Michael talks about why Web 2.0 sucks, and Dubs wonders how to apply Web 2.0 to HR. Maybe I’m jaded but most enetrprises haven’t yet figured out how to apply Web 1.0 to HR.
Please tell me I’m wrong.
Google Operating System reports today that Powerpoint attachments can now be previewed as slideshows in Gmail.
[Postscript - 22 June. Another nod to life in the cloud. Thanks to Google’s cached views of this blog I was able to restore the last few posts I made.]
When I left my last employer I made a strategic decision to continue my work with online applications. At the former workplace we used roaming profiles and server storage that was accessible remotely so the notion of my ’stuff’ being portable isn’t new. I’d already dabbled with Google apps and Zoho as well as Open Office as replacements for MS Office apps. Primarily because of the integration points I decided to focus on Google apps with Open Office as a backup if I needed more advanced features. It’s a purely personal choice - your mileage may vary and this is not an endorsement of any one product over the other.
I don’t do heavy text formatting nor am I an Excel jockey; given that I have to say that the online apps more than sufficed. For text I used Docs or Notebook depending on my intent - Notebook served for quick thoughts, logging running tasks and lists. Docs was for longer or more formatted items, Spreadsheets handled my basic tabular needs. I didn’t have to revert to Open Office at all. I am eager to see Google’s presentations solution - I flex PowerPoint heavily and the feature set is important to me.
When I traveled in Italy I everything I needed was at hand (unless I couldn’t get connectivity, which was rare). I recently got a new PC that I put in another location and as I was setting it up I thought how nice it would be if all my ‘legacy’ stuff was online rather than being sitting on a drive somewhere else. That made me realize that I’m shifting my focal point. My best photos, most immediate docs, reminders and notes are all in the cloud and now I wish it was all there for me.
Of course this approach isn’t a universal fit. There are challenges around document compatibility, sensitive data, compliance and regulatory concerns for enterprises. But no doubt that these will be resolved and the fact is we’re well on the way to a model of data retreivability and worker agility that eclipses the one we’ve been using for the last 30 years.
My cycling trip through Puglia was nothing short of wonderful on all counts. The landscape, company, guides and people were completely enjoyable.
The US holiday weekend is approaching, and on Tuesday I start my new consulting job. I’ve enjoyed my respite and I’m looking forward to getting engaged again. I don’t know if my new comapny has a blogging policy; considering that they take a positive stand on the role of social computing and the potential of Enterprise 2.0 I’m hopful that I’ll be able to continue in a more direct manner.
The Taleo blog reports on a report from Money Magazine on the best jobs in America for people looking for change in their careers. They present 4 meta categories that resemble daytime television programming: Young & Restless, Returning Parent (they really mean “Mom” but that wouldn’t be very PC), From the Military to the private sector, and my favorite - Over 50. I have thoughts about the selections, especially (ahem) the Over 50 category but the real issue for me is the coarse-grained categorization. Given the tensions of the journalistic format I can understand the desire to make this snappy.
What really surprises me is that this same broad brush is picked up by Taleo:
“For recruiters, this is a nice piece of research to help target a specific candidate pool. Looking for Sales Reps? Find moms looking to return to the workplace. Need a Field Service Engineer? Identify someone retiring from the military, and so on.”
“Proactive, targeted candidate sourcing and the use of automated solutions can go a long way towards filling open positions with talented employees who will stay with your organization.” Link.
That’s targeting? This is the opposite of what Enterprise 2.0 promises. We shouldn’t use our tools for incredibly broad generalizations that slot candidates based on generalized demographics. These are important categorizations but by themselves they have no more depth than a sound bite. Being in the over 50 category and coming off my fresh experience in the market I’m offended when I’m contacted for positions that have no bearing on my experience or career trajectory but are the result of some sloppy match based on a single data point about me. At least no one suggested (yet) that I should consider teaching, pension administration or medical records coding - all great choices for an Old Guy, apparently.
Thomas should send Taleo his copy of the Cluetrain Manifesto.
