Process and technology

Introduction

This is a description of how I look at technology in the context of business. I don't say it is the only way. It is just the context in which I think about and discuss technology.

There are 3 parts to the note.

1. A discussion of the methodology
2. Examples of how I see technology tools
3. An example of how a business process is served by technology tools

A discussion of the methodology

A technology is a tool and it is used in the service of a business process. What I am trying to do is to place a technology into a business process. Until I have done that I am not getting any value from my technology, it is simply a cost.

But I have a dilemma. Until I have played with the technology, I cannot understand how it can be used in terms of a business process. There is a stage where I have to experiment with the technology so that I understand what role it can play in a business process. I have found that I can get a good understanding of the role that a technology can play in a business process by looking, listening, talking and reading. I have also found that I often have to reject the conventional wisdom about a tool in order to get a glimpse of its potential business value.

When I have got an understanding of the role of a technology in a business process, I then have to leave myself open to the opportunity to use the tool in a business process. It is a question of waiting and listening.

Once again there is a distinction I want to make.

I am not saying here are some technologies...how am I going to fit them into a business process?

I am saying here is a business process...is there a role for this technology in this business process?

They sound similar. They are very different.

Examples of technologies as business tools

During 2011, I was desperate to explore the roles of Twitter and Facebook in a business process. They had both frustrated me for several years because I had failed to see a role for them. Facebook seemed to be noise and pictures but millions got value from it. Twitter seemed to be one more example of our celebrity obsessed culture. The idea of a follower and one who is followed felt repulsive to me (and inconsistent with our WoW and WoT).

I looked at how various people were using Facebook in the Constellation. And I talked to my sons about how they were using these tools. They let me into their Facebook and Twitter worlds. It was a fascinating exploration. At its worst, my worst fears were confirmed. At its best, I felt as if I was coming out of the dark ages into an amazing world.

Here are my current conclusions:

Facebook: It is a virtual project room. Ideas fly around. News is exchanged. There is sense of energy and fun about it. People are attracted to it. It is transient.

My sons and their friends coordinated a village football game on the day after Christmas Day. There were about 30 people involved and they were coming from all over Britain, Europe and the World. With no leader, no coordination, they were all there for a kick-off at 1100 on 26 December in a small, remote village in the UK. I was astonished.

Twitter: It announces the latest headlines. It is curt and abrupt. Here are the things that I find interesting, challenging and puzzling. (There are other ideas I have about Twitter, but I will not include them here.)

...and because it is relevant to the next section, here is how I have seen another business tool

Intranet: It is a endlessly updated newspaper (so it is today's edition and it is the archive)

An example of how a business process is served by technology tools.

The business process that concerned me in the last quarter of 2011 was the coordination of the GST. It was the most virtual team that I had ever seen and I know how easy it is for a virtual team to lose cohesion. Initially, I was thinking about the specifics of the workload for Learning.

There was a moment of serendipity. I met Olivia for the first time on 5 December in London. We talked about the Constellation and the challenges we were facing. We talked about the possibilities of using Twitter and in my mind I saw the possibility of using this tool to spread headlines around the GST. And I think that it was a little later that Olivia brought up the possibility of an Intranet. And that for me was how the technology tools fitted into the business process. The Intranet was the newspaper and Twitter was the tool that lets everyone exchange their headlines. Twitter and the Intranet could be the glue that held the GST together.