The point is (to complement Tom) that IBM really has not given up on management nor are they likely to at any point in the future.  Yes they have freed up blogging etc. within their firewalls and should pick up a gold star for that, but that was a management decision.  A lot of management is about determining boundaries and IBM have shifted those a bit.  Micro-managment of all actions, command and control in the popular sense (which implies micro-management) are rarely in play in any modern organisation.  It was a management decision that provided the technology and funded the team that manage (that word) again the process.  Yes sharing will take place, but they have not moved from management to sharing just a different management focus.

Tom makes the point that the two extremes of anarchistic or chaotic self-organisation and micro-management of command and control are just that, extremes that rarely exist in reality for any length of time.  In effect all management is complex, a system of constraints in which behaviour modifies the nature of the system itself over time. OK it would be good if managers stopped failing to manage outcomes and recognised that success is better achieved by managing constraints and connectivity with a view to coherence.  Killing sick stigma and other anally retentive process & outcome based targets would help a lot as they are examples of contextually inappropriate management techniques.  But does anyone seriously argue that an organisation can survive without management?

Readers of this blog will also remember that the origin of management is meneggiare, the ability to ride and train horses.  lets given up on silly statements about the end of management and focus in stead on changing management practice.

To complete the picture there are rules (the need for citations) and ethics (assume good faith) and if you fall foul of those you serve a time out.  You can choose the level; in the last two months a group of us have argued at length over two words on the philosophy page, while a pitched fight broke out over the British Isles as a geographical term given the politics of the relationship between Britain and Ireland.  Don't make the mistake of thinking to call it a game is any denigration of its seriousness by the way.

I will have to stop telling my 16 year off for spending too much time on his computer playing games if I am to avoid a legitimate charge of hypocrisy.

Not completely there yet (and there may be some more to add) but its a start

In this chapter I will outline an approach to organisational memory which recognises the importance of fine granularity knowledge objects, linked and connected to current realities.  I will emphasis the need for serendipitous and contextual encounters with any such knowledge objects, and the need to modify and blend them on the fly.  In doing this I will look at the impact of social computing on the field of knowledge management and the use of narrative databases which together and to a degree mirror the oral tradition and apprentice models of knowledge transfer and creation.  I will do this by introducing a set of theoretical arguments, in part drawn from the natural sciences to set the scene.  This will be followed by a brief summary criticism of existing approaches in the field and will then conclude by elaborating the approach summarised at the start of this paragraph.

All any any comments and questions welcome

Amsterdam provides an opportunity to attend from most of Europe with easy connections to Schipol Airport and thence into the city centre where the course will be held.  A chance not only for new people, but also for existing practitioners to catch up with SenseMaker™

However the human race seems very willing to seize onto self-help therapies that abscond with some misunderstood concepts drawn from a shallow reading of scientific literature.  It may be evident of a flawed need for certainty, or evidence of the need for some source of meaning in the face of uncertainty.  Whatever it is dangerous, the uncritical adoption of a set of ideas is the starting and ending point of cultism, from which (and I appreciate the irony) Good Lord preserve us.  As St Peter says Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. 

A wonderful series in Nature which attempts a scientific explanation of music, all nine parts available here

Cosmic monster, a great picture not to mention a fascinating explanation

Neurophilosophy again on the way in which Shakespeare's use of functional shift and its impact on the brain.

Finally the really scary stuff.  I found this tracking down the background of one disruptive editor on the Wikipedia article on Philosophy.

The night was less peaceful as I rather rushed the sausage cooking in order to be sat down for the Haka.  Morning saw the water the harbour calm (in contrast with my stomach) and I had the pleasure of watching two small tug boats deftly maneuver a much larger ship under the bridge and into dock.  The sun is out, it is Sunday, I have a water view and (praise be to God) it is refreshingly cold and breezy and I plan an intensive writing session followed by a walk and hopefully (if the after effects of not cooking the sausage fully wear off) a meal with friends tonight.  Expect more serious cogitations from tomorrow.