On Conversational Collaboration

Well, I mentioned a few posts ago that my blog had been "discovered" by the E2.0 crowd.

One of the more interesting side effects was that many of my thoughts were pulled apart, analyzed and dissected by some pretty smart people. 

I withstood the blog-based proctology examination and still retained most of my dignity, but one interesting thread that intrigued me was the focus on the "conversational collaboration" model we had embraced.

Leave it to other people to tell you what you were really doing, but -- heck -- they were right.

And I thought it deserved a bit more commentary and introspection.

So, What Is This "Conversational Collaboration" Thingie?

The ideas are pretty simple.  Enterprise value is created when people collaborate, share ideas, work together, etc.  Most of the discussion has been around document-oriented collaboration, e.g. people working together around documents.

We had decided that -- ahead of that -- having conversations was a necessary and vital "feeder process" to document collaboration.

Now, don't get me wrong.  Document-oriented collaboration is pretty darn cool, and can create significant value in the right context.

It's just that we were in a very different situation.  Your mileage may vary.

There's Nothing Wrong With Document-Oriented Collaboration.

Heck no!

EMC offers products (e.g. eRoom, Documentum, et. al.) that target corporations that want to collaborate around documents.  Microsoft's Office and SharePoint offerings target the same need in all sorts of corporations -- the need to bring people together around a document.

And if you surf the E2.0 blogosphere, there's an intense focus around wikis -- the quintessential document collaboration model -- as a stellar example of all things 2.0-ish in the enterprise.  You can even read pop books like Wikinomics that go to great lengths to extol the virtues of people working together to create intellectual capital.

But, you know, I just thought that something was missing in the thinking.

Who Appointed You An Expert?

It's funny with all these 2.0-ish topic.  There are few real experts, from my perspective.  Sure, there are a lot of great people who've written some great things on the topics.

But, at the same time, there are precious few people who've actually used these techniques and technologies as a business tool to create a sustainable competitive advantage.  I seek these people out above all others -- they are the pragmatists in a largely theoretical discussion.

This paucity of real-world practitioners has given me licence and confidence to independently figure out what's important, and what's not.  For those of you who might know me in the real world, shyness and lack of confidence has never been one of my defining personality attributes.  Arrogant?  No, not me ...

And, truth be told, I didn't feel obligated to follow conventional thinking in this regard.

Conversations Matter

Early on, I became fascinated with community dynamics at EMC.  Sure, we were pretty adept at pushing tons of information at each other.  Emails, web sites, portals, repositories, etc. -- we were adept at creating content, and shoving it around at each other.

Terabytes of the stuff.  All neatly written, organized and syndicated.  We were not perfect, but we were reasonably proficient at generating and orchestrating static content.  And it just didn't ring my bell, so to speak.

But, I kept thinking, the really high-value stuff was the conversations I was having with other people. 

About ideas, perspectives, context, etc. -- the discussions I was getting into were very intense, and usually incredibly productive.  They influenced me, I influenced them.  And good stuff generally came of it.

These conversations were personal, honest and context-rich.  And they were perhaps the most important source of innovation and value-add in our corporate culture.

To go even further, the really cool conversations I was having usually started with someone saying "you know, I was talking to so-and-so, and we came up with the idea that ..." so we had one conversation feeding into another.

Now, if you come to the conclusion that conversations matter, you're also struck by just how difficult it is to have lots of conversations with lots of different people. 

Emails are poor substitutes for conversations, especially when distribution lists are involved.  Concalls and large meetings are absolutely painful -- I'm always the guy who's politically incorrect, and tries to take the discussion into an area that might be interesting.  Not to mention the pain of managing a calendar so you can synchronize with your peers around the world.

And, more subtly, there's a skill (and a confidence factor) involved in having an open, naked conversation about what really matters.  I, for whatever reason, have no problem saying what's on my mind. 

Others may not feel so inclined -- so there's a cultural aspect to this that is very subtle but oh-so-important.

If you believe that conversations were creating incredible business value, maybe the focus should be on having many more conversations, much more easily.

And Then It Struck Me ...

I don't know when it happened, but at some point a relational model appeared in my head about how all this stuff was related, and -- since then -- I can't think about anything else.

Conversations lead to passionate topics of mutual interest.

Passionate topics of interest lead to ad-hoc community formation.

Community formation leads to collaboration around shared activities, including document collaboration.

Community collaboration is the quintessential magic of all things E2.0.

So, not to oversimplify, but if EMC got really, really good at starting interesting conversations, the rest would follow naturally and organically.

Context Matters

Now, a bit of a disclaimer.  Our situation may be different than yours.

We're 35,000+ people.  At least a dozen or so major business units.  A large part of our company came to us through acquisitions.  We're scattered around the globe.

But -- no hype here -- we're unified by our passions -- around information, around customers, around technologies and strategies, around competitors, around common challenges, and so on.  Despite our situation, there's a hot burning flame of corporate culture that isn't just some "mission statement" that someone sent around.

We're reasonably proficient at document collaboration and syndication.  Not only do we own many technologies that do this (e.g. Documentum), but we're adept at Microsoft technologies, as well as domain-specific applications (e.g. PTC, et. al.)  We're not the de-facto experts, but we're as qualified as anyone else to speak to document-centric collaboration.

Simply put, there are a bunch of cool, passionate and intelligent people at EMC.  We just have to help them find each other around common, passionate interests.  And, hppefully, they'll work together to create significant business value.

My Cynicism Surfaces

I've read recently all the buzz around wikis being a panacea for corporate collaboration.

Not to oversimplify, but wiki collaboration assumes that there are people aligned around a common set of interests and goals who are willing to help out and make the wiki a success.

