Virtual Rave

Yesterday and today I participated in an interesting event, the Enterprise 2.0 Rave. This was a virtual event that was held instead of the originally planned live event slated for NY City. The Rave was hosted by Francois Gossieaux and included a great group of panelists, including:

• Euan Semple
• Andrew McAfee
• Jerry Bowles
• Jenny Ambrozek
• Jim McGee
• Jevon MacDonald
• Susan Scrupski
• Joe McKendrick
• John Musser
• Bill Ives

The event was two separate WebEx/Audio conferences. The discussion was among the panelists and attendees could submit questions using the webex tools.

All in all it was a good conversation, though I wish we would have had more time in order to dive deeper into the topics. I am hoping that the conversations will continue on the "Ning" social network site that was set up to support and extend the event.

My best take-aways were:

• This thing we are calling Enterprise 2.0 is necessarily messy. It cannot be effectively created/implemented by a controlled, managed process. It has to be emergent. This will be a hard concept to swallow by those that are currently in power.
• In the long run, success will only happen if there is a broad and strong organic base of people using the system and living the culture. That means that success will not be immediately evident or easy to see. Again a hard concept for the ROI crowd.
• So, even as optomistic as I am about this way of working, I must accept that everyone is not going to be as enthusiastic as I am and I must learn to be patient and persistent.

Keep the faith.

Comments

[Jenny Ambrozek]

Indeed. 3 decades plus since Bob Metcalfe invented Ethernet I believe one clear lesson is business success relying on the partnership of people working with enabling technology and organizational structures. The challenge is the rate at which technology is pushing change for all.

[Lee White]

Thanks, Jevon

Jenny - The optimism comes from a real passion for this stuff, it just resonates with me. As for the path, that is rooted in equal parts interest in organizational design and systems theory. When you put those two things together, you get social media.

[Jevon]

It was was fun chatting with you Lee. Hold in there!

[Jenny Ambrozek]

Glad you could participate in the E2.0 RAVE. Curious what drives your optimism about this way of working and from whence your interests spring? Regards