The future of work vision by Podio

There’s ample debate today around the need for a change in the way we work and how the future of work will look like. The reasons for this topic to be increasingly talked of usually come to reasons such as:

• the tools we currently use fail to really help us get work done in a context of increasing uncertainty, change & need for greater collaboration, both inside and outside company boundaries
• the disengagement and energy drain of employees is affecting all sorts of organizations
• a younger generation is entering the workforce with different expectations regarding the workplace

I’m very passionate about the theme of the future of work maybe because I feel reason #1 often and because I’ve seen reason #2 happen a lot. So when my good friends at the Startup Pirates decided to invite me to an event on the Future of Work with Podio I had to say yes, of course!

I first came across Podio at the Dachis Group Social Business Summit in London in 2011, and later saw lots of buzz on their Future of Work tour around the US and Europe, though not Portugal. The opportunity finally came on the 23rd of January in the beautiful city of Oporto (disclaimer: I’m clearly biased here ) where Kasper Hultin, “an entrepreneur by heart” and one of the founders of Podio, presented his company’s vision of the future of work.

Podio’s vision seems to tackle reason #1 that I’ve appointed earlier, though the others are somewhat related. According to Kasper “the way people get work done is quite broken, with too many disjoint and disconnected tools”. So Podio presents itself as a DIY work tool (my words, not theirs) where one can literally build one’s work platform. How? Well, the magic word is apps!

Podio’s motto is “change the way we work, one app at the time” and they seem to mean it. By giving users (yes, the mere mortal ones, not just the Gods of coding )  the ability to build/customize apps, Podio aims to give each of us the ability to adapt our work platform to the way work actually needs to get done: in a collaborative and social way, using a user-friendly interface.

I started using it over the weekend to coordinate a personal project with some friends and must say I liked the slick design and the ability to, in 5 minutes, add apps to enrich the workspace I was putting together. It was clear from yesterday’s presentation that there’s more to the apps customization capabilities than what I was expecting (so yes, I have a date with my laptop and Podio apps during the weekend ).

One smart question that came from yesterday’s audience was related to the competition in the collaborative/social/web-based work platforms at the moment with so many options (Huddle, Yammer, etc) out there. To a smart question, Kasper gave a smart answer:

On the market for #collaboration tools "we all compete for attention, that's the biggest competition" @podio #futureofwork #socbiz—
Ana Silva (@AnaDataGirl) January 23, 2012

One thing that I didn’t had the chance to explore with Kasper was the topic of information silos and discoverability: isn’t the future of work also about transforming the way we work into a more open and cross-collaborative mode (cross as in cross-department/business unit and even cross company’s boundaries)? And if that is the case (and I believe it is) how does one overcome the fact that each team or department will just be tempted to create private workspaces thus miming old information and work silos into one new platform?

Actually, this is a question to which I think I know the answer (and so does Podio): the Future of Work requires a transformation on work, organization culture and leadership itself…

A night at the movies: art, serendipity and lessons for entrepreneurs

A good friend of mine has been organizing these movie sessions dedicated to the Spanish art of flamenco. We all gather in a local cultural association periodically to watch the movie she selected and the event is complemented with related performances like dancing or guitar playing.

Last night, as I was attending a documentary on the master of Spanish guitar Paco de Lucía, I suddenly realized what she is really doing: she is (and I believe John Hagel would agree with me – see his book The Power of Pull), creating a serendipitous environment where people with a passion for the arts of classic Spanish guitar and flamenco can meet!

To understand what I mean, a bit more context: our local culture has never been very much influenced by that of the Southern Spanish region of Andalucía, birthplace of flamenco, so those that like it always feel that they are part of a tiny tribe. Also, since it is not what people usually call “a social dance”, such as tango or salsa, you rarely have the chance to meet other aficionados outside the classroom.

