Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Viewing OpenSocial Applications Through a Virtual Organization Lens

Viewing OpenSocial Applications Through a Virtual Organization Lens
by Pierre Coupet




Time to Look Ahead

These are exciting times for social networks as the OpenSocial developer community continues to bloom and flourish. However, that being said, it's important to note that social networks are currently in the process of evolving to virtual organizations and, therefore, the focus of our veteran OpenSocial developers should be on the relevance of each application with respect to its usefulness, strategic importance, and vital contribution function in a virtual organization. I recently wrote an article titled "Evolution of Social Networks into Virtual Organizations" at http://virtualorganizationinstitute.com/evolution-of-social-networks-into-virtual-organizations.pdf which sheds a bit more light on that subject.

Does that mean we should stop developing those little cute and fancy widgets and gadgets that operate across other social networks? Not at all, what I am instead suggesting is that we include an additional layer of criterias in our thinking process as we begin to formulate the application development methodology. I know that some of you may say, "Why develop something that a vast majority of users will have no use for?" Well, a brief look at the history of the internet will tell you why and there are so many examples to choose from.

The Not So Distant Past

Let's select the evolution of the website as a good example:

Back in December 1993, when I started to build my first website which consisted of 2 words, "Hello World!", I thought to myself how every single company would one day embrace the internet and that just about everyone would one day have a website and be able to do business online and prosperity would spread around the globe. Obviously I was 90% correct in my assumptions, however, what I grossly miscalculated was the adoption rate and the demographics of the early adopters. Initially, I thought big business would be the early adopters since they have so much more capital AND human resources than us little peons; have all these Ivy League MBAs and Ph.D.s at their disposal and, therefore, so much smarter and knowledgeable than us regular folks. Instead, it turned out to be my kids and their friends, as well as millions of other kids throughout America and other parts of the world, followed by a slew of independent consultants, and small businesses -- all in that order -- who became the early adopters. It wasn't until 1997-1998 that mid-size and big businesses started to get on the web at a serious pace. Obviously, we all know what happened next and there is no need for anyone today to preach about the usefulness of a website to small-to-large businesses as well as to individuals and other organizations of all stripes and persuasions.

The Present

To fast forward to the present, my point is that you're seeing the same patterns all over again. Currently, social networks are all the rage and its initial adoption was fueled, in part, largely by kids all over the world. To digress a bit, we should all thank God for kids because they are so much smarter than we give them credit for and even though we eventually wind up following their lead. In any case, businesses--small to big--have begun to look differently at these social networks from a sales and marketing standpoint even though they are not all there yet. With respect to most businesses today, it's primarily an individual lone ranger effort by individuals within small-to-large organizations who take it upon themselves to employ this medium for business purposes. We really have to excuse these slow pokes. However, that being said, it's a good step in the right direction.

The Future

But the really good news is that this step is only the beginning of a process which will eventually lead to a full integration of social networks within their organization in a virtual environment. Therefore, these social networks will have no choice but to eventually evolve into virtual organizations since that is the only way you can maintain accountability.

VOMI Seal of Approval

In that regard, VOMI (Virtual Organization Management Institute) has instituted a VOMI Seal of Approval program for developers who would like to know whether or not their application meets the VO benchmarks we've set for not only OpenSocial applications but all other applications designed for use in a virtual environment. We will soon release additional information regarding the VOMI Seal of Approval program in order to provide you with some guidance and welcome your inquiries.

Conclusion

In conclusion, while you are having fun developing the latest gadgets and widgets, just keep in mind there are a lot of old guys and gals out there who are seriously looking at what you're doing and, as sure as I am that the sun will rise in the east and will set on the west, they will eventually wind up following your lead. Keep up the good work.

ABOUT AUTHOR: Pierre Coupet is the Founder, Chairman, CEO & Doctor of Virtual Organization Management at Virtual Organization Management Institute; the founder of the modern virtual organization management discipline pioneered since 1997; and also the author of the widely acclaimed white paper, "How To Virtual Organize Your Social Network" at http://virtualorganizationinstitute.com/how-to-virtual-organize-your-social-network.pdf -- To contact the author, call via skype id: virtual.organization.management or send email directly to chairman@virtualorganizationinstitute.com

Copyright 2008-2009. Pierre Coupet, Virtual Organization Management Institute. Cannot be reproduced in whole or in part without permission. All rights are reserved.

H1-B Visas in the Midst of a Global Economic Meltdown: Talent Shortage or Cheap Labor?

H1-B Visas in the Midst of a Global Economic Meltdown: Talent Shortage or Cheap Labor?
by Pierre Coupet



With all due respect to Seagate CEO, Bill Watkins, and the rest of my colleagues---not just in Silicon Valley but also irrespective of where they may be located---I respectfully disagree with the notion that we should lift all caps on H1-B visas or any of the other insane proposals and suggestions they have been trumpeting over the years. Americans are suffering and we need to get our heads out of the sand.

