The Wiki Workplace

Walk into my workplace and it will soon become apparent why Dilbert is such a popular cartoon character. The best cartoon characters are based on reality. When I first went to work in the NRCS State Office, I felt as though I had walked into the twilight zone. Miles and miles, or so it appeared, of cubicles, for a far as the eye could see. You could sit at your desk for days and come to believe that the workplace consisted of only 3 or 4 other individuals. This is pretty amazing when you consider that over 100 people work there. I had worked there for almost 3 months before I caught sight of the State Conservationist.

I have since found that colaboration is the key to being successful in the State Office. But, as you can see, they don't make it easy. Luckily, people are self-organizing and, for the most part, naturally curious about those around them. You eventually gravitate to those of similiar interests and program areas, and if you are fortunate, you find ways to combine what you know with what they know and can provide better service to your internal and external clients.

Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Some people smell "extra work" when you approach them about colaborating on a project. Sometimes you are successful in converting them to your cause, often times, not. I suspect that these same closet slackers are not going to be on the cutting edge of the next computer revolution. And certainly my employer is light years behind in computer technology. A Wiki Workplace? I am not sure that is going to happen in my lifetime.

Platforms for Participation

The mall. The supermall. Walmart. Do you remember the buzz when the Minneapolis super mall opened? Leveraging web services to create a new and better marketplace has the potential to do for business what malls did for shopping. There is also the potential, and I believe it is a real possibility, that small business owners in America could lose their identities, if not their livelihoods.

Even though Walmart advocates deny the claim, most people know of downtown businesses that closed as a result of the opening of a mall or a Walmart in their town. This is particularly true in smaller communities where the customer was more than willing to exchange personal service for convenience and lower prices. People say that is the price of progress, and that is true, as far as it goes. Perhaps the bigger question is how can Mom and Pop storekeeper compete in a global economy?

Perhaps the answer lies in marrying customer service, sadly lacking in most Walmarts and mall environments, with emerging technologies. The small town bookstore owner who goes the extra mile to locate and order a special book for a customer, and then invites the author to town for a book signing, may find themselves with a new service to offer. Or perhaps they ask a local college professor to give a class on publishing, or genealogy, or any number of local topics that will draw people into their business.

It is a quandary for the small business owner. But web business, and platforming, provide opportunities for the consumer to have more choices than ever. So often people fear change, but what they really fear is loss. If we can identify what we think that we are losing, perhaps we can work through the process of identifying what we are gaining. In the marketplace, there will be losses, but their is also the opportunity for economic gain if we open ourselves up to the opportunities.

The Prosumers

My daughter Katie, as well as all of her friends, are crazy about music. Katie, on the far right, is majoring in cello and vocal performance. Her best friend Courtney, center, is a dance major. Music is, quite literally, at the center of their private and professional lives.


One of their collective gripes is the lack of access to music on the web. They are quite outraged at the thought of being fined for downloading music. As a member of the older generation, I have a better understanding of intellectual and proprietary rights issues. I understand those issues. I have to admit that I do not always open up my mind to the the younger generations argument that copyright laws are as outdated. Laws which define underage curfew, appropriate sexual behavior between consenting adults and copyright infringement law are, to them, part and parcel to infringement of their constitutional rights - life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.


I make the argument to Katie that someday her livelihood may depend on collecting royalties. She makes the argument that, first, she doesn't want to be famous, or rich, and second, she would have more people listening to her music if it were available to more people. As she points out, there are more music revenues available than are currently being utilized by the music industry. She accurately points out that iTunes and others are very successful at selling individual songs, uTube has an enormous audience and could be utilized by musicians much better than it has been to date, and besides, most of the money goes to the recording studio. Artists do not need to be tied to recording studio contracts anymore. Or at least that is her argument.


I suspect that she is right about this, at least to a degree. I think about getting her some recording equipment and encouraging her to put some of her music out there. She writes some of her own music and plays cello and piano, as well as being a vocalist. Of course, I would want to copyright her songs. I would hate for some recording studio to make a fortune off of one of her pieces. She probably wouldn't care, so long as people were enjoying the music. Me, I'm old fashioned. I would definitely care.

Ideagoras

My daughter, Dani, is starting a company. Its beginnings were in an Internet search for a home remodeling project. As a lighting specialist, she wanted to add a lighting feature to her daughter Mahdisyn's room. But the feature that she wanted to add was quite expensive, and her husband is, somewhat, on the frugal side.

