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The Socialmarkets Manifesto

At the suggestion of Deborah Finn, I just took a look at Allan Benamer's Socialmarkets Manifesto. Although I am an advocate of most of the systems thinking that goes into the current enthusiasm for the use of economic concepts in civil society, I myself prefer to instead use ecology as my source of guiding principles. In particular, I am usually very cautious about using "markets" as a key metaphor. I have many reasons for this. One of them is, to put it baldly, that I don't think the "good guys" control the meaning of the word, and that consequently this brings great long term risk in our common work to save the world. But that said, I think this is a truly visionary thought piece that stands a chance of helping the organization it's meant to support make a real difference. Here are my three favorite bullet points: "(1) Web 2.0 changes non-profit 101. (2) Giving the finger to the invisible hand. (3) Failure is an option." Aren't those great? Posted: 7/31/07; 8:12:16 PM #

Get the Idea

In Get the Idea, Simon Derry has something very useful to say about innovation: It's possible to make innovation a less intimidating idea than it usually is and instead turn it into a set of skills that can be taught and practiced within an organization. His seven practices are: (1) Focus on opportunities of high value. (2) Have the active commitment of top management. (3) Build techniques into business processes. (4) Develop innovation as a core skill - in all staff and especially in managers. (5) Use tools to support the application of concepts - using the internet and some tracking software, ideas can be tracked and innovations planned. (6) Reward people for sharing ideas & knowledge - and this does not just mean a cash bonus! (7) Communicate successes - through all means possible. Posted: 7/31/07; 7:57:50 PM #

Web Redesign is Bad Strategy

Every now and then I will see a request from a nonprofit organization asking for a recommendation to a firm that can do a web redesign for them. I will reply to these with a carefully crafted and nuanced plea that they consider spending their money on process redesign instead. Most of the time I am completely ignored and sometimes I even get nasty replies from people who might, I think, be insulted by my suggestion. With the frustration that flows from this experience, I point you to a wonderful article by Gerry McGovern on this very topic: Web Redesign is Bad Strategy. Please pass this on to anyone you think might be falling into this trap. Posted: 7/31/07; 7:47:54 PM #

Citizens at the Center

I've been involved in a great many civic engagement projects over the years and it's discouraging to look back and see how many of them were fundamentally centered on the interests and perspective of the organizations involved, rather than the people to be engaged. Last year, the Case Foundation produced an important report, entitled Citizens at the Center (cover page for full PDF or report). In essence, I read this as an argument to a return to good old fashioned community organizing, but with some very definite new emphases. Readers familiar with my work will see why I love these recommendations: (1) Shift the focus to problem solving. (2) Start young. (3) Involve all community institutions. (4) Use technology to create a new kind of "public commons." (5) Explore and create new mechanisms for interaction, with a special emphasis on where people already congregate. (6) Conduct rigorous research about what works and why. (7) Encourage more funding for these approaches. (8) Help communities move from deliberation to action. Posted: 7/31/07; 7:40:42 PM #

Customer Experience Is Key to Web Design

I'm in the middle of two highly user and communication centered planning projects right now and I'm very pleased with how they're going. But it's good for me to remember that this is not typical at all. Most organizations still pursue processes that are either technology centered or, at best, content centered (unfortunately, the latter often means self-centered). It's always good to hear an articulate plea for user-centered design, which is what Peter Merholz delivered in his keynote address for Web Design World Seattle 2007. Of course, he calls users "customers", but we can forgive him that. Posted: 7/31/07; 7:32:59 PM #