TechCrunch reports on Useless Account, an amusing little bauble that gently spoofs the dubious value of account creation. It brings to mind a similar reality, that in our mixed environment we drive our users to create profiles out the wazoo. I take the unpopular opinion that we don’t have a real golden source for individual’s profile info. Of course, the HRMS is the main entry point for employee data, which then feeds the data warehouse which turns around and feed anything else that is interested. But who am I today?
It goes on and on…is there a set of shared, core data? Of course. Could they be merged? As of now, it could get ugly. Each “view” has nuances that merging them would potentially destroy. Yet it’s reasonable to expect that I shouldn’t have to do that same data entry bit over and over again.
We’re thinking about creating a new environment - for current workers it pulls in the proper bits from the various systems and lets me use them like Lego to build new composite profiles. For new hires it’s the starting point, a core set of ‘About Me’ data in an interface full of webby ease of use that hides the complexity and provides a way to peel off a copy of my basic info and model it for the intended purpose. I could keep those versions so I can reuse them as needed. This would live in the intranet context and not project a message that says “I’m an HR application, run away!”. Right now it’s a whiteboard exercise, to be followed up with a few mockups and ROI exercises to see if it floats.
After more than a decade of legal wrangling, George Harrison was found guilty in 1981 of “subconscious plagiarism” for using music strikingly similar to the Chiffons’ 1963 hit, “He’s So Fine” in his own 1970 hit song, “My Sweet Lord”.
Am I in hot water? I see Jason Corsello’s post The End of Job Boards As We Know It? and I’m struggling to recall if I saw that last week or not…(probably yes to be honest, you’re in my RSS reader). Jason, honest mistake! Let’s call it a meme and move on? Please don’t sue me… 
In any case, I still wonder what’s the driver. I don’t think it’s just the new-pretty-shiny factor, there must be a dissatisfaction with the status quo. See the comments on Jason’s blog to get some sense of that.
Chuck Allen over at HR-XML asks if this is going to be “The year of blog-centric recruiting“, noting Guy Kawasaki’s mention of SimplyHired’s announcing a service called
In my last post I made reference to Thomas’ reference to enterprise systems as akin to broccoli - not as much fun as ice cream, but way more nutritious. I want to comment a bit more about his post and the Redmonk Radio podcast he was on. Go read and listen, it’s good stuff.
Thomas, I enjoyed your posts and the podcast, even though it took me 3 days to get through it all! In the work you’re doing with the Design Services team you’ve experienced firsthand how empowering it is to take a user-centric perspective to solving business and application challenges. Folks new to the process usually come out revved up and excited. And you’ve discovered what fun we can have if we take that approach into as many situations as possible.
Thomas comments in the podcast how he imagines UI to be like fashion, and he’s on the right track. UI, like all graphic design, is subject to the tastes of time and place. I know many designers who have excellent usability sensibility but even with that in place it’s a single yet key component of the total experience. In the same way, it’s not about Web 2.o widgets or shiny logos. It’s about getting rid of some of the messy and annoying administrivia with elegant, unobtrusive interfaces that don’t call attention to themselves but blend into the process.
At our company we’re deep in the goal-setting process. As an aside - it’s interesting to be responsible for delivering the service as well as taking part in it. I have an exciting set of goals for this year. We’re to be change agents, sharing the secrets of user-centered design with our business relationship managers and the development teams’ business analysts. We’re to continue our work in enhancing the user experience past the user interface layer out to the training, learning and support materials, down into the service centers and voice response systems. We’re embedding our practice in the development lifecycle to ensure that it becomes part of the fabric. I didn’t expect it but this year it seems I’ll be a teacher.
In mid-2006 we launched our global “mobility” offering - not an expat program (which of course we have), but standardized guidelines for changing jobs inside the organization integrated with Taleo on the back end. It was a fairly simple bit of work intended to raise awareness around internal opportunities coupled with an attempt to improve on the Taleo search interface. We’re picking up again, and today I attended a kick-off with folks from North America, EMEA and Asia. Someone from LATAM is involved but couldn’t attend.
We have about 16-18 months worth of work on our high-level wish list just to start with, I’m excited about the more strategic thinking around how this fits into other offerings towards a set of career management tools - policy alignment, link and/or integrate with learning, development, talent, branding. I’ll report back on what gets priority.