As a Generation X, Dani is used to finding what she needs on the Internet. But no, this product was not on the Internet; it was not anywhere. In later discussions with her best friend, they questioned why such a useful product wasn't available, and in that moment, an business was born. Drawing on the creative synergy of an artist friend, her best friend's graphic designer husband, her own husband, with his Master's in accounting, and Internet pictures of the existing expensive lighting products, they patented their idea, bought a website, and had a local company design the prototype. They are on the threshold of a new technology.

I have shared with Dani ideas about adding a blog to their website. This will allow them to operate at least part, if not all, of the business out of their home. It is important to Dani, as it is to many Generation X members, to spend as much quality time as possible with her family. The idea of being able to work her business around home and school activities is appealing to her. Her clients can generate new ideas for improving the initial product and adding additional products to their line. It is a win-win for Dani and for her clients.

The Peer Pioneers

One of the questions that I am asked as I share information with TSPs about emerging technology opportunities is, "How will this help me build my business?" My response is, "The possibilities are endless." Don Tapscott, in his book Wikinomics, lists several benefits to on-line peer collaboration. The following are two ways to use emerging technology to enhance exsisting business opportunities.

Boosting demand for complementary offerings:

American agricultural producers are currently most familiar with the technical services provided by the government. Never all encompassing, reduced budgets has further curtailed those services. Identifying additional services which enhance existing services will bring additional revenue to the company. In Iowa, Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans are required for livestock producers who participate in the Environmental Quality Incentive Program. These plans consist of nutrient management, manure and wastewater management, land management and feed management components. Many TSPs have a single area of expertise and can not offer all services needed to create a total plan. Collaborating with those entities offering complimentary services can increase the demand for each.

Taking the friction out of collaboration:

At a recent training I facilitated, the participants were long-time technical service providers, and extremely competitive. They were competitive to the point that it was detrimental to the course. No one would participate for fear of sharing proprietary knowledge with what they perceived to be their competitors. As my courses are designed around open communication, I used a training activity change the dynamics of the course. The small group activity forced the participants to rely on each other's knowledge and experience to complete the exercise. I used the group dynamics to decide who was paired with whom, and many of those most openly hostile to each other found themselves on the same team.

What struck me at the time was that, once they were forced to collaborate (the activity), the trainers could barely get a word in edge-wise for the rest of the session. It was amazing. The group had so much to share, and really wanted to share their knowledge, but did not know how to let go of all the ownership issues. That, I believe, will be the key to the success of this new business community. We have to find ways to prioritize areas of importance and let go of the things that are keep us from meeting our full potential.

The Perfect Storm

Collaboration. Innovation. Sharing. I have thought about these concepts a great deal in the last few weeks. As part of my job, I provide assistance to technical service providers who are on the cutting edge of the new way that the government does business. Virtually every federal agency is caught between the public's desire to have additional services provided to them - with the caveat that they not to have to pay additional taxes - and the neccessity of paying for those service from tax dollars. It is, of course, a catch-22 situation. Public sector employees are paid with public monies and the reality is that unfunded, or underfunded programs, have very little of value to offer the public and cause unimaginable stress to the agency personnel attempting to implement the program.

The solution of the moment is outsourcing. My agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, developed the Technical Service Provider (TSP)Initiative. The Initiative is still in the midst of growing pains, however, their are opportunities here to revolutionize the way that the government does business. Equally important, technology is now readily available to provide agricultural producers and TSPs the opportunity to look at marketing and customer service in a way that has not been seen before in the rural agricultural marketplace.

In the last few weeks, I have shared with TSPs the idea of using blogs as a marketing and collaboration tool. The response is amazing, particularly with the Generation X TSPs, who seem somewhat amazed that the concept had never occurred to them before now. I can envision Blog sites across the country being accessed by producers looking for services and answers to technical and regulatory questions, and TSPs sharing information about Federal, State, and County environmental issues.

In my agency, Iowa is one of the States to look at in setting the trends for the country. I had a class last weekend where we were challenged with the question, "What do you want your legacy to be?" A true legacy is something that remains long after you have left the playing field. I thought about that question a lot over the weekend. Perhaps part of my legacy will be to spark that conversation that leads to agricultural producers and TSPs using emerging technology to collaborate, find innovative new ways to do business in rural America, and share information resources. Isn't that a nice thought?