Thanks to Melinda Meyer Moses, I was able to attend the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium yesterday. Although I wasn't able to sit in for the whole day, I was able to catch a few excellent sessions, including the one on virtual organizations (you'll have to scroll to find it on the agenda) where Simon Crosby, Citrix's CTO for Virtualization and Management, dropped quite a few gems.
Honestly, it's hard for anyone on a panel about virtual organizations to say anything new. Most people are operating from the limited base of their own experience - their company, for example, which was the case with most panelists. I should say "is" the case with most panelists. I've been on a slew of such panels.
And, as is typical, regardless of the question, especially at a tech conference, which is where, say, 99.99% of these panels take place, the answer is almost always about technology, i.e. we use x, y, and z. Further, the only technologies referenced (again, typically) are the real-time things - teleconferencing, screen sharing, video - all useful, necessary, yadda yadda, but, in my experience, not what makes for profound breakthroughs in how we can work differently in a no-travel, post-meltdown, carbon-emission-intensive, whatever-the-name-of-the-next-flu-is world.
Yesterday's panel, with its earnest participants, was no exception, which is why Simon's remarks stood out. Good work, Simon. Reposting here the tweets (#mitcio -- get ready, there are tons), including my own, unmarked below.
- Simon Crosby: "social sites building database for the planet" #mitcio
- Citrix CIO reports that distributed developers with rigorous process work beautifully w/out f2f or even flaming
- "Born-digital workforce doesn't live in locked down world" - Simon Crosby-CIO, Citrix @#MITCIO
- abbielundberg Virtualization threatens IT's existence - Simon Crosby, Citrix #mitcio
- aagee #mitcio how do we deal with expectations of born-digital workforce? Virtualization gives user own world free from legacy apps
- BillIves #mitcio Simon Crosby companies need to throw stuff off the cliff periodically (test recovery? or clear deck?)
- BillIves listening to panel on virtualization at #MITCIO event employees are ahead of most CIOs on this
And from the convener of the panel, Irving Wladawsky-Berger via ESLundquist #MITCIO: The organizational skills to create virtual orgs lag the tech tools
