As a follow up to yesterday’s weblog post on Enterprise Weblogs - Why Aren’t There More? - A Question of Control? Is It Really?, Rod Boothby created a weblog post around the same subject in Blogging vs. Your Career where he is actually expanding further on why knowledge workers may have several constraints regarding weblogging, both on their corporate Intranets and also out there on the Internet. Rod’s post is a really worth while article for those interested in weblogging as a knowledge sharing and collaborative tool but who may still have some reservations as to what the limits would be. More than anything else because he is actually providing a couple of solutions to some of the different issues that people may have about weblogging overall; which are use your common sense (As in there are things you know you can weblog about and there are others that are better left for yourself and not everyone else) and copy Intuit’s Scott K. Wilder’s weblogging guidelines to help people get started.

Indeed, Rod is listing over at Blogging vs. Your Career all of the different guidelines put together by Scott (and his team) and for sure that weblog post is a must-read for everyone interested in the Dos and Don’ts of weblogging, both from an Intranet and Internet perspectives. Lots of different hits and tips on how you can get the most out of weblogging without getting it backfire to you. Highly recommended.

This is exactly the same kind of exercise that IBM went through a few months ago (May 2005) when it finally embraced corporate and Internet weblogging as another medium for knowledge workers to reach out there and engage in the different conversations. I was part of the initial group of folks who drafted those different weblogging policy and guidelines and I must say that without those I doubt I would have started weblogging as well both on the Intranet and on the Internet. It was a good exercise to be able to establish how you could protect not only yourself but also your own weblogging against whatever other issues that may come up out there. We, too, decided to keep it short, simple and effective and from there try to spread the message around as much as we could possibly do so that everyone would be able to use their common sense and those guidelines, if anything, to protect themselves. And by the looks of it things seem to be going all right, I would think.

For those interested in reading some more about IBM’s blogging policy and guidelines you can find an extensive overview about them at the following URL: IBM’s blogging guidelines, but for the sake of this weblog post, and in order to add some more into what Rod has been sharing already, here you have a quick drop down of each of them:

1. Know and follow IBM’s Business Conduct Guidelines.
2. Blogs, wikis and other forms of online discourse are individual interactions, not corporate communications. IBMers are personally responsible for their posts. Be mindful that what you write will be public for a long time—protect your privacy.
3. Identify yourself – name and, when relevant, role at IBM – when you blog about IBM or IBM-related matters. And write in the first person. You must make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of IBM.
4. If you publish a blog or post to a blog outside of IBM and it has something to do with work you do or subjects associated with IBM, use a disclaimer such as this: “The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.”
5. Respect copyright, fair use and financial disclosure laws.
6. Don’t provide IBM’s or another’s confidential or other proprietary information. Ask permission to publish or report on conversations that are meant to be private or internal to IBM.
7. Don’t cite or reference clients, partners or suppliers without their approval.
8. Respect your audience. Don’t use ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity, etc., and show proper consideration for others’ privacy and for topics that may be considered objectionable or inflammatory – such as politics and religion.
9. Find out who else is blogging on the topic, and cite them.
10. Don’t pick fights, be the first to correct your own mistakes, and don’t alter previous posts without indicating that you have done so.
11. Try to add value. Provide worthwhile information and perspective.

Thus as you will be able to see things are not much different. However, the key message here is that if your business hasn’t got any weblogging policy or guidelines already available, it may be a good time to get busy building up some of them and, if you can afford it, get some of your company’s most well known  webloggers to help draft them with you, because there is a great chance that they would know exactly what they would want to weblog about and what not. Remember, try to always keep them involved in the discussions and make them feel part of the whole exercise. You would all be much better off in the end. That is for sure.

