Gov2.0 Camp

http://www.government20club.org/

Through my Twitter contacts, I was made aware of this event. Without hesitation, I decided to sponsor it. Strongly believe it's the right thing to do and expect to learn and hopefully, contribute!

Stay tuned for updates.. It's been a busy few months as I was practicing what I preached for Enterprise Architects to have 'skin in the game' by actively participating on implementing innovative solutions.

Personal Rant: I shudder to think how many EAs are out there who haven't laid hands on a system in years! Get up from your lofty chairs and come down to a lab and get your 'hands dirty' trying to solve a Hard IT Problem... =)

More to follow...

Buzzword Bingo and Shrinking Budgets

Seems the 'Community' is spouting Web2.0 and other keywords de jour in various internal/external CIO-level conferences. Personally, I'm not too concerned with Buzzword Bingo. I recognize that many in our collective senior ranks are 'Analog Bosses working in a Digital World'. Therefore, if we can at least encourage them to speak with a 'single voice' and vocabulary, so much the better... Don't change the 'word' too soon. Let the terms become part of their own vocabularies... Once the term is indeed dead or overused, then introduce an updated one. Otherwise, we'll continue to confuse the leadership and I fear, we'll slow down acceptance and understanding...

On another topic: Shrinking Budgets

The reality of smaller IT budgets for this current FY and who knows what will happen in future FYs, reminds me of an old favorite saying among pragmatic engineers: 'The amount of engineering ingenuity is diametrically opposed to the money in my pocket' I think a smaller budget is actually a good thing. Yes, I'm sure if I were on the chopping block I'd have a totally different opinion, but I'm not and actually most of the visionaries within my current organization aren't either. Which in a small way, speaks volumes! Tighter budgets drives interoperability, standards, reuse, leveraging, actually 'designing' a system or Enterprise to work and have real up-time capabilities.

On the Collaboration front, shrinking budgets makes organizations that perhaps in rosier times didn't have to 'share' their technologies or solutions. With the onset of 'One Community' and reality that eventually the DNI (and Congress who mandated the change through legislation) will get his way, perhaps now is the time for real Community Collaboration efforts to be fully supported. Along the way, maybe, just maybe, our individual organizations will also learn to collaborate within their own ranks? (I know, I'm such an eternal optimist!)

Data Point: 85% of DNI's budget is actually under DoD control.

Mobile Collaborative Technologies for Potential Use by the 'Community'

The main technology missing from the 'Community' is the ability to be Mobile...

Yes, we have crackberries like anyone else, but we haven't truly explored their full potential. Chiefly, Security is an issue. It's always an 'issue'.. Maybe, we should just accept the fact we ALL have 'issues'... But that's for another thread..

Here's a potential Mobile Conferencing solution that should satisfy Security:

If we could host Fuze Meeting ourselves, this could add an interesting tool to our inventory!

And one more that could...

Similar, but a bit smaller in scale (think smaller teams) Wiggio could be another contender. If it only had SSL capability... (Disclaimer, I sent a brief note to Wiggio asking about it)

Eating my own 'dog food'!

So it's been about a year or so since I was dubbed the "Collaboration Architect" Well, in fact my title is Enterprise Architect - Collaboration.

At first I focused on creating technical roadmaps, alignment of business needs with the various Web Services and Tools which enable Collaboration. Then of late, I've had an epiphany...

In fact my role should be to enable the entire workforce and maybe the overall 'Community' which I support, to work better! Collaboratively! Leveraging Web2.0 technologies to help them do their jobs better, faster, funner (not a technical term!), more engaging, with more meaning... In short, what if 'work' as we know it today was able to be accomplished in ways that not only engage us at an individual but also at a 'community' level? That whole 'synergy' thing we used to hear about in the 90s? Altruistic? Maybe.... But a short scan of other blogs and articles on "Collaboration" it appears I'm not alone in this thought..

So heretofore, CollabArchitect is born! (applause please?!?!)

What will this blog attempt to accomplish? I'm not sure yet.. I have a few thoughts, I'd like it to be a single repository of various blogs, links, sites, tools, that help you in accomplishing 'Collaboration 2.0' (Thanks to David Coleman & Stewart Levin for the title/idea!)

Where does the 'dog food' come in? Well, for about a year, I've been pushing (ok, more like whining) my client to pursue Web 2.0 technologies to better accomplish their tasks. There is a growing number of evangelists among the crew. Some more outspoken than others. But a small cadre is there... Slowly, the rest of the 'community' is coming around. Still, some old school think and mainly, process is painfully present. Change is painful! But change we must!

I've spoken on the need and benefits of using 'Group Blogs' and wikis for better team coordination.. The use of social bookmarking, tagging, etc. But secretly, I've never personally sued them... Only a small set of tools, mainly those that I needed to use for my own purposes. instead, I'm taking the leap and beginning my personal blog on the Internet! voila! Eating my own dog food!

This blog will serve both as a way top capture my thought streams and hopefully, as a way for others to collaborate on trends and tools of the trade.

Your readership, feedback, and yes, even collaboration, will decide its value. I hope you'll find benefit from it as much as I...

Thanks for sharing with me on this journey! CollabArchitect