Enterprise 2.0 Chapter 2 Vexations and Missed Opportunities in Group Work

1. Enterprise 2.0 Chapter 2Vexations and Missed Opportunities in Group Work Matt StricklandJames WilkinsonEric SummersKhanh Chau

2. Four Case Studies • VistaPrint – relatively small group of people who work closely together. • Serena Software – Larger group of people in many locations who all work at the same company, but don’t know each other well. • U.S. Intelligence Community – Large amount of knowledge workers spread across many organizations who should be sharing knowledge, but are not doing so. • Google – All the employees of one big company, most of who will never need to work together.

3. VistaPrint

4. VistaPrint • As with previous case studies, Wiki’s have proven themselves to be quite useful. VistaPrint, a leader in the publication and print industry chose to set up an intra company wiki that sought to solve the countless repetitive questions that a new engineering hire would like face.

5. VistaPrint • It was intended to be an extra form of relief for training. Its success took off like a wildfire. • In only 18 months, the company’s repository contained over 11,000 pages. The company didn’t even need to hire a professional management company, as the employees self-managed the system.

6. VistaPrint • Their success cut training time in half. • To make things better, the company was in a position of financial benefit because the platform of wiki used was completely free. • The best people who know how to do the job are those who do it on a daily basis; naturally, the regular employees had an incentive to contribute because they would have a permanent place to reference notes or answer questions that may arise at a later time.

7. Serena Software

8. Serena Software • New mash up market • Chicago Crime and Google Maps to see crime patterns. • Employees at Serena were born before the web took off. • Didn’t know if their web philosophies were up to date • Didn’t know if they knew Web 2.0 well enough • Employees didn’t know each other • Several countries • Worked from home • Virtual teams collecting a paycheck • Community • No sense of community • How to create a community with such a patched-together workforce

9. U.S. Intelligence Community

10. U.S. Intelligence Community • -September 11, 2001 spurred an investigation on the performance of several of the country’s intelligence agencies • Conclusion: “Even though the system was blinking red before 9/11, no one could connect the dots.” • CIA analysts prepared a section entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US” for the President’s Daily Brief on August 6, 2001.

11. U.S. Intelligence Community • The US Intelligence Community consisted of (at the time) 16 groups, during that time • At the CIA, one was dedicated to neutralizing bin Laden • At the FBI, counterterrorism chief Paul O’Neill and his team had first hand experience with Islamic terrorists during investigations of attacks in Saudi Arabia and Yemen and were determined to stop them from occurring on US soil again after the 1993 World Trade Center was attacked). • U.S. National Security Council, was devoting great energy to assessing and communicating the danger posed by bin Laden’s group.

12. U.S. Intelligence Community • In the months preceding 9/11, the signs were there, but due to lack of communication between all the parties involved, the attack succeeded with devastating and tragic results. • Investigators blamed the major reason for this failure on the lack of effective information sharing within and across intelligence agencies. • Information flows “Stove piped” – reports, cables, and other intelligence products where sent up and down narrow channels within an agency, usually following formal chains of command, where if someone decided that something was no longer necessary or it was no longer appropriate to conduct more analysis or action, it went no further.

13. U.S. Intelligence Community • Take the example of al-Mihdhar and Hazmi, two suspected terrorists before the 9/11 attack and two of the terrorist involved. • Both the CIA and FBI were interested in the activities and whereabouts of the two; • CIA found out that Mihdhar had a US visa and Hazmi had travelled to the US in January 2000, but it was not shared throughout the Intelligence Community.

14. U.S. Intelligence Community • After the failures of 9/11 the office of Director of National Intelligence was established to attempt to establish the flow of information between the agencies, but many feel that the DNI would not be able to accomplish much or effect deep change in the agencies’ strong and entrenched cultures. • The IC is a closed world and many insiders have admitted “it has an almost perfect record of resisting external recommendations”

15. Google

16. Google • Bo Cowgill, a entry level customer support employee for Google. • Upon reading the Wisdom of Crowds, he thought it would be good if Google could implement a prediction market similar to what was discussed in the book. • Cowgill knew if he wanted to build this program he would need a skilled programmer to do so.

17. Google • Ilya Kirnos • Expert Programmer for Google, just what Cowgill needed • Kirnos had the exact same idea • Only he already built a simple application called “itoldyouso” • Allowed people to offer and accept noncash bets and keep track of them over time.

18. Google • Cowgill and Kirnos each worked in the same company, but different areas. • They had no way of knowing they shared a common interest. • What they created was completely out of what their job descriptions required.

19. Conclusion • All the cases are unresolved at the end of this chapter. • They all suffered from limitations in communication or a complete lack of communication within the organizations. • But could computer-supported collaborated work (CSCW), groupware, or knowledge management systems help? • Tune in to the other presentations to find out!