What value does Web 2.0 bring to Intel?
posted by Jeff Moriarty on July 02, 2007
This question comes up a fair bit for me internally, so I’ll address it both here and in my internal blog. To be clear, I’m far from the only Web 2.0 nut inside Intel. My role is different in that being in IT I’m trying to find ways to facilitate adoption from inside Geeksville. The problem is that our small, diverse group of true believers are in the middle of a much larger group of people who are generally willing to listen but don’t yet see the value.
So what is the value I see? There are several, but for me the biggest is that these capabilities are convention busters. Intel has a deeply rooted culture, and like every culture it has strengths and weaknesses. These tools can help Intel route through (or around) some of our weaknesses to become more effective. Here are my thoughts on some of the basic tools - I’ll save the discussion of Ajax apps and things like a corporate MySpace for another post.
Blogs - These have been a roller coaster ride internally, but they trash the Intel problem of building organizational silos and support the Intel value of meritocracy. Intel loves org charts, and information flows up and down in controlled measures, very rarely across. It’s common to be working on Project X and find out after six month that a dozen other people globally were trying that same thing. With a blog I’m not able to hand-pick the people who may benefit from my wisdom, the readers pick me. And only then if I have some danged good content! You can no longer get by with half-baked ideas because the whole company is watching.
Forums - These are still getting going internally, but they also help break down organization barriers, and support the Intel value of being “Open and Direct”. In theory, any Intel employee should be able to confront any other on an issue. In practice, this does happen from time to time but less than it should. Perhaps because of layoffs and such last year, perhaps because the company is just so freaking huge, people don’t seem to do this as much as they used to. Our forums, open to the whole company, allow anyone to offer ideas and challenge problems on a corporate scale, and do it where people from all over the world can chime in.
Wikis - These tackle Intel’s tendency to over-control information, and support the Intel ideal of quality orientation. Intel loves the word “own” - “I own that roadmap,” “I own that strategy,” “I own owning things that own other things.” It’s ridiculous. The very idea that someone could make an entry in the corporate wiki about a project you own has caused more than one internal project manager to begin frothing. Then throw in the radical idea that some previously unknown individual could add something of actual value to your material? Chaos!
RSS - Poor RSS is horribly underutilized at Intel, and is the first major item in my crosshairs. The opportunity here for Intel is to help turn our ridiculous levels of data generation into something more usable. The control of information within Intel is largely in the hands of the information “owner”. Changing that to the information consumer will help route around that ownership blockage and ensure people have the relevant information to do their job.
I’ve gotten wordy again so I’ll cut it here. The summary is that the major value I see in these tools is smashing through internal behavioral and cultural walls. Breaking those down will bring benefits in reducing redundancy, breaking down silos, improving product quality, and increasing team agility.
Comments (4)
tagged: blog, culture, organization, rss, Web 2.0, wiki
Comments
Jul 02 | Lord Volton said:
To be honest I was surprised that Intel employees were blogging. It is interesting that that the corporate culture in the United States has have been among the slowest to embrace the outside world.
I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to google topics of interest and wait, and wait, and wait for some reporter to take the time to interview someone at a high technology company to learn what is really coming down the pipeline.
Being able to communicate directly and get some idea of what is happening makes it easier to plan for those technologies. I know Intel has internal working groups and I get calls from Intel sales from time to time to see what we’re doing — but this is a much faster mechanism.
It’s more fun too.
There are a lot of great uses for Intel horsepower. But the corporate culture can sometimes stifle those efforts (not Intel in particular, but large companies generally).
Microsoft faces the same problem. I remember having meetings with different working groups on the same floor on the same topic, two days apart.
I think those companies that embrace the world will have a competitive edge, versus those that live in a vacuum where bad ideas can be perpetuated by the culture itself.
So I applaud Intel for having the courage to allow its internal brainpower to talk to the outside world. And I hope Intel will continue down this path of open communication.
Jul 02 | Jeff Moriarty said:
Very well said, Volton. I’m going to drill into both our internal and external blogs in more detail, but you are right - it does challenge the status quo of the way some companies operate.
Intel has excelled in trying to control information flow and spin, and it has been a long time since anyone really bought it, if indeed they ever did. Our shining example remains the Pentium flaw, but there are plenty of others.
Blogging internally is helping employees find better, honest, more accurate information when they need it, just like we hope our external blogging efforts helps us do with our customers.
Jul 03 | Chris Wisehart said:
I had hoped the Wiki would be a great place for documentation but it is a real reach to pull those tribal secrets into the open. Jeff’s on the mark about them. But we will learn eventually.
Jul 09 | Rich Hoeg said:
Great post. I agree 100% with you. Follow my link (i.e. click upon my name) for information on the use of tagging software in conjunction with an “internal” Google search appliance. It’s been an uphill battle.