Difference between revisions of "User talk:Martin"

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[[Welcome]] to [[AboutUs]], Martin!  I saw (and responded) to your note in the [[SuggestionBox]] as well, but I wanted to say hello here to make sure you got it.  Your site is ready for cultivation and editing at [[IBESI.org]].  You can look on the [[Help]] pages for references, or you can ask us for help.  You can always contact me on my user pages.  We're glad to have you here!  [[Drew]]
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[[Inventing that Helps Tiny Businesses]]
  
== welcome! ==
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{{RightTOC}}
  
Martin,
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In general I am a student of “process”. I try to observe and understand what really makes things tick. This has relevance to transparency, democracy, and empowerment issues. Sometimes the most important things for the populace to know, are things that some relatively “few” people within the populace don’t want others to know. When students of process are observing and trying to understand your process, they risk being viewed as a pain in the neck – it’s not an activity where one should expect to get lots of “high fives”.
  
I saw what you wrote on the community portal page, even though you took it off.  Very poetic!  Let me know if I can help!  [[User talk:TedErnst|TedErnst]]
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Some subjects that catch my interest are listed below:
: Martin, I'm responding to what you wrote on Drew's talk page.  I'm afraid that the future you want is not yet here.  I also want what you want.  I want to be able to edit a page using the aboutus.org software and have that change show up at ibesi.org.  That day is not yet here.  What we have right now is a page ABOUT ibesi.org at aboutus.org/ibesi.org and that actual ibesi.org page at ibesi.org.  Some others are working with this now, like http://intentionalnetworks.com.  Click that link and see that it actually goes to teh [[IntentionalNetworks.com]] page.  That's cool, but not exactly what you want.  You want what we do not yet have the ability to do.  I don't know when.  Brandon knows better, I think.  Hope this helps, at least with expectations.  peace, [[User talk:TedErnst|TedErnst]]
 
Yes, I was guessing you had been talking with Brandon, as your desires match perfectly with what he talks about for the future, but we don't know when.  He's been promising me to do a test for a few weeks now, but it hasn't happened yet.  It will happen, just don't know when. 
 
  
As for your questions about [[talk page etiquette]], we ought to start a page on that, to document.  In most wikis, you simply reply to a comment wherever it was left.  So if I asked you a question on your page, you'd answer it there.  That makes sense, right?  Well, for now, we're using MediaWiki here, the Wikipedia software, and at Wikipedia, they do it differently.  I'm not sure exactly why, except that there's a different kind of notification when someone leaves a message on your talk page.  Of course there's a software issue and a social issue.  YOU are exactly the person to bring this up because those already here before you are already familiar with Mediawiki so don't notice how wrong (not understandable for a person inexperienced in these ways) this way of doing things is.  By the way, did you know that a link that is red means the page it points to doesn't exist yet?  So clicking on it is actually starting the new page.  Hope this helps and look forward to more dialogue. 
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== [[RiskSharingPassiveReturn]] ==
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== [[IncomePilotProject]] ==
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==[[Topsoil]]==
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==[[Process Transparency]]==
 +
==[[RiskParticipation]]==
 +
==[[BetterAutomation]]==
  
:: And unfortunately, if the url is really important and you want a community process, I don't think aboutus.org will meet your needs right now.  peace, [[User talk:TedErnst|TedErnst]]
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Martin, word to the wise, give a link when sending a message asking someone to look at something, like this: [[IncomePilotProject]].  It's now on my watchlist.
  