Tags: Enterprise blogging, Enterprise Blogs, Enterprise Social Software, Enterprise 2.0, Blogging Policy, Blogging Guidelines, Social Software, Web 2.0, Knowledge Management, KM, Collaboration, Knowledge Sharing, Innovation Creators, IBM

Yesterday Rod Boothby, over at Innovation Creators, created a somewhat controversial and very interesting weblog post around the subject of Enterprise blogs cost $50K - so why aren’t there more? where he is debating how little money ($50k a year for set up and another $50k for running it) it actually takes to put together an enterprise weblogging system and yet not many enterprises, and other smaller businesses, have decided to jump into putting together such enterprise platform for their knowledge workers so that they can share their knowledge and collaborate with others. Rob mentions how perhaps one of the key issues towards this further adoption of social software and Web 2.0 related tools may be more down to an issue with “politics of control“, specially from mid level managers, as he puts it, than with money overall.

I must say that while going through the weblog post I was nodding my head over and over again in full agreement with Rod as I feel he is just so spot on ! I mean, most knowledge workers recognise the value of weblogs as powerful (Personal) Knowledge Management tools to help people go out there, share what they know with others, collaborate with them, and therefore, innovate further. Yet, not many of them are diving into them and get to use them. Yes, it may all be down to that “politics of control” but what happens if it isn’t. What happens if you have got large businesses out there whose complete management teams are in full agreement, backing up and supporting knowledge workers to create their own weblogs and yet that is still not happening at a faster pace than whatever you may have expected? Well, I think that in those cases the issues are down to the knowledge workers themselves.

Yes, indeed, I feel that it is actually the knowledge workers themselves who are controlling themselves not to start a weblog in most cases providing all sorts of lame excuses: No time to weblog, nothing to talk about, not enough motivation, cannot be bothered, management not supporting my weblogging efforts, why would I do it?, and the list goes on and on and on. When, in my point of view I think that it all comes down to one particular thought I have been wondering about in my head for quite some time now:

“People are scared s***less to write down something through weblogs that they may be accountable for at some point, (because otherwise why wouldn’t they blog?)”

I do realise that is perhaps a bit too harsh of a comment but think about it. Knowledge workers are given the opportunity and encouraged to get out there and weblog, and yet it is not happening. The way I see it is that it is the same knowledge workers the ones are actually putting together those “politics of control” because they are the ones who are actually going to lose that control and comfort zone they have been enjoying all along. Think about it. Weblogging requires that you have got an open mind to things, that you engage in multiple conversations, that you get to learn from others, that you get to share what you know with others, that you are just part of the conversation and as such you are the one who is losing that control, losing that comfort zone where you are the one and only who masters whatever knowledge area and therefore it makes you feel like you are indispensable, when it is actually the other way around.

People who are not ready, nor willing, to let that control go, to become part of the conversation, to learn much more at a higher pace, to share what they know with others and to keep innovating are perhaps knowledge workers that at some point in time would be in trouble, if not already. It is no longer a time where they and their individual knowledge is recognised like it used to be. Now it seems to be that with all this social software hype we are entering the world where being part of a community is what matters. A community where you could share with others you passion and your expertise. An area where there are no comfort zones any longer. A space where everyone is always on the same position to move forward and where knowledge shared can only take you so much further than ever before. And not the other way around.

So unless knowledge workers start letting go that fear to share knowledge, to collaborate in an environment, weblogs, amongst others, where they are no longer in control social software will never be successful within the enterprise. Thankfully a good chunk of people are already understanding this and it is perhaps their early adopter efforts the ones that would make things change drastically over the next few months, but one thing for sure is that all this would only be a successful and gradual change for enterprises if knowledge workers would want to help in the transformation from a labour-based company to a knowledge-based company, because that is what weblogs are all about: sharing your knowledge and passion(s) with everyone else.

A big question remains behind for all of us to answer: Are you ready to let control go and leave your comfort zone? Are you ready for Enterprise 2.0?

Tags: Enterprise Blogging, Enterprise Blogs, Enterprise Social Software, Enterprise 2.0, Social Software, Web 2.0, Knowledge Management, KM, Collaboration, Knowledge Sharing, Innovation Creators

A few days ago Melanie Turek shared a very interesting, and worth while trying out, tip over at CollaborationLoop around the subject of How to Save Thousands on Audio Conference Calling where she wrote a quick overview of a service she has been using for three years already and with some very good experiences and that could save you thousands of $$$ in audio conferencing fees. We all know that we spend a good part of our day in different conference calls having to attend different meetings or collaborating with our colleagues through some audio conferencing where we would need to dial in a number with a pin code in order to access it. Of course, for each of those calls there are some expenses involved and although I am sure that most people reading this weblog would say how much they have made out of VoIP applications like Skype, there are still plenty of knowledge workers out there who still prefer to use the regular phone in order to make those phone calls, which in a way is a very understandable thing thinking how pervasive the telephone has become over the years.

