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

MacBook Pro – The Down to Earth Experience

Once again, I keep struggling with being connected while travelling on business trips. I guess very little has changed in the last few years … Specially, if it is abroad, outside of the reach from my 3G card(s) which would only work in Spain and for which I wouldn’t want to expose them to massively expensive roaming costs. So, as you can imagine, it’s been a few days, since my last blog post, because, as most of you know already, I just got back, over the weekend, from another one of those biz trips. This time around to Germany. This time around to talk about Enterprise 2.0 and social software adoption, community building, something called “Knowledge Management 2.0” and, of course, living “A World Without Email“. I am now back to the office, business as usual, therefore resuming my regular blogging activities…

Now, over the course of the next few blog posts, I will be sharing plenty of insights on the outcome of those various workshops I did with this particular customer, more than anything because most of the conversations we had over the course of three days were just wonderful and worth while sharing across! I do hope as well that I may be capable of sharing some of the slideware and recordings that we managed to put together during the course of those couple of days… But for now I thought I would share with you folks something that, before leaving for Germany, made me remember why, despite the years gone by, I still hate computers. Any computer, no matter what the operating system…

But first, let me share with you over here one of those hilarious YouTube videos that one gets to bump into every so often and which, I am sure, you can relate to quite a bit, specially, if, in this case, you are one of those people who uses a computer, regardless of the operating system and are not too sure about whether it would make a difference one way or another… I should probably share it across as one of those Friday Fun activities, but, to be honest, I have been having one of those days today, on a Monday, and I could surely do with a good laugh or two! So here it comes …

And this is where most of you folks out there would relate to it. If you have watched the video already, my story relates to about minute 1:05 of the short video clip… Last week Wednesday, as I was about to make my way to Germany for that business trip I mentioned above, I experienced something, for the first time in three years, that surely brought me some not so good memories. Yes, indeed, for the first time ever, my nearly two year old MacBook Pro (Second one I have had so far, after the first one year experience with an older model …) decided to let me down and go with one of those kernel panic crashes that surely provoked quite a scare on yours truly!

Yes, I found out about 2 hours before leaving for the airport that my MacBook Pro crashed, for whatever the reason (Wish all computers would be a whole lot more helpful at throwing back at your really weird error messages!) forcing me to go through a hard, cold restart fearing for the worst! Unfortunately, it was far too late to fire up Time Machine to save a last backup before leaving. Fortunately, I could restart the Mac and hope for the best. This time around, it seems to have worked. I was on the road for the following few days, and the problem didn’t come back! Phew!

Too close, indeed! To the point where I think I may have nailed it down to what may have appeared to have been the problem (A specific software application I had to uninstall and re-install again). Thus, over the weekend, I decided to take things further and, at least, have a more recent backup through Time Machine, so, if worse comes to worse, I would only lose a couple of days or so or work.

To be honest with you, I am not too worried, since I have now got that safe copy (If you can ever say so!) of the critical data I would want to keep further, since most of the other stuff is already backed up anyway, with all of those other applications in the cloud I keep using on a daily basis. I think the main issues though are the various different things I learned from that overall rather stressful experience, which I think would worry me over time if things continue to behave like that with those kernel panics. Specially, these:

