The Workplace Blog

MindAlign 2007 from Parlano is probably one of the best collaboration application that I have not heard of. Until that is, Microsoft acquired them today.It serves a very important synchronous communication need - how to manage multiple IM conversations across different teams in real time.

It provides persistent chat for the enterprise and partners connected to the enterprise. So imagine you work on five different teams and have conversations with team members from each of those teams. Wouldn’t it be nice if your IM program let you organize your discussions into groups based on the different teams? That’s what MindAlign 2007 does and it integrates well with Microsoft’s Live Communication Server and Sharepoint. Now if only, it could be plugged right into my company’s wiki based intranet.

Avenue A | Razorfish is owned by Microsoft Corporation.

I’m on a Social Computing panel at the upcoming Office 2.0 conference in San Francisco. Chaired by Shel Israel of Naked Conversations fame, the other participants include Gina Bianchini from Ning, Anil Dash from Six Apart, John McCrea from Plaxo and Adam Nash from LinkedIn. All participants receive a free iPhone which they are supposed to use for exchanging information during the conference.

I’ll tell you how that experiment turns out once I’m back. If you’re attending the conference, join us at 1:30pm on Thursday, September 6th, 2007. It should be fun!

What is the best way to use Facebook? Can it serve as a business networking tool? Or is it just a social networking site that should be used to reconnect with personal friends? In an attempt to answer some of these questions, I’ve developed a set of Facebook rules. Rules for those who are in the workforce and a little worried about their privacy.

1. Only accept invitations from people you know.
We usually get invitations from people that we have at least a passing acquaintance with. But also some invitations from people we do not know at all. Quite simply, do not accept invitations from people you do not know.

2. Be picky about who you give access to your complete profile.
Many of us ignore the limited profile feature but it is very useful. You may not want someone you have just met to discover your high school nick name when he browses your “Wall.” Nor may you want him to see the photographs of the party you attended the previous weekend. The solution - provide access to the limited profile and only in time change those settings. Maybe establish a one year rule - give complete access only to people whom you’ve known for more than three months

3. Do not publish phone numbers online. An email address is enough.
Did you know that random strangers can view your complete profile even if they are not your friends? Facebook’s default privacy settings allows strangers to see the profile of all a person’s friends. That can be dangerous. Solve the problem by not including too much contact information.

4. Do not accept random application invitations. They aren’t worth it.
Alright, some applications can be a lot of fun. Whether its poker or the globe application, they let you share more with friends. But many of these applications also gather your personal information and market it to others. So don’t accept too many application invitations. Or if you must, at least read \the fine print first.

5. Ignore the pokes. It will save you embarrassment.
A girlfriend poking her boyfriend is very different than getting a poke from a colleague. The best solution? Simply ignore the pokes. Don’t poke anyone and ignore the pokes you receive. It’ll save you embarrassment. Instead send them private messages or add them as friends. Unless that is of course, you truly mean to poke them.

6. Petition Facebook to improve its privacy settings interface.
The truth is Facebook succeeds when our privacy is compromised. The more we share about ourselves, the more our friends and their friends get hooked on the service. So while Facebook may say they respect our privacy, they’d rather we be as expressive as possible. But at the same time, they need to educate us about the risks of sharing too much. And just as importantly, they need simpler interfaces for changing one’s privacy settings.
7. Don’t expect too much from the Facebook groups
One of Facebook’s killer applications are its groups. They combine the best of evite and meetup and are useful for organizing events. But beware of group invitations from strangers. If the groups are inactive or are marketing ploys, leave them immediately.

8. Use the send message feature. Friends may prefer it to the wall.
Everybody else may not be as open as you. Some may prefer to have conversations using the private messages feature rather than the wall. Keep that in mind as you talk to your friends. And whatever you do, don’t compromise their privacy by posting something confidential on their wall.

You know a web trend is “tired” when the strategy consulting firms discuss it. They’re often the last to pick up technology trends. So when I started reading this Booz Allen Hamilton article on web 2.0, I expected more of the same. But it is slightly different. Rather than just lamenting the end of traditional marketing, it also discusses how Web 2.0 provides new opportunities. Now that’s a nice change.

I stumbled upon this list of seven must read intranet blogs put together by James Roberston of Column Two. I was pleasantly surprised to find The Workplace Blog mentioned with this description - “Published by Shiv Singh in the US, this blog comfortably sits at the intersection of intranets, portals and web 2.0.” Thank you. He also lists useful content management, usability and information architecture blogs.

This wonderful slide deck explains what enterprise 2.0 is. It’s useful for the executive who’s trying to understand these new trends. Thanks Charlie!

Jane McConnell is running the 2007 Global Intranet & Portal Strategies Survey. Submissions close on August, 30th 2007. If you participate in the survey, you’ll receive a free copy of the standard report while the enhanced version of the report will not be free. She has also published some preliminary results of the survey. To participate email Jane.

The Sloan Management Review discussed the challenges surrounding enterprise software in an article recently. They quote a multi-year study of over 400 companies which showed that IT departments tend not to be innovative leaders within an organization but rather conservative forces. Forces who are viewed by business executives as “cost sinks and liabilities”. Is that a fair characterization?

I do not want anyone who is managing an email infrastructure or a company-wide customer databases to be too innovative. I’d choose conservativeness any day. But at the same time, there are other areas in which IT managers can be innovative. Like in its uses of web 2.0 technologies. Rather than deriding these technologies as light-weight fads, IT departments can help their business clients and themselves by setting up web 2.0 labs to explore new uses of these technologies.

More importantly, IT managers should form closer relationships with their business counterparts. In today’s context, every business leader needs to understand IT well - so let them. It may bring in new ideas and new champions. IT infrastructure (like ERP systems) is increasingly getting commoditized or outsourced. Value is derived from the fringe, innovative end of an information technology infrastructure. IT managers may not have all the skills to reap those benefits so befriending a business head may not be such a bad idea even if it means less control.

Social Computing Magazine republished my post on how Facebook is blurring our professional and personal lives. It seems a lot of people are worrying about how Facebook is making our personal lives more public. However, some like David Deal at Avenue A | Razorfish, are comfortable with the idea of mixing the professional and personal on Facebook. He says that when people sign up, they are aware of the risks involved and implies that our professional lives are personal too. Interesting point, after all strong professional relationships always evolve into personal friendships.