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

Validating Social Computing by Living an Historic Moment at IBM

If yesterday’s blog post was probably one of *the* most important articles I have written in my 12th year old Internet life anywhere (Although the initial outcome doesn’t seem to be that positive, at least, initially), here I am today again putting together another entry where I will share another piece of news about one other historical moment in my work career that I witnessed earlier on this morning . One that I have been drooling all over about during the entire course of the day and for a few more days to come, of course!

As most of you know, I have been working for IBM during those 12 years (And still going strong!); most of the time around the area of Knowledge Management, collaboration, communities and social computing. My initial first contact with social software dates back to 2000 and 2001, when I was a member of one of the most active IBM communities (And still going strong!) that used, rather heavily, a wiki as its main collaboration and knowledge sharing tool amongst community members.

From there onwards, and, over the course of the years, I have been working in multiple various different projects where collaboration, knowledge sharing and communities have always played a key role (Even today!), having gotten plenty of exposure to some of the most amazing innovations that fellow IBM colleagues have been putting together throughout all of that time for the rest of us to enjoy. Most of those innovations have been around the area of social software and the main culprit of the availability of such tools has been an IBM initiative that’s been there for a few years now, and which I have talked about a few times over here: IBM’s Technology Adoption Program, a.k.a TAP.

Well, TAP has been hosting hundreds of those innovations in the last few years, but one of them has probably been, all along, the star of the show. Yes, of course, I am referring to Lotus Connections. It’ll started back at the end of 2003 when the Connections Blogs component was first made available. A couple of years later came Dogear (Now Bookmarks). Shortly afterwards, started to come on board Activities, Profiles and Communities. And last year the final two components: Files and Wikis.

In the beginning, there were all separate, they didn’t talk to one another very much, but pretty soon that changed; with the release of Connections v2.5 all services became integrated with one another and IBM’s Lotus Connections became a Product. Yes, I realise that Connections as a product has been there for a while, but for those who know (And have played with) v2.5 you would understand some of the initial limitations that were there before. Version 2.5 was just that quantum leap we were all waiting for all along…

So for the last few months we have been using that version in TAP, which is, as you may have imagined, a pilot environment that serves more the purpose of a playground area to explore the potential of what the tool can do to help improve the way we collaborate and share knowledge with our peers. But always with a purpose. The purpose that one day it would leave TAP, continue to grow further and reach that full production environment that serves as perhaps *the* most prevalent validation point that social software for the enterprise is here to stay.

Well, today is that historical moment. I am very pleased (And incredibly excited!) to share with you folks out there that overnight Lotus Connections on TAP was successfully migrated into IBM’s full production environment within the IBM Intranet. And everything has gone very smooth. The performance has been amazing all along and, like I said, this is just a new beginning for all of us IBMers.

This move into that full production environment means that from here onwards IBM’s 500k employee population will be using Lotus Connections as their strategic knowledge sharing and collaboration tool. As far as I know, that is the largest deployment of enterprise social software behind a corporate firewall. And along with the recent announcement that the instance of Lotus Connections on http://ibm.com/communities has moved to version 2.5 in a production environment as well we are witnessing very exciting times on what’s still to come, indeed!

So next time someone asks me how real social computing within the enterprise is, I guess I won’t have to walk very far. In my own house, after a couple of years of testing the ground, playing extensively with the various options, exploring a new world of opportunities in knowledge sharing and collaboration, there is now this social software tool called Lotus Connections that is being used by 500,000 people (Potentially), helping them take their day to day productivity into new heights.

There is very little else that I would need to add, other than plenty of excitement and drooling about something that I have been waiting for a while. My good friend James Governor tweeted to me the following a few days back:

”. @elsua you must be excited by the Lotus Connections momentum. chance to get some customers out of inbox stockholm syndrome”

You bet! I just can’t wait to continue telling customers how to live in “A World Without Email”, but first I will keep doing that very same thing at the same time with my own colleagues, since things have gotten a lot easier after today’s historical moment. Don’t you think?

(From here I just want to give a big, and a special, thanks!, to all of the folks who have made the migration total success, starting with the people behind TAP (For providing us with that perfect pilot environment where we continue to experiment with some of the coolest technologies out there) and finishing up with the superb joint work of the Lotus Connections team(s) as well as the CIO office. Without their perseverance and true hard work it would not have been possible. Thanks ever so much, guys! You rock!)

Tags: Technology Adoption Program, TAP, Innovations, Pilots, Full Production, Production, Blogs, Bookmarks, Dogear, Activities, Profiles, Communities, Files, Wikis, Lotus Connections, Connections, IBM Lotus Connections, Products, Validation, Enterprise Social Software, Deployment, CIO, Historical Moments, ibm.com/communities, James Governor, Monkchips, 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

On Governance and Compliance – IBM’s Social Computing Guidelines Webcast

If you have been following this blog for a while, you would know how I have been blogging for a good number of times about one of those topics that people keep asking me about to share my two cents of the conversation: Social Software Governance and what IBM is doing about it. My short answer has always been IBM’s Social Computing Guidelines.

