How do you get past incremental change to real transformation with open source? Most conventional advice focuses on just one dimension at a time: people, process, business or technology. To get breakthrough results, you need to view these dimensions as part of an integrated whole, and consciously address two or more of them simultaneously. Using examples from Enterprise IT experience, we’ll explore how you can tap your organization’s strengths in a variety of ways to achieve these goals.
23. Eye-opening experience when code is further enhanced by the community – they realize how much more they can accomplish through collaboration than they can on their own
24. Can bring to bear the capabilities of an entire ecosystem to solve their employer's problems
25. Gains a deeper understanding and appreciation for open architectures and standards
26. Experiments to determine where they want to participate in different roles: Customer, Peer, Leader
27. Four Dimensions of Companies People Technology Business Process Enabling Possibilities Creating/Designing Products and Services Invention and Innovation Productivity Tools Platforms Managing Realities Operations Quality Governance Organizational Structure Talent and Skills Organizational Knowledge and Wisdom Social Networks Communities of Practice Values and Ethics Assets, Liabilities and Equity Revenues and Costs Sales and Marketing Customer Value Strategy and Objectives
41. Jung's development model – we develop a preferred function, then an auxiliary, then others, expanding our worldview over time
42. Intriguing parallels to the four dimensions of companies Intuition (N) Thinking (T) Sensing (S) Feeling (F)
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44. Their personal brands and their employer's brand increase both in value and in affinity with each other
45. Employees get public recognition for their efforts, and are simultaneously incented to continue to be affiliated with their employer's brand
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47. They identify relationships with customers, partners and others that can be transformed from largely trasactional into ones of deeper mutual benefit
48. They develop insights into how social software works best, and can shape an effective social media strategy
Einstein: Problems cannot be solved at the same level of thinking that created them. Transformation is what takes you to the next level.
Covey: Dependent people need others to get what they want. Independent people can get what they want through their own effort. Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greater success. Dependent employees need guidance for major work tasks; independent employees can figure out what they need to know, but they might not share that knowledge; interdependent employees, in addition to their self-sufficiency, are constantly learning from and teaching their network of peers. We as open source practitioners intuitively understand the value of interdependence
Not a silver bullet – needs followup and environmental support
Lock-in: Hitting a brick wall because the product is closed Can develop a kneejerk reaction to call and complain May give up before trying
With open source, nothing stands in the way of their own problem-solving skills: can browse through the code and see if something catches their eye can invoke a debugger and see what might be happening in real-time can run third-party analysis software on it or undertake a detailed review themselves if they have the time and inclination. Granular tradeoffs – it's no longer a zero-sum game. In addition to money from others, they can now use their skills to get what they want. At the independent stage, IT organizations learn to control their own destiny.
Developing trust with the project team can encourage them to make further contributions, with the immediate payoff of support and the longer-term reward of getting their most important features added. Gain a deeper understanding – What code gets accepted, vs what gets rejected. Linux is a good example. This is an effective counterweight against a tendency in many IT organizations to rush out incomplete solutions that end up causing more problems over time. IT developers learn to think more globally, putting themselves in the shoes of others who share similar challenges albeit in vastly different environments.
Look at how open source maps into each of these areas Note the contrasting elements, particularly between the diagonally-opposite dimensions. This can create contention, but can also enable transformational solutions. Conventional wisdom usually focuses on only one of these areas, and ignores others
Interlocking pieces, mutual dependence. Can suggest things where pieces are inserting themselves where they don't belong, or otherwise have developed unnecessary inadequacies. Can suggest lose/win or win/lose, rather than win/win interdependence Suggests complexity, but nothing really emergent. If you're more interested in one area, you might think about maximizing independence there at the cost of other areas
Contrast that with this model where every component does its job, and has clean relationships (interfaces) with other components (the Unix/Linux way!). In addition, each component carves out a space where it recognizes some things that it doesn't know. Avoids trying to solve problems ineffectively. When all components are put together, that space gets filled with the interdependent gold circle. Interdependence is an emergent property
Two dimensions can create enough of a space to suggest where the other two can fit in to complete the circle This can work for people in a variety of roles, in different parts of the organization. Some might start with People and Technology, Others Business and Technology, People and Process, etc. Not as much rigor in the remaining two areas, but carve out that space to invite them. Don't take on too much at once. Enterprise 2.0 as an example
People have different areas of strengths, which they continue to develop as they also develop sufficient interdependent awareness in all four areas Interdependent awareness allows people to recognize complementary strengths in others
Our community sometimes engages in a race to the bottom. Some advocates talk about the values and ethics of open source (People dimension), and are cynical of commercial motivations. Some commercial folks want to boil everything down to revenue/cost (Business dimension) and excise personal motivations Either side could benefit from developing interdependent awareness – invites developing trust in areas of each other's strengths Carving out that space includes not overreaching with criticism, and using constructive questions/suggestions (even if they are simple ones) People => understand how ideas can advance business strategy and customer value Business => develop business strategy that taps people's motivations Openness helps – transparency, communication, etc