FNC Roundtable

In our Topic 1 posting (below–you should read this from bottom to top) I talked a little about the process and what our first topic for 2007 would be. To let people think about collaboration a bit, here are the case studies we will be talking about on Wednesday, January 17.
In the following case studies, we are looking at

• How are we managing the case/circumstance today?
• What are the advantages of how we are managing today?
• Are there different ways that we might manage these cases in the future that would be better?
• What tools, processes or changes would we need to make to take advantage of those different ways we have identified?

Case Studies

1. Writing Specifications. We are all working on writing specifications for a client CMS.

• How do we share?
• Where is the specification “located”?
• What “form” is it in?
• Is someone the “author”? (Who is in charge of the document?)
• How do we assert version control?
• Are there places for comments to be stored if we are having a discussion about a topic?

2. Client Meeting. We are all meeting today to make some decisions about a client, such as how to approach a specific issue they have raised.

• How do we get everyone together?
• How do we set follow up meetings?
• How do we distribute documents to everyone?
• How do we assign tasks, and track those tasks?
• How do we “report back” on our assignments to each other?
o Results of my assignment
o Make information available to everyone who needs to know it
• How do we report the final results of our discussions?
• Do we keep a permanent record of our discussions?
• How do we weave this information into the general discussions and information we maintain about a client?
o Where do we keep general information about a client?
o Where do we keep track of past decisions and actions about clients?

3. We are having a series of management roundtables. People walk out of the meeting and think of things they want to share, or discuss after the meeting, and before the next meeting.

• How do we add reference materials?
• How do we suggest additional reading?
• How do we allow people to post and circulate comments?

4. Knowledge Base. We have a boatload of knowledge about how to do many things, from how to format Word documents to how to solve the most arcane issues inside of CMS.

• How do we record (or perhaps retrieve) this information?
• How do we share this information?
• How do we organize?
• Who should be in charge? Or should it be a Wiki where no one is “in charge”?

5. Panic Phone Call. We just received a panicky phone call from one of our clients saying that their flux capacitor is broken and they need it fixed before 10:04 pm, when they need it for a very quick spin.

• How do we get everyone together who can help?
• Where do we find the necessary tools and information to fix the flux capacitor?
• How do we coordinate?
• How do we keep everyone up to date on progress
• How do we know when we are successful?

6. Corporate Calendar/Corporate Awareness. What is the best way to keep people apprised of corporate issues and events?

• Where and what should the corporate calendar be?

o What are the important dates?
o What should be on it?
o How do we make sure that everyone can see it?

•

What about the Monday Morning Memo?

o What is the function of the Monday morning memo?
o Does it satisfy that function?
o Does it need to be reformed or discontinued?

• I keep getting confused about all our products and service

o What are our products and services?
o What are do all those acronyms mean?
 PDF scan, OCR, AP Pro, XMS, etc

o And what about all those other offices? What do they do?

What is our format?

We will get together about once every month. Each time we get together, there will be three segments
• First, “how-to”. We’ll pick something that we are all dying to figure out how to do, and have someone show us how it is done. Expect lots of topics about Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and other programs we use every day. But it could be anything we want to learn.
• Second, Book Club. We’ll talk about one of the books on our book club list.
• Third, the main event, will be a topic that we want to work on, or explore. There is a recommended list on the side bar, but we will pick as we go.

This is where it starts. First Topic.

We start by talking about how we collaborate.

We have lots of tools that can help us collaborate, including sitting in a room together or reading this blog. We have the usual suspects, telephone, web, e-mail, shared directories, Wikis, Blogs and Sharepoint. No one fits all.

We will talk about a stack of different challenges we face every day and decide whether the tools we have available are up to the task, or we need to invent new ones.

In the mean time, look at this posting from Chris Anderson, the author of The Long Tale and editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine.

http://www.longtail.com/the_long_tail/2006/12/what_would_radi_1.html

Then look at his follow up
http://www.longtail.com/the_long_tail/2006/12/transparency_re.html