Designing twenty-first
century organisations
with social tools
Lee Bryant, May 2009

The Twentieth Century
company is still with us

the post-industrial society of the C20th

mass production, marketing, segmentation

culture of the “modern” corporation

Weberian bureaucracy
culture of the “modern” corporation

Weberian bureaucracy Industrial Revolution
culture of the “modern” corporation

Weberian bureaucracy Industrial Revolution Taylorism
culture of the “modern” corporation

welcome to the “IT” Department

CRM: we do not value you or your call

The Twentieth Century company does
not trust its staff or its customers

It was not always like this

traditional trading networks

guilds, professions and networks

even banking used to be a profession

...before it descended into plunder

the Twenty-First Century company will
be more modern and more traditional

scale-free networks are old & reliable

lesson of social web : trust breeds trust

(cc) http://www.flickr.com/photos/yuan2003/403643949/
social networks + weak ties =
organisational immune system

trust is cheaper than control

network-centric management
is more robust than the org chart

we can no longer afford the
high-friction, high-cost model
of process over people

downturn is our impetus for change

time to move beyond ‘doing projects’
and turn this into the mainstream

time for social business design?

what do we need #1 :
stop handing over all projects
involving technology to the IT dept.

what do we need #2 :
connected infrastructure

Public feeds & flows: data firehose

Tweets, bookmarks & tags: signals of relevance
Public feeds & flows: data firehose

Blogs and networks: sharing & sense making
Tweets, bookmarks & tags: signals of relevance
Public feeds & flows: data firehose

Group collaboration: getting things done
Blogs and networks: sharing & sense making
Tweets, bookmarks & tags: signals of relevance
Public feeds & flows: data firehose

Personal tools: organising your world of work
Group collaboration: getting things done
Blogs and networks: sharing & sense making
Tweets, bookmarks & tags: signals of relevance
Public feeds & flows: data firehose

Personal tools: organising your world of work
Group collaboration: getting things done
Blogs and networks: sharing & sense making
Tweets, bookmarks & tags: signals of relevance
Public feeds & flows: data firehose

what do we need #3 :
mobilise your people

No point being open at the edges...

... if you treat your staff like machines

what do we need #4 :
evolutionary processes,
not ‘best practice’

better ambient awareness

rapid feedback is the key to evolution

rapid feedback is the key to evolution

what do we need #5 :
user experience is the key to the
consumerisation of the enterprise

what do we need #6 :
make hidden data shared and use
it to drive collective intelligence

what do we need #7 :
a network-centric view
of the business

Thanks for listening!
I am lee@headshift.com and live at
http://www.headshift.com
Except where otherwise stated, photos courtesy of Flickr using Creative
Commons license. Thanks to the following photographers:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jadezz/100313191/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/squeakymarmot/186090163/sizes/l/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/erix/2657100921
http://www.carbodydesign.com/archive/2008/05/15-virtual-painting-
at-ford/1914-Ford-Model-T-Painting-lg.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/52581560
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aturkus/139818702/sizes/l/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yuan2003/403643949/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cheesepicklescheese/419050330/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cote/54408562/
http://www.worldalmanac.com/blog/ww_ustroops_rest_01.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wills/119744777/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_irish/2379958609/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/52581560/sizes/l/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/86624586@N00/10190970/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/victoriapeckham/164175205/