Really helpful stuff Ted - much thanks!
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== consensus ==
  
So as you tell me, I reply to you here, in my own talk section.
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We haven't actually started the [[WhoWeAre]] process yet.  I think it was a mistake that someone invited every active member there.  It's like inviting people to a pool party when the pool's not been dug yet.  Conensus is work, that's for sure.  All decision-making methods are work.  The great thing about a wiki is we can sweep up after ourselves once we've made progress, and all that's left is the result, without the process weighing us down.  I haven't actually been following the [[WhoWeAre]] page itself yet, because we haven't started the consensus poll.  I've been working on [[Projects:WhoWeAre]].  I know you've been reading that too.  It's been frustrating for me to see all the round and round in circles without any clear proposals.  I've been working with folks to see if we could get clear.  How do you like the 3 stage idea I posted?  [[User:TedErnst|TedErnst]]
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"OPPS we made a mistake. There are people at the WhoWeAre page that assume the consensus poll process is already underway (Ted, I myself had this impression). In contrast there are some folks still trying to figure out how to make this consensus poll process more efficient at Projects:WhoWeAre. After we work out some of the bugs then we plan to start the WhoWeAre consensus poll process. Please forgive us for for this misunderstanding, we are learning as we go."
  
I wonder if the computer techies could figure out a way to "mark" new people coming to aboutus, perhaps after a short query like, "do you know what a Wiki is and the relevant etiquette?" If their answer is "no" they might get a symbol next to their name. Thus more experienced users reading their postings might cut them some slack, or offer useful advice, at exactly the time they need it- when they had noticeable bad conduct or messed up. It is exactly at this time (that the new person needs the help or is frustrated) that they are most receptive to getting the help and remembering the advice given (in contrast to reading lots of text in a help section). Thus an "old timer" might say to this new person, "I see you are new here, so let me give you a tip" Maybe the Newbe symbol is even a number, so one also knows how new this person is - been here only 2 days or 30 days, etc. Ted, maybe this has already been thought of? - do you think this content should go in the suggestion section?
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Ted, I think something like the above needs posting at the WhoWeAre page, or people that continue to contribute to this page, under the assumption that the polling process is already underway, are going to get mad if they discover their work was premature. In fact one posting I read already has one person mad for this reason, claming that those that now want to go back and start all over again, are actually hi-jacking the process – which itself is problematic.
  
: ''Hi Martin, I think everyone should be cut some slack :-)  this is the one goal of [[AssumeGoodFaith]] and I like to think that folks are inexperienced ([http://omidyardotnet.us/cgi-bin/odd.pl/ExperiencedInteractionWithInexperience ExperiencedInteractionWithInexperience])'' [[Mark]]
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In terms of process what this reveals is never ever never invite people to a consensus poll process until it is actually started – or people are going to get mad, and then you have to go back and figure out how to make them happy again.
  
: Hi again, Martin. Your suggestions are great, AND that's exactly what Mark and all of the community team has been working on, not with a symbol, but with an attitude. We all have lots to learn! [[User talk:TedErnst|TedErnst]]
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In contrast if you want to invite people to participate in making the consensus polling process better and more efficient, do not even mention a potential polling topic such as “WhoWeAre” within such invitations, because then people tend to associate the topic with the underlying polling process, when in fact they are actually two completely different beasts. The underlying process can be brainstormed outside of any particular topic. Once people are within this brainstorming polling process area, then one can bring up issues like, “how might this process we have now devised work for this or that type of topic?” – in this context people are less likely to get confused about what is actually happening and the participation role they want to take on.
  
Thanks Mark and Ted from my “green” perspective I note a very helpful tone at aboutus.
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I think if this issue is not addressed soon on the WhoWeAre page more people might arrive, and more people might end up getting mad. I see no purposeful ill intend, rather just misunderstanding, which I think most people will forgive, since all of this “stuff” is so new and we are learning as we go. My point is somebody needs to make a posting on WhoWeAre and in effect beg for some forgiveness or don’t you think a mole hole might turn into a mountain?
  
== DesignerSearch ==
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Ted, below is what I think about your 3 stage idea:
  
Hey thanks for your comments on the [[DesignerSearch]] page. It's real encouraging to see input coming from outside the office. [[Scott]]
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The outcome of this process will be a document for AboutUs.org that says WhoWeAre as a community. Once we agree to this stage 1 document
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, stage 2 begins which will contain Solution Pieces.
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Stage 2 - Solution Pieces
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• This stage definition and framework are modifiable in stage 1. Stage 2 is designed to get all the different "pieces" out in the open.  
  