However, the long answer has always been a story of how a good number of us had been using social software behind a firewall for a while and how, in 2005, we all got together around a wiki and started working over the course of a couple weeks on the initial IBM Blogging Policy and Guidelines document. Yes, that’s right! A bunch of bloggers gathering together to define what would be the blogging policy and guidelines for an entire corporation. Talking about blunt moves!

From there onwards, the guidelines were sanctioned by both Corporate Communications and Legal and the rest is history: years went by and those user guidelines pretty much "regulate" how IBM employees make the most out of blogging. Then, in 2008 we went through a revision of those very same guidelines. Again, a bunch of incredibly active social software evangelists and enthusiasts who, through a good number of various different social tools (Lotus Connections Files, Cattail, Blogs, etc.) finalised that revision (Got the approval from both Legal and Communications again) and we had today’s IBM’s Social Computing Guidelines.

Well, I think it is time to take things into the next level. Although still dealing with that IBM governance model of the user guidelines for social computing tools, I am really glad to point you all to a recent tweet to my good friend, and fellow IBM colleague, Adam Christensen, shared in the last few hours:

"Have you seen the new education companion to the IBM Social Computing Guidelines: http://bit.ly/2SBUlt ? Thoughts? There’s more 2 come"

Wonderful stuff! What Adam announced yesterday through Twitter was the availability of a new video that talks about governance models, and, in particular, IBM’s social computing guidelines. If you head over to the main link you will see now a new section on the right side titled "Best practices for social computing" with the following text underneath it:

"Many clients and organizations have expressed an interest in learning more about IBM’s Social Computing Guidelines and how we communicate them to employees. Here’s a short video example of one of the ways IBM’s online community educates itself about these guidelines"

And, of course, from there, the interesting part is the link to the video itself, which would launch an interesting webcast featuring Harriet Pearson (IBM’s VP, Security and Chief Privacy Officer) and Adam himself. Over the following few minutes you would be able to go through plenty of sound advice ("Common sense guidelines", as Adam mentions in it already) that both Harriet and him share on what it is like engaging in the social computing space, both inside and outside of the corporate firewall, while being aware of three key main areas:

• "Confidential Information
• Privacy
• Disclaimers"

From there onwards, both Harriet and Adam get to explain, very nicely, some of the fundamentals behind each and everyone of those key areas with some very common examples on "good practices" that clearly match the values from the company, as well as some other interesting data. All done in very simple, yet, very effective terms. The clip doesn’t last much more than two to three minutes, but it is certainly indicative of how important those social computing guidelines are for all of us, as IBM employees.

I know that a good number of companies have been leveraging and reusing some elements from the original guidelines and I’m sure they would also enjoy this new one. And the good thing is that this is just the beginning. There will be plenty more to come! So whenever folks would ask me about what IBM is doing in the area of governance and compliance with regards to social software and social computing my answer is probably going to be not just the guidelines themselves, but also, from here onwards, this short webcast, as well as the story behind it all, probably, because it is just as worth it, don’t you think?

Tags: IBM, Blogging Policy and Guidelines, Social Computing Guidelines, Policy, Guidelines, Compliance, Advice, Social Computing, Social Media, Social Software, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Communities, Learning, Innovation, Adam Christensen, Common Sense, Business Conduct Guidelines, Webcasts, Good Practices, Lotus Connections Files, Cattail, Blogs, Wikis, Social Software Enthusiasts, Social Software Evangelists, Harriet Pearson, VP, Security, Chief Privacy Officer, CPO, Confidential, IBM Confidential, Privacy, Disclaimers, Customers, Clients, Governance 2.0

McAfee’s Hypothesis and The Adventures of Molly Discovering Social Software

After last week’s blog post on "The Man Who Should Have Used Lotus Connections — Collaborating Effectively through Wikis" in which I tried to cover in a few words a quick response to that really insightful article put together by Andy McAfee under the title "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Email" (as I am finishing up the last touches to a much lengthier entry), I have noticed how on Friday Andy put together a follow-up under the heading "McAfee’s Hypothesis (plus contest results)", which is just as good and which surely is going to have a much lengthier reply as well from yours truly shortly.

However, I thought I would venture into sharing an initial response to the latest blog post from Andy in this series. Especially after reading through his rather provocative and perhaps controversial, too, McAfee’s Hypothesis:

"Within organizations, collaboration technologies are dictated by the most powerful person involved in the collaboration"

Well, meet Molly. At IBM. Molly is a knowledge worker. Like you. Like me. A knowledge worker who always wants to do a good job. Actually, a better job. Even if her boss doesn’t ask her to do so she will still do it. She will go the extra mile. She is a professional. A knowledge worker. Like you. Like me. What we have been hired for in the first place.

