Just back from London again. Last time I was here was 7-July when the bombings occurred. This trip was a little less eventful. J
On this trip, I read and enjoyed Thomas Malone’s book “The Future of Work How the New order of Business Will Shape Your Organization and management Style, and Your Life.” I heard him speak at the BPM Gartner Conference after my presentation “Business Process Management in Action”. Speaking with him afterwards, we talked about the parallels in technology advancing on the same line with his thoughts (or theories not sure which) on how humans and organizations are advancing.
Basically, his (I am not sure if he goes by Thomas or Tom – I will use Tom) conjecture is the cost in communication has driven and is driving these advances. Tom has some great examples as humans went from bands of hunter / gathers to farmers to the rise of kingdoms and empires to democracies. In short, farming enabled larger populations to live closer together which increased communication and the rise of herdsman. Larger groups required more communications and a centralized hierarchy was the cheapest method giving rise to chiefs, kingdoms and empires. Writing, ~3000 B.C.E. was one of the key enables lowering communication costs greatly. The next set of changes occurred around the year 1450 with the invention of the printing press. The printing press dramatically decreased the communication costs and was the necessary condition to promote the idea of democratic societies. Examples provided were how the press brought forth the American and French revolutions.
With respect to business they too have followed the same general pattern. Small business to large centralized corporations to now – where we are seeing the rise of decentralized networks. Decentralized networks have a broad definition and include companies like Cisco who have subcontractors handle all their production. The enabler from small to large was the rise of railroads, telegraphs, memos and the telephone. The enabler from large to decentralized networks is of course the Internet.
As an owner of my own company, I have worked with multiple companies from around the world to create and delivery a variety of products. So, I can relate very well with how the Internet has enable me to create and manage international product teams. While my experience has been in software, the book provide some other examples, such as, Hollywood. In the movie business, directors, actors, cameraman, and engineers of all types come together to create a movie and then disband. This practice is easily understood and practiced.
The parallel I saw in technology to his lecture was that stand-alone computers, moved to client-server models, and now moving towards peer-to-peer. The same pattern as he discovered.
The book’s conclusion is that human societies and businesses will continue to move from command-and-control activities to coordinate-and-cultivate activities. This seems true for technology also as we move towards web services. And today’s hot topic Business Process Management is the tools and practices required to coordinate-and-cultivate business activities.