• No matter how cool and efficient / effective Macs are, they will also fail eventually! In this case, I’m just waiting for mine to die off a slow and painful death after two short years of somewhat intensive work. I bet it will have its time a week after the two year guarantee expires (In a couple of months from now… And, if you don’t believe me, watch this space … I can feel it!)
• You can never tire of having a more recent backup of your critical data! Indeed, over the course of the weekend, I realised I did my last backup copy over six months ago! So when I booted up my Time Capsule I had over 60GB of data waiting for me to be backed up! So guess what Time Machine did for the last 24 hours … Yes, 24 hours non stop!! (Yes, happy to now have that one safe copy a bit more up to date…)
• I must move all remaining critical data from my Mac into the cloud! Yes, I know and fully realise that most of my critical data, both work and personal related, are already up in the cloud, but not entirely. So scares like this one would surely help me get moving with a couple of new experiments I have been toying for the last few weeks, but which never found their place. Well, maybe this experience will help me make the jump … (Don’t worry, I will be blogging about them shortly, too!)
• Need to start relying more and more on the iPad as my backup machine! More than anything else, because, after all, it’s not really a computer and, as such, it may not fail as badly as computers in general do! Who knows! I was on the brink on relying on it entirely altogether and travel light. But, eventually, I didn’t. I guess for my next one I’ll give it a go all the way to see if I can finally say good-bye to rely so much on standard computing power. And perhaps make it all last for a little bit longer! I have already managed to do with my 3G iPhone, so this could well work out! What do you think?
• And, finally, computers, ALL computers, for that matter, will always suck! Whether it’s a software failure, or a hardware one (where the hard disk fails miserably, or the fans run out, or whatever else!) I have, at long last, realised that all computers will eventually fail to meet your demands and, as a result of that, make you lose critical information along the way. Even Macs! Even though it may have taken me three years to realise such potential failure I’m glad it’s happened when I could still recover, so I can prepare better for the next time, because you never know, right?, whenever you would have to experience another hard, cold restart. MacBook Pros are not invincible, unbreakable or … perfect!

It took me three years to bump into such conclusion, where one acknowledges that Macs are just as erratic and problematic to provide you that unique computing experience as all other computers out there. Yes, it may have taken me three years, but somehow I am sensing that very shortly I’ll be experiencing it again. Hopefully, this time around I will be slightly better prepared … Fingers crossed the damage would be minimal!

Oh, in case you are wondering whether I’m contemplating a potential switch from Mac to Windows or Linux, despite the hiccup(s), the answer would be the same one: once a Mac, always a Mac! There’s no way back! It is just that from now onwards, my everlasting idealistic Mac computing experience would be a bit more down to earth. Where it should have always been, after all … Because, sooner or later, without remedy, it will break. Like it did last week Wednesday… Time to wake up into reality!

Technorati Tags: Apple, Mac, MacBook Pro, Computings, Computing, Failures, Software Failures, Hardware Failures, Software, Hardware, Tools, Computers, Time Machine, Time Capsule, Backup, Earthly Experiences, Mobility, iPad, Mobile Computing, Windows, Linux, South Park

Enterprise 2.0 Perceived Risks: Myth or Reality?

Last week I was actually participating in a customer related event where we were having some really good discussions around the topic of social computing within the enterprise and, in particular, with one of the most prominent inhibitors that comes along, time and time again, when talking about adoption of these social networking tools behind the firewall: security. Yes, indeed, that one! How many times has it come out in your day to day conversations as a social software evangelist? I bet far too many! And yet, the answer seems to be relatively easy, don’t you think? Security hasn’t got much to do with the tools (Even though they seriously help out!); it’s a human trait. Security starts within the individual first and foremost. Mostly, because in the vast majority of cases related to security concerns technology is not even there!

Remember the blog post that I put together over here, a couple of months back, under the title New Technology – The Threat to Our Corporate Information, where I was referencing a wonderfully hilarious and witty slide deck put together by Norman Lamont on the silliness of security and that perhaps highlighted quite nicely how far we have taken the subject to even verge on the ridiculous? Well, today I have got something better to share with you folks…

Something I wish I had last week, when I was interacting, along with a few other colleagues, with that particular customer answering that question on the security concerns / issues behind social networking tools. I think we did pretty good though. At least, the conversations seemed to have hinted folks were comfortable addressing those concerns around security in a reasonable manner, highlighting how in most cases the security risks, or, better said, the perceived risks, are there because perhaps we don’t seem to trust all of these social tools that much, when in reality it’s the other way around. It’s about how much a business trusts their knowledge workforce to make a responsible use of all of these social tools. Something that happens most of the times, but which, despite that fact, people keep questioning it over and over again.

Well, what would happen if it weren’t down to the tools we use, but the attitude we have about them and the world around us? What if we, knowledge workers, can’t care less whether to share that rather sensitive information across with other parties, or not, because we think we just know better? What if it is just ourselves the ones being irresponsible with the usage of the technology around us and how we interact with it? Don’t you think that this wouldn’t have anything to do with those perceived risks when making extensive use of social networking tools?

