Toot One’s Own Horn? January 19, 2009
Posted by Shikhar Agarwal in Moosings.Tags: Presentation, SharePoint, Web 2.0
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After a year of closely working with one of my favorite clients, I have been asked to present my experience in a public forum – Twin Cities SharePoint Conference.
As I began preparing over this weekend, I wondered - is a case study a case of tooting one’s own horn or a genuine attempt at sharing knowledge? Is it a true record of how things progressed or a utopic combination of our vision and afterthought? I started digging in more and find out what really a case study means and how much can you toot?
Robert K. Yin in Case Study Research. Design and Methods defines “case studyis one of several ways of doing research whether it be social science related or even socially related”. Typically, we do not think an implementation as a case of academic research but if you look deeply, it might be true. According to wikipedia, Business case studies recount real life business situations that present to business executives a dilemma. The case puts the scenario into the context of the factors that influence it.
I do not think such definitions answer my dilemma but I will try my best to follow Yin’s vision of socially related research.
See you at the conference!
Book Review: Groundswell – winning in a world transformed by social technologies August 7, 2008
Posted by Shikhar Agarwal in Book Review.Tags: Review, Web 2.0
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Cover Design
I just finished this 286 pages book by Harvard Business Review Press. I was very excited to get my hands on this book – the title itself was very catchy to begin with and I was expecting a book talking about both internal groundswell (internal adoption at enterprises) and external groundswell (B2C adoption). Not sure why but I expected and yes, on this count I was disappointed. The book had just 1 chapter on internal groundswell. I really wish it was more!
On a positive note, you can easily relate to the overall message of the book - the essence of groundswell thinking is not about what to do but how to do it. Even though this message is repeated many times, once you get it, the following lessons learned from the book makes more sense:
- Lesson 1: Groundswell is about person-to-person activity.
- Lesson 2: Groundswell is about good listening.
- Lesson 3: Be Patient… Groundswell touches all the people and hence needs time for buy in.
- Lesson 4: Be opportunistic… If a great idea comes along, grab it. You might not have another chance.
- Lesson 5: Be flexible… Groundswell thinking requires constant learning and adjustments.
- Lesson 6: Be collaborative… need I explain further?
- Lesson 7: Be humble… Groundswell creates community power and ideas.
Overall, a good book to grab specially if you are on the B2C side of marketing or technology. Chapter 2 is a great read – explains what is groundswell and all the underlying technologies enabling groundswell. Happy Reading!
CRM 2.0? August 7, 2008
Posted by Shikhar Agarwal in Moosings.Tags: CRM 2.0, Enterprise CRM, Web 2.0
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Web 2.0, at its core, is about the ‘power of community’. While not yet part of traditional business applications, it can usher in a paradigm shift in many industries. If you take the concepts of social computing and apply to the world of CRM, results can be very fascinating.
