Learning in White Water

CompanyCommand: A Peer Production Case Example

Agenda• Who are Company Commanders?• CC Founding Story• Distributed community space online: Content,

Conversation, Connections• The Model• DARPA’s iLink

Highly dynamic environment

A Strategic “Practice”

Decentralized Operations

Where strategy is

operationalized

High Level of Authority &

Responsibility

Every Soldier is in a

company— about 120

soldiers per company

Complex, rapidly evolving enemy

Implementing agent on all policies that impact on, or

include soldiers

CC FOUNDING STORY• Front-porch conversation focused on learning &

becoming more effective leaders• Grounded in relationships• Team of volunteers, fresh out of command—driven

to pass on learning to the next generation of commanders.

• Point Man Concept—grassroots movement• Evolving form, with a laser-beam focus on serving

company commanders• Senior Army leaders recognize potential & help

resource the initiative

Envisioned Future

Vision: Every company-level leader—past, present, & future—connected in a vibrant conversation about

building and leading combat-ready teams.

Community space is organized around the main functions of the practice of command. If commanders do these well, they will be effective. Each section is facilitated and developed by a topic lead who is an experienced commander and has a depth of experience and passion in the specific topic he or she is a lead for.

Everything in the community space is targeted towards the effective practice of company command.

Featuring members introduces the community to itself and facilitates professional connections.

Highlight hot content, events, video interviews, sub-communities, conversations, and dog tags (personal profiles) of featured members – keeping information on the front page current and engaging.

Most recent conversations are brought forward and highlighted on the front page to create the effect of an ongoing professional conversation

The command quiz is changed monthly and is designed to speak to a current and relevant issue for company commanders.

Members take the quiz and then participate in an online conversation about the question.

There is also the potential to hold a “live huddle” or chat session on topics that are especially relevant to the community.

The leadership team writes a community of practice newsletter that is emailed out to all members. The newsletter has links to new content and conversations and also contains a thought piece on leadership.

Innovation Video Clip

“We’re up against evolving threats, we have evolving foes.”

“We have to have a living, thinking, breathing, dynamic organization—from top to bottom.”

Innovation Video Clip

The Model

2.0: A Shift in Assumptions• The knowledge of the practice (expertise) resides in the minds

of its members—within the community (not necessarily in a data base, with the top leaders, or a proponent organization).

• Connecting leaders in conversation enables them to share their experience, create new knowledge, and improve the practice—responsibility for expert knowledge resides with the community of practitioners (organizational focus shifts to development of the network and a professional identity of participation).

• Conversations, Content and Connections are the “life-blood” of a community of practice—Leaders want more than just an answer to their questions (knowledge is dynamic, personal, and contextual).

iLink

The Need

A large, growing and somewhat fragmented community with thousands of members and knowledge objects.

How do we keep this experience personal and relevant?

iLink & CompanyCommand

• Strong culture; trust and respect are key• We worked to understand culture, structure, goals,

build simple tools to:– Provide communities with assisted “peripheral vision” and

improve cognitive speed– Swarm the right team around the right problem at the

right time - resolve– Surface & recognize community experts get them to take

active role, responsibility– Encourage mentorships, help build relationships– Assist moderators and “gardeners”

The Idea• Power simple apps that can, for example:

– Improve trust, strengthen community bonds– Learn and adapt – specifically learn about users and

their networks– Swarm emergent problems, requests, “holes” with the

best resources– Add contextual information to items, people– Create an improved, living knowledge store and

persistent community memory– Give users and groups assisted peripheral vision of

relevant ideas and people

Amazon.com like Recommendations: People and Content

Non iLink Users, two months on

iLink Users, two months on

Interesting initial results• More structurally diverse discussion groups, not just the

usual suspects• iLink surfacing topic “champions” in the community• Making facilitators’ more efficient and effective• Peripheral/new members increasingly drawn into the

discussion – mentoring opportunities• iLink users tend to be more connected users in the

community as a whole• iLink users much more likely to help others • Enhancing community bonds, trust, social capital

Qualitative surveys…

“iLink is awesome. There is so much knowledge out there that I did not know about. Where does it come from... where has it been hiding... It’s almost like coming to CC for the first time. Hooah! To the masterminds of this techy creation. Awesome job!”

- User, one day after iLink fielding

Conclusion