The movie sessions started as a way for my friend to gather her students and contribute to the development of their knowledge through movies and documentaries, preceded by her explanations and context. But last night, as I scouted the packed room with many strangers, all slowly drinking the words of wisdom of master Paco de Lucía, I came to realize that she is in fact building something much bigger, even if that was not her intention in the first place. And I felt proud!

“The stomach fills easily; the spirit is insatiable” Paco de Lucía

Last night’s documentary, about the life and work of the great Spanish guitar genius Paco de Lucía, also reminded me of the similarities between art and other types of work, and the lessons entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs can draw from great artists:

Ceaseless work

Paco was born out of a family with a passion for flamenco, yet humble, so he did not had the chance to study music and guitar beyond the age of 8. Nonetheless, his passion drove him to keep trying and improving. As a boy he practiced endless hours each day, with the neighbours at times thinking the family had, in fact, bought an expensive record playing device because they couldn’t believe it was in fact him playing all those hours.

“Many times I thought of giving up, I thought I wasn’t good enough” Paco de Lucía

Deserved (at home) recognition usually takes a while

Paco was the first non-classical music artistic to perform at Madrid’s Teatro Real, a mecca for classical music. That day marked the recognition of his work and of flamenco as an art as “deserving” as others to be featured at such a venue. Yet, he explained in the documentary that by that time he had already received praise and performed at other equally important venues around the World.

Lack of “formal” training should not stop you from trying

Since he did not formally study music, Paco felt that he lacked some knowledge and skills. When he was invited to play the famous Concierto de Aranjuez piece by Joaquín Rodrigo with an orchestra he knew that he was unable to read music as they did but, with a special annotation on the musical scores, he was able to deliver a harmonious and unique performance.

Step out of your comfort zone. Learn from others. Go to the edge

Throughout his career, Paco always tries to do different things, try new sounds and record different albums. At some point in his life, he went to the US and started playing with guitar giants Al di Meola and John McLaughlin. “That scared me a lot”, he explained, “because I didn’t knew how to improvise. It was all new to me, jazz was very apart from the rigid structure of flamenco, and I felt I lacked the harmony that they had”. Guess I won’t have to tell you that their trio record was a mega hit, do I?

Disconnect to reconnect

Paco lives in Yucatan, Mexico, where he says he can just be Francisco Sanchez (his birth name), the man, and not Paco de Lucía, the legend. He draws inspiration from the quiet and beautifully natural surroundings, and has the necessary tranquillity to practice endlessly and try new sounds.

“When your passion becomes an obligation, then the passion goes away” Paco de Lucía

Book review: The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda

I participate in this sort of book club. I say sort of because it did not start as such. It all started as a group of interesting people that met serendipitously and decided to gather once a month over dinner. The idea to recommend and exchange interesting books over those gatherings came naturally during our first encounter.

I was leaving one of those dinners when I noticed a book waiting to be taken home (to somebody’s home at least). The title read: The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda. Three things had caught my immediate attention, by this order: the name of the author, the book cover and the title. I’ve known John Maeda only by reputation and was actually curious to read his work. The book cover is white with a splash of coloured circles. And simplicity is a topic  that I’m interested in.

(a brief note on simplicity: I actually think that the crisis that Europe is currently experiencing is a good opportunity to rethink how we live, what we value, how we spend our money… it is an opportunity to go back to a simpler, and more meaningful, way of life)

Maeda writes about what is or drives simplicity: in the design of everyday objects, in technology, in business and in life. The book is organized into 10 laws, and 3 keys and is writen in a… well… simple and delightful way.

One of my favourite parts (you know the feeling, those that make you smile and say “yes, yes, yes” even if words are not coming out of your mouth because you don’t to appear crazy to the other people also seating in that coffee shop) appeared in Law 7 –  Emotion, that states that “More emotions are better than less“. When thinking about businesses, Maeda states the following:

“Emotional intelligence is now considered an important facet of leaders today, and the expression of emotion is no longer considered a weakness but a desirable human trait to which everyone can immediately  relate. Our society, systems, and artifacts require active engagement in care, attention, and feeling – the business value may not be immediately apparent. But the fulfillment from living a meaningful life is the ROE (Return on Emotion). A certain kind of more is always better than less – more care, more love, and more meaningful actions…”

As a strong defender of the need to bring back humanity, and therefore emotions, back into our businesses, that quote resonated deeply with me.

