I have been covering the
Cisco I-Prize for several years and continue to be impressed with this
initiative.  I spoke with Sharon
Wong, the Director of Business Development for Cisco’s Emerging Technology
group to discuss the conclusion of the second I-Prize. She said that the first
one validated the desire for teams to work together on innovation on the global
scale and they learned how much people really like to collaborate (see Cisco Announces I-Prize Winner and Results of Their
Global Collaboration). 
So this time they provided greater collaboration support through Cisco
tools including the following four.

One of the best things I’ve done in my tech career is to respect the importance of ‘The Old Girl’s Club’. Honestly, it’s nice to have a circle of trusted female friends in the tech business who gets the world you live in, and with whom you can share a glass of wine and a laugh on the road as easily as debate an acquisition or analyst report.

Over the last couple of months I’ve been lucky to connect with a few ex-colleagues, thankful that between family and work and travel pressures we can find an evening to unwind and catch up.

So why have these last few encounters left me feeling so agitated and frustrated over the prospects of these dear friends? It’s because some companies are toxic to female ambition. Anecdotes take on the power of reality when pooled. When story after story of stalled promotions and broken career promises all sound exactly the same, there is more than coincidence at play.

From what I hear anecdotally, can it really be true that an enterprise software company has less than 2% female representation at the VP or above layer? I’m curious to find more industry stats on this… so please pass them along. I think we are ripe for a little transparency in this area.

Some info that was shared with me this afternoon:

In Silicon Valley companies, men and women in technical careers are equally likely to hold mid-level jobs, but men are 2.7 times more likely than women to be promoted to a high-ranking tech jobs such as vice president of engineering, or senior engineering manager – from 2009 survey

According to the U.S.-based National Center for Women in Technology, 41 per cent of women leave technology companies after 10 years of experience, compared to only 17 per cent of men; 56 per cent of women leave at the mid-level point. If current trends continue, NCWIT says, by 2016 the information technology industry will be able to fill only half of its available jobs. ITWorldCanada article 2010

Why do I care? Because companies that lip-synch commitment to diversity and innovation need to own up to their lack of execution. Because the women who feel stuck and trapped need to figure out a way out or up and remember that there’s a whole other world out there. Because in this world of tech that values communication, new modes of collaboration and an embrace of trusted personal communication via social media, new skills need to rise to the top of the food chain.

After the latest such dinner I tweeted my frustration…. That glass ceiling is pink for a reason. It’s stained with the bloody cracked skulls of all the women who have been bashed against it. And then just gave up and left.

The Innovator’s Dilemma

Clayton M. Christensen

Before I went to EMC World and marveled at how the management was missing the boat on the cloud and was diving wholesale into Case Management, I was told that I had to read this book.  After EMC World, I broke down, purchased it, and then fought to find time for it.  The book is over a decade old, so what was the rush? Let me tell you, I am glad I found the time.

I was told before I read the book that it was going to make me a little sad and despair for the future of Documentum.  It did in a way, but it also helped explain everything that was happening.  It actually increased my opinion of some people at EMC.  I am going to talk about the specifics to EMC, and other legacy Content Management vendors, in a subsequent post.  For now, let’s dive into the book itself.

Pass the Disk Drive

Christensen starts by explaining the basic problem.  Well managed companies have no problem keeping up with sustaining technologies in the market.  Need better performance?  We can innovate that for you.  The issue is around disruptive technologies.

He observed that no matter how good management was, there was an inherent inability for companies to respond for disruptive technologies.  In fact, it was because they were good managers that they were unable to respond effectively to the disruptive technologies.

Disruptive technology, by there very nature, do not fit in existing markets.  They start small and do not provide the capabilities required by existing customers or the profit-margins required by companies.  They don’t lead to double digit growth so they don’t get picked for investment.

When evaluating sustaining technologies these market and profit concerns are dead on, but they lead to very smart companies missing the boat on the technologies that will one day supplant them as leaders.

This point is driven home, ad nauseum, by Christensen using the disk drive industry.  I now know more about that industry than I ever wanted.  I also know that this is a problem that can impact any company, and will likely impact all companies.  Starting from a disruptive technology past does not immunize you from the risks.

