problems are examined, each with its own chapter: (i) cognitive problems: which have verifiable answers (such as calculating the weight of a bull after it has been slaughtered and dressed); (ii) coordination problems: in which people coordinate their behaviour, knowing that others are behaving similarly (such as buyers and sellers finding each other and trading goods at a fair price); and (iii) cooperation problems: which involve getting people to work together for a common good (such as paying taxes or reducing pollution), over and above their individual interests.
The first half of the book provides the theory, with chapters covering the three conditions and three types of problems. The second half presents a set of case studies that reiterate the key points—with additional factors, pitfalls, and flights of fancy thrown in for good measure. For example, Surowiecki points out that diversity and independence are important because “… the best decisions are the product of disagreement and contest, not consensus and compromise”. The author’s call for dissent in group decision-making is a recurring theme throughout the book.
It is apparent that Surowiecki has a strong interest in financial matters—as might be expected from an author who writes the popular ‘Financial Page’ for the New Yorker. Much of the research and examples in Wisdom of Crowds has an economic flavour—which would usually have put me to sleep, but which, in this book, was presented in an interesting and fast-paced style that maintains the reader’s interest.
My only criticism is that the second half of the book often takes the reader on circuitous routes. On several occasions the reader begins to wonder what this has to do with group decision-making. When the text does eventually return to the point, the connection is often somewhat tenuous. I was left with the feeling that I had put in the effort to go with the author on his various excursions, but had returned without any really clear pictures of the scenery. However, taking the book as a whole, this is a minor criticism; the fact that I zipped through the book is always a good indicator of how much I enjoyed it.
Wisdom of Crowds has had three major impacts on my thinking: first, I have always intuitively taken opportunities to use group decision-making in my workshop activities, but I now have a logical rationale for its usefulness; secondly, I can now differentiate between group decision-making and collective meaning-making; and thirdly I can understand why, as Surowiecki laments, few organisations have implemented group decision-making—because it removes power from those who have the authority and responsibility to implement the decisions. A book that gets you thinking like this deserves to be highly recommended.
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| 9/07/05 | | Thomas Friedman's talk on how the world is flat |
In Thomas Friedman’s talk to MIT (http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/266/) about his new book, The World is Flat, he argues that there have been three phases of globalisation. Phase 1 is between 1492 and 1800 and was dominated by nations spreading their influence across the globe. Phase 2 was well established by 2000 and was dominated by global corporations. Phase 3 was triggered by a fluke of investment around 2003–04. The dot.com boom fuelled an unprecedented investment in optic fibre communication infrastructure across the globe. Individuals from Mumbai to Moreton Bay were now collaborating in new way which were previously impossible—just think of Skype, Groove, wikis, blogs, Google. This 3rd phase is dominated by individuals.
Anyone reading this blog is probably operating in this 3rd phase. For myself I have numerous collaborators whom I’ve never met face to face in Canada, Spain, USA. It seems to me that new knowledge-based business ventures must immediately conceive themselves as individuals with global connections. Friedman provides many entertaining examples of how hopelessly ‘phase 2’ his think had been and that a new mind-shift if required to effectively operate in this current environment.
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| 25/04/05 | | Part of McMaster's book, The Praxis Equation, is online |
Denham Grey points us to what appears to be a very interesting book: Michael McMaster’s The praxis equation. Design principles for intelligent organisation. I Googled the title and found that a couple of chapters are published online.
I found one of the design principles quoted by Denham a little curious:
Without a starting hypothesis discovering which part of that space of possibility will offer us our greatest rewards [is] left to chance.
I would have thought that the problem with a starting hypothesis is that it creates a danger you will look in the wrong part of the possibility space and conclude the phenomena had either ceased or didn’t exist when in fact it could have just happened somewhere else. I’ve suggested an alternative approach based on multiple monitoring strategies. I’m now keen to understand Michael’s point and look forward to finding the rest of his chapters.
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| 10/02/05 | | Short article on the knowledge management threat posed by an aging workforce |
CIO magazine recently published this article describing the now well-known argument that organisations will lose significant knowledge as baby boomers retire. There is reference to David DeLong’s book, Lost Knowledge: Confronting the Threat of an Aging Workforce, which might be an interesting read. The piece concludes with a couple of ways IT can be used to retain this knowledge, which I must admit seemed like a pretty lame effort. The key suggestions revolved around conducting email interviews and running web-based surveys; both techniques are extremely limited in understanding or transferring what people know. How about coaching, mentoring, narrative capture, communities of practice? Surely these techniques are more suited to transferring, as Dorothy Leonard would say, an organisation’s deep smarts.
Have a look at some of the reader comments. There is an interesting post suggesting that the aging workforce issue is overstated.
Technorati tags: agingworkforce, expertise
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| 19/01/05 | | Edward Tufte New Chapter from Beautiful Evidence |
For one month Edward Tufte is making available a chapter from his upcoming book, Beautiful Evidence. Tufte wrote 3 of my favourite books which I love because of their simple beauty and their insightful portrayal of how to best convey information with graphics: Envisioning Information , The Visual Display of Quantitative Information , Visual Explanations.
[thanks elearningpost]
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| 23/12/04 | | Malcom Gladwell blinks |
A story on Malcolm Gladwell is Fast Company's cover story. He has a new book out called Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. It's all about how we make split second decisions. I hope he makes reference to Gary Klein's work in this area.
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| 2/12/04 | | Selecting 5 KM books |
Denham Grey suggests 5 books to get you started in KM. I would add Nancy Dixon's Common Knowledge. Nancy provides a useful way of thinking about knowledge transfer.
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| 1/12/04 | | I'm not joking |
Downloaded Surely you're joking Mr Feynman from Audible on the weekend. What I've heard so far (300 pages retold in 12 hours) is one great story after another. Love the story about Feynman's radio fixing days at the age of 11. Not what you might expect from a Nobel winning physicist.