As part of what I do at work, I’ve been observing a rise in the number of startups that are trying to tackle some aspect of organisational productivity in some way or the other. I thought it would be useful to put all these linked things I’ve noticed in a presentation, which I’ve made to people within PHD a few times internally lately. So I thought I’d share it here too.
The siloed way of working is obviously no longer relevant – the web has rendered the flow of information not just between teams in one company but also across domains of expertise and borders pretty much seamless. Whether it’s Skype, Yammer or Google Talk, people within an organisation have access to resources within and outside their company like never before. This impacts the way we work, but also how we think: collaborative working is more important than ever before, not least because there’s a business case for it.
Technology is also impacting how people recruit and retain employees, how they are evaluated and rewarded. I used to work with Somewhere’s co-founder Justin McMurray and I think it’s revolutionising the usual CV-interview application process. I’m also keen to see how Namely plays out, and continue to be amused and impressed at how agencies like Work Club are using platforms like Pinterest. I don’t think reality shows like The Pitch or this one in China are really going to yield much more than mild entertainment (or boredom, as the case may be!), but it demonstrates one thing for sure: technology’s only going to make the race to be more productive and produce better work more interesting than ever.
One Size Fits One 