Addictive Behavior

US employers are behaving like crackheads or heroin and nicotine addicts who think that the way to cure their illness and craving is to get more of it in some sort of sanitized version, e.g., methadone or a nicotine patch, instead of taking stock that they have a serious problem and the time has come to muster up the courage and willingness to QUIT. I know it will be hard and painful at first but there is no other way to really recover and avoid falling into a precipice.

Plenty of US Talent

I refuse to believe that we don't have enough Americans in the US who are smart or ingenious enough and willing to work; or that Americans just don't give a hoot about technology. As the former head of a national executive search firm for about 18 years, and up until my departure from the industry 15 years ago, we had talent up the ying yang who were just begging to go to work. But guess what? This talent consisted of native-born and naturalized Americans, the latter group I belong to, as well as "permanent resident" immigrants from every corner of the globe living in the US.

Plenty of Cheap Labor Overseas

The problem was, and still is today: they were just too darned expensive in comparison to our lower-paid colleagues from overseas on a H1-B visa who were just too happy to be in the US working for an American company and were willing to do whatever was required of them. Their level of dedication and enthusiasm is unsurpassed, and rightfully so, given the opportunity presented to them. And what do I mean by that? Well, for the most part, in most of these countries, they train them to learn and think like robots. By the way, I am from one of those countries. But once in the US, we train them how to build upon their basic knowledge and provide them with all the tools and support they need in order to "innovate." This is just too good a deal to pass up and I don't blame them one bit for taking us up on our generous offer. Whereas, in the US, we train our kids from day one to innovate but, for the most part, fail to adequately provide them with the requisite basic knowledge and support they need to succeed until they get to college. However, once in college, they have no problem at all excelling in whatever discipline they've chosen. The real question then becomes, "Which discipline are they steering toward that Corporate America needs in sufficiently large numbers?" That part is easy to resolve with a little bit of Yankee ingenuity.

Facts on the Ground Just Don’t Add Up

But we all know that's not what's really at play here because, if this were truly the case, we would have used the H1-B visa program on a temporary basis, and purely as a stopgap measure, during a period of approximately 4-8 years, while engaged in a parallel and concerted effort with academia to remedy the problem. But the H1-B program has a perpetual life and the request figures for new workers only get bigger and bigger year after year, instead of smaller and smaller. Just the way an alcoholic or crackhead or heroin addict wants more and more instead of less and less. Asking for less substance would indicate that some honest effort and equal amount of progress is being made toward some sort of recovery. Whereas, asking for more and more substance while claiming some attempt is being made toward a full recovery is, at best, a joke or just downright insulting to someone's intelligence.

Therefore, it's not really "specialized knowledge" that we're after, it's "cheaper labor." Call a spade a spade and let's dispense with all the smoke and mirrors about this artificial shortage. If we indeed had a "shortage" of talent in the United States, American companies would put in place the biggest "Brain Stimulus Project" known to mankind; pouring in droves into both our private AND public high schools and community colleges -- from coast-to-coast, in both the inner cities and the suburbs -- doling out a ton of money, sponsoring all kinds of technology outreach projects, providing mentors on a daily basis as well as part-time jobs and internships to kids who otherwise might fall through the crack. We already have something similar to that in the schools with respect to sports and entertainment. I don't see us importing Chinese, Japanese, or Indians in huge numbers for sports and entertainment.

Solution to Addiction

Even if we are to go along with their argument that there is a shortage, there is a solution to that. In fact, I propose that we adopt this solution whether or not we have a shortage. Here it is: Just imagine if each American company decided to put in a place a serious Strategic Marketing, Technology & Recruiting Plan that, at its core, would have the company adopt a particular high school or local community college in order to make a really concerted effort to help develop the sort of talent that this company needs. This must be a Joint internal effort between HR, Technology, and Marketing. Who knows, depending on the community and its location, you could wind up with more than one company adopting the same school. The more the better, however, I am sure one is enough to get the ball rolling in the right direction.

I am fully aware that you can't possibly get all the talent you need from one high school or community college, however, that being said, you would, as a member of this group of companies, be able to recruit talent from ALL the other adopted high schools and community colleges. The cost of doing so would be MUCH CHEAPER in both the short and long run. And you wouldn't need to wait to form a consortium prior to getting started. Go it alone for now and the herd mentality would kick into gear. Eventually, you could help organize this group of companies so they could share information on prospective talent out there, wherever in the US they may be. You'd be surprised at how quickly a "shortage" would turn into an "overabundance" of talent.

Just Do It!

I refuse to believe that our Chief Marketing Officers, Chief Technology Officers, and Chief Talent Officers are so brain dead that they lack the imagination and foresight to put in place such program. I believe it's only a matter of them choosing "the path of least resistance." It's much easier for them and much less complicated to just obtain some cheap labor from overseas, end of story. As my son used to tell me all the time I would come up with some "not so brilliant or brilliant ideas" and try to bounce them off of him, he would say to me, looking somewhat irritated, "Papa, Just Do It!" Well, I've got the same refrain for my colleagues, Just Do it! Time is not on our side and we need to catch these kids while they are about to graduate from elementary school or starting high school, not after they've dropped out or graduated from high school with a mediocre education, at best. By that time---although it's never too late because our college students eventually get to catch up by the time they enter into their upper division phase of studies---they will definitely be starting from the back of the line at the very beginning because their counterparts in Europe and Asia are already way ahead of them in terms of both "basic technical" and "mental" preparation for the skills "you may need."

