The Monolithic Beginning

It seems counterintuitive to have a one-to-many vehicle like a blog for something like the art/science of people working together. Not that it hasn't been done before. So, if ever I get any readers, I'll rely on you to enrich this experiment with comments. Regardless, I'll just be posting a few lessons I've learned. More accurately, I'll be posting some things I've observed, and thoughts about the implications.

Getting started then; I'm a big believer in using decision support (DS) technology for the purposes of idea generation. There are innumerable solutions out there. I'm most familiar with the GroupSystems platforms, which are good for bringing efficiency to a meeting, as well as setting the psychological stage. By offering anonymity to the delegates through DS, delegates are given the sense that their opinion is valued, as in this arena it carries the same weight as everyone else's, and idea generation can't be dominated by the greatest authority or most aggressive person in the room.

Lot's more on the why's and how's of DS to come. For now though, check out what shows some promise as an effective open-source DS solution. Kluster is still beta at this point, but it's easy to gather how it works. Not unlike the process prescribed by other platforms, but it can be public, and they've created a sexy ecosystem complete with cool names for functions, and in-world currency. This currency (called watts) makes kluster a little bit more of a prediction market than a standard rating system for ideas. We'll watch this with great interest. They're set to debut at the upcoming TED meeting.