Blogs as Disruptive Tech

Content Management is starting to wrestle with what Clayton Christensen calls The Innovator's Dilemma: the inability of successful companies to adapt to a new, disruptive technology.

Hiler, John. Web Crimson (2002). Articles>Content Management>Technology>Blogging

Business Decisions in a Digital Enterprise

All about automating, managing and aligning business decisions in a modern, digital, agile enterprise.

BRMS Blog (2006). Articles>Knowledge Management>Technology

Developing the Political Perspective on Technological Change Through Rhetorical Analysis    

Rhetorical analysis provides a means through which a political perspective on technological change can be developed at a micro-discursive level. Through the analysis of managers' arguments and counterarguments, this article identifies three rhetorical strategies that negotiate the relationship between the technical and the social: attributing the effects of technology; claiming convergent and divergent interests; and constructing identities for self, groups, and the technology. It argues that a rhetorical approach maintains space for agency on the behalf of employees (through the witcraft of argument) and analytical skepticism concerning the reality of technology properties and effects (through counterargument). In addition, it proposes the concept of the argumentative context as a means of bridging the gap between individual and organizational rhetoric.

Symon, Gillian. Management Communication Quarterly (2008). Articles>Management>Technology>Rhetoric

I Wonder What This Button Does

We've all lost work to file overwrites and other minor disasters. There are remedies--and as Mike West explains, you don't have to have awe-inspiring technical skills to take advantage of them.

West, Mike. List Apart, A (2006). Articles>Project Management>Technology

The Life Cycle of a Technology: Why it is So Difficult for Large Companies to Innovate

Donald Norman recommends a list of books on human-centered design.

Norman, Donald A. JND.org (1998). Articles>Management>Technology

Managing Organizational Change that Results from Adopting New Technologies  

This workshop helps managers explore key issues involved in successfully adopting new technologies--identifying potential barriers, generating approaches to overcoming them, and developing implementation strategies using case study materials.

Huff, Claudia H. and Nancy E. Davis. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Management>Technology

Principle-Centered Leadership for IT

The IT revolution has been a much-needed boon for India. It has not only changed the fiscal reserves ($), ushered a new economy and created numerous job opportunities but also caused worldwide recognition of Indian talent. The revolution has been slow, but never a result of chance accidents. In earlier revolutions, Indians missed the bus and became followers, but the IT revolution is different as we have taken the lead and demonstrated our capabilities in the software sector to the world.

Pathak, A.K. Indus (2003). Articles>Management>Technology

Feature Presentation

A spiral of complexity, often called “feature creep,” costs consumers time, but it also costs businesses money. Product returns in the U.S. cost a hundred billion dollars a year, and a recent study by Elke den Ouden, of Philips Electronics, found that at least half of returned products have nothing wrong with them. Consumers just couldn’t figure out how to use them. Companies now know a great deal about problems of usability and consumer behavior, so why is it that feature creep proves unstoppable?

Surowiecki, James. New Yorker, The (2007). Articles>Project Management>Technology>Collaboration

Avoid Santa Claus Approach to Content Management

The Santa Claus approach to content management creates a content management software wish list. It believes in the magic of technology to sweep away any and every problem. Typically, those who believe in Santa don't believe in defining their processes, or figuring out just why they need a website in the first place.

McGovern, Gerry. New Thinking (2004). Articles>Content Management>Web Design>Technology

Information Technology: Trojan Horse of Information Overload

Information technology has become the Trojan Horse of information overload. It has been invited into the organization as some magical gift that will bring greater efficiency and reduced cost. Once inside, it feeds on resources and spews out unimaginable quantities of low quality data. Information technology has become the problem. The solution is to invest in people again.

McGovern, Gerry. New Thinking (2002). Articles>Technology>Information Design>Content Management

Technology Transfer: An Unparalleled Opportunity for Technical Writing Professionals    

This nation does not effectively transfer expensively acquired knowledge into cost-effective, labor-saving tools and processes.

Roberts, Suzanne S. IEEE PCS (1991). Articles>Knowledge Management>Technical Writing>Technology Transfer

Why Good Projects Go Bad

The number of IT projects that end in failure is staggering. According to a 2007 study by researcher Market Dynamics, 62% of all IT projects miss their deadlines, 49% go over budget and 41% fail to deliver the benefits that were expected. That is worrying enough for IT departments. But for consultants and software vendors, keenly aware that project failure could well result in litigation, it is a constant concern.

Swabey, Pete. Information Age (2009). Articles>Project Management>Collaboration>Technology

Information Technologies as Discursive Agents: Methodological Implications for the Empirical Study of Knowledge Work    

Work activities that are mediated by information rely on the production of discourse-based objects of work. Designs, evaluations, and conditions are all objects that originate and materialize in discourse. They are created and maintained through the coordinated efforts of human and non-human agents. Genres help foster such coordination from the top down, by providing guidance to create and recreate discourse objects of recurring social value. From where, however, does coordination emerge in more ad hoc discursive activities, where the work objects are novel, unknown, or unstable? In these situations, coordination emerges from simple discursive operations, reliably mediated by information and communication technologies (ICTs) that appear to act as discursive agents. This article theorizes the discursive agency of ICTs, explores the discursive operations they mediate, and the coordination that emerges. The article also offers and models a study methodology for the empirical observation of such interactions.

Swarts, Jason. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2008). Articles>Knowledge Management>Project Management>Technology

Why It’s Not Naïve to be Green    

This article aims to promote awareness of the environmental impact of IT. It illustrates the impact of extensive use of IT in homes and organizations, and considers the ways in which a business could address IT efficiency and at the same time benefit from Green IT. It looks at the organizational, process, cultural and ICT efficiencies which Green IT offers. It sets out a best practice framework of five steps for a programme that will after the first stage become part of the standard processes of IT operations. The author draws attention to the responsibility of organizations to audit their information and look at information lifecycle management as a key element of greening IT.

Gabriel, Chris. Business Information Review (2008). Articles>Technology>Management>Environmental