Yes We Can!

Such partnership effort can be almost painless and highly cost-effective---a stroke of genius, to say the least---with the right combination of Web 2.0 and Virtual Organization Management. As to the question of where the money would come from, it's already there, buried in your existing budget for HR, Advertising, Sales, Marketing, PR, R&D and any other department in your organization. Just call all your department heads, tell them their mission is to find ways to do things better within 1 week to 30 days because you need to reallocate some of this cash sitting in their budget, and tell them two other things, "Yes We Can" and "Just Do It!"

Don't chuckle or laugh out loud if you're thinking that I must live on some other planet and that just isn't the way things are done in your organization. Why? Well, if someone had told you a year ago that Obama would be elected president of the US and that the web would be his secret weapon, you surely would have thought that "this person was on crack." Therefore, it's really only a question of them taking the time to figure out how to be more efficient with respect to existing business processes, re-examining priorities, and the proper reallocation of resources. Skip all the high-powered consultants, year-long studies, etc., because your department heads are smart enough and already have most of the answers. They are just too afraid to step forward, rock the boat and ruin their careers--in respective order. After all, who wants their colleagues and bosses to think that they are on crack or are some sort of nut job.


What Next: Drastic Action or Status Quo?

On the other hand, if Corporate America believes that the shortage problem is really not that serious---it doesn't really rise to the level of a national crisis---then it would really have no valid or compelling reason to take such drastic action and it could opt to maintain the status quo and continue to do business as usual. So which is it?

Conclusion

In conclusion, even though I know this message will fall mostly on deaf ears, I still intend to continue to shout it out from the top of my lungs in the hope that some day we might begin to reverse this perilous course that we've been on for the past 20 years.



ABOUT AUTHOR: Pierre Coupet is the Founder, CEO & Doctor of Virtual Organization Management at Virtual Organization Management Institute and author of "How to Virtual Organize Your Social Network." Comments regarding this article or copyright information should be directed to the author at http://www.virtualorganizationinstitute.com --- or call via skype id: virtual.organization.management or send email to chairman@virtualorganizationinstitute.com

©2008-2009. Pierre Coupet, Virtual Organization Management Institute. Cannot be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission. All rights are reserved.

Job Losses at Their Highest Level: Virtual Organize Your Social Network, Now!

Job Losses at Their Highest Level: Virtual Organize Your Social Network Now!
by Pierre Coupet

What Next?

What will happen next to all these people who are being laid-off? Will they ever get back a similar or better paying job? If so, when? If not, do they have transferable skills that could allow them to make a successful transition to another occupation that offers equivalent or better pay and, therefore, allow them to maintain or restore their previous standard of living? Or will these individuals be relegated to a permanent underclass or incognito status?

What about those individuals who have been notified that they will be laid-off in the near future? What about those who no longer feel secure about their jobs? Even the sacred cows aren't so secure anymore; the vegetarian employers are turning into carnivores these days and that sacred cow is beginning to look more and more like some good old, tasty red meat.

Getting Closer to Sunlight

In light of these questions and observation, a maxim I came up with as a result of my previous trials and tribulations came to mind: "the darker it gets, the closer to sunlight you're getting." After all, you don't get to live on this planet for 53 years without having gone through your share of trials and tribulations.

Although I am clearly aware of the fact that no one who is currently going through their own nightmare is thinking about, or can see, that sunlight right now. Their only interest is to survive as best they can; although, for some, they will think it's the end of their world and give up without a hard fight.

Virtual Organize your Social Network Now!

But I can assure you that this sunlight is there waiting for you if you know--or learn--How to Virtual Organize Your Social Network. Thanks to Web 2.0, there is no need to feel completely isolated or drowning in a whirlpool of disaster, however, you will need to shed old ways of thinking and adapt to new ways of doing things "very quickly" because you won't be able to continue doing business as usual.

Here is a link to an article I wrote on that subject titled "Social Networks: Virtual Organize It, Stupid!":

http://virtualorganizationinstitute.com/social-networks-virtual-organize-it-stupid.pdf

Virtual organizing your social network allows you to take control of your life and is a better alternative to just waiting for an economic recovery to take place. Hopefully, you will be part of that group of people who have made possible the economic recovery. Best of luck to all.

ABOUT AUTHOR: Pierre Coupet is the Founder, Chairman, CEO & Doctor of Virtual Organization Management at Virtual Organization Management Institute; the founder of the modern virtual organization management discipline pioneered since 1997; and also the author of the widely acclaimed white paper, "How To Virtual Organize Your Social Network" at http://www.virtualorganizationinstitute.com/how-to-virtual-organize-your-social-network.pdf -- To contact the author, call via skype id: virtual.organization.management or send email directly to chairman@virtualorganizationinstitute.com

Copyright 2008-2009. Pierre Coupet, Virtual Organization Management Institute. Cannot be reproduced in whole or in part without permission. All rights are reserved.