If you are interested in exploring the different dimensions of simplicity then do not miss this book!

Looking back on 2011

It’s that time of the year again: December, the festive season, the cold days coming through, the end of another year approaching. For me it has been, in the last few years, a time for taking time: time to rethink about the events of 12 months, time to draw some lessons from the yearly experiences, time to think about what I’ve gained and lost, time to think and move forward.

This December is no exception and now that the rush of the Christmas season has passed, I take some time from this sunny day off to reflect on 2011 and think about what 2012 might bring.

Looking back my first conclusion has to be: boy, what a year I’ve had!!

I was appointed to a new position at work, with the responsibility of making sense of what social technologies mean both internally (connecting employees) and externally (connecting with customers) for the company that pays for my salary. It’s been quite a journey there…

On top of that I organized 2 conferences (Happiness & Creativity in Your Work Life and Cidadania 2.0) and 3 local Ignite Portugal events. I was a speaker at Switch Conference and WordCamp Lisbon. I was invited to speak at another 5 smaller private events, both in companies and at the university. I became a post-degree teacher for the 1st time (teaching Enterprise 2.0 at the local business school). I wrote a book chapter on Enterprise 2.0 and business performance and another 5 or 6 articles for blogs such as Feed The Reader and Conference Basics. I organized 2 volunteer actions for the local food bank, mobilizing more than 100 volunteers.

Looking back I can barely understand how I’ve managed the frenzy of those 12 months!

It has been, for sure, one of those years that will stay with me forever: for the people I’ve met, for the books I’ve read, for the experiences (good and bad) that I’ve endured and (hopefully) the lessons learned, for the experiences that I’ve helped create, for that indescribable feeling of being more mature.

The road ahead is promising: there’s so much to learn, so many new people to meet (and so many others to re-encounter), many new challenges knocking at my door (serendipity must be working my way) and a sense that something is not quite right that promises to make me battle (to find my path) yet again during 2012!

I don’t want to make resolutions for the new year but I still want to find more time to blog (writing in a language that is not natively my own after an exhausting work’s day is not easy) and I have to better manage my energies (which may mean selectively deciding on what projects to participate next year). The rest is up to what the year might bring… and what opportunities I generate and grab!

What about you? Do you look back on the year ending during the festive season? Do you do new year’s resolutions?

Guest post for Conference Basics: How To Stimulate Serendipity In Conferences (And Other Events)

 

I was recently invited by Gianfranco Chicco, that describes himself as a “nomad on a serendipitous walkabout”, to write a post on how to stimulate serendipity in conferences and other events for his blog Conference Basics.

I met Gianfranco this year at the Switch Conference where we were both speakers. If you are a regular reader of this blog you surely remember that I spoke about serendipity in that talk and, being an occasional conference organizer myself, I touched the topic of serendipity and events in my talk. From that moment to Gianfranco’s invitation was just a matter of some weeks and a few private messages on Twitter

I have to say that I am really pleased with the final result of the post that you can read HERE.

Hope you enjoy it!

Humanizing companies: when technology facilitates recognition and praise

M. has worked for the same company for circa 4 decades! A lifetime devoted to one organization, witnessing its ups and downs, watching its history unfold as turbulently as that of her country. For her work and devotion she has received praise and recognition on some occasions, namely whenever a party to celebrate important dates of the organization were organized.

Some months ago, however, the team managing an internal blog-like communication platform invited her to give an interview, later published in that platform, as a way to share her story and her memories of 4 decades of work with younger colleagues.