To be sure, more examples from other industries are used as well.  It doesn’t matter if the innovation is fast (disk drives) or slow (excavators), disruptive technology has a way of wiping the previous generation off of the playing board.

One reason is quite simple.  Products add more functionality and capability with each new version.  Typically this occurs faster than change in the minimum consumer requirements.  This change does lead to more customers that need more, but adds capabilities that go unused by most of the market.  While leaders are making products better, the disruptive technology appears and offers lesser functionality, but in a more convenient and reliable package.  This new product finds a new market, which allows the the product to evolve and gain functionality until it hits the minimum requirements of the mainstream market.

When this happens, it is too late for the existing leaders.  If they haven’t successfully attacked an upper market, the attack from below may wipe them out completely.  Regardless, they will lose their mainstream market lead.

I’m over-simplifying quite a bit and leaving out details, but that is why there is a book.

Do We Just Quit Now?

So the obvious question is, What can be done? Well, that depends on the nature of the disruptive technology.  How does it fit in the organizations values and processes?  How accepting will the value network (suppliers and distribution network) be to the change?  There are a lot of questions to be answered before deciding on the appropriate action.

The simple, generic solution seems to be to create a spin-off or to acquire a company to run as a subsidiary, thought this approach is not always the answer.  With a little Enterprise 2.0 mythos, Christensen says that the resulting organization needs to be able to fail, and in fact, it will fail along the way.  The key is to not fail so big so there are enough resources remaining to take the lessons learned and make course corrections.

The book is relatively light on recommendations and spends more time talking about the perils and less upon the remedies.  I guess that is why he wrote more books later.  That said, if you can’t identify a problem, the solution will do you no good.

Who Needs to Read This?

Simple.  If you run (i.e. in management) an established product company, physical or software in nature, you need to read this.  If you are in Marketing in one of those companies, you need to read it.  If you are in Sales, it wouldn’t hurt.

If you are running a start-up, I wouldn’t worry too much at this time.  Just keep in mind that if you are successful, then it will apply to you one day unless you take a buyout before it matters.

If you are in a leadership position at a legacy Content Management company, and you haven’t read this book already, go buy it from your local bookstore or download a copy Now!  Don’t wait for shipping, it is too important.

In my next post, I’ll tie this more directly into the Content Management industry, with a focus on EMC because I am most familiar with them.  Keep in mind, every first-generation Content Management company is in the same situation.

Yesterday we launched our Empowered microsite. On this site you can find lots of resources about our new book, including the blog, where to buy the book in bulk, how Forrester can help your empowered strategies, and a new HERO Project Effort-Value Evaluation tool.

First, some background. When Josh & I first began investigating HEROes (highly empowered and resourceful operatives, basically folks like you who make a difference using new technology), we knew that we needed a way to assess the effort that your projects required. And then we realized that you were tackling new technology solutions because you saw the value they could provide. So we needed to help you assess the value and the effort.

Thus was born the HERO Project Effort-Value Evaluation tool that we introduce in chapter 2. This tool includes five value questions and five effort questions that categorize your project into one of four classes and provides you some high-level guidance on what to watch out for. The online version of the tool also creates a nice email format with the results of your evaluation, which you can easily share with colleagues to get them involved in the project.

I think your best use of the tool is to sanity check your thinking on the project, get insight into the questions you need to answer before getting started, and get others on board with your project goals. If you're in business, it's a way to get IT involved. If you're in IT, it's a way to help your business colleagues scope a project and get your help with it.

We can also help you assess the project and provide additional insight into where you should dig deeper.

Read more

 Here is the third part of my
notes from the TEDxBoston that occurred a few days ago. I have heard a lot
about TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) but have not attended before so I
was pleased to see how it worked. Here are my notes from the third group of
sessions. These
are live notes, only slightly edited, so please excuse typos, etc. After lunch
Muhan came back with two other musicians to perform another moving piece.

Next, Bill Staby covered how
to harvest ocean waves for usable energy. Their initial application is using
ocean waves to take the salt out of ocean water to produce usable drinking
water.  There is a lot of wave
energy available and globally 50% of the population lives within 100 miles of
the shore. Ocean waves are also consistent and predictable. Wind energy creates
waves but waves continue after the wind stops. Waves are stored wind energy and
available in many locations. However, the cost is still high compared to other
forms of natural renewable energy such as wind.  There are also a lot of regulations to deal with as the ocean
is not owned by anyone.  The wave
energy converters cannot be seen from the shore, unlike the issues with wind. They
are doing pilot programs in South Africa.

