I was visiting with a friend the other day and discussing the challenges in implementing new technologies. It occurred to me that we (IT) play different roles depending on the technology, what we understand about it and its purpose. I have settled on three roles - Ride, Guide and Drive. Currently in my world, these roles seem to be tied to stages of maturity of the technology within the context of a community.
In recent years, there have been a number of technologies; blogs, RSS, and wikis to name a few; which have great potential, but which we are unsure of their final applications - how they can and will be used. We are just as unsure of their acceptance in our own communities or how to articulate or demonstrate their value. In these situations, I think that IT plays an implementation, access and awarness role, but we are very much just along for the ride.
There are other technologies where we have carved out some very useful applications, but we are still learning how to use them and how they can be used. The best example off the top of my head is web conferencing - which can be used for many activities including presentations, online collaboration and online learning. In this stage, we have learned enough about using these technologies - what works and what doesn't in some situations - that we begin to guide their use. Another technology in this stage might be CRM.
In the final stage, we have very process oriented technologies and applications. In this stage, we understand the purpose of the application and we drive or engineer its implementation for that purpose. This is usually very process oriented and is implemented to enhance a process or provide new efficiencies. CRM wants to be in this stage, but isn't for most of us, simply because we don't understand it well enough. Software development seems primarily set in this framework - a partnership between IT and our clientele to drive the development and implementation of new applications.
This rambling may seem like common sense, but consider what happens when you play the wrong role in different stages. What happens when I try to drive the use of an application I (or my clients) don't understand? So, it would seem to me that we should evaluate new technologies and applications and consider what role will best allow us to understand their uses and provide the best value.
I found an article and blog on Brainstorm - http://www.brainstormsw.com/. I may have mentioned it in another posting. It is a brainstorming application. I haven't tried it yet, but I do use MindManager - which I like more the more I use it.
In any case, I think this is a needed tool for online collaboration software. I would love to see something like it developed for Breeze. It would be extremely useful for online meetings.
Interesting site. Can be fun if you are into words and history.
"Etymologies are not definitions; they're explanations of what our words meant and how they sounded 600 or 2,000 years ago."