What happened next amazed both the colleagues managing the platform and herself. As soon as the interview was published, recognition and praise started flourishing from all corners of the organization in the form of comments: her closer colleagues, her direct manager, her direct manager’s boss, colleagues she had never heard of, colleagues from the other side of the Atlantic… Some – her closer ties – gave her recognition for her work, good spirits and friendship; others – her weaker ties – thanked her for her devotion and for telling her history without ceremony.

The flow of feedback to her words and story moved her so much that she couldn’t stop thanking the (overwhelmed!) colleagues that make sure that the platform is constantly updated and that stimulate everyone’s participation (think of internal community managers).

This small episode may seem insignificant to a big organization but I don’t think it is. I think it shows the power of using social technologies (in this case a blog-like platform) to humanize a company:

• you give voice to your employees, both those that share their stories and those that react by commenting, no matter their position in the hierarchy ladder (in the case of M. not a very high position)
• you share and keep memory of the history of your organization through storytelling
• you signal to other employees that you care about what they have to say, their experiences and wisdom
• you humanize “names” and “employee numbers” (now everyone knows who M. is)
• you give them an online space for conversation and interaction, stimulating connectedness
• you publicly give praise and recognition which, like Daniel Pink described in Drive, can do much more for motivation and employee engagement than an increase in the paycheck

From that moment on M., who speaks little English, started making an effort to comment in other posts in English so that should communicate and give praise to other colleagues. And they say miracles don’t happen in the corporate world…

Serendipity at Wednesdays: a nomad way of working

The calendar marked the 23rd of November when a tweet just caught my attention: Guilherme (@guictx) announced that he would start doing an initiative he entitled “Nomad Wednesdays”, which meant working in a place other than his office to meet new people and new ways of working.

One word immediately came to my mind: serendipity!

I later asked Guilherme, a designer, architect and partner at boq how he had come up with this idea, why, and how he is finding the places to be a nomad at Wednesdays. He kindly explained how the idea was born, from the starting point of a very flexible and sometimes remote work style at boq.

Guilherme had been musing on the idea of trying friends’ offices for a while but he’d never really done it. One day he just decided to change that and Nomad Wednesdays were born.

He shared with me four reasons to do this:

• stepping out of his comfort zone and dealing with the unexpected
• learning by working around people that do other stuff and see the world through different perspectives
• the curiosity of seeing people in action in their work environments and understanding how they organize their workspace [this must be his architect’s nature I guess ]
• the chance to show his work to other people and get feedback

And again the word just popped in my head: serendipity! I talked about serendipity and business this year during my talk at the Switch Conference, emphasizing the importance of stimulating connections and conversations between employees, to foster ideation, innovation and also to strengthen network ties and a sense of connectedness.

In disperse organizations enterprise versions of social tools (blogs, wikis and social networks for example), can help. But thinking about the design of the office space in a way that will help enhance interactions and favour serendipity is also important. And so is Guilherme’s initiative of the Nomad Wednesdays.

It got me thinking what it would be like if companies would stimulate their employees to occasionally work at other places and also receive people from other organizations… what do you think? Would this work? Would you like to try something like this?

At the moment, Guilherme is using his network of connections to find the workplaces that can welcome him on Wednesdays but he’s willing to let serendipity run loose in strangers’ offices too

 

PS – you should also check my dear friend’s Ana Neves post on this initiative. She was also very curious!

 

Until you walk the talk (of social)

Picture this: you are a company talking the talk of social. You claim to understand it. You say you are part of that movement. You “preach” it.

And then something happens: one of your employees goes to visit a client and he knows little about your competition, little about what social really means, little about the recent trends or moves or articles or discussions.

And there you have it, the moment of revelation (for the client, that is). On that moment you have proved to the client that he gets social, he lives social, he uses social to form a network of connections that can help him, teach him, make him understand the current challenges. You don’t.

You prove to him the value of using social media to keep up-to-date with the topics that should interest you both (you more than him, actually). You prove to him the value of using social technologies on the inside, sharing the torrent of knowledge formed on the outside with co-workers inside his company.