Sapir Ng showed how his
group is working to convert an abandoned subway tunnel in Boston into a cultural
center and many other things. Susan Rodgerson discussed how she has involved
kids in large-scale art efforts through Artists for Humanity.  Her group employs high school students
who come to their center and make art for businesses. They pay the kids and
also hope to generate over 40% of their operating budget through this work.

Scott Kirsner, discussed how
we need a cultural revolution.  He
began with the example of the art deco district in Miami Beach. I have been
there several times and appreciate this effort. Scott next talked about how
many New England college students leave the area after school or after they
become successful. He wants to connect students with startups who stay here. He
listed many successful examples of firms that stayed and grew, including the
most successful IPO of 2009.

Scott listed several groups
that support this concept of linking students with startups in the Boston area.
One group he started links students with innovative companies. It is called
Innovation Open Houses. Scott wants other companies to participate. He listed
efforts at a wiki – neinnovation.com/students – to compile a list of
participating companies. The site says, “We have a pretty simple job description here in New England: attract the
smartest young people from around the world, and create opportunities for them
to solve important problems and build big businesses here. It's just what we
do.”

Connor White-Sullivan now provided
a session on how the revolution will not be televised. Connor is a recent collage
graduate from UMass Amherst. He conveyed how watching a TED session showed him
how the Web has changed everything. So he wants to help use the Web for good. He
showed a graphic that showed the separation of political values in the US into
extremes. The political middle is very lonely place now. Connor, working with
others, built a group to support greater interaction between people and the
government and allow both sides of an issue hear each other. This site is
called localocracy.org.

Frank Reynolds discussed the
changing face of neuroscience. Frank taught himself how to walk after he was
paralyzed when he realized there were no medical answers.  The doctors told him there was no
recovery from his condition. So he studied neuroscience and spinal cord
injuries. He got himself to walking again through his own research. Now he
wants to provide this for others. 
Frank discovered there were silos of information in his area. Scar
tissue often covers over healthy tissue. With the right work, this healthy tissue
can be recovered and people can recover. 
They have been successful with monkeys and now hope to get FDA approval
to work with humans.

As I wrote at the end of my
part two notes, this TEDxBoston session provided access to a diverse set of
themes, some are not directly related to the major themes of this blog but I
wanted to share with you how a TEDx session flows.  The common theme is thinking outside the normal and creating
innovation. I felt that the message across most of the sessions was that innovation
becomes effective when it involves innovative way people are engaged with new
ideas and technology. I think this is very related to this blog.  I was pleased to attend and will be
looking at the TED site for more. 

   Here is the second part of
my notes from the TEDxBoston that occurred yesterday. I have heard a lot about
TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) but have not attended before so I was
pleased to see how it worked. Here are my notes from the second group of
sessions. These
are live notes, only slightly edited, so please excuse typos, etc.

Cesar Hidalgo from MIT began
this segment by covering global economic development. He said that one of the
issues is that diversity is not spread evenly. He introduced several principles
to address global economic development. First how many capabilities does a
country possess, rather than resources. He used legos to represent capabilities
in his visuals.

Here is more on Cesar’s lego
theory of development thanks to Eric Andersen. Typically, GDP is seen as a function of
just a few inputs (i.e. different types of putty using Cesar’s imagery).
These are capital, labor, and some kind of technology input. The types of
labor and the types of capital are more or less interchangeable (just as putty
is). Of course, economists know this is a massive simplification of the world,
but it is useful in helping describe an extremely complex reality.

Cesar
proposes a new approach that will help take into account a bit more of the
complexity that's out there in the world. He calls it the "lego"
theory of development. If we look at those countries that are wealthy, we see
that they produce products that require many different types of inputs or legos.
Further, wealthy countries don't specialize in one or two products (in
contradiction to a simplistic interpretation of comparative
advantage) they export many different types of goods. If a product is very complex, it can be best produced
by the few countries that have all the requirements.  You need to match capabilities with product requirements for
growth. How do you accumulate capabilities?

