Business

Open collaboration: living or dying by a community

Open collaboration: living or dying by a community

First of all, thank you. Yup, I was talking to you.

People like me tend to get the credit when things go right, and the axe when things don’t, but in the open source world it’s you who ultimately decides the fate of a project. Engineers and managers and designers work hard, this is true. None of that matters unless we have an involved community simultaneously pointing at the shiny object up in the clouds while holding our feet firmly to the ground. » Read more

2 CommentsPosted 1 Feb 2012 by Stephen Gallagher (Red Hat)

Busting bureaucracy with radical management

Busting bureaucracy with radical management

To transform organizations so that they are fit for human beings--more inspiring and engaging and yet just as disciplined and even more productive--we need to understand why promising ideas for improving management developed in the 20th Century--such as teams, empowerment, delayering or innovation--failed to become a permanent part of the standard management repertoire. » Read more

0 CommentsPosted 31 Jan 2012 by Steve Denning

2011 People's Choice Award: And the winner is...

People's Choice Award

Thanks to everyone who voted for a People's Choice Award winner last week! Looking at the votes took some time due to a few folks who appear to have been dedicated enough to set up vote-bots. We appreciate your enthusiasm, but our authors are champs on their own, no additional help needed. But now that the votes are all in, we're pleased to announce that this year's winner is David Doria, who wrote several stories for our Education channel last year. » Read more

6 CommentsPosted 30 Jan 2012 by Ruth Suehle (Red Hat)

Who gets a seat at the table?

Who gets a seat at the table?

“That was a small lesson I learned on the journey. What is interesting and important happens mostly in secret, in places where there is no power. Nothing much of lasting value ever happens at the head table, held together by a familiar rhetoric. Those who already have power continue to glide along the familiar rut they have made for themselves.”
—Michael Ondaatje, The Cat's Table

Back in September I was lucky enough to participate in IBM's centennial THINK forum in New York City . The lineup included a staggering array of CEOs of the biggest, oldest, and most influential companies in the world, several heads of state (on loan from the General Assembly sessions at the UN across town), and a handful of boldface journalists and thought leaders. For all of the power on display in that room, the real topic of the moment was insurrection. » Read more

1 CommentPosted 24 Jan 2012 by Polly LaBarre

Vote for the 2011 People's Choice Award

Vote for the 2011 People's Choice Award

It's the time of year when we like to celebrate our community. And as we did last year, we want you to choose your favorite author for the 2011 People's Choice Award.

Voting will be open through January 27, 2012.

The winner will be announced on January 30, 2012 on opensource.com.

Voting is now closed.

 

0 CommentsPosted 23 Jan 2012 by opensource.com Admin (Red Hat)

The benefits of a transparent publishing calendar

The benefits of a transparent publishing calendar

Why would an editor let go of publishing power and give the master calendar over to a group of trusted people? That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. But we did it. And it works. And this is another example of the power of open source. » Read more

1 CommentPosted 19 Jan 2012 by Jason Hibbets (Red Hat)

Why being human is the only way to win

Why being human is the only way to win

I'm delighted to share the first of six videos from my conversation with our latest MIX Maverick Seth Godin. Seth needs no introduction--he's a 13-time bestselling author, serial entrepreneur and tireless game-changer. He is a one-man army when it comes to unleashing the passion and initiative of individuals to make a positive difference in the world. I'm always struck by his ability to make sense of the economic and cultural moment in a way that is both practical and profound.

Our recent conversation was clarifying and galvanizing. I hope it is for you too. » Read more

0 CommentsPosted 17 Jan 2012 by Polly LaBarre

Take our reader survey to help us improve opensource.com

Open source is built on community, and opensource.com is no exception. To make this an effective resource, it helps us to know who you are and what's important to you. Please take a few minutes to fill out our quick reader survey. We'll be accepting responses through January 27.

And of course, you can contact us any time you have questions, problems, or story ideas.

Thanks for being a part of opensource.com. » Read more

3 CommentsPosted 16 Jan 2012 by Ruth Suehle (Red Hat)

If you want a culture of collaboration, you need to accept the LOLCats too

If you want a culture of collaboration, you need to accept the LOLCats too

"Even with the sacred printing press, we got erotic novels 150 years before we got scientific journals."

- Clay Shirky at TED Cannes in June 2010

This is one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite people in the business, Clay Shirky. I particularly like it because it illustrates the period many organizations find themselves in when trying to integrate social media internally. Before wikis were used by the Intelligence Community to develop reports on IEDs, people were creating user badges to show off their favorite NFL teams. Before my own company's Intranet won any awards, we had people talking about how they enjoy skinny dipping on their profile. Before our VPs starting using Yammer to communicate with the workforce, we had groups of Android geeks and fitness gurus.I'm telling you this because if you're implementing any type of social media behind your organizational firewall, you should prepare yourself, your colleagues, your bosses, your senior leadership for this one inexorable truth. » Read more

0 CommentsPosted 11 Jan 2012 by sradick

Management ideology: The last bastion of American hegemony

Management ideology: The last bastion of American hegemony

Here is a tricky question: How many living management gurus can you name who did not learn their trade in North America? I have asked many colleagues this question, and it's pretty hard to come up with a good list. For example, consider the individuals in last year's "Thinkers 50" ranking list. By my reckoning, there are only seven who make the cut: Richard Branson (Virgin), Kris Gopalakrishnan (Infosys), Kjell Nordstrom and Jonas Ridderstrale (Stockholm School of Economics), Lynda Gratton, Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones (London Business School).

Does this matter? I think it does. » Read more

1 CommentPosted 9 Jan 2012 by Julian Birkinshaw