Endless Knots

"Let's take that online" -- Boston KM Forum

Lovely day spent with the Boston KM Forum's "Leveraging Virtual Teams & Social Tools for Business Advantage: Blogs, Wikis, Twitter, et al. Here's the group, snapped with my phone, just as Jeff and I started our tap dance on virtual teams.

We were followed by WBUR's New Media Director, Ken George, who showed how blurry the lines have become between different kinds of media. Here he asks whether what he's pointing to is a radio program or a web page. The answer? Both - plus a lot more because it's also a place for listeners to participate.

Next up, Suzanne Minassian who took us inside IBM's social media developments. I looked around the room while she was talking and realized that social media had taken over the crowd as a number of people were tweeting as she spoke (including yours t.). Narry a laptop in sight. A big change from just a year ago, when live blogging was the advance guard at this event.

After lunch, Sadie Van Buren from Knowledge Management Associates got best-in-show for her truly beautiful slides. Her four rules for social media are worth repeating (which I tweeted in real time, natch): reciprocate, meaning that it's wise to acknowledge all that comes your way, socially speaking; comment on what you "like" when perusing social sites because this adds to the ongoing promotion of good stuff out there; follow back/accept friend requests/link when people do the same for you (within reason, she pointed out, because the self-promoters will always be out there selling you snake oil); and give it away, meaning post, provide, share, and all the other positive tendencies that are in our nature when we're feeling good about ourselves.

Now to the reason for the title of this post: after our presentation, someone came up to me (apologies to whomever it was and please comment should you see this) to talk about a key point I made about conference calls. Status reporting, research indicates, is one of the worst uses of conference calls. Precious real time should be saved for the tough stuff - disagreements, decisions, conflict resolution, that kind of messiness. Whoever the brilliant person was who spoke to me pointed out that when things get tense on a call, people often say, "Let's take that offline," which led us to agree that the tendency should be just the opposite. Instead, best practice should be to "take that online," air the differences, and move beyond the problem as quickly as possible.

Thanks, all. Great day, and a big round of applause for Lynda Moulton and Larry Chait, who do the heavy lifting for these events.

Beware virtual teamers: you're not sexy

Pat Lencioni, the team book writer/expert (disclosure: though we've had the same publisher, I've never read his books, so apologies to him), says so in The Catholic Reporter. OK, not exactly. Here's the precise quote:

"..one of the most frequently asked questions I get has to do with managing groups of people who are geographically dispersed, a.k.a. virtual teams. This surprises me a little because the topic, as well as the solution for addressing it, is certainly not very sexy."

I'll skip the next couple of possible paragraphs of speculation about how face-to-face teams might or might not be sexy, depending on the circumstances, and go directly to Lencioni's ideas about how to make virtual teams better, or, I guess, less not-sexy.

I quote again: "Once a team understands the disadvantage of not being co-located, then it will be more likely to take on the next mistake that virtual teams make: wasting the precious time that they do spend together."

Read the research, Pat. Disadvantage has been turned to supreme advantage. See just about anything on the NetAge Library page and particularly, "Can Absence Make a Team Grow Stronger?" and "The Strange Beauty of Virtual Teams." And there is no prerequisite, no iron-clad rule that says that face-to-face is the only way to launch a virtual team. Or that it even necessarily produces superior results.

But rather than play the part of the cynic-critic (even if I find people throwing out ideas about this as if they were really well informed), I'll leave it here: When Lencioni says, "What teams have to do—and I told you up front that this is simple and unsexy—is make a serious commitment to one another that they will maintain a high standard of behavior during conference calls, even higher than they would for an in-person meeting," I have no disagreement except that it's just not enough.

There is evidence, and plenty of it, that commitment is not enough. There are practices, outlined extensively in the above research and by numerous other thinkers, that turn conference calls into superb, better-than-in-person events. Combine the best practices of virtual teams in your face-to-face groups and ooo-la-la. Veddy sexy. And very effective, Mr. Lencioni.