Another principle is
having the capabilities centralized. The industrialized countries have a great
concentration of capabilities in a centralized manner.  He showed how this increased
concentration of capabilities occurred in Malaysia as the economy grew. Cesar
feels that diversity of capabilities predicts growth more than traditional
inputs. This would argue for increasing the diversity of capabilities through
effective education.

Felice Frankel, a
photographer, provided a session titled more than pretty pictures. Felice
covered three main ideas. She said the process of making a visual
representation clarifies an idea. This process requires decisions that
encourage reflection. Second, the process of making a representation should be
collaborative. Third, the process of making a representation teaches. This
third principle is her real passion. I certainly agree with her points and there
has been a lot of research on this concept.  Muhan Zhang next very movingly performed a Mongolian
instrument.

John Werner and MacCalvin Romain
covered learning out of the box. MacCalvin told us how his creativity was
criticized in elementary school. However, he was shown that his interests could
turn into a career through Citizen’s Schools. John discussed how US education
is following behind the rest of the world.  He discovered that schools tried to keep the community
outside of the schools. Fifteen years ago he and others started Citizen Schools
to help expand the resources that students are exposed to.  John gave examples of bringing business
teams into the schools to create more learning opportunities.  He said there is a lot of potential for
people to help. Eight million people do jury duty each year, What if there was
education duty?  If we just two
percent of the scientists helped we would double the amount of science teachers
available to our kids. Good ideas.

Bill Walczak shared more
good ideas on education. His group started a charter school in a community
health center in Dorchester. They involve students in the health care
professions there. He said that Boston ninth grade students who do not go to
one of the three prestige Boston public high schools have a 7% chance to
graduate from high school. At the school in the health center they have
achieved an over 70% success rate through the involvement in the community
health center operations. This is a great model for integrating high school
with the community and a growing professional field. Now it was time for lunch.
More to follow in the next post.

This TEDxBoston session
provided access to a diverse set of themes, some are not directly related to
the major themes of this blog but I wanted to share with you how a TEDx session
flows.  The common theme is
thinking outside the normal and creating innovation. I felt that the message
across most of the sessions was that innovation becomes effective when it
involves innovative way people are engaged with new ideas and technology. I
think this is very related to this blog. 
I was pleased to attend and will be looking at the TED site for more. 

 I was pleased to be invited
to today's TEDxBoston. I have heard a lot about TED (Technology,
Entertainment, design) but not attended before. The TED Conference provides general guidance
for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. This one honored “local innovators who have the passion,
curiosity, and tenacity to change the
world with their revolutionary ideas.” They wanted us to unplug from our
technology but I want to take notes so I can remember what happen and share it
with you. I did, however, unplug any competing technology. I only recognized
one person in their highlighted presenters, Larry Lessing, so looked forward to
seeing a lot of new faces and hearing new ideas.  These are live notes, only slightly edited, so please excuse
typos, etc.

I
went to the simulcast room so I could use my laptop to take notes. The intro
talked about how this is a local event just using the TED branding and format. The session Economic Growth through Crowd Sourcing Dave McLaughlin is listed as the first event, a topic of interest for me lately, but it started with some drummers,
the Marcos Santos Group, to get us stoked up. Crowd sourcing is an obvious
starting point for an event like this. Meanwhile the drummers are good. Next
there was a quote from John Adams, one of our local revolutionaries, and revolutionary ideas is the theme of the day.

The introucers discussed the diversity of the audience including eight dozen CEOs and high
school students. I am humbled to be here.  Dave McLaughlin began with a discussion of horizontal relationships between vertical grouping for
cross-fertilization of ideas.  Boston has
invested to seed these cross-fertilizations for local economic growth through
Boston World Partnerships.  For
example, what is essential infrastructure is being rethought. Horizontal
relationships have become the new connectors.

Susan Avery from Woods Hole
next discussed our global ocean and its role in how the world functions.  The ocean has only been systematically
studied for 150 years. Now since WW2, technology has evolved rapidly to further
this exploration. The hydro-thermal vents are one new discovery that are places
where life forms emerge and were life likely started on this planet. This study
is very important as human impact on the ocean has greatly expanded. 

