Wikinomics: Chapter One Reflections

Chapter One

What strikes you as interesting and why?

I found the success stories of self-organization vs. hierarchical management interesting. My work experience has included a heavy dose of hierarchy. I do not believe it is always the most successful leadership model, but it is the one I have seen most often and the one that has been rewarded within the organizations in which I work. Why don’t companies see this?

I loved the example of the companies that have successfully used this for R&D. Amazing stories. It shows that even a highly regulated and typically secretive industry, pharmaceuticals, can even use collaboration to their advantage.

What application do you see between what you’re reading and your experiences? How so?

I love the idea of putting a question out for all to help answer. On a small scale, I saw this work so effectively this week at work. We have a team of instructional designers that do not collaborate like we should, but one of the designers was struggling with how to present some material. She sent a message out to the entire department; the responses were amazing. The training will be so much better due to that small act of collaboration. On a larger scale the opportunities are endless.

What are you struggling to understand and why?

Peer production – collaborating openly to drive innovation and growth in an industry sounds great, but how do you get a traditional business to utilize these tactics?

Being Open / Peering / Sharing /and Acting Globally are not typical concepts considered. Working in a traditional business that is heavily regulated it is hard to envision this happening. You do not share openly and collaborate with competitors. You do not post the questions you are having trouble solving or ask for help. You protect what you know and what you don’t know. Even within the business units you can find areas where sharing among your own teams is not done, those that know keep that knowledge in order to maintain their status. I am struggling how you get the collaboration started.



The second thing I am struggling with is the accuracy of Wikipedia or any Wiki. If I am a new leaner that does not know anything about the topic, I will have no way of knowing the information is not correct.