How do these people find each other?  How do they debate their respective points of view?  How do they decide what roles various people should play, and what the outcome should be?

That's a conversation, in my mind.  Hence my passionate interest in conversational collaboration.

And It Looks Like A Waste Of Time, To Some ...

Who, in their right mind, would invest serious corporate resources (IT, people, process, etc.) in just making sure that people are having more conversations?  Isn't it all an idle waste of time?  Shouldn't we all be spending more time on serious work?  Way too touchy-feely for my tastes ...

Well, I've spent enough time in the corporate world to realize that everything worthwhile started -- at some point -- as a conversation.  In my mind, more business-oriented conversations lead directly to more business value.  It's that simple.

And that's what I've got EMC focusing on -- conversations that lead to communities that lead to collaborative work efforts.  Right or wrong, at least I have the courage of my convictions.  And, surprisingly, I've got other people agreeing with me.

Why Blogging Matters

I have come to the perspective that -- in my defined world -- it all starts with blogging behind the firewall.

A competent blogger is like a beacon in the dark, foggy night.  Here I am.  Here is what I'm thinking about.  Here is what I'm worried about.  Come, share your thoughts with me.  I care, and if you care, we can perhaps work together.

Blogs can start conversations.  Very interesting ones, based on my personal experience.

For this simple reason, my personal crusade for the next few months is to encourage more blogging behind the firewall.  Sure, a lot of it will be fluffy stuff.  But, somewhere in all the fluff, there will emerge the hot, burning light of intelligent discourse.  Others will be attracted, and become engaged.  And, if all works well, good things will inevitably happen.

We're Seeing This Play Out

I'd love to share with you just how cool our internal behind-the-firewall environment has become in just a few short months.  You'd need a crash course in EMC culture and context to fully appreciate it, but -- simply put -- incredibly wonderful conversations are happening.

People are coming out of their shells.  They're sharing what they know, and what they think.  They're coming together in unpredictable ways to create value for the company.  There's no project plan anywhere that could have captured what's happening here.  For those of us close to it, it's truly a magical experience.

I have to give all due credit to EMC's management team for supporting this initiative, even though there were no defined outcomes in the traditional sense.  And, of course, there are a few key people at EMC who could see beyond the traditional and got a sense of what could be, and were willing to bet that it could all happen.

The Bottom Line

The whole thing for me with all things 2.0-ish is that conversations matter.  Whether it's blogging, or discussion forums, or whatever -- the simple notion of human intellect reaching out and connecting with others is the core engine powering this transformation in corporate culture.

And, from my jaded perspective, it's exciting times indeed.

Comments

[Gordon Taylor]

The closer we can get work processes to human nature, the less time we spend on change management.

Thanks for this post Chuck - it's certainly very exciting times. It's really inspiring to see some of these ideas taking flight in 'the wild'. :)

[Dan]

How have you communicated to your users when to use Clearspace and when to use Documentum to share files?

[Chuck Hollis]

Hi Dan

Both are available, we haven't been too overly presciptive on when to use one vs. the other.

We ended up creating a short comparison chart to help people along a bit, but that's all.

Documentum (and eRoom) are still widely used throughout EMC, and delivering good value for the places where we need good document-centric collaboration from pre-established groups with clearly defined roles.

For most everything else, the Clearspace implementation is now being used.

[jed cawthorne]

Hey Chuck

Once again you hit the nail on the head, not just for EMC, but in my opinion for all of us - its all about context.

What is the particular context situated within the organisational culture ?

So depending on the business need, and that particular 'context' you may use all available tools, be it a DMS / ECMS, eRoom/QuickPlace, Clearspace/ThoughtFarmer, IM, even the dreaded email !

If your seeking competitive advantage use every tool at your disposal - but not just for the sake of using them, has to meet a 'real' need.

[Dan Keldsen]

Chuck - stumbled onto your from Go Big Always, and somehow missed your many months of writing on this topic!

Really interesting work you're doing, and all the more fascinating to hear the subtle differences of collaboration styles that you're seeing, given the tools that EMC delivers directly.

The community-specific aspect of Enterprise 2.0 is something that doesn't get nearly enough exposure - my hat is off to you for exploring this publicly, in such detail. A great service for all of us - even as an analyst covering this space.

And any blog that has Jed commenting on it, has a double thumbs up from me! ;)

[Chuck Hollis]

Jed, Dan:

Glad you found my little blog, and glad you found some value in our particular journey and our observations.

There's a lot of theory out there about this stuff -- I thought it would be interesting to describe how it plays out in a major company.

Cheers!

[Eric Crone]

This is a very interesting blog, thanks! I am an eRoom consultant and have a very large Federal Agency that is using eRoom quite extensively for all sorts of things. They too have recognized the value of conversational collaboration.

As a matter of fact, one group has insisted that conversations occur within eRoom, not email. Now, people still live within their Outlook inboxes, so they wanted an email alert that the conversation has continued. So, these conversations occur within the context of a Program, Project, Task, Person or Process that is modelled in eRoom utilizing the comments feature. Then a new custom command was built that sends a one click alert to the participants with a link back to the conversation.

Some organizations are very concerned about email being lost or archived and therefore unavailable later on and to new project participants. By keeping the conversations in a collaborative environment. Security and IRM is also very important to organizations. By keeping the conversation in an environment like eRoom, managers can modify access controls and basically withdraw access to users who no longer need access for whatever reason.

Conversational Collaboration is here now. I look forward to reading more from you.

[Eric Crone]

I wrote a post on Conversations in eRoom that can be found here: http://eroomexpert.wordpress.com Your comments are very much welcome Chuck.