In order to lead the strategic design and use of enterprise social technology solutions for organizational knowledge sharing and learning:
Organizational Learning and Knowledge
Don’t be afraid to engage in a philosophical conversation about the human experience.
By discussing the human experience, designers think beyond affordances and instead critically engage in the basic principles of human essence. By considering the complexities that drive human behavior, it is easier to see that people's ability to experience, reflect, and learn ultimately influences a users identity. This helps designers understand that the technology is there to enable and connect individuals to create experiences that allows them to learn and grow rather than the technology solely being the experience.
Identify the U in User and think about their experience from a social practice perspective.
By identifying and understanding the behaviors of users (doing, thinking, feeling), designers are able to approach their users with empathy. But also, by eliciting ambiguous thinking from the POV that knowledge is
- embedded in activity
- learning is socially constructed and
- tacit and explicit information are mutually constituted
as practitioners, we can better understand that individuals creating knowledge versus those that are lurkers, learn and participate in very different ways. Therefore, strategic designers can better conceptualize the multiple needs and purposes of their users which ultimately drives ideation of user-centric products that have increased user adaptability rates.
Organizational Strategy and Performance
Understand the stated goal and why before diving into the what and how.
Technology
When starting the design strategy process, it is very easy to focus on the how (process) and what (ideas, functionality) for the intended social enterprise technology. However, without understanding the interaction between the 1) stated goal and 2) the why behind that goal creates problematic outcomes, specifically the technology not acting as it was intended for use.
Buy-In
Also, not understanding the why can disrupt the ability to gain buy-in. Focusing on building and selling the newest and coolest features, without a purpose for utilization, makes the case for change in behavior, user buy- in and deployment difficult. Make sure you are not selling the features, but instead focusing on the outcomes.
Teaming
Last, without a clear understand of the project, teams lack needed alignment, which causes them to struggle to work together in developing a vision and a collaborative prototype. The inability to make aligned design decisions creates inefficiencies throughout the project and can result in unnecessary conflict.
Remember that in today’s technology and social media-driven environment, social enterprise technology is not just a nicety but a necessity
Due to the business environment of today’s globalized, web-based economy, knowledge is no longer a scarce resource, and instead, it is all about finding the right knowledge, utilizing it at the right time and in the right way. Therefore, social enterprise technology is a key ingredient in aiding and providing informational access to employees through the use of affordances, communities and networks (all focused on leveraging the “right” people and information) to increase individual productivity and creativity. Therefore, it is important not to silo your team, which would ultimately create technology that only the design team would utilize. Instead, understand the strategic needs across divisional boundaries and the organizational context that would better integrate the technology. By leading a digital transformation effort to connect people for the purpose of sharing and creating knowledge you are designing a technology that will be integral to achieving organizational goals and enhancing organizational effectiveness. Don’t let people persuade you otherwise- keep it at the top of the strategic agenda!
Technology
Technology is just the vehicle, so let the user drive
We often get caught trying to create the newest and coolest technology that demonstrate out of the box features and innovative, unique ideas. However, if you look at social media technologies that have been successful (twitter, reddit, facebook), they ultimately create a medium for the users to create and engage freely and easily with content and other users. This demonstrates that at the end of the day it is not the functionality that makes a technology successful, but the way the technology engages the users.
Leverage culture to drive the use of affordances
As a strategic designer of enterprise technology, it is important to recognize that culture and norms impact the use of affordances. A culture of reciprocity and trust inherently make affordances more effective. For example, triggered attending is only useful if the community is reliable in initiating contact to engage the participant in the conversation at the right time and the user trusts that the community will also alert them. So, it is important to consider the organizational context prior to design in order to understand the lens of the user in the context of their environment in order for affordances to function as desired. In addition to culture, perceived norms are also important to identify while designing because they will reveal and help designers identify assumptions about the interactions of users.
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