He now knows the he can come to you armed: with knowledge, with understanding, with experience, with the network, with the resources, the posts, the whitepapers, the videos, the webinars, the livestreams, the conversations on Twitter, Facebook, Google +. And he can even, secretly desiring that you really really got it, give some tips to your employee, explain to him the current state of your competition, of the market, of the challenges… (what a surreal moment!).

The only problem is that in the end both will lose: he loses his faith in you as a partner that gets it, that could help him understand a little bit more, while you are constantly losing by not embracing social on the inside, by not stimulating or empowering your people to get it & to get involved!

You will keep losing it… until you walk the talk.

WordCamp Lisboa 2011: it’s a wrap

Yesterday, as I had announced here, I was a speaker at the first WordCamp event in Portugal, sharing my very personal experience with blogging platforms and the role that blogs play in my life.  I would like to start by thanking the organization once again for inviting me!

I guess my experience, and that of so many people that do not have any computing or web design skills and yet have their own personal space in the blogosphere, embodies the motto of WordPress, shared during the event by Scott Berkun: “Democratizing publishing”.

As I had foreseen I was out of my comfort zone on that stage. And as I had expected the talk did not resonate with everyone, which is ok.

I guess expectations on my talk were high and on that point let me leave you with a comment (sort of a lesson learned yesterday) both from my perspective as a speaker and as a conference planner: organizers of conferences or other events should manage expectations on the talks and the speakers with some balance, for the sake of the event itself and also for the comfort of the speakers.

The event was a success for a first WordCamp organized in such a short time, with an interested audience with mixed interests and levels of “geekness”

Having spoken at some events already and attended several others, let me share with you a strange (and rather sad) phenomenon I witnessed yesterday:  I returned to my seat after my talk only to find that some had preferred to comment on the looks of the female speaker (myself) and how she chose to spend her free time. I find it astonishing (and deeply sad) that in the 21st century a woman cannot go up on a stage and receive the respect she deserves as a human being. Fortunately that kind of behaviour was the exception and not the norm but somehow I could not let it go by.

On a really positive note, I had the chance to catch up with some really cool and good hearted people and to meet some great folks for the first time! A real oxygen for the soul Thank you all for making me feel so welcomed, you know who you are.

And now getting ready to go home. Next week promises to be really challenging and side projects need to enter into cruise mode!

 

PS – mucha suerte para el WordCamp Sevilla en Octubre

Why I’m speaking at WordCamp Lisboa 2011

Next Saturday I’ll go up on stage of the WordCamp Lisboa 2011, an event by the Portuguese WordPress community, to give a talk about “The art of life on blog”. I’ll be sharing my very personal experience with blogging platforms and the role that blogs play in my life.

Why am I speaking there? Well, the straightforward reply would be something like “because I got invited and said yes”. But my reasons go beyond that and include:

1. it will be a chance to catch up with some very smart & cool people and (hopefully) meet some more smart & cool people

2. I’ll be stepping out of my comfort zone. Let me explain:  looking at the lineup of speakers and their topics it really scares me. I have no coding/computing skills (trial and error doesn’t count, right? and I fear that my talk will be the alien one on the program (I’m hoping that they reeeeaaaally like alien stuff ). But truth is that serendipity and new ideas happen at the edge of one’s areas of expertise so I like to attend events that have little to do with what I do or know. So I’m expecting to learn some new things there!

3. I’ve come to realize that, without knowing, I’m already in one way or the other a member of the Portuguese WordPress community (hmm… where do I get a cool t-shirt to go with the membership? )

4. I love the adrenaline rush of being on stage! (though I always get really nervous before starting)

5. I get to say that I was a speaker at a WordPress event. How cool is that?

And that’s it. The deck is done but the storytelling that goes with it still has to be fine-tuned (O_o, I’m late!).

I’ll blog about it afterwards. In the meantime, see you there?