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The Decision Model
In October 2009, management consultants Barbara von Halle and Larry Goldberg published The Decision Model, describing it as a framework for a new way to view, design, execute and
manage business and technology. According to the book's description, a TDM approach helps correlate business logic to underlying drivers, so managers can more effectively adapt to changing objectives and
market trends. In fact, last month the US Patent Office granted a Decision Model patent (#8,073,801) to Knowledge Partners International, surprising many practitioners who've been using this approach. Some folks were worried how this patent would impact
their working applications. (Von Hall and Goldberg are managing partners at KPI.)
KPI insists the patent isn't an attempt to quash open source work on The Decision Model, or to discourage the
development of software that incorporates its core ideas. They only want to be sure the model is developed in an orderly way in order to protect its reputation. This is pretty dry stuff, but kind of
interesting. You can read a Decision Model Primer at openrules.com. There's also a screencast featuring Ms. von Halle herself at KPI's site. So much to consider, so little time.
The Sad Loss of Visual Thinking
In a Change This manifesto, management consultant Dan Roam suggests that while modern Western languages are efficient and easy to duplicate, they've also handicapped us when it comes to thinking visually. And that's a shame, since visual thinking is superior in many ways. Studies have shown that when we try to remember something, a visualized picture is better than memorized text. In fact, when people talk about a visual memory, they actually lose their ability to remember what the original object looked like. Casting a picture into words degrades it.
Written languages began as pictures, but Roam thinks their evolution into sound-based systems has led to an over-emphasis on verbal reasoning. The SAT is now the primary measure of intellectual
ability in the US, and considered the most reliably consistent predictor of academic performance. But all it really tests is a student's ability to read, write and answer structured questions. That makes
some sense, since these are skills that can be taught and measured. But wouldn't it be nice to consider things like logic, creative problem solving, multidimensional analysis and visual/spatial
processing? We love words, but perhaps rely on them too much. We need pictures too.
All That Jazz
Three academics at the Warwick Business School have written a paper suggesting that entrepreneurs could learn a lot from jazz musicians, and from band leaders in particular. Both need to build creative tension while giving individuals the freedom to innovate within a collective framework. They have to harness the egos of talented people and keep them working toward the same goal. Both have products to be marketed and sold, and a range of stakeholders to satisfy.
Their research has identified three distinctive styles of jazz leadership. Duke Ellington is cited as a motivational leader who also maintained a laissez-faire attitude toward his individual band
members. Ellington's laid-back approach helped hold a core group of players together for decades. Miles Davis took a different tack, bringing together musicians for a particular project and preferring
players who didn't know each other. He was more interested in innovation than stability. And Art Blakey played the role of father figure. He specialized in developing young musicians, in terms of decorum
and behavior as well as musicianship. All three styles offer lessons for management, particularly in high-tech businesses where changes are fast and unpredictable.
Leveraging Social Media
By now it's probably safe to say that social media is not a fad, and that this surprising convergence of technology and human behavior will be a
permanent part of our lives. It's pretty much everywhere these days, but
companies are still wrestling with what it means in terms of customer relations and human resources. Like Knowledge Management in the 90s, it's hard to measure the ROI. Does a high profile on Facebook actually lead to revenue? And while social media skills are
becoming more important, there's not much out there to help people develop them. There's a real skills gap, as discussed in this article in Forbes.
We still prefer a big tent
approach to interacting with the Web, and generally use Google to find what we're looking for. But you can also find us (as individuals) on Facebook. So we can see that some people are turning to their
community of friends for answers. You can always pick movies by reading reviews or considering the relatively anonymous star ratings at Netflix. But finding out what movies your friends are watching does
have a certain tribal appeal.
This was one of the roadblocks in the early days of KM. People were pretty good at sharing knowledge in small groups of known associates, but less willing to take
(or give) advice to people outside their circles. So those big enterprise-wide knowledge repositories never delivered on management's expectations. Maybe social media really will be the thing that breaks
these old barriers down.
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