Small Steps Toward the Semantic Future

March 4, 2010

Hi. Thanks for reading my blog. I hope you’ll leave comments and explore this site. There’s a lot to learn here. If you know Ray Ozzie, please send him to this post.

In November, I went to TED India, which I truly enjoyed. While I was there, I met Scott Cook, chairman of Intiut, a company he founded. He is also on the boards of eBay and Proctor and Gamble. Scott is one of my Silicon Valley heroes. I was thrilled to meet him. I told him about the semantic web, and his reaction was the normal one – “Oh, the thing Berners Lee talks about but never arrives?”

I said well, if you think about it, XBRL, the business reporting language, is actually a big part of the semantic web.” He said “Ahah, that makes sense.” He understands business reporting, and he’s heard enough about XBRL to understand how it might be seen as part of the semantic web. I mentioned a few other areas of progress, and he nodded with interest. Then I said, “And once we have our information online, in online data lockers, the semantic web will wipe out the Mac or Windows operating systems, because everything will be on the cloud, and the web will be the platform for all the applications.” And then Scott Cook, a man I’d love to spend more time with and whom I would really like to read my book, all of a sudden saw someone he knew and excused himself from our conversation.

It was my fault. Scott, more than anyone, knows that you have to let people do what they are doing today, only angle it a bit toward the digital future they need but are afraid of. He’s a master of studying behavior. I learned then and there that I have to stop talking about “wiping out” anything and talk about enhancing what we have today.

My book appeals to change agents – people who get excited about doing things better. After reading it, you may want to start with some kind of project to make your company more effective. Here are some examples:

• Your intranet has terrabytes of information, but you don’t know where things are or how to extract the information.
• You have to start collaborating with others in your industry and need a pilot project that proves the value of building a semantic web of data to help.
• You are spending far too much on IT, with very little to show for it.
• You’re doing project management with Microsoft products.
• Your product catalog people spend most of their time redoing work others have done before, putting the same information into your proprietary formats over and over.
• Your company sends out 500 packages per day and is being held hostage by UPS.
• Your company really should have a roadmap to the semantic web, but no one is interested.
• You want to help eliminate the IRS and go to a tax policy that makes more sense than taxing income.

The problem is that while you’re thinking about the future, many people in your company, especially upper management, may be in survival mode. You want to be on a new curve of innovation, and they are terrified of falling off the curve they are on now. If you tell them about the bright future and how much money you can save using the principles of pull and the semantic web, you’ll be lucky if their eyes gloss over. You’ll be unlucky if you find yourself looking for another job. So to help you get started, here are some tips:

People don’t want to hear a story of revolution. It’s too scary. They might have to rethink their roles in the company. They think of risk, not opportunity. This was driven home for me when I read a great little book called Believe Me, by Michael Margolis. He’s right. You’ll slit your own throat if you jump too far ahead.

People want to hear a continuity story. Go to any of today’s automated car factories and you’ll see robots everywhere. But they didn’t just show up after hiring Harry Potter as a consultant. They evolved, so that each year looks a lot like last year, but with a few new programs and several new improvements. You must think who you are pitching to and how to get them to take the next small step.

Don’t show the big picture. You’ll be surprised at how few people want your grand vision of the future. President Kennedy got away with it a few times, but even Barack Obama is finding that his vision is getting in the way of making progress. Sell the small picture. Sell each step of the way, one at a time. Show results after just a few steps.

Gather your allies. Find a core group of like-minded people who can help. Make sure they read my book.

Measure success. You’ll have to find metrics that show how well (or poorly) your program is working. First, measure the dysfunctionality, then plan to measure success in a way that shows everyone that if you can achieve a certain milestone, you can keep innovating.

Talk with some people who’ve been there already. Talk with Dave McComb at Semantic Arts. Talk with the people at Zepheira. Get Mills Davis’s Project10x report. Look at their client lists and contact them to ask how things have gone. Talk with others in your industry. Read some case studies. Find a semantic-web meetup in your community. Get suggestions from people with experience before going to the rest of your team.

Plan to attend the big semantic-technology conference in June. The annual semantic-technology conference will be in San Francisco, June 21-25. Bring your core group and plan to learn as much as you can. I’ll be keynoting.

Plan to give a presentation at your next industry conference. Semantic technology works when everyone uses the same standards. It doesn’t work if you just do it in-house and don’t share. Get other people involved. Find the progressive people working for your competitors and meet them for lunch. There is a lot you can do together, and you’ll all be more profitable as a result.

Read something inspiring and pass it on. Here’s Laurent Liscia’s story of how standards evolve. It’s great. Also, be sure to see and tell people about the excellent STI video made by the EU. If your company has people in Europe, talk with them – they may be ahead of your North American colleagues. And don’t forget – just to your left are tons of blogs and resources to help you learn more and educate others. Join me on Twitter (@pullnews) and keep up to date.

Remember – take small steps and focus on the next measurable result. Even though we would all like to be on a new curve of innovation, the semantic web hasn’t reached the point where people understand it, let alone think it will help your company. You have to sell, and that means taking their concerns into account. Eventually, they will thank you for getting things started early, but don’t be surprised if you have to wait a few years for it to happen.

Here’s a question. Suppose you are the nation’s chief economic advisor, and your boss (Barack Obama) doesn’t understand the FairTax, which would eliminate the IRS. How could you tell a continuity story to him, to get him to listen to your idea? I’m interested in your responses, because I think we’ll need to do something like that to get enough legislators and government people behind the FairTax.

If you have comments or tips for others, please leave them here. If you have a case study, please contact me. If you’ve read my book, I encourage you to leave comments at Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com.

We're sorry, but comments are closed.