I think so! Specially, after reading one of the most recent blog posts from one of my all time favourite KM, sense making and social computing bloggers: Dave Snowden. If you have got a moment, because that’s exactly what is going to take you, take a look and read “One wonders …“; it’s one of those rather short blog posts that Dave puts together every now and then, but whose very few lines are so thought-provoking and mind-blowing that one really wonders … how can *that* happen?

For the sake of breaking it through and share a tease or two with you, check out the first few lines from Dave’s post to see what I mean. It’s just priceless! It’s just one of those arguments that you will be capable of bringing up time and time again when rebutting the security question in a social networking context. It won’t fail. Believe me. More than anything else because it will highlight, pretty much, how, once again, it’s not down to the tools we use, but more the behaviours and working styles we exhibit ourselves that are the ones that can surely get us in trouble, not just knowledge workers, but businesses altogether!

Have a look into those first few lines I mentioned above, to see what I mean:

“So I am sitting in the lounge at Toronto airport waiting for a flight to Washington. Behind me a fellow passenger is phoning around her credit card companies to tell them she is going to the US and will use her credit cards. In each case she is listed her full number, data of birth and all the normal identification material. Were I so inclined this could be very useful information. To my right an Executive from a major consultancy firm is writing in plain view a proposal which includes layoff plans for a US corporation. I’ve also in the last hour overheard conversations relating to promotions, sales, deals etc. etc. [...]“

Goodness!! I could not believe it myself when I was reading through the blog post (Do read the rest of it, because it’s just as entertaining!). If you read it carefully, you will see how there isn’t a SINGLE mention on the usage of social software tools as potential threat or security risk by promoting a specific set of activities and behaviours (i.e. Openness, transparency and publicness, to name a few! ). Low and behold it’s just highlighting how plenty of our daily routines (Phone calls, discussions, conversations, drafting documents, etc. etc.) do surely put us at risk, perceived or not!, because we just feel there is no-one else around us and therefore we can do everything we want. Well, that may well not be the case anymore!

Quite the opposite! If social networking is going to do something really useful for us all, it’s going to be one single key element: to highlight, and to constantly remind us, that we are not alone. That there are plenty of people out there who are actively watching, listening and taking notice of what we do; over and over again! And as such we do have to start building further on that sense of co-responsibility with our company to do the right thing! Which, I know, most folks would probably say it is all down to common sense, right? Well, Dave’s article seems to worryingly indicate quite the opposite!

I am not sure what you folks would think, but it’s blog posts like that one that are a clear reminder to us all of how much work there is still ahead for all of us, not just the social software evangelists out there, but every single knowledge worker out there who needs to keep educating their peers how security is a personal thing, a personal trait that everyone needs to nurture and treasure accordingly. That everyone needs to constantly work on realising how, after all, we are not that alone out there. Realising how, before we all notice, there is always going to be someone out there who, willingly or unwillingly, is going to be listening to our conversations and perhaps they shouldn’t in the first place. Perhaps they should remain what they were always supposed to be: private and secured!

And, for once, social networking didn’t have anything to do with it. Oh, did it? Well, perhaps it has got plenty to do with it!; after all, don’t social software tools encourage us all to listen to what’s happening out there? Maybe they will also help us understand how we can mitigate those perceived risks by having each and everyone of us walking the talk, i.e. behaving responsively with the information and knowledge that we are exposed to, and share across accordingly, day in day out, for that matter… You wouldn’t want a total stranger to know, coming out right out of your mouth!, your full credit card number, your date of birth and any other kind of identification material, right?

Neither would I! It seems it’s all about common sense eventually, is it? You decide. It’s your choice.