Uh-oh, I just can't leave it without mentioning the new media tools. Much as I believe in the "90% people, 10% technology" dictum that we've been espousing forever, those 10% tools have gotten so remarkably better in the past few years that mentioning virtual teams without encouraging use of the new media is, well, uninformed.

Knowledge management at Mitre

Our friend Rick Swanborg of ICEX has a piece in CIO about "Mitre's Knowledge Management Journey," detailing what Mitre's done in regard to knowledge management. Take a look. Nice work, Rick. A bit of it here:

February 27, 2009 — CIO — Since knowledge management (KM) first bubbled up in the mid-1990s, many organizations have tried and failed to reap its benefits. Certain enterprises never gave up. Mitre, operator of three federally funded research and development centers, is one of them. Over the past 13 years, it built a comprehensive KM environment through experimentation and internal sponsorship. The company fosters a knowledge-sharing culture to bring its extensive expertise to bear on customer needs.

The Situation: With more than 6,000 Mitre scientists, engineers and professional staff, the opportunity for staff to tap each others' experience is high. The challenge is to do this efficiently and with low overhead, while employees simultaneously work on hundreds of projects.

What They Did: Mitre started by creating a straightforward people locator as part of the Mitre Information Infrastructure (MII). This locator, or "phone book," relied on existing data from project management, time sheet and human resource systems to identify which employees worked on various assignments over time. As KM Director Jean Tatalias states, "This capability connected people to projects to organizations and to their open document spaces, allowing staff to navigate across all these dimensions."

"No texting at the taaaa-ble" or at Selectmen meetings

Keen readers may recall my post, "What Mom Says," wherein I uploaded Anita Renfroe's hilarious rendition of the William Tell Overture, whereby she compresses into just under three minutes what a mother is prone to say in 24 hours. It provoked one of my biggest days ever on ye ole blogge as friends far and wide laughed themselves silly watching her video.

I'm reminded of Ms Renfroe - thanks to our Twitter followers/followees over at The Boston Channel, who just reported on the newest rule passed by the Billerica, Mass, Board of Selectmen. For those of you from away, selectmen are the peculiar version of town council members unique to New England.

"Town Bans 'Texting' at Selectman Meetings," (don't-cha love the special quotes around texting?), says The Boston Channel report, from which I now quote:

BILLERICA, Mass. -- Members of a Massachusetts town's governing body can cry, shout and speak for long periods during meetings. But they can't send text messages and e-mails.

Billerica's board of selectmen voted 3-2 Monday night to ban its members from sending text messages and e-mails during its public meetings.

Selectman Bob Correnti said he proposed the ban after a resident complained to him that it was "annoying" to see fellow Selectman Marc Lombardo texting while others were speaking. Correnti also said he was concerned that text messages could become public records...

("Annoying?" It's a good thing people can't see what the selectmen are thinking, which might be even more disturbing than watching them text.)

Why the title for the post and how does it relate? One of the unforgettable lines in "What Mom Says" comes in a string of don't-you-dares and is precisely: "No texting at the table." Got that, Mr. Lombardo?

Oldie but goodie: "CompuServe's Intranet Forum"

Out of nowhere, my colleague, Diane Gayeski, who serves as Associate Dean and Professor of Communication at Ithaca College, found this little gem in her files. I got to know Diane well when we both worked on American Management Association's "Leading Virtual and Remote Teams" course, Diane as course designer, and I as subject matter expert.

What follows is a transcript of "Virtual Teams," an online author interview that Jeff Stamps and I did on CompuServe in 1997, the same year that our book by that name came out. Someone named "Anne" was moderator (where are you now, Anne?), along with a few participants who spoke, er, typed up. I'm still in touch with Alistair Bruce - yay, Alistair!

Enjoy, then, how people talked about this topic a dozen years ago. I particularly like the instructions as the whole thing was conducted via text: "If you have a question for our guests, please type a single ?" And how avant garde things seemed back then - when the future, as per this, was barely even imagined yet. Comments most welcome!