I’m glad if any of the info can help you. A good friend of mine used to manage Nike’s prototype printing facility, and in that capacity he was very involved with their computer art talent. We also had a business going outside of Nike, routinely using this pool of “moon lighting” art talent – it is exceptional in terms of computer graphics. Also my wife and I used to own a business where the adidas (at the time their International headquarters located in Portland) was our major client, so we knew lots of the people within, including art talent. This computer graphic talent changes jobs, bouncing  between entities like Nike, adidas, and at times Wieden & Kennedy – meaning lots of this art talent know each other, even though they work at different local companies – and within their own community they know who is exceptional relative to their peer perspective (if you form a relationship with one or two of these artists, they can lead you to others).
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The above is confusing to me. It states, “stage 2 is designed to get all the different pieces out in the open?" Great! but it seems to me that what is so quickly breezed over is stage one, stating (as I understand it), “the outcome of the stage one process will produce a document for AboutUS.org, that says “WhoWeAre as a community. Once we agree on this initial version we move on to stage 2”
  
== Mark's message ==
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Seems to me that to do stage 1, one must also get “different pieces out in the open” – so to me, this raises the question, "in terms of the process how is stage 1 “openness” different than stage 2 “openness”?"
  
Not sure if you saw this, Martin, but Mark left you a message here: [[MartinPfahler]]. [[User talk:TedErnst|TedErnst]]
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Also I think your noble attempt to gain process clarity in others also raises an issue that I see repeatedly raising its head, but we seem to sweep under the carpet (I think I know why). As mentioned some time back, one can classify how people’s brains work in perhaps 3 to 5 different ways.
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 +
For example some brain types like a quick overview first to put everything into context. Other brain types view that explanatory process as too much verbiage and initial complexity, rather just want to be steered through the process one step at a time, keeping the next step invisible until they get there. Other brain types don’t like all the text in any sense and would prefer things like flow charts or visual images, etc.
 +
 
 +
We are dealing with process issues (consensus details) that are foreign or never previously considered by many people, thus there is an underlying learning curve. Make the learning process painful and most folks will stop doing it. An important way to reduce learning curve “pain” is to better tailor explanations to one “brain type”. In this way one does not have to figure out explanations that will make everybody happy and gain more efficient clarity, which from my life experiences is simply not possible (somebody is always left short changed).
 +
 
 +
In such regard the bigger issue I don’t see being addressed by the aboutus staff and management is, “are we going to spend some of the company's start up money to figure out how to determine peoples' brain types at early stages of visiting our web site?" I argue if this is not done, then over and over again this “how do we best explain this or that” problem will continue to rear its head. In contrast if some basic brain types were determined early on, then people like us, trying to figure out how to better explain process issues, could tailor different explanations or tours, for perhaps 3 to 5 different brain types.
 +
 +
This approach obviously requires more work by people with different skill sets. Content creation folks like us, might produce tour content, but I sure don’t have the smarts to figure out the automation needed to initially filter out the brain types in the first place. Ideally automation would peg each person with some type of code. Then anywhere they go on the web site after this, when an explanation or tour is given, the computer automatically recognizes the person it is dealing with, and they automatically get the tour for their brain type (rather than each time and explanation is needed or wanted having to tell the computer what is their brain type). I know that given enough money and resources this could be made to work – it is a matter of management priorities.
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In the world of “explaining” and “learning” and “gaining clarity” the underlying process issue that I bring up is actually the elephant in the room. Not everybody's brain type is the same - first figure out what brain type one is dealing with. Prior to computer automation this process problem was simply not possible to solve, now it is – if relevant resources are committed.
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== Ibesi.org ==
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Martin, while I was updating some entries on AboutUs last week I found I was unable to access the website for [[IBESI.org]]. Kristina also left a note she was unable to access it. Is this group still in existence? Or did the server simply fall over & needs someone to help it up? -- [[User:Llywrch|Llywrch]] 08:46, 14 August 2007 (PDT)
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 +
 
