E L S U A ~ A KM Blog Thinking Outside The Inbox by Luis Suarez

A World Without Email – Year 2, Weeks 30 to 33 (Study: Social-Media Junkies Use Email More)

It has been a little over a month ago since last time that I put together a blog post where I was talking about my ongoing initiative of living "A World Without Email". So given a couple of recent events, that I will talk about in a couple of minutes, and seeing also how it may well be about a good time now to share some further insights on how things are going with the various different progress reports from over the last few weeks, I thought I would spend a few minutes today with you folks telling you about what has happened since last time, where I blogged about week #29, which, to date, marks the week with the lowest incoming count of e-mails received (With just 10 of them!) for 2009.

Well, it looks like over the last four weeks the number of incoming emails has been rather steady going from a range of 18 to 34 emails received. A couple of times right on target for my follow-up challenge on getting 20, or less, a week, but then again in one of those weeks the number went all the way to 34 (being the "Reply To All" button the main culprit). If you’re interested in checking further the drop-down of those weeks here you have got the progress reports for weeks 30, 31, 32, and last one, 33, which I am just going to share over here:

As you will be able to see, week 33 has proved to be a little bit of a challenge having almost doubled the amount of e-mails than the week before. And as usual, I owe it to the "wonderful" email capability called "Reply To All". Two or three conversations, three or four replies (I know, that’s nothing!), but voilà!, my inbox going out of control! Geez. I tell you, if I could I would get rid of that button, with a snap of my fingers! (ZAS!) I would do it right away. No questions asked. No mercy. Just be done with it! For good! (sigh)

Anyway, at the beginning of this blog post I mentioned how a couple of recent events triggered the creation of this entry as well, specially since a bunch of people have been pointing them out to me in various micro-blogging Web sites. The events are actually a single study released by Nielsen that states how "social-media junkies" use email, and rather heavily, to keep on top of things and, especially, on top of their own social networking experiences.

Thus, a couple of the people who contacted me through those micro-sharing Web sites were asking me what my thoughts were since, obviously, I don’t use email at work any more; they were questioning whether we would ever be capable of getting rid of it altogether, since it looks like hard-core social software users seem to still rely pretty much on email.

If you would remember, all along I have been mentioning how I don’t think that the email is going away any time soon (Email is not dead!). I still see plenty of benefits for using it (one on one conversations of a sensitive nature or calendaring and scheduling events, to name a couple). However, when I was reading a couple of the articles that referenced this study I couldn’t help smiling at the fact of how simplistic the actual study is. Yes, we may be using email much more than before, I am sure we are!, but are they really emails that I need to process myself or more along the lines of BACN notifications that plenty of the social networks available out there trigger as recent updates that I may need to check (or not)?

In a follow-up article by CNet, we can actually find the answer to that question with this interesting and relevant quote:

"Although the study ended there, researchers said that correlation might be due to "social media sites like Facebook (that) send messages to your in-box every time someone comments on your posting or something you’ve participated in, and depending on your settings, can send updates on almost every activity." The researchers also believe that the connections people make through social networks cause them to "extend those connections to e-mail, a phone conversation, or even in-person meetings.""

You see? Yes, we’re getting plenty more emails, but there aren’t emails that I need to process myself. Instead, they are actually notifications that keep folks up to date with what is happening in the various social software tools that they use on a regular basis, because in most cases those notifications are generated as email ones. But are they really? I don’t think they are. That’s what BACN is all about. That’s not really email, is it?

So my reaction to those folks who were worried that we would never be able to get rid of email I will answer this: email is not going to go away any time soon; yet social networking tools are going to re-purpose how we use it so that instead of being that system "where knowledge goes to die" is actually that system that will tell us not only where our knowledge is but also how it has been (And will be even more!) enriched by our various social networking "friends".

Nothing wrong with that, right? No, I don’t think so. I actually think it is a good thing. Using your email system as your feed aggregator, versus an RSS feed reader, is just as valid. What matters is not the tool you use, but the form that allows you to keep on top of the content that gets shared., at the same time that you are capable of keeping up with your various social networks.

Because, after all, in this particular example, email is just as good as any of the others. What really matters is how you are going to keep up with all of that knowledge that gets shared across in multiple places. Thus, if anything, your inbox will turn itself, slowly but steadily, into that massive aggregator, that, if anything, is going to make your life much easier. Now, I bet you won’t be able to say the same thing about traditional email, would you?

(As a quick annotation from the beginning of the year I have received, in my email work address, over 3.350 BACN notifications, whereas I have received 813 "traditional" emails, most of them one-on-one conversations or calendaring and scheduling events. Not bad, eh? Yes, you could say that I love BACN! Don’t you?)

