The chicken & egg of groups
One of my consistent themes has been the power of a group to get stuff done, and the ways the web facilitates, and empowers the processes needed to get the stuff done by the group. However, which is the chicken, and which is the egg? There are no groups without...
The geometry of networks
It is pretty clear to most that the number of connections in a network grows more quickly than the number of people in the network. It is a mathematically consistent relationship captured by Metcalf's Law, but in summary, you double the size of a network, you...
Parliamentary performance measured.
On the "Insiders" show on Sunday, there was a review of the current Parliament, and how it had responded to the challenges of being 'hung". Notable was the interview of the Labor leader of the house, Anthony Albanese, and the clips of his review speech on the last...
15 uses of Twitter
I am indebted to Alan Rustbridger, editor of the Guardian newspaper whose recent Andrew Olle lecture articulated many of the challenges facing traditional media owners as the new social media destroys their business model. Among the gems in this lecture is a list of...
Measuring adjacencies
Innovation programs always throw up the word "adjacency" and it has lots of interpretations, depending on who is doing the talking. So here is my two bobs worth. Measure each of the following parameters on a 1-5 scale, (or 1-10 for a more nuanced outcome) 1 being the...
6 questions for a new product “reality check”
Most new products fail, and most of these failures are almost predictable, particularly in fast moving consumer markets, where the adage that "you need to be prepared to fail often to succeed sometimes" is regularly taken to irresponsible lengths. Following is a...
The new power of one
The power in commercial relationships has shifted dramatically since the net. It has removed the power previously held by companies and institutions and handed it to individuals who choose to use it. No more can an enterprise afford to ignore or annoy an individual...
Few transaction costs = easy group formation = new corporate risk
Corporations default to functional silos, despite the efforts of most to recognise the horizontal cross functional nature of processes, the things that gets stuff done. This is because in the past, you required hands to move things around, make calls, stuff envelopes,...
What next for “Free”?
As the marginal cost of transactions on the web approaches zero, more and more stuff is "free" . When something is given, the act of giving usually sets up a dynamic of "obligation" on the part of the receiver. This blog is published on Wordpress, for free, the cost...
Opposites attract?
Only in physics, in personal relationships we seek common ground, people who under stand instinctively what we are saying and thinking, and who work the way we do. Collaborative teams and alliances of many types often fail from the start because those who join, or...