Jon DiPietro is Domesticating IT

There are man interesting discussions happening right now concerning the International Society of Automation (ISA) and its current travails with regard to its membership, publications, and exposition.  For those not familiar with the situation, this volunteer organization has been around for over sixty years and has come upon tough financial times, not unlike most organizations.  Two of its major revenue generating enterprises (its InTech magazine and ISA Expo trade show) have declined precipitously and are necessitating major changes.

The dialog is starting to reach a boil with comments like those recently posted on Jim Pinto’s web site by former ISA Executive Director Glenn Harvey.  I wanted to focus on just one statement in his response, in which he said “Who knows, but if large numbers of members do not call for change, ISA will keep doing what it has been doing and the results will be the same.”  Although I certainly don’t disagree with him, there is a larger message here for institutions in general; in our Web 2.0 world, that’s not the worst thing that could happen to you.

Do-It-Yourself Institutions are possible in the world of Web 2.0

DIY Institutions

When it comes to institutions like ISA, dissatisfied members used to have two choices; to stay with the institution and either live with it or try to affect change, or to find a better institution that more closely aligned with the member’s needs and desires.  If there wasn’t a suitable competitor, then the institutions had very little need or incentive to change or adapt.  If competition is a factor, then the institutions would generally react only when and if they started to lose members.

But today there is a third and more unsettling option for these dissatisfied members – they can simply do it themselves.  As the transaction costs of building, organizing and managing organizations approaches zero (thanks to the explosion of free Web 2.0 applications), members who are dissatisfied with their institutions can simply go and build their own.  Why pour time and energy into fighting an established bureaucracy (an exhausting, sometimes nasty endeavor), when one can instead simply invest the same amount of time and energy into building the institution they wanted in the first place.

“Surely You Exaggerate”

If you think I’m overestimating the power of Web 2.0, then you need to read my blog more often (just kidding). But seriously, I’ll illustrate this with two examples.  The first is a presentation by Guy Kawasaki about how quickly and inexpensively he was able to launch a company:

The second example is a project on which I’m currently working as IT Director for a NH gubernatorial campaign.  I was able to put together an entire IT infrastructure for the campaign that includes staff collaboration tools, shared calendar, web site and email hosting, web site design and development, customer relationship management (CRM), and e-newsletter services for less than $90 per month and under$500 in up front costs.  The entire system is cloud-based, which allows the campaign staff to work remotely and eliminates the need for purchasing software licenses.

So, the catch phrase is no longer “If you build it, they will come.”  Now, it’s “If you don’t build it, they will.”

Continue Reading

Thinking about ways to expand and improve the Society

The ISA (International Society of Automation) is facing a challenging time.  As I prepare to attend the Fall Leaders’ Meeting and ISA Expo in a few days, I know that major cuts and dramatic changes are in store.  Depending upon how you look at it, I am personally either blessed or cursed not be part of the most important and far reaching decisions that will be inevitably be announced in the coming weeks. I understand that many of these changes are necessary due to shortfalls in revenue resulting from the same economic conditions facing everyone.  However, I want to put forth a few ideas that will no doubt sound crazy to some and may even brand me as a “heretic.”  Incidentally, I would take that as a compliment and if you’re curious as to why, you should watch this Seth Godin video.  The ideas are too lengthy to include a single post, so I present them in summary here and will link them to sub-articles, where more detail is provided for those who are interested.

Sell Scarcity, Give Away Abundance

Many thanks to Jim Pinto for bringing this into focus for me with his recent InTech article, “Sell scarcities, not abundance.” I’ve taken the liberty of expanding on his thesis by leveraging the concepts of “freeconomics.” I am intrigued by the possibility of making ISA membership free. Yes, I said it – free.

I go into more detail in “Sell Scarcity, Give Away Abundance”

Build a free army equipped with web 2.0 tools

Build an Army Using the Long Tail

Making membership free will not, in and of itself, build an effective army. First, they must be recruited. This is where the long tail comes into play. Next, they must be equipped with the latest technology, afforded competent and inspiring leaders, and trained in effective tactics. The “Long Tail” is a phrase attributed to Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson, who wrote an article in 2004 about “Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More.” Engineers and economists would already be familiar with the numerical component of this phenomenon, known as the power law distribution curve or more colloquially the “80/20” rule. I think the current strategies are more focused on maintaining the 20% than pulling in the other 80%. Once free membership and the long tail begin filling the membership hopper, the next step is to “arm” them with the latest web 2.0 technologies.

I go into more detail in “Build an Army Using the Long Tail”

Switch from Filter/Distribute to Distribute/Filter

Content is the fuel for this new paradigm’s engine. A wide variety of interesting, thought provoking, authoritative, and even mundane content will increase member engagement and improve search engine results, driving more and more web search results to ISA. However, under the current publication infrastructure this is difficult if not impossible to realize. That’s because the current approach is to filter, then publish. The alternative is to distribute, then filter. In other words, the long tail of the membership should be enabled to become content providers.

