Comments on: Social Computing Drives Innovation

By: PLM and Profitability » Blog Archive » What I Learned: People Tagging in Product Development

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:09:39 +0000

[...] Thinking of tagging in product development also ties strongly into past discussions such as Oleg’s PLM, don’t fight processes – focus on people! and other related discussions in the PLM community of late. It is also very important when considering the importance of social discovery and how social computing drives innovation. [...]

By: Oleg Shilovitsky

Oleg Shilovitsky — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:38:31 +0000

Jim, I think Social Computing and PLM intersection is important because of two reasons:

1. You have model to discover knowledge from people you don’t know (i.e. your potential and existent customers, partners etc.)

2. You can leverage “wisdom of crowd” to innovate. In my view, services like http://www.youdesignit.com/ will be in the future will become main drivers for designing new products.

Just my thoughts, Oleg.

By: Jim Brown

Jim Brown — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:29:04 +0000

Stan,
I think you are 100% on the mark.

The technology to allow discovery is a critical step, but depending on the scenario it could also drive a lot of new business scenarios. If the person doesn’t know you directly, or though a trusted friend, it would make for a difficult interaction. Even if they are comfortable with who you are, there are typically a lot of considerations relating to how to engage and who owns the IP. Even if the person is a part of your company, how are they motivated to help? Are they compensated for their time collaborating with a colleague in a different business unit halfway around the globe? The technology for discovery is just one piece of the puzzle.

The business model, processes, and rules of engagement will need te be worked out as well. That is why I expect that a lot of social computing and social networking capabilities will be rolled out within an organization first, with more external “discovery” limited to a smaller subset of people and companies. There are simply less business barriers to internal adoption, although the benefits of more open innovation approaches are certainly being explored heavily.

Thanks Stan,
Jim

By: Stan Pr

Stan Pr — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:56:39 +0000

This is one reason why resource management functionality gets to be important as part of this approach. You need some place to store and access all of those skills profiles we all hated to do when HR sent them to us.

Web 2.0 tools can provide an easy way (or easier way, depending on your perspective) to approximate this function, i.e., you are the sum of your interests. The tools should have some way to attach items in the ubiquitous “tag clouds” to YOURSELF, making your skills and interests more apparent to a broader community. This is a necessary but not sufficient condition for discovery to START…who knows what will happen when you contact that expert on the other side of the globe that does not know you from Adam.