More than a buzz word: What Enterprise 2.0 might look like

(Hint: Not a triangle)

Elisabeth Bucci

Projissima inc.

Agenda

• Introduction/Expectations

• History

• Why Change?

• What is Enterprise 2.0?

• Examples, Take-away

• Go forth…

Introduction

• Who am I?

• Why am I here?

Expectations

• No one really knows, certainly not me

• An * = uhhh..

• There is no easy button

• There is no one-size-fits all

• There is very little information about real cases

• 45 minutes is not enough to explain everything

• My objective: get you talking about this

Before we can understand Enterprise 2.0, we must understand Enterprise 1.0

History

• Second Industrial Revolution 1860 - 1914

• Perfect storm

– electricity

– interchangeable parts

– telegraph

– railroads

• Assembly lines

• Economies of scale: Bigger is cheaper

How to manage “bigness”

Command-Control = Enterprise 1.0 = 260-year-old business model

260 yr old business model

• Two Fredericks • Frederick the Great of Prussia 1740-1786

– won battles with an undisciplined army of mercenaries and criminals

• Frederick Taylor “Scientific management” 1890s • Solution = mechanical bureaucracy:

– soldiers/workers are machines – ultra-specialization of tasks – chain of command: each soldier/worker receives

orders from only one superior – soldiers/workers don’t question, they fear

Why this worked

• Easy

• Two roles: – Boss: “Do what I tell you”

– Employee: “Do what I am told”

• Process – Do it this (one best) way

– Repeat

• Communication: memos top-down

• Any colour you want as long as it’s black

A socio-economic shift

• Command-Control = E 1.0 was more than a structure, it was a part of a socio-economic shift – unskilled workers built things they could afford to buy,

ie cars

– birth of the middle class

– birth of the suburbs (cars)

– birth of the stock market

– birth of the labour movement

– abundance of consumer goods, right up to the smart phone and the tablet

Why change?

WHAT 1880s Today

Communication 1:1 many:many

Worker education illiterate peasants college / university public education

access to information

only the boss everywhere

markets England, US, Europe global village

social structure class system equality

capital lots, gave birth to stock market

small, private-owned

batch size BIG 1

1:many

Web 1.0 Web 2.0

many:many

Web 2.0

allows users to interact and collaborate as

creators of user-generated content in a

network

beyond the static pages of earlier web sites and passive viewing of content.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0

What is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 = killer app

• new patterns of connectivity beyond institutional control (govt, corp)

• redefining what “local” means

• “democratization” = removing middle men

• no permission required!

• freeing the customer’s voice – music, news, television, publishing

• freeing the people’s voice (Arab spring)

• FINALLY: freeing the employee’s voice

“We cannot command-control our way through the pace and the complexity of 21st century business and society.”

The Future of Social Business is Paved with Good Intentions, CMS Wire, Deb Lavoy

Why change?

Why change?

• Return-on-Assets has dropped 75% since 1965

• Businesses with engaged employees have 3x times operating margin

Original Source: The Human Enterprise: Progress or Perish, by Deb Lavoy

Why change?

Keep up or be gone.

What is Enterprise 2.0?

• Andrew McAfee first coined the term in 2006

– “The use of Web 2.0 technologies by knowledge workers within organizations”

• Sounds like “Social business”

• Problem: technology is not enough

– Ever tried to make a wiki work in a Command-Control structure?

– Answer: you can’t

So, what is Enterprise 2.0?

• A new business model profiting from the unlimited potential of people, based on networked, self-managed teams and incorporating democratic values

• A socio-economic-political shift

• A paradigm shift

• Capitalist (but non-exploitative)*

What E2.0 is not

• Socialism • socialism failed because without the profit motive

there is no incentive to perform

• Holding hands and singing and yoga • Democracy*

– democratic values and democracy are not the same thing

• Consensus* • Anarchy • More than technology

Enterprise 2.0 needs…

New Leadership Style

A new shape

Web 2.0

Collaboration

PM

Change the shape

PM

Is this a triangle?

PM PM

or a circle?

PM PM

or a web?

