My talk from the E20 conference in Boston

1. E20 apps built on platforms
Lee Bryant, June 2010, E20 Boston

2. About Headshift
• Social business consultancy, Dachis Group
• 40+ people, UK, USA, ASPAC
• Enterprise social tools pioneers since 2002
• Blend of tech, comms, business and social
sciences skills in our consulting team
• Strong portfolio in law, prof.services,
corporate, government and third sector
[welcome]

3. Compare and contrast

4. Enterprise apps

5. Social web tools

6. If your tools require training
then you are doing it wrong

7. The enterprise has
been an evolutionary
rock pool for too long

8. Competition Co-evolution
See Darwin’s Finches by Sam Ramji

9. APIs are the sex organs of business evolution

10. APIs are the sex organs of business evolution
Thousands of people, who are not on your payroll,
who are intimately part of each of these changing
interest groups and niches, must be convinced to
carry your product there for you in a way that
adapts to the dynamic environment
See Darwin’s Finches by Sam Ramji

11. Data is the DNA
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/01%#'&(#*"&2#+03&"#$%&#"&24!1&#%&'&(
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See Darwin’s Finches by Sam Ramji

12. Data is the DNA
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See Darwin’s Finches by Sam Ramji

13. Moving from all-in-one to API-driven platforms

14. What social business
consultants really want...

15. Build situated apps based on specific needs
We observe and analyse...
• ethnography (habits)
• behavioural psychology (motivation)
• organisational design (context)
• business analysis (goals, productivity)

16. Build situated apps based on specific needs
We observe and analyse...
• ethnography (habits)
• behavioural psychology (motivation)
• organisational design (context)
• business analysis (goals, productivity)
...to create connective apps
• situated software
• context-aware
• linked to key systems
• address specific use cases

17. So ... what sort of apps
should we be creating?

18. General social apps

19. Ecosystem apps
• better network
navigation tools
• better navigation
scanning tools

20. Our network navigation
tools are very primitive

21. Google lets me fly over continents...

22. ... swoop down to a country...

23. ... and zoom in to my front door

24. Data can take me deeper still

25. Why can’t I do the same
with my social networks?

26. Hivemind apps
• sense making and
organising tools
• data analysis and
visualisation tools

27. The power of open data to change behaviour

28. The power of open data to change behaviour

29. The power of open data to change behaviour

30. Signals apps
• Updates manager
and search agent
• topic and project
monitoring tools

31. Why is my signals app little more than a CLI ?

32. Some progress in UX, but still too manual

33. Some progress in UX, but still too manual

34. Proximity wormholes: people discovery at scale

35. Metafilter apps
• personal startpage
and info organiser
• action items -
applying verbs

36. Verbs, actions, productivity and measurement

37. Opportunity: coping tools for signal overload

38. Specific, situated apps

39. Use case driven rapid development
e.g. Law firms:
• Current Awareness tools
• Conflict checking
• Bid development
• Matter management
• People finder
• Clause manager
• Document builder

40. How do we achieve this?

41. Start by separating apps from platforms
Traditional Enterprise systems
CMS DMS RDBs Mail Etc...

42. Start by separating apps from platforms
API / Data sharing
Traditional Enterprise systems
CMS DMS RDBs Mail Etc...

43. Start by separating apps from platforms
Social business platform(s)
Wiki Blogs Groups RSS SNS
API / Data sharing
Traditional Enterprise systems
CMS DMS RDBs Mail Etc...

44. Start by separating apps from platforms
API / Data sharing
Social business platform(s)
Wiki Blogs Groups RSS SNS
API / Data sharing
Traditional Enterprise systems
CMS DMS RDBs Mail Etc...

45. Start by separating apps from platforms
Social business apps
Use Case Use Case Use Case Use Case
API / Data sharing
Social business platform(s)
Wiki Blogs Groups RSS SNS
API / Data sharing
Traditional Enterprise systems
CMS DMS RDBs Mail Etc...

46. Start by separating apps from platforms
Simple, light-weight situated apps built
on capabilities of both social platforms
and existing enterprise systems
Social business apps
Use Case Use Case Use Case Use Case
INCREASING VELOCITY
INCREASING WEIGHT
API / Data sharing
Social business platform(s)
Wiki Blogs Groups RSS SNS
API / Data sharing
Traditional Enterprise systems
CMS DMS RDBs Mail Etc...

47. Some platforms already heading this way
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49. Scenario: joining together
various existing social
tools and platforms

50. Headshift’s box framework
UX in Rails
Framework
in .NET
Data storage can be
MSSQL or MySQL
Base platforms: .NET, Java

51. Overall technical architecture
Frontend
REST API
Managers
Consumer Consumer
Provider Provider
Social Social
Application + Application +
Remote API Remote API

52. Frontend to Business Logic
Frontend The frontend integrates with the
REST API, so it can be developed
using any framework, e.g. RoR
The REST API provides external
REST API apps access to the Box Framework
Managers provide business logic,
based on abstract objects that
represent generic functionality.
Managers They also connect to both internal
applications like bookmarking,
and external services such as
search and the database.
External Apps and services

53. Remote API
Managers MSSQL
Database
Bookmarks
Search Engine
Feeds & Clusters Search (e.g. Solr)
Microblogs Navigation Navigation
Templates
Permissions Domains Activity
Activity Service
Modules
Managers: generic
implementations
that can be linked to
Module Consumers
Module Consumers
Module external applications
Consumers

54. Example Provider API Methods
Retrieves latest activity from the app in the
GetActivity() form of content items. The framework
automatically removes duplicates and adds
them to the database
Returns the tags on a given content item from
GetTags() the underlying application
Adds a content item to the underlying
AddContentItem() application. This allows the framework to
push info into and between applications
CreateGroup() Instructs the app to create new user group.
Instructs the application to create add a
AddUserToGroup() specific user to the given user group
The framework uses roles to manage
AddPermissionsTo permissions in the modules it creates. This
method receives a set of permissions related
Module() to a role, and sets them in the underlying app
for the given group on the given module

55. Conclusion

56. What I hope we are moving towards:
• Continued abstraction of specific business
apps from underlying social platforms
• More ways for people to organise and make
sense of their enterprise social world
• Opportunities for new forms of measurement
• IT running platforms and data, with business
units owning the apps
• Social platforms becoming key experience
integration points in the enterprise

57. Thanks for listening
Lee@headshift.com
twitter.com/
leebryant
http://www.headshift.com

58. Thanks for listening!
I am lee@headshift.com
I live at http://www.headshift.com
Except where otherwise stated, photos courtesy of Flickr using Creative Commons license.
Thanks to the following photographers:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peasap/655111542/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ulybug/154722108/
Other references:
http://mashable.com/2010/06/15/gatorade-social-media-mission-control/
http://usersguidetotheuniverse.com/?p=96
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/238177?tab=votes&page=4#tab-top
http://www.gameaddictionblog.com/images/smb.jpg
http://schooloscope.com/primary/100832
http://www.socialtext.com/news/pressrelease_2010.06.16.php
http://www.slideshare.net/gialyons/zingale-e20-slideshare
http://www.slideshare.net/samramji/darwins-finches-20th-century-business-and-apis
http://www.csuchico.edu/~curban/DarwinSP2002Phil108.htm