I go into more detail in “Members as Content Providers”

Be Respectful in Our Marketing

Let’s talk about email. This has been a controversial subject for many years and for several reasons. The mistake here is that ISA has been wrestling with the best way to interrupt people, sort of like looking for the friendliest way to insult somebody. The solution is, once again, permission-based or opt-in marketing.

I go into more detail in “Be Respectful in Our Marketing”

The Elephant in the Room

This may sound like implementing these ideas requires the current web site to be blown up and rebuilt from scratch, which will cost a fortune. Yes and no. The current framework will not support these tools and tactics for a reasonable cost. However, the revolution in open source web content management systems (CMS) allows the rapid development of extremely powerful web sites by non-professionals for zero or little licensing cost. These CMS have enormous commercial third party add on markets that provide extensibility for very low cost – we’re talking less than $10k.

There is no getting around the fact that it would be a time consuming task to migrate all of the existing content to a new platform. However, it can be done by any mildly computer savvy user after about an hour’s worth of training. The job could be outsourced to the membership in large part and I am willing to bet the call to arms would be well received.

Don’t Panic!

These thoughts are meant to provide food for thought, not necessarily a road map. It is a momentary cross over from the way it was to the way it could be. The way it is unsustainable. Applying a tourniquet may stop the bleeding, but that is not a solution. I believe that ISA can not only survive but thrive if we can recognize and embrace the trends that will define how professional institutions organize their members for the next fifty years.

My hope is to provoke conversations that lead to innovation and positive change.  To that end, please use the comments section below and provide your thoughts.  As Linda Richman on Saturday Night Live’s “Coffee Talk” skit would say, “I’ve given you a topic. Talk amongst yourselves.”

Continue Reading

Note: This post is part 1 of 4 in a series of posts. The parent article is “ISA: One Member’s Vision.”

Many thanks to Jim Pinto for bringing this into focus for me with his recent InTech article, “Sell scarcities, not abundance.” I’ve taken the liberty of expanding on his thesis by leveraging the concepts of “freeconomics.” I am intrigued by the possibility of making ISA membership free. Yes, I said it – free. In 1945, it was extremely difficult to network with engineers 500 miles away, let alone 3,000. And it was costly for an organization to facilitate those networks. It made sense to charge members for that service and it was valuable enough for people to pay for it. It is based on a model that assumes that people could not simply self-assemble. Now they can. The transactions costs associated with facilitating conversations and sharing information have become “too cheap to meter.” They are, for all intents and purposes, free. ISA needs to recognize that it does not provide value by either organizing or facilitating those networks. They will organize themselves with or without our help (by the way, they already have begun). Stating the obvious, it would be better for us if it is “with.”

Obviously, the business model must change in order to accommodate this. It seems to me that it is currently backwards; scarcities like standards are free, while abundances like information and advertising are not.

Scarcities

• Industry standards
• Certification
• Peer recognition

Abundances

• Information
• Networking
• Advertising space

What if there were multiple membership levels or, in other words, a “freemium” model? Basic ISA membership is free, which provides access to the abundant resources of the new web site (to be discussed later), web seminars, technical library, mentoring, networking opportunities, and (perhaps) discounted fees for events, books, standards, etc… Premium membership may look more like the current model and its list of member benefits including “x” number of free standards. Membership in Divisions and Sections should always be free and unlimited. Proximity is no longer a prerequisite for participation and contribution.

Continue Reading

Note: This post is part 3 of 4 in a series of posts. The parent article is “ISA: One Member’s Vision.”

Content is the fuel for this new paradigm’s engine. A wide variety of interesting, thought provoking, authoritative, and even mundane content will increase member engagement and improve search engine results, driving more and more web search results to ISA. However, under the current publication infrastructure this is difficult if not impossible to realize. That’s because the current approach is to filter, then publish. In other words, a centralized group of staff and volunteers decides what content would be valuable to members, assembles, edits, and then publishes it in a “one size fits all” format. Incidentally, it may sound like I’m referring specifically to InTech, but it includes any means of disseminating information. There are several problems with this approach. First, it bombards me with information I don’t care about. I have too many other options available to me that make it dead simple to zoom in on the information I care about than to spend time sifting through information I don’t. Second, it costs lots and lots of time and money to orchestrate. Third, the information is devalued by making it hard to index (Google), find, bookmark, share, or re-purpose.

The alternative is to distribute, then filter. In other words, the long tail of the membership should be enabled to become content providers. This may or may not involve intermediary review and/or editing – that’s an implementation detail. Then, the content is published using categories and tagging so that it is easily searched subscribed to. Now, Sally can very easily focus on any content tagged with “cybersecurity” without the distraction of having to wade through “flow sensors” or “thermocouples.”

Continue Reading