We need to change the shape not triangles not squares but circles many circles all interconnecting

Change the shape

New Leadership Style

• Not: – “Do what I tell you, stop asking questions” – “Ask me for my approval” – “Why did you apply for that (internal) position

without asking me first” – “cc me on every email you write” – “Don’t talk to my boss” – “Send it to me, I will send it to my boss” – “No, that idea is too…crazy/weird/unusual” – “Cascade this information down to your direct

reports”

Enterprise 1.0, with command and control, is limited in its capability by the intelligence and capability of the Executive team. In 1.0 enterprises, the workforce is there to amplify the capabilities of the executives. Executives are the constraint...it is the executives that restrain growth and capability because the organization cannot amplify what the executive can't see.

In Enterprise 2.0 power and capability flows the other way — from the network to the leadership. In Enterprise 2.0, executives (leaders) inquire and align collective intelligence and capability. They can access the collective capabilities of the workforce.

The Future of Social Business is Paved with (Good) Intentions, by Deb Lavoy

role of executive: to command and control

power flows from executive to employee

Enterprise 1.0

power flows from networks to executive

role of executive: to inquire and align

Enterprise 2.0

Can a “leader” who has climbed a pyramid learn to “inquire and align?”

E1.0 E2.0

Web 2.0 is just starting to tip the balance…

What does it look like?

• Zappos “Holocracy®”

• Valve

“A fearless adventure in knowing what to do when no one’s there telling you what to do”

• Automattic

– Book “The Year Without Pants: Wordpress.com and the Future of Work” by Scott Berkun (a project manager who worked at Automattic for 2 years as a team lead)

Holocracy®

• Holocracy® hit the biz news when Zappos announced its implementation – Zappos: on-line shoes/clothing, 1500 employees, $1B

annual revenue, bought by Amazon in 2009

• What is holocracy®? – “holons” + “hierarchy” – a hierarchy of nesting/interlinking circles – a registered trademark (argh) – circles can be self-directed, self-organizing…or not

• has a constitution, governance, roles – Sounds like… process, projects

Holocracy® (cont)

• Energizing roles: – an organizational entity with a “Purpose” to express,

“Domains” to control, and “Accountabilities” to perform.

• Partners – responsible for sensing Tension (difference between

what is and what could be)

– responsible for breaking down Accountabilities into Projects and Next-Actions

– Sounds like…Project Manager!!

Valve

• video games development and distribution

• privately owned

• 300+ employees

• estimated profit $8 - $16 M / employee

– more than Google/Apple

• Employee Handbook

Valve (cont)

A company with no management structure

“Now, I can tell you that, deep down, you don’t really believe that last sentence. I certainly didn’t when I first heard it. How could a 300-person company not have any formal management? My observation is that it takes new hires about six months before they fully accept that no one is going to tell them what to do…”

Michael Abrash, Valve employee

Valve (cont)

• employees choose their own projects

• desks on wheels to move it to the projects they wish to join

• key ideas: – the best projects attract the best people

– you do things because you care, not because your boss told you to

– creative people do not need bosses and performance reviews

Take-away

• Leadership style = inquire, align

• CEO = leader, benign

• Privately owned (Valve) or acts like it (Zappos)

– no Board

– more freedom to make decisions

• Skill sets required

– team-building

– moving things forward to Done

Why PMs matter

• E2.0 requires team-building and networking skills that we have already acquired to survive the pyramid

• Our skill set matters more than the pyramid leadership style

• Any alternative to the pyramid will require: – roles – responsibilities – process

• Work in E2.0 is unique, has a start, end…projects!

Go forth…

• Know your value. Your skills matter.

• Learn Web 2.0 in your personal life. Master it.

• Jump on any Web 2.0 initiatives in your company. Learn. Failure is inevitable and good.

• Hone your network/team-building skills.

• Informal power: you have it. Use it. Do no harm. Don’t be evil.

Go forth…

• Stay away from the pyramid-climbers. Except those that can learn to “inquire and align”.

• Be an emergent leader. Add value.

• Create oases of E2.0 within your pyramid

– treat your project as a micro-enterprise where you are the CEO

– make new rules

Keep learning

• Deb Lavoy articles used as research for this presentation:

Is Collaboration Limited by Structure

If Social Business is the Answer, What is the Question

Or just read everything she’s written, see here.

• Go back through this presentation and read the hyperlinked documents

My past work on E2.0

• PMI Montreal Presentation December, 2013 “Why Projects Managers should care more about Social Media”

• Blog post PMs are the Next Generation Leaders, FR

Let’s keep talking

blog: The Passionate Project Manager Twitter: @ElisabethBucci LinkedIn: Elisabeth Bucci email: elisabeth@projissima.ca

Go forth… and change the world.