September 13, 1997
Virtual Teams with Jessica Lipnack & Jeffrey Stamps
CompuServe's Intranet Forum <GO INTRANET>

Anne/Moderator: Welcome to the Intranet Forum <GO INTRANET>!

Today's guests are Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps, authors of "Virtual Teams: Reaching Across Space, Time and Organizations with Technology" (Wiley). In their book, the authors help define "virtual teams" and explain how to use communication tools to transcend the traditional, physical boundaries of yesterday's workplace.

They also discuss the pros and cons of creating virtual teams and offer solid examples of successful teams which were  more efficient and cost-effective to their organizations.
Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps are the founders of The Networking Institute (TNI) and have co-authored four other books relating to technology and the workplace.

If you have a question for our guests, please type a single ? and we'll take your questions in order. When you're done typing, please type <ga> so we know to "go ahead."

Jessica, Jeff, do you have anything you'd like to add?

Jessica Lipnack: Well, thanks, Anne for the intro. It's quite an experience for us to be online doing this forum. We first came online in 1979 and this is the first time in all those years that we've done an author forum.

Jeff Stamps: We would also like to hear from guests if they currently work in virtual teams

William Theuer:?

Anne/Moderator: Are you guys ready to take questions?

Jessica Lipnack: ready and able

William Theuer: I currently maintain a secure connection to the

Jeff Stamps: Yes, with flying fingers

William Theuer: ?

Anne/Moderator: Go ahead, William!

William Theuer: Sorry,  I currently maintain a secure connection to the American Red Cross and can send messages over the MARS system thru another public service site. I have enjoyed the public service activity but have had no success in commercial activity. What do you suggest?

Jessica Lipnack: Are you asking a technical question? Or is this a marketing quest?

William Theuer: ITs both, I would suggest

Jessica Lipnack: Are looking for more customers than ARC?

William Theuer: ARC is a volunteer activity. The MARS messagesystem is also volunteer activity. I have exchanged many messages with folks around the world attempting to serve as a local liaison in Alaska  but no tangible work so far has developed.

Jessica Lipnack: Let's talk about how you might create a network for a particular purpose.

Jeff Stamps: Do you have a passion you are looking to further?

Jessica Lipnack: If, for example, you were offering people updated info on what's happening with ARC on a regular basis, they might be interested. It's sometimes very slow going to offer a networking service without offering it *for a purpose.*

Jeff Stamps: Boy, we know that one, since we have been promoting network organizations for almost 20 years

William Theuer: That is the purpose of the ARCOnline Network. It is a secure lntranet from the NHQ.

Jessica Lipnack: Meanwhile, William, in our book, VIRTUAL TEAMS, there is a lot of info on how to develop clear purpose

Alistair Bruce: ?

Jessica Lipnack: go ahead

Anne/Moderator: Go ahead, Alistair!

Alistair Bruce: Thanks. I am working with many geographically dispersed workgroups in my firm. Many of them are teams which have existed for a number of years. The challenge now is bind them together in ways never before possible..using for example Lotus Notes db's, email,  video and voice conferencing. Very exciting.  I want to ask about one particular barrier we face. The junior and middle managers on the teams (age range 21 to 32) tend to be very enthusiastic. But the partners and older team members who really need to show leadership and use of the tools lag behind.  The virtual teamrooms we are using will never be effective without their sponsorship. How can we convince them that, "there is something in it for them?" ga

"The Victorian Internet:" revisiting a classic

Does "the highway of thought," as the telegraph was known, remind you of any often-saids about the current global surround? Betsy Carroll over at Leading Virtually has a nice pointer to Tom Standage's decade-old book, The Victorian Internet, the leading edge technology whose opening chapter is titled "The Mother of All Internets." I could leave it right there but Carroll's reflections after reading Standage's book are so good that I'm posting the intros to her five points here. Her post is click-worthy and I don't want to steal her thunder so I'm just including her first sentences:

1. Planning is crucial when adopting technology.

The development of a telegraph system was plagued by amateur scientists who were put in charge of major events such as designing and laying cable across the Atlantic to connect the US and Europe. 