Tags: Enterprise 2.0, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Computing, Social Media, Collaboration, Communities, Learning, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Remote Collaboration, Innovation, IBM, Networking, Social Networks, Conversations, Dialogue, Communication, Connections, Relationships, email, Productivity, Re-purposing Email, No-Email, Challenge Your Inbox, Progress Reports, Thinking Outside the Inbox, Information Overload, A World Without Email, Reply to All, Nielsen, Research, Studies, CNET, BACN, Notifications, Aggregator, Bill French, Social Networks, Content

The Real Business Value of Social Networking

After the amazing reactions from yesterday’s blog post on Defining Knowledge Management and Enterprise 2.0 (Still catching up with some of the wonderful commentary, by the way, which I will certainly get back to shortly to keep adding further on to the various conversations) I thought I would put together a much shorter blog post where I will point out to you one of those follow up articles that I have found rather inspiring and incredibly accurate on how I myself perceive the power of social networking within the corporate environment, to say the least.

And very much along the lines of what I talked about yesterday, since it was put together as a reaction to that article I posted earlier on. The entry I would want to encourage you all to take a look at and read is one by Kevin Jones titled "I Finally Get It – Why Social Networking Is So Important". It’s one of those good reads that after going through it you won’t be the same person any longer. It’s all about a big ah-ha! moment that every now and then we all get to experience and get through, but that time and time again (Not sure why!) we keep hiding for ourselves. Well, Kevin didn’t and that’s why we can read, and enjoy!, what his ah-ha! moment was that inspired that post.

In fact, I’m going to say very little about it. And just include over here, as a teaser, one of the many little precious gems you will find in that article, so you can go ahead and read further on:

"Why Social Networking? To tell stories. To make sense of the information we share. To put it in context. THAT is the value of Social Networking. So many people dismiss the need to network in this way, yet again we see how critical it really is!"

Some pretty amazing stuff, I tell you! So much so, that while reading through it I just couldn’t help thinking about this short appearance from, the one and only, the always insightful Seth Godin, who, once again (Remember last time I talked about him on "The Second Coming of Blogging?"), nails it, as far as I can tell, on what the real challenge is for social networking to flourish in the enterprise world. Yes, it has got nothing to do with the well known Web 2.0 from the consumer space. Actually, quite the opposite.

In over the course of a little bit over two minutes, he gets to share some really good insights on what the real business value of social networking is all about. And guess what? He doesn’t do it through a definition, nor through stating hard facts none of us can (nor will!) relate to! Ever. Instead, he shares it through stories. Stories we can all relate to. Specially the main one on "going out of your way for your people, for your networks". But I guess, I better leave it to Seth himself to tell his story. He will do, for sure, a much better job than myself…

Oh, and if you didn’t have enough with those two precious minutes, here is another blog post that this whole conversation on finding the true business value of social networking really thrives on and, which, even though it was shared a little while ago, I still think it will have such an important relevance for the next few years, that it’s just mind-blowing… Yes, it is that good!

I am not going to explain much more about it. Instead, I would want encourage you to read through, pause for a little, savour, perhaps, a lovely cup of coffee (Or tea, if you would prefer) and read it again! It will change the whole concept you may have about social networking. In a way, in a very meaningful way, it changed mine. And I am certain it will change yours. Have a look and enjoy reading Friendship by the inimitable Euan Semple.

That, my friends, is where we need to head… That, my good friends, is where I shall keep treasuring you all for who you are and what you do. Day in, day out!

Ready to make the leap?

Tags: Definitions, Social Business, Kevin Jones, NASA, Seth Godin, Stories, Sharing Stories, Storytelling, Narrative, Euan Semple, Friendship, Friendships, Business Value, Value Add, Enterprise 2.0, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Computing, Social Media, Collaboration, Communities, Learning, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Remote Collaboration, Innovation, Networking, Social Networks, Conversations, Dialogue, Communication, Connections, Relationships, Productivity, ROI, Return On Investment

Defining Knowledge Management and Enterprise 2.0 – Sharing Your Story

Most of the folks out there who know me, and have been following this blog for a while, have probably realised by now how much I dislike definitions, and putting labels on things, in general. Funny enough, that has been like that for quite a while, having gotten started around 2001, when I was first getting exposed to Knowledge Management (KM or Knowledge Sharing, whatever you would prefer) as time and time again I kept bumping into multiple knowledge managers wanting to define it. I am sure that would sound very familiar to plenty of people out there.

Fast forward to 2009 … and we still haven’t come to terms with the fact that we may not be able to define it, after all; at least, that’s what may be coming out after all of what has been written on the topic over the last few months, where KM definitions seem to have peaked up again. Ray Sims made a very brave attempt by managing to compile the whopping number of #62 of them. Yes, 62 different definitions of KM!