In short, in today’s corporate world, Molly is a knowledge worker who has taken responsibility for her work life. Like my good friend David Gurteen would say Molly would be that knowledge worker that "continually strives to understand the world about her and modify her work practices and behaviors to better meet her personal and organizational objectives. No one tells her what to do. She doesn’t take No for an answer. She is self motivated".

She understands the organisation. She gets all the help she needs from her leaders, because she knows they trust her to do the right job. After all, that’s what they hire her for. Her boss knows that she may need some guidance and, eventually, she gets it from the weekly meetings they hold over the phone. Her boss understands that to get the best results Molly needs to perform at her best. And, as such, all what her boss does is to provide that guidance to help her excel at her job. Because that’s what Molly expects. As a knowledge worker she gets to thrive, while at work, at the stuff that she’s really passionate about. It’s all about building and nurturing mutual trust. Trust that works in both ways!

And you can’t stop that. Molly knows what she has got to do. And, most importantly, she knows who she is going to connect, reach out and collaborate with to get that job done. How? Well, of course, through her adventures discovering social software at IBM (that’s where she works, by the way!).

What I have just mentioned above may seem to be unrealistic, yet it is happening in multiple places within the corporate world right as we speak. And much more often that what you could expect! And just like I referenced the three episodes from Jean François Chenier on "The Man Who Should Have Used Lotus Connections", I would love to introduce you today to "The Adventures of Molly Discovering Social Software at IBM".

Like I said, I will be putting together a much lengthier blog post trying to share my 2¢ into the whole conversation. But today I would like to share with you that series of YouTube videos that one of my fellow team (BlueIQ) members, Anna Dreyzin, has been putting together over the last couple weeks to demonstrate what a poor job email does when collaborating and sharing knowledge, and how, perhaps social software can help fill the gaps it leaves behind.

The reason I wanted to share these two stories is actually a twofold one. First, each of the episodes clearly shows how when talking about group collaboration email may no longer cut it, as it used to. So, perhaps, it may be a good time now to look for alternatives, i.e. social software tools. Again, the scenarios presented in both stories will be self explanatory to contexts that we can all relate to, because I’m sure that most of us can relate to both of them. And quite a bit! If not, judge for yourself, by going into each of the episodes or just check out the embedded the versions included below.

The second reason why these two episodes are going to be helpful to people out there is because they actually try to explain a little bit what the job of my team is like on a daily basis. I know there are plenty of people who have asked me in the past what is it that I do at IBM, as a social computing evangelist, and, being part of a team of people called "BlueIQ".

Well, these two episodes will certainly help shed some light on what it is I do with my team: mainly, helping accelerate the adoption rate of social software within the firewall. And it is with stories like these from Molly where we focus more on the tasks at hand, more than just tools and their features, to help accomplish them effectively. I know some people would call it Task Centric Computing, and I would be okay with that. In fact, that is exactly what we do. Except that we always try to inject 2.0 flavours as often as we possibly can.

And we do that with the invaluable and amazing help of a worldwide community I co-lead with another colleague, Josh Scribner, of over 870 ambassadors, or evangelists, or just simply social software enthusiasts, who volunteer their time to help spread the message around social software (Basically, how knowledge workers can make use of social networking tools for a business purpose). And it is down to videos like these, amongst several other activities I may be able to talk about at upcoming blog posts, that help demonstrate, somewhat, how email may no longer be the best of the collaboration tools available out there, even if the most powerful person involved in the collaboration still things that it is. Hummm … maybe not.

The Adventures of Molly Discovering Social Software at IBM (Episode #1)

The Adventures of Molly Discovering Social Software at IBM (Episode #2)

Hummm… Not anymore!

Oh, oh, before I forget … I would strongly encourage you to have a look into the follow-up blog post that James Dellow (a.k.a. @chieftech) has put together under "Email – No Surrender?" where he has got an amazing thought-provoking and mind-blowing conclusion with this great piece starting it all off!:

"[...] Suggested organisations contribute to the problem of misusing email (rather than me calling for its elimination) by:

• Failing to provide alternative and more effective communication channels;
• Creating a culture of secrecy and information hoarding; and
• Not providing the right policies and training for staff on how to use the communication technologies already available to them.)" (Emphasis mine)"

Just brilliant!

Tags: Andy McAfee, YouTube, Videos, Jean Francois Chenier, IBM Lotus Connections, Lotus Connections, Connections, Group Collaboration, Web 2.0, 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, David Gurteen, Knowledge Workers, Trust, BlueIQ, Anna Dreyzin, Task Centric Computing, Josh Scribner, Social Software Adoption, Social Software, Evangelism, Evangelists, James Dellow, ChiefTech, Headshift, Dachis Group, Dachis