Web 2.0 Management Survey Progress Report 01

by Dennis D. McDonald

Summary

• I have posted nine interviews.
• I have three more to write up.
• I'm working on a "formal progress report" document.
• I'm continuing to recruit respondents for the interviews.

12 Interviews So Far

I've posted nine interviews so far and have three more to write up. Folks have been very cooperative and knowledgeable. It turns out that the people I've interviewed who are not actively engaged in planning or managing "web 2.0 applications" have been very helpful in helping me understand the organizational dynamics that affect adoption of such new technologies.

A Formal Progress Report Is Under Development. Meanwhile...

My early decision to focus on "user facing" aspects of Web 2.0 such as customer-focused content management, distribution, and collaboration (e.g., via blogs, podcasts, and wikis) may have been  justified but has left a hole in the topics covered so far that I will try to address in the next round of interviews. (Please email me if you're interested in being interviewed.)

I'm now working on a formal report to discuss where the survey stands and what I intend to do next. Here are some random thoughts and observations I have as I work through the formal report:

1. The issue of "IT department resistance" is not as major a factor as I had supposed. While this may be at least partly due to the non-random nature of the "sample" of the people I'm interviewing, there are other factors (see below) that are at least as important in affecting the speed with which companies implement Web 2.0 based services.
   
2. Just because a company has figured out how to allocate responsibility for web service support between the IT department and individual business units doesn't necessarily mean that it can readily accept and integrate the more collaborative and decentralized model of customer communication that Web 2.0 can support.  But it's probably well positioned to figure this out.
   
3. Not all corporate cultures are ready to support the more decentralized and collaborative model of content management and collaboration represented by Web 2.0.
   
1. Highly bureaucratic or heavily regulated organizations may be slow to adopt the greater flexibility that Web 2.0 represents in these areas.
2. Certain types of business models may operate perfectly well without blogging, podcasts, or wikis.
4. There's a universal assumption that young people will expect and demand more collaborative and interactive features in the workplace because of their use of services such as Flickr and Facebook. We'll see. Based on personal observations of two college age children, another possibility is that many will "graduate" from using these services just as they graduate from other age specific activities.
   
5. Privacy, security, and network reliability are major issues being considered by companies thinking about investments in Web 2.0 technologies. Some IT departments might need to do a better job of communicating with business users that these concerns are justified.
   
6. There's still a lot of confusion over the definition of "Web 2.0" but things appear to be coming into focus. For example, remote hosting of "web office" applications is not the same as "web 2.0."
7. IT departments that are strategically focused and truly business oriented are in a much better position than those that aren't to help their companies figure out the best way to implement and operate Web 2.0 applications.
8. The more knowledge- and communication-oriented a company is, the more likely it is that the company can benefit from Web 2.0 based technologies. A corollary of this is that in such companies the distinctions between "intellectual property" and "communications about that intellectual property" may be disappearing.
   

As suggested above, I have, I believe, uncovered a variety of factors that will impact the speed with which "Web 2.0" types of applications are adopted and I am exploring those in the progress report. Here's the outline of topics I'm using on the formal progress report:

• Technology Governance
• Interdepartmental Communications
• Knowledge Management
• Impacts on Infrastructure
• Technical Architecture
• Intellectual Property
• Outsourcing
• Message Authority

Once I complete the formal report I'll publish it as a white paper and as a podcast.

I'm Still Recruiting!

I'm still recruiting respondents to be interviewed. Here's the text of a recent email I sent a colleague that explains what I'm seeking:

Dear X, I hope things are well with you and that there are signs of Spring in your neighborhood (here in Alexandria the crocuses bloomed through the snow that fell last week).

The reason for my email is this: as an independent consultant I am conducting a 'Web 2.0 Management Survey" to identify issues that are involved in companies implementing systems using blogging, podcasting, or wikis. I am looking for people I can interview about this, and I'm wondering if you can help.

The survey is described here:

http://www.ddmcd.com/survey/

Initially my focus was based on anecdotal evidence that business units (like Marketing and Customer Service) in some companies were bypassing I.T. departments because were perceived as "too busy" or "too bureaucratic."

Well, the truth is obviously a bit more complex than that but I need to conduct more interviews, which is why I'm contacting you.

Can you refer me to any individuals who are planning or managing a system that employs blogging, podcasts, or wikis? There is no shortage of consultants and evangelists to interview about this, but instead I'm eager to cut through the hype to document some of the realworld issues people are encountering with such effort. So far I've had some success with interviews such as the following:

• CEO of Business Process Management Software Firm
• Corporate IT Strategy Manager
• Financial Services Consultant
• Fortune 500 Division CIO
• IT Director in a National Specialty Retailer
• Software Development Manager
• Software Tester in a Pharmaceutical Robotics Company
• Sr. Application Engineer in a Telecom Services Company
• Web Manager in Corporate Communications

The writeups of these interviews are here:

http://www.ddmcd.com/findings/

If you can suggest any names of people I can ask for an interview, I'd appreciate it.

Best regards,

Dennis