We we build it, we will come!

[brockbankdm-p40]

"Thomas Stewart said, "money talks, but it does not think; machines perform, often better than any human being can, but [machines and technology] do not invent...[The] primary purpose of human capital is innovation -- whether of new products and services or of improvement in business processes."

And so how well do our organizations enable people to innovate?"

Unfortunately, not very well.

Stephen Covey poses this question as he visits different workplaces,

"Would you say that the vast majority of people in the workplace possess far more creativity, resourcefulness, ingenuity, intelligence, and talent than their jobs require or even allow? 90-plus percent of hundreds of thousands of people surveyed in organizations around the world say yes."

So what's wrong with us? According to Covey, we have command-and-control organizations which stifle innovation and creativity. In the Knoweldge Age, we haven't figured out how to emaniciate the knowledge worker or leverage the "wisdom of crowds". (See his book, "The Eighth Habit")

Or have we?

See Dell's Idea Storm http://www.dellideastorm.com where you can create an account and begin posting an idea! It may be the best UI model that leverages the collective knowledge, skill and experience of people.

Why did they build it? Dell came to the conclusion that they really couldn't know what their customers wanted, and so why not ask them? And if that is true of customers, then why isn't it true of employees and partners as well?

On this website, other users can submit ideas, and either promote or demote other's ideas. You can see if your idea is getting traction, and if it is "bubbling up" to the top.

In the end, since "we are smarter than me", Dell gets much more feedback with these ideas and suggestions than through traditional means (e.g. focus groups, talk to your manager, etc.)

In the end, this website will fuel innovation in in deliving new products and services which really are customer-driven. It works at the "speed of conversation" by providing real-time feedback, and isn't bogged down in drawn out strategy sessions and meetings.

The customer says, "If we build it, we will come!"

I agree.

Our LDS Tech forum post is a great start. However, I think it could be expanded be similar to Dell's Idea Storm where you can promote or demote ideas, let's people collaborate to identify the best ideas, and see your overall (knowledge) contribution score. Now the CIO of your business can have his pulse on the market potential of a product enhancement or idea, develop strategies that leverage "the wisdom of crowds", and improve processes.

What do you think?

[russellhltn]

I see a built-in conflict here between the creativity of the individual and "we are smarter than me". If "I am not smarter then we" then we need to be careful about the creativity of the individual. Many times the rigid command and control is designed that way to prevent "creativity" which is actually harmful. Add that to the church hierarchy in which we are led by revelation and we end up with "creativity in the box".

I take more to the Deming view that the person doing the work is the expert at the job and management needs to listen to what the expert has to say. If you want to know about the health of the elephant, ask the guy who cleans the elephant cage, not the zoo vet.

[jeromer7]

Say there are 100 users of an application. You start up a Feedback site. 25 users hear about it. 10 make suggestions. 5 make votes to promote or demote. Are the results representative of the desires of the 100 users?

I've not previously heard of IdeaStorm, so as a user of Dell products (at home, Church and work) my "voice" hasn't been heard.

Likewise, of the thousands of users of the various Church applications covered in the Forums, only a few hundred have registered, and only a relative handful participate.

As one of the "handful" it would be interesting to be able to promote/demote suggestions as they come in, but the result would merely be an indication of the favorite suggestions of those that were interested enough to take the time to state an opinion. And as Russell pointed out, for some ideas, Church needs trump our desires.

Nonetheless, I think it is an interesting idea worth discussion and hope others will join in.

[mkmurray]

I too imagine something quite useful could come out of this discussion. I agree that there is a wellspring of ideas out there, and this could be a way to tap into it.

One thought to keep in mind is that the Church doesn't quite have the same goals as a corporation like Dell does. Some ideas will be trumped by Church needs, or to take it even futher, perhaps by inspired revelation.

[brockbankdm-p40]

Hopefully as these ideas of engaging the community become more acceptable, more and more users would know it's ok to engage and how to engage in these conversations and would engage.

Now here's how I propose we'd resolve the "Church need". I would advocate that the Church would assign content owners to specific processes, products and services. And when ideas are promoted, it's the responsibility of these content owner to evaluate this feedback within existing policies and procedures of the Church. That would be the check and balance.

[brockbankdm-p40]

I too imagine something quite useful could come out of this discussion. I agree that there is a wellspring of ideas out there, and this could be a way to tap into it.

One thought to keep in mind is that the Church doesn't quite have the same goals as a corporation like Dell does. Some ideas will be trumped by Church needs, or to take it even futher, perhaps by inspired revelation.

Hopefully as these ideas of engaging the community become more acceptable, more and more users would know it's ok to engage and how to engage in these conversations and would engage.

Now here's how I propose we'd resolve the "Church need". I would advocate that the Church would assign content owners to specific processes, products and services. And when ideas are promoted, it's the responsibility of these content owner to evaluate this feedback within existing policies and procedures of the Church. That would be the check and balance.

[brockbankdm-p40]

I too imagine something quite useful could come out of this discussion. I agree that there is a wellspring of ideas out there, and this could be a way to tap into it.

One thought to keep in mind is that the Church doesn't quite have the same goals as a corporation like Dell does. Some ideas will be trumped by Church needs, or to take it even futher, perhaps by inspired revelation.

I see a built-in conflict here between the creativity of the individual and "we are smarter than me". If "I am not smarter then we" then we need to be careful about the creativity of the individual. Many times the rigid command and control is designed that way to prevent "creativity" which is actually harmful. Add that to the church hierarchy in which we are led by revelation and we end up with "creativity in the box".

I take more to the Deming view that the person doing the work is the expert at the job and management needs to listen to what the expert has to say. If you want to know about the health of the elephant, ask the guy who cleans the elephant cage, not the zoo vet.

There needs to be a check and balance system that goes both ways. For example, "command and control" is a check on making sure the right ideas are eventually worked on. However, the Dell Idea Storm, blogs and wikis is a check against command and control systems which too often stifle innovation.

[bhofmann]

I think this forum is a good start for idea collaboration. Most of the time an idea posted gets plenty of responses (votes). Maybe a next step would be to find a good way to organize the ideas and responses already collected.