But what happens when you face yourself with a huge bill having to cover for all those different audio conference fees you have been paying for a while? I mean, I can imagine that this would become a nightmare for companies who encourage their workers to connect through those audio conferences. So what can we do then? Well, we can do what Melanie says. Try out FreeConference, a free (As in free) audio conferencing system that allows you to save a good chunk of money of expenses for all those conference calls. Here is a quick quote from Melanie’s article that describes how it works:

"The site offers free reservationless conference calls, as well as a robust service that lets you schedule and control calls from the Web (also free). It also offers low-cost 800-number conferencing, but believe me, the real deal is the free stuff. Sign up is simple, and the Web-based scheduling option is especially good."

Yes, I know, there is a catch, like in almost everything that is free: "callers usually must make a long-distance call to dial in" but like Melanie mentions with those same VoIP capabilities it would become almost free and widely available to everyone. Later on in the article she gets to describe a couple of glitches of what it takes to use FreeConference but like she describes herself they are not major showstoppers that would prevent you from making use of it, which is a good thing. It is probably not a service you would want to use to host confidential business conference calls but certainly for those "day-to-day meetings" it would be quite handy to make good use of such service.

So I think that after reading Melanie’s article I am going to give it a try and see how it works. If I get such a good experience as she is having at the moment I am surely going to start switching some of those daily audio conferences into FreeConference and I am sure that phone bill would sound a lot better … and cheaper!

Thus from here a big thanks to Melanie for sharing such a great tip and let’s see how it goes. I shall let you know what my experience would be like over the next few weeks.

Tags: FreeConference, CollaborationTip, Audio Conferencing, Conference Call, Productivity Tips

It looks like over the last couple of days I have been recommending a couple of worth while resources or weblog articles worth while reading further and keeping an eye on and somehow it sounds like this is not going to end up today. I am not going to mention, nor point, nor recommend either Carla Verwijs’ weblog or Nancy White’s since by now if you are both into Knowledge Management and Online Facilitation for communities you are probably already subscribed to both of their weblogs, and if you haven’t then I will surely recommend you do so! You will be gone off to a great reading. But that is not the purpose of this particular weblog post. What is interesting and worth while mentioning is what Carla has been mentioning already over at one of her weblog posts: Dictionary of Interaction where she is actually referencing referencing another weblog post published by Nancy not long ago titled Updating My Online Interaction Glossary.

What a fantastic resource that is ! In Updating My Online Interaction Glossary Nancy has put together a must-read glossary of terms that she has been exposed over time in her daily online interactions with other folks. Indeed, a must-go-through resource specially if you are about to enter the world of online, remote collaboration and if in particular you would want to catch up with some of the hot terms as far as social software, knowledge sharing and collaboration is concerned. That is why you would be able to read in very brief notes on terms like Aggregation, Weblog, Blogroll, Communities of Practice, Feeds, Folksonomy, Knowledge Management (Where I would probably need to add, yet again, another definition to The Essence of Knowledge Management weblog post I created not long ago), Mashup, Permalink, Presence Indicators, RSS, Social Software, Tagging, Virtual Community, Web 2.0, Wiki, etc. etc.

Yes, I know that lots of you out there who have been on the Internet for quite a while and who have been having and maintaining your weblogs and whatever other online spaces ma be a bit far too simplistic list, but I must that is the beauty of the whole thing. It is its simplicity what makes that particular weblog post very handy and very helpful, and straight the point. And on top of that you would see as well how Nancy not only gives a very short descriptive definition of the word but she also includes a URL link which points to online resources where you can get some further details, if needed. Very nice actually!