We have entered a new
geological era with humans as the dominant impact on the globe. For one thing
the ocean is becoming more acidic because of our carbon emissions.  This can greatly impact sea life such as
shell fish.  We view the ocean as a
limitless resource but it is not. The fish at the top of the food chain have
decreased by 90 percent since WW2. 
The ocean is also used as a garbage dump but there are limits here also.
There is a lot of plastic in the Pacific that ends up in fish. If we eat these
fish we eat our own garbage. She also addressed the oil spill in the Gulf. Each
spill is unique so the result is not predictable.

Seth Priebatsch covered the efforts
toward Building the Game Layer on Top of the World.  It is already happening but the market is cluttered. Game dynamics are
already in play but many are poorly designed such as credit card promotions.
Seth said we can build better applications of games using game dynamics. He
said this is important as we have been building the social layer but that is
done. He said Facebook has won this one. How it is time for building the game
layer. It said the game layer will be more important than the social layer so
it is time to think about it in a open way.

He showed four game
dynamics. First, there is the appointment dynamic. People have to do things at
a set time and place.  Happy hour
is one example.  Farmville has more
participants than Twitter and you have to return to water your virtual plants
at a certain time.  Second is
influence and status.  People want
to be cool and status is a great motivator.  School is a poorly designed status game. We could better use
game dynamics to improve participation in school. Third is the progression
dynamic. You have to go through certain granular steps. His firm is working
with businesses on applications of these dynamics to create loyalty, engagement,
and revenue.   Fourth, there
is communal discovery. Everyone works together to solve problems. Digg had a leader
board but it was too successful and had to be taken down. He closed with the
concept that game dynamics is the next frontier.

Mary Gunn discussed two
problems and one solution.  Her
organization, Generations, Inc. pairs older adults with kids in prompting
literacy. It helps both sides and she offers results.  I can believe this. A group next covered the digital
fabrication of homes so you could design homes in an automated way. Then the
specs are sent to a factory to produce the materials in a more cost effective
manner using compressed wood chips.  This also produces less waste, uses smaller trees, and get
homes up quicker. You can more easily do curves.

Before the first break John
Harthorne discussed starting a startup renaissance. John said that our economic
crisis can drive innovation. He started Mass Challenge to run a one million
dollar global competition on innovation. The finalists get funds, advice, and
free office space nearby at Fan Pier. He said why Boston for this?  Boston is number one on many innovation
measures: more investment per capita, more VC firms per capita, more
universities per capita, etc. than anywhere, even California.  This ends the first group of sessions. 

As I  have done each and every year,  I will be taking my annual break from technology. From now through August, I’ll be posting and managing the site a little less. I won’t be abandoning CMS Report, but you will be seeing me a little less.

During the summer months, I like to slow down my technology usage for a few weeks. I don’t think as human beings we were meant to be immersed in the huge quantity of today’s digital information. From the moment we are awake to the moment we go to bed, our bodies are being loaded with information. The email, cell phone, and the Internet seem to have a never ending presence in the lives of us IT folks. I don’t have much control with removing technology from my work day, but I do have options in my personal life. It’s time for me to unplug and officially begin Technology Break 2010.

My slogan for Tech Break 2010 is Run, run as fast as you can! Why the sense of this urgency in this year’s slogan?  Well, last year’s slogan of Blog less, Relax more didn’t do me much good in 2009 as I failed miserably to stay away from the tech. This year, it’s going to be even more difficult as today’s smartphones pretty much means we now wear a computer tied to our hip. I have a feeling the result of this exercise is that I will end up spending less time with technology, but it will be near impossible to take a complete break from the geek life I’ve lived with for so long.

As always, I appreciate help in any articles submitted to CMSReport.com.  If you want to really help out, create an account today and start contributing your own CMS stories. I’ll be checking email now and then for submitted posts so we make sure you’re not waiting too long to see your story published. Have a good rest of the summer!

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We are getting many requests for help on iPad strategies for the enterprise. It's clear why. iPads are a tremendously empowering technology that any employee can buy. My colleague Andy Jaquith has a report coming real soon now on the security aspects of iPhones and iPads, and I'm launching research on case studies of iPad in the enterprise.

I am currently hearing about three business scenarios for iPad and tablets, but I'd love hear of your experiences, plans, concerns, or frustrations. Ping me at tschadler(at)forrester(dot)com. Here are the three scenarios:

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