FASTforward’09: Jim McGee, Managing Director of New Shoreham Consulting
by Joshua-Michéle Ross
Jim’s comments focused on two basic themes. On the plus side is the notion that the heavy lifting of search is being hidden from end users who can’t/won’t learn to do sophisticated search queries on their own. On the “mildly troubling” side is something that he posted to the blog about this afternoon. As Jim explained, that post addresses the following notion: one of the management challenges being glossed over in the marketing focus of the conference is that managing search implementations and enterprise 2.0 implementations runs counter to the sense of order that makes most managers comfortable.
To manage these changes requires managers to become much more comfortable dealing with a messy environment. More importantly, perhaps, they need be careful lest they cripple innovation and experimentation by imposing an inappropriate level of management overhead and structure on these efforts. Technology management has become gunshy in too many organizations about technology project failure. They need to be careful to not take those lessons over into Enterprise 2.0 or they will kill the necessary degree of innovation we need to see.
BIO: Jim McGee: “For over 30 years, I’ve helped executives and organizations become more effective by making better use of information and communications technology. I’ve attacked these problems as an entrepreneur, senior executive, professor, author, blogger, speaker, systems developer, designer, and consultant. Today, I work with senior executives in organizations to formulate, structure, and solve problems in the effective use of information technology in complex knowledge work settings. I am adept at working with organizations to recognize patterns and make sense of complex situations. My clients and I then collaborate to design and build new business patterns and practices to take advantage of these situations and opportunities.”
