(2003-12-02) Unstructured Social Software

Eugene Eric Kim and Ross Mayfield on the unstructured nature of Social Software (including Collaboration Ware). Tools that work the way people do - rather than how they are supposed to - is counter-intuitive. Lo and behold, they suprisingly work. From selling and servicing social software, I can tell you that one of the first issues raised is how giving up control and structure (as in data) could result in inefficiencies in reporting and intelligence. But software without pre-designed constraints is suprisingly adaptable for reporting. And the intelligence you gain from all those groups forming, intertwingling and linking openly is emergent. Suddenly you are making decisions based on what your organization knows and feels is important... IT ecosystems must be Loosely Coupled to foster scope and span over scale and speed.