Steve Barth ventured, earlier on this year, into putting some very thought-provoking arguments on the need for one, after all, and he shares his favourite one:

"Knowledge management refers to strategies and structures for maximizing the return on intellectual and information resources. KM depends on both cultural and technological processes of creation, collection, sharing, recombination and reuse. The goal is to create new value by improving the efficiency and effectiveness of individual and collaborative knowledge work while increasing innovation and sharpening decision-making"

David Gurteen shared, just recently, another KM definition by David Weinberger, which I am going to take the liberty of quoting over here, since it fits in quite nicely with the direction I am heading for this blog post… and you will see why shortly:

"But the real problem with the information being provided to us in our businesses is that, for all the facts and ideas, we still have no idea what we’re talking about. We don’t understand what’s going on in our business, our market, and our world.

In fact, it’d be right to say that we already *know* way too much. KM isn’t about helping us to know more. It’s about helping us to understand. Knowledge without understanding is like, well, information.”

So, how do we understand things? From the first accidental wiener roast on a prehistoric savannah, we’ve understood things by telling stories. It’s through stories that we understand how the world works"

Getting closer to the real thing, don’t you think? Well, it gets better, because just recently, one of my virtual mentors, someone for whom I have always had the greatest of respects as being one of the fathers of Knowledge Management himself, the fine Dave Snowden, finally, after over 15 years (Perhaps even more!), decided to put together his definition of KM. And he blogged about it under "Defining KM" just a couple of days ago:

"The purpose of knowledge management is to provide support for improved decision making and innovation throughout the organization. This is achieved through the effective management of human intuition and experience augmented by the provision of information, processes and technology together with training and mentoring programmes.

The following guiding principles will be applied

• All projects will be clearly linked to operational and strategic goals
• As far as possible the approach adopted will be to stimulate local activity rather than impose central solutions
• Co-ordination and distribution of learning will focus on allowing adaptation of good practice to the local context
• Management of the KM function will be based on a small centralized core, with a wider distributed network"

Not bad, eh? Indeed, not bad at all! Both Weinberger’s & Snowden’s definitions of Knowledge Management would probably as good as it gets and it’s just amazing that it’s taken over 15 years (And several dozens of definitions!) to reach this stage! However, has it been worth it? Has it been worth while all of the hundreds, if not thousands, of heated discussions, articles, blog posts, white papers, interviews, podcasts, etc. etc. to reach for that one or two definitions that we would all be happy with? Have we just invested, perhaps, far too much energy, effort and commitment to the cause intro trying to create a label for something that may not have been needed, in the first place?

I know, plenty of food for thought on that one, don’t you think? Here’s the thing though. We may not have invested enough such energy and effort, because nowadays we are just embarking ourselves on, yet again, the same kind of activity, but this time around with a different label, but still dealing with the exact same core principles. Yes, I am talking about the recent Enterprise 2.0 and the on-going (And growing!) discussions on not just how to define it, but also how to re-define it!

Ouchie! It looks like we never seem to learn from the past, don’t we? Here we are again, after 15 years of trying to successfully define Knowledge Management, trying to do the very same thing with Enterprise 2.0. Again! Why don’t we just focus, instead, on the overall message from Snowden’s definition or the last sentence from Weinberger’s: "It’s through stories that we understand how the world works".

Wouldn’t we be so much better off not getting lost in the semantics of trying to nail down what we may never be able to, and instead focus on those stories? I bet things would be so much better for all of us, knowledge workers. After all, we get to share, learn and apply most of our knowledge through the sharing of those very same stories. So what’s stopping us from doing that? Do we prefer, very much so, it seems, the rhetoric of finding a definition of a label we may never get to re-use again? I hope that’s not the case!

At least, I would rather prefer to focus on the stories, on the use cases, on their execution, because somehow I feel I would be able to learn so much more not just from Enterprise 2.0, but from knowledge sharing and collaboration, in general. And I think that’s what matters at the end of the day, don’t you think? If not, have a look into this YouTube video by Nick Milton, who, very successfully, in my opinion, explains very clearly the differences between Data Management, Information Management and Knowledge Management… And he doesn’t use a single definition for each of them. No, he doesn’t. Not a single one!

Instead, he does it by sharing a story we can all learn from and relate to. A story that would help us explain next time around why Data & Information Management are quite different, in substance, from Knowledge Management. Who would have ever thought, right?

Is it still worth while looking for that golden definition, or label, of Enterprise 2.0? Or whatever other term you would want to call it? Not sure what you would think, but perhaps not. Maybe there are many more interesting activities in the 2.0 space that we could focus on and learn the most from. Because learning from definitions, as always, is incredibly limiting. Instead, I doubt we could say the same thing from sharing stories. So, what’s your story?

Tags: Definitions, Social Business, Ray Sims, Steve Barth, David Gurteen, David Weinberger, Dave Snowden, Cognitive Edge, Stories, Sharing Stories, Storytelling, Narrative, Nick Milton, Data Management, Information Management, Use Cases, Business Value, Case Studies, Business Cases, Enterprise 2.0, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Computing, Social Media, Collaboration, Communities, Learning, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Remote Collaboration, Innovation, Networking, Social Networks, Conversations, Dialogue, Communication, Connections, Relationships, Productivity