2. Keep in mind the distance between early adopters of technology and average users.

The telegraph represented a huge improvement in communication, yet the general public was slow to recognize its potential influence on society. [Ed. note: we're in a funny period where the public is in many ways ahead of the organizations in which they work with regard to early adoption of Web 2.0 and beyond.]

3. Make sure your technology continues to support your purpose.

With the telegraph, there came a stage where some lines or offices were so busy that messages weren’t getting from place to place in a timely manner, yet that was the whole purpose of the technology.

4. Remember to consider companion technologies.

The story of the telegraph is incomplete without also discussing the rise of pneumatic tube systems around major cities.

5. Don’t lose sight of the people for the technology.

One eyewitness account of the telegraph said that the telegraph cables crossing the Atlantic were not just cable, but represented bonds between people. 

How do you measure the success of face-to-face teams?

We've talked about this before ("What's the ROI on collaboration?") but a call from a former client today, now a virtual teams consultant, prompts me to come back to it. Out pounding the pavement with his services, or at least pressing the keys, he's finding that everyone wants metrics for the success of virtual teams. No surprise, really. When you don't understand something, you often turn to data for reassurance. And if you're data-driven, then you always want data to convince you that what you're about to undertake will move the indicator more into the green zone.

Here's my question: how do you measure your face-to-face teams? What instruments do people use for that?

OK, the obvious comes next. Most people don't specifically measure their team's performance except in the most rudimentary terms - did they: meet their deadline? stay within budget? meet quality/throughput/whatever goals? If you do measure your co-located teams in some way, apply those same measures to virtual teams.

And...because I'm a bit compulsive about such things, I thought I'd better google this before posting. Came upon Cristina Gibson and Susan Cohen's thoughts on this in their book, Virtual Teams That Work (coincidentally, published by the same company that published our Virtual Teams, a naming similarity I cannot fathom from the same publisher!). Guess what: Gibson and Cohen are brilliant - they say the same thing I'm saying here.

Do you know any instances of companies/organizations measuring their virtual teams performance? If so, what methods are they using?

PSA: Conficker virus--and networking

A colleague has been struggling with very strange behavior on his PC that may be the result of this terrible virus. It's estimated that as many as one-third of all Windows machines may be vulnerable with "the worst yet to come," as some are reporting. See John Markoff's informative "Worm Infects Millions of Computers Worldwide" and Geek Doctor's post today, "The Conficker Virus," where John Halamka explains how his medical system is handling the danger represented by this unusually pernicious crawler.

Back in the day, we profiled what had been to date perhaps the worst computer worm story in history in The Age of the Network. What was called "the Internet worm" began its swift and evil journey across the then-primitive electronic nervous system of the world. While it was terrible during its time, it also provides a powerful lesson in how networks come together.

The Internet Worm, c. 1988

November 2, 1988, lives in infamy in Internet history. At 5 PM that Tuesday, a "worm," a computer program that propagates copies of itself on certain types of operation systems, was released on the Internet, ultimately reaching 4000 of them [ed. note: at that time, a large number on the grid!]. Within 36 hours, the worm had, for all intents and purposes, been stopped by a self-organizing, completely volunteer network of computer people across the U.S. It's a great networking story...MORE

No IM for WH Staff?

This just gets interestinger and interestinger. First there was the showdown at the BlackBerry Corral, with the President holding on for dear life while the Security Forces threated to rip the device from his hands. Pres 1, Security 1, I'd have to say, because we certainly don't want the President to be insecure in any way.

Now Politico reports that IM is banned for all White House staff. The most technologically advanced team in politics, ooops, in government, is having one of the most useful tools ever taken away. Great headline, by the way, Politico for Ben Smith's article: "Obama staff will say cu l8r 2 IM."

