Discussion

FOCUS: Introducing a Summer Reading Sampler!

/ Jeff Hora / Leave a comment
Summer Reading

Ah….summer reading!

I frequent the Conversation Agent blog published by Valeria Maltoni regularly, and take away more food for thought than I get from any other blog. She recently posted an article containing a Summer reading list. Heading into the last full month of summer (although here in the Pacific Northwest it actually feels like the first full month, as the summer to date has been rather cool and moist….), I felt this was a great idea and opportunity to bring to light a number of works I have or am reading and the ways they have enhanced by thoughts and are enriching who I am and making my business more worthwhile.

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A Successful Community Manager

/ Jeff Hora / 1 Comment
My communities

My communities (Photo credit: steven w)

I was asked a really great question recently: what is a successful community manager?

I have a pretty well-formed idea of the answer, but had never articulated it before.  My first reaction was to stay away from any kind of description of the community manager him/herself. I feel that a successful community manager is evidenced by the community they work with and for.

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More Than “LIKE”

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Detail

Detail (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There is a justifiable lament in the air. It concerns the lack of actual conversation taking place between people. In the online world a large portion of our conversation has devolved into one-click LIKEs or, in the case of LinkedIn, Endorsements.  No context.  No qualification.  No degree. No discussion.  Either you LIKE/Endorse or you don’t.  Life isn’t like that, by and large.

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More Than “LIKE”

/ Jeff Hora / Leave a comment
Detail

Detail (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There is a justifiable lament in the air. It concerns the lack of actual conversation taking place between people. In the online world a large portion of our conversation has devolved into one-click LIKEs or, in the case of LinkedIn, Endorsements.  No context.  No qualification.  No degree. No discussion.  Either you LIKE/Endorse or you don’t.  Life isn’t like that, by and large.

Continue reading →

Measure the glue–continued

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Measuring time

Image by aussiegall via Flickr

In my earlier post about the “glue” of collaboration, I spent the time describing the area of discussion and none about the actual measurement.  That wasn’t exactly by design, as much as it was a realization that measuring collaboration means establishing some ground rules and accepting some risks and vagueness.

The ground rules are both simple and tough. Define what it is you’re trying to measure.  I’m involved with that right now on my team and it is not easy.  Objective measurement, as well as methodology, of collaboration and/or teamwork means setting up scales, deliverables, degrees of importance or weight (“So, was that assist worth a 5 or a 7?” and what does that mean?).  There’s also the issue of whether this measurement applies to the group or to individuals and how you measure individual collaboration in a way that reduces the ability to game the system (“I’ll give you a +5 in the assessment if you give me one as well.”).  Messy stuff….

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Measure the glue–continued

/ Jeff Hora / Leave a comment
Measuring time

Image by aussiegall via Flickr

In my earlier post about the “glue” of collaboration, I spent the time describing the area of discussion and none about the actual measurement.  That wasn’t exactly by design, as much as it was a realization that measuring collaboration means establishing some ground rules and accepting some risks and vagueness.

The ground rules are both simple and tough. Define what it is you’re trying to measure.  I’m involved with that right now on my team and it is not easy.  Objective measurement, as well as methodology, of collaboration and/or teamwork means setting up scales, deliverables, degrees of importance or weight (“So, was that assist worth a 5 or a 7?” and what does that mean?).  There’s also the issue of whether this measurement applies to the group or to individuals and how you measure individual collaboration in a way that reduces the ability to game the system (“I’ll give you a +5 in the assessment if you give me one as well.”).  Messy stuff….

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Who’s at the top of this pyramid?

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Image representing hulu as depicted in CrunchBase

Image via CrunchBase

Analyst Laura Martin needs to lighten up. In assessing the evolution of content from TV-only to TV/Web mix (face it, my mother will NEVER watch her soaps on her laptop…) it is easy to see that the demand for quality content remains, regardless of device. The top-end owners of Hulu content (ABC=Disney, Fox=News Corp., NBC=GE…for now) are all invested in seeing profit from the venture. If they don’t, they are quite likely to pull their content, which is unlikely as they can sense the moving of the tectonic plates of media consumption and will not be caught off-guard.

And then there’s Comcast….

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Who’s at the top of this pyramid?

/ Jeff Hora / Leave a comment
Image representing hulu as depicted in CrunchBase

Image via CrunchBase

Analyst Laura Martin needs to lighten up. In assessing the evolution of content from TV-only to TV/Web mix (face it, my mother will NEVER watch her soaps on her laptop…) it is easy to see that the demand for quality content remains, regardless of device. The top-end owners of Hulu content (ABC=Disney, Fox=News Corp., NBC=GE…for now) are all invested in seeing profit from the venture. If they don’t, they are quite likely to pull their content, which is unlikely as they can sense the moving of the tectonic plates of media consumption and will not be caught off-guard.

And then there’s Comcast….

Continue reading →