This is one of those resources that I will continue to use as time goes by and I dive into facilitating the on boarding of the communities I provide support to on making use of some of these new social software tools coming out there. And Nancy’s Online Interaction Glossary is just not only a good start but a superb one. I would be able to save up so much time not having to recreate this and I am glad she has put it together. Also I am sure that as time goes by she will be adding some more entries, so that is perhaps one of those articles that would be worth while bookmarking elsewhere for a later retrieval and catch up.

So from here a big thanks! to Nancy White for putting such a handy resource out there and for making it available to us all. Well done !

Tags: Carla Verwijs, Nancy White, Online Facilitation, Online Interaction Glossary, Glossary, Social Software, Knowledge Management, KM, Communities, Online Communtiies, Virtual Communtiies

I know that in the past I have been neglecting one of the other subjects that I get to discuss over here in elsua.net every now and then. Actually if you look into its own category there are not many weblog posts in it, compared to others, so I guess it is time now to do some catching up. Yes, I am talking about the ever challenging Work / Life Balance that, specially, remote workers, whether at a customer location, or while travelling or while at home, we tend to ignore every now and till it hits us big time. Yes, indeed, one of the main challenges that distributed knowledge workers face nowadays, considering how pervasive access to the Internet through broadband has become, is to actually be able to separate successfully life from work. Yes, I know, not easy. I am sure that most of us out there have been facing a number of difficult situations in this respect and we could always do with some more tips on how to strike that balance, right? I know I would be one of those. So that is why a couple of days ago, while going through my daily dose of RSS feeds, I bumped into this particular weblog post by Allen over at Life is a Journal or Self Help and Personal Development for Lazy People and thought I would share it over here as it has got some very interesting points: 10 Tips on Leading a Balanced Life.

As I said, in that particular weblog post you would find lots of wisdom and different tips on how you can master that balance between work / life and I must say that from the whole list of them there were a few that resounded loud and clear at home. So I thought I would list them over here with a quick commentary on my own experience trying to look for that beloved balance:

1. Go home from work on time: This is certainly difficult for those of us working from home all the time, but I have learned to appreciate the value of a home office door that gets closed at a certain point of the day and which will separate your work from your private life. A big thumbs up for the home office door! Thus use it!
2. Don’t be a yes person: To be honest this is the one single tip of the whole lot that I haved struggled with the most in my recent past. I know all about the Power of Saying No (I am getting very good as mastering it nowadays although I still need to get a PhD on it) and how gratifying it may become at some point in time, but I am finding out that sometimes it is not as easy as what people think. So the sooner you start working on it the better off you would be. Just say No! (Already feeling better?)
3. Go to bed and get up at the same time everyday: Oh, yes, this one was also another big hitter with myself till it actually got me. I was just getting too little sleep (Yes, I know, too many things to do, to read, to digest, to dive into …) and all of a sudden my body complained. Ever since then I make a conscious effort to sleep, at least, 7 hours a day going to bed and getting up at the same time and I cannot stress out how much better you actually feel about yourself and the things around you. So go and get some sleep!
4. Slow down: Oh dear, it looks like someone was reading my mind on this one. I must say that I was very bad at doing this back up to not long ago, but for the last two and a half years things have changed dramatically in this area for myself. And for the better. I tend to appreciate more the little tiny things around us, and appreciate those little precious moments that otherwise would go by unnoticed. And if you have had a chance to check my Flickr account you would be able to see some of that. Thus, like a good old friend of mine would say, "piano, piano, arrivamo lontano".
5. Don’t buy into the culture around you if you don’t want to: "I am a human being and unique with my own feelings and needs". Amen to that! Be yourself and stick to it!
6. Create your own sub-culture involving your friends and family: Ahhh. those nature rambles! Oh, remember, you only have got one family and a bunch of friends, treasure them!
7. Recognise you have the right to be healthier than those around you: This is just so true ! You cannot imagine what inertia can do to you in this respect. Your own health is perhaps the most precious gift we have all been provided with, so why waste it, right? I remember the times when my eating habits were completely different than those I try to stick around with nowadays. Sticking to regular eating times and exercise on a daily basis can do miracles, I tell you. They did with me, which is probably why I am sticking around with them till today. Just do it!
8. Do something meaningful with your spare time: "Find out what skills you have (everyone has them!) and see how you could use those skills to help others." What are you waiting for ? Put them to the test and dive in!
9. Let go of the need to buy the next big thing: I didn’t realise about this one till I actually read that particular weblog post and it is just so true. I succumbed to that temptation a couple of times already and it wasn’t easy. Thank goodness it has quieted down a bit now and it will be a long while before I would have those cravings despite all of the different gadgets that are flowing around, like the latest Sony Mylo. Somehow I just feel that this time around I will pass. Why bother, right? What is the point?
10. Develop compassion, patience and tolerance for your fellow people: This is just so true ! And something that I have mentioned already a few times already. It is all about nurturing relationships with others, work with them to become better at what you do. I know, not an easy thing, but if only we would all take a few minutes a day to do this I am sure things would be a whole lot better. In every single aspect, nurture who you are and who you connect with. For your / own good.