When we were involved in Reinventing Government 15 years ago, many people in government agencies weren't allowed to have email. So they went home and sent email to one another on their private accounts. We don't want that, obviously, and these folks are in the White House, which we want to be the most effective, fastest, most accurate (enough superlatives yet?) government on earth. Taking away IM is not a step in that direction.

Seriously: we've talked before about Tom Allen's famous finding - that if you're more than 50 feet apart, you've got a virtual communication problem to address. Everyone in the White House is more than 50 feet apart and they need to stay in very close contact.

Information policy is lagging, folks. We need some quick brain work from the folks who've really been thinking about this stuff. The desire for transparency should not be blocked by the fear of discovery.

Here are a few choice paragraphs from Ben Smith's piece:

Barack Obama may get to keep his BlackBerry, but David Axelrod is losing his IM.

The lawyers broke the bad news to Obama aides at a briefing Friday morning convened by incoming Deputy White House Counsel Cassandra Butts: Not only are they leaving the modern world to enter a White House where some of the clunky desktop computers still run Windows 2000 but — worst of all — they'll be forced to surrender a form of communication staffers have relied on for the last two years to communicate with each other, outside allies, and the press.

From Axelrod, the chief campaign strategist, down to junior staffers in the press office, Obama's campaign relied heavily on software many of them began using in high school — AOL Instant Messager and Google Chat. Instant messaging, though little mentioned, is — perhaps as much as e-mail—deeply woven into contemporary politics and media, whose fabric is the constant, quick, gossipy transmission of spin and information. But a calculus that's perhaps one part security, one part law, and two parts politics, has long barred instant messaging from the White House.

"They just told us flat out we couldn't IM in the White House," groused one senior staffer Friday.

"It sucks. It's really going to slow us down," complained another, saying that lawyers had warned that, along with instant messaging, White House software will restrict users to a range of sites roughly "like your average grade school."

The clunky technology is standard issue for government offices, but the bar on instant messaging is  particular to the White House. Legal and security experts say it is dictated by the fear of embarrassment if IMs were to be disclosed.

"Storytelling adds human touch to virtual work"

I don't typically use the same titles as other people's posts except when they are so good that the post itself is addendum. Such is the case with David Adewumi's reposting of Kathy Hansen's original one about the value of stories to virtual team success, which David posted to Heekya yesterday. When people are not together, they have to work hard with all available tools to stay connected and committed. Storytelling does that--and Kathy Hansen has been collecting up some very good stories of storytellers on her blog, A Storied Career.

When the (good) leader of a (good) conference call begins by throwing out a question -- for example, "What did you have for dinner last night?" -- that wise person is evoking stories from the group. We can picture the bowl of pasta, the leftover soup, the drive-through where the fries spilled onto someone's lap, the baby hurling the sippy cup. Stories. They keep us whole and human and, yes, connected.

Here's a pull from Heekya's repost, mentioning our book Virtual Teams and referring to the interview I did last summer with A Storied Career:

I got interested in virtual teams and virtual work a few years ago when I learned that some of my former students felt that, while their business-school education had prepared them well to collaborate in face-to-face teams, it fell short in readying them to participate on geographically dispersed teams in which very little interaction was face-to-face. As a result of this finding, I developed a well-received virtual-teams project in my business-communication classes. It was at about this same time that my interest in storytelling was burgeoning; thus, I'm quite interested in convergences between virtual work and storytelling.

That's one reason I was so delighted when I discovered that Jessica Lipnack, co-author of probably the definitive book on virtual teams, was also a member of Worldwide Story Work. In her Q&A with A Storied Career, she discussed the value of storytelling in virtual teams.

Thanks so very much, David, and, of course, Kathy, and, everyone, take a look at A Storied Career and Heekya, "a social storytelling platform that will change the way you create, share, and discover stories."