Technorati Tags: Collaboration, Communities, Conversations, Education, Enterprise 2.0, IBM, Innovation, KM, Knowledge Management, Knowledge Sharing, Learning, Personal Knowledge Management, PKM, Productivity, Social Computing, Social Media, Social Networking, Social Networks, Social Software, Security, Dave Snowden, Perceived Risks, Risk Management, Trust, Knowledge Workers, Common Sense

Cognitive Surplus and the Hippie 2.0 Connection

I think, by now, there will be very few people out there who may not have been exposed already to the wonderful TED Talk from Clay Shirky around the topic of “How cognitive surplus will change the world“. It’s one of those delightful presentations of under 15 minutes that will surely make you think for a while on quite a few things, not just those related to work, but also those that may have a significant impact in our society overall.

That’s why, in case you may not have watched it just yet, I would strongly encourage you all to have a look and spend a few minutes going through it. Yes, it’s that good! It’s that thought-provoking as well all on its own, to the point where, in my opinion, it comes up with a good bunch of the traits that also surely inspired that blog post I wrote a little while ago around Hippie 2.0. Who would have thought about that, right? Cognitive surplus and Hippie 2.0 walking hand in hand… Of course, it makes sense.

After you watch that video clip a couple of times you realise how good Clay is at telling stories in general. He is just amazing, to be honest, more than anything because with the helpful use of that narrative he manages to get the message across rather nicely and most of the time on what really matters. With regards to this presentation on Cognitive Surplus two of those ideas he wanted to put forward have stuck with me quite a bit: that one of free time and that other one of the human generosity for the greater good, and well-being, of us all.

What’s rather interesting is how he describes both of them working together having that real significant impact in our society with some incredibly compelling stories that highlight, quite nicely, how powerful general creative acts can be and our everlasting urge to share them openly with others. He surely is spot on!

His extended commentary on explaining the gap between doing something and doing nothing is quite remarkable as well, specially since he highlights how doing something, whether it is mediocre or, on the contrary, rather good, doesn’t really matter on the end result. What matters is the getting started! Do something. Even the silliest or most stupidest of things you can think of, as he mentions quite vehemently. Stop being a couch potato! Now! Stand up and move along, more than anything because of the intrinsic motivations that will keep pushing us further along for a long while, which ties in quite nicely with that other wonderful TED Talk video from Dan Pink around the subject of “The surprising science of motivation“, which I blogged about a few months back, and which covers quite nicely what it is exactly that motivates us to act the way we do.

Yes, indeed, that cognitive surplus will certainly be instrumental in helping change the world as we know it! And, I am not sure about you folks, but I’m totally convinced that it will have that significant impact on us all, and I just can’t wait for it to happen! It all gets even better when Clay himself makes a clear distinction between two different types of value coming along from that free time and human generosity traits I mentioned above briefly: communal and civic value. He gets to explain it all really really well to the point where while watching the video I just couldn’t help thinking about the fantastic blog posts that my good friend Jay Deragon put together under the headings From Communities to Communes and Communes vs. Communities, and which clearly tie in altogether, rather nicely, with the spirit behind the Hippie 2.0 movement, don’t you think?

So I do hope cognitive surplus will help accelerate that transition from that traditional business value from the 20th century that hasn’t taken us very far, I must admit, into that interim communal value to finish off on that civic one, the one that really matters, the one that will help us make a difference, which I think will surely transcend the business world big time transforming it dramatically just as much as us in the current society we live in. It’s time to prove, once and for all, that our human generosity and all of that free time that Clay mentions can surely lead to the kind of society we would hope to live in in the next 30 to 50 years. Because so far that extra focus on the business value that’s driven us all over the last few decades hasn’t taken us too far. Quite the opposite. It’s helped us keep digging deeper and deeper and I strongly believe it is now time to resurface once again.

Time to shift gears and let cognitive surplus AND Hippie 2.0 do their job: change the world as we know it!

Technorati Tags: Collaboration, Communities, Connections, Conversations, Dialogue, Enterprise 2.0, Innovation, KM, Knowledge Management, Knowledge Sharing, Leadership, Learning, Personal Knowledge Management, PKM, Productivity, Social Computing, Social Media, Social Networking, Social Networks, Social Software, Stories, Things That Matter, Hippie 2.0, Clay Shirky, Cognitive Surplus, Jay Deragon, Communes, Civic Value, Communal Value, Change The World