As I said, mastering the art of striking a good balance between work and life is not an easy thing, we all know that. But with tips like the ones Allen has put together I bet that the challenge would be less so. If you would want to, that is, because after all it would be up to us all to reach it and continue with things as is. So what would it be then for you ? Reached that balance already or are you still struggling?

Tags: Work Life Balance, Working at Home, Remote Working, Life, Work, Remote Workplace

If yesterday I was recommending the weblog eContent by Rich Hoeg as one weblog worth while keeping an eye on as it continues to explore all different items related to (e)content management and eLearning here I go again today with another recommendation for another weblog where I have found three very interesting posts, two of which I would want to recommend in this particular post. The weblog itself is titled Troy Angrignon - Adventure Capitalist and written, of course, by Troy Angrignon. In it Troy gets to venture in a number of different areas and topics of interest, one of which has caught my attention ever since I bumped into his site not long ago: Web 2.0. Yes, indeed, in that particular category he has been putting together a good number of articles worth while reading to get some further insights about how Web 2.0 and social software are shaping the way we interact nowadays on the Internet. Worth while a subscription, I tell you.

Take, for instance, the following couple of examples from different articles he has created. The first one is an old weblog post (October 2005), but which is still very relevant and a must-read resource for everyone wanting to dive into the extensive use of weblogs and wikis in the corporate world. The post is titled Summary of good corporate blog and wiki resources and, like I said, in it you would be able to find an extensive list of resources to different items related to weblogs and wikis and how they are slowly, but steadily, entering the enterprise world. For sure a keeper and worth while a bookmark for it.

But if you didn’t have enough with that weblog post then take a look into this other one: Corporate Wikis reviewed: Confluence, JotSpot, WetPaint, Socialtext, where not so long ago, about a month ago, he shared some very interesting feedback on some of the major players in helping deploy enterprise wikis. So in a lengthy article he gets to share his views on Confluence, JotSpot, WetPaint and Socialtext. And don’t worry, he actually comes up with a favourite, but in the updated section he also indicates why it may struggle in the end to make it as a successful enterprise wiki platform.

I must say that I have been exposed to all four wiki engines and I agree with Troy that perhaps my favourites would be Confluence and WetPaint (Which I weblogged about not long ago), if it ever wants to enter the enterprise world, that is. And talking about Confluence check out the weblog post that Zoli has shared as well over at his weblog on a recent interview with Confluence’s CEOs (Mike and Jonathan). Highly recommended to see where it all got started from for them.

As you would be able to see lots of different and interesting weblog posts to keep up on what is going on with the enterprise adoption of the so-called Web 2.0 or social software and which very shortly, if not happening already, will change the landscape of how knowledge workers get to share knowledge and collaborate with one another. Fascinating stuff ! Oh, and regarding the third weblog post I was going to recommend and comment on from Troy’s weblog it would have to wait for another weblog post …

Tags: Troy Angrignon, Adventure Capitalist, Web 2.0, Social Software, Wikis, Confluence, JotSpot, WetPaint, Socialtext, Corporate Wikis, Enterprise Wikis, Zoli’s Blog