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=== WikiWork ===
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Martin, I'd like to return to [[WikiWork]] soon, and see if I can summarize some useful points out of the great ideas you've posted there.
 +
 
 +
== [[WhoWeAre]] ==
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Hi Martin.  I left you a message here: [[WhoWeAre:Stage2Status/MartinPfahler]] [[User:TedErnst|TedErnst]] | <small>[[User talk:TedErnst|talk]]</small> 13:12, 15 November 2007 (PST)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin}}
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== long tail ==
 +
 
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thought you might be interested in this: http://howtosplitanatom.com/news/lessons-from-entrepreneur-morten-blaabjerg/
 +
[[User:TedErnst|TedErnst]] <small>([[User talk:TedErnst|talk]])</small> 16:30, 8 June 2008 (PDT)

Latest revision as of 23:30, 8 June 2008

Inventing that Helps Tiny Businesses


In general I am a student of “process”. I try to observe and understand what really makes things tick. This has relevance to transparency, democracy, and empowerment issues. Sometimes the most important things for the populace to know, are things that some relatively “few” people within the populace don’t want others to know. When students of process are observing and trying to understand your process, they risk being viewed as a pain in the neck – it’s not an activity where one should expect to get lots of “high fives”.

Some subjects that catch my interest are listed below:

RiskSharingPassiveReturn

IncomePilotProject

Topsoil

Process Transparency

RiskParticipation

BetterAutomation

Martin, word to the wise, give a link when sending a message asking someone to look at something, like this: IncomePilotProject. It's now on my watchlist.

consensus

We haven't actually started the WhoWeAre process yet. I think it was a mistake that someone invited every active member there. It's like inviting people to a pool party when the pool's not been dug yet. Conensus is work, that's for sure. All decision-making methods are work. The great thing about a wiki is we can sweep up after ourselves once we've made progress, and all that's left is the result, without the process weighing us down. I haven't actually been following the WhoWeAre page itself yet, because we haven't started the consensus poll. I've been working on Projects:WhoWeAre. I know you've been reading that too. It's been frustrating for me to see all the round and round in circles without any clear proposals. I've been working with folks to see if we could get clear. How do you like the 3 stage idea I posted? TedErnst


"OPPS we made a mistake. There are people at the WhoWeAre page that assume the consensus poll process is already underway (Ted, I myself had this impression). In contrast there are some folks still trying to figure out how to make this consensus poll process more efficient at Projects:WhoWeAre. After we work out some of the bugs then we plan to start the WhoWeAre consensus poll process. Please forgive us for for this misunderstanding, we are learning as we go."

Ted, I think something like the above needs posting at the WhoWeAre page, or people that continue to contribute to this page, under the assumption that the polling process is already underway, are going to get mad if they discover their work was premature. In fact one posting I read already has one person mad for this reason, claming that those that now want to go back and start all over again, are actually hi-jacking the process – which itself is problematic.

In terms of process what this reveals is never ever never invite people to a consensus poll process until it is actually started – or people are going to get mad, and then you have to go back and figure out how to make them happy again.

In contrast if you want to invite people to participate in making the consensus polling process better and more efficient, do not even mention a potential polling topic such as “WhoWeAre” within such invitations, because then people tend to associate the topic with the underlying polling process, when in fact they are actually two completely different beasts. The underlying process can be brainstormed outside of any particular topic. Once people are within this brainstorming polling process area, then one can bring up issues like, “how might this process we have now devised work for this or that type of topic?” – in this context people are less likely to get confused about what is actually happening and the participation role they want to take on.

I think if this issue is not addressed soon on the WhoWeAre page more people might arrive, and more people might end up getting mad. I see no purposeful ill intend, rather just misunderstanding, which I think most people will forgive, since all of this “stuff” is so new and we are learning as we go. My point is somebody needs to make a posting on WhoWeAre and in effect beg for some forgiveness – or don’t you think a mole hole might turn into a mountain?

Ted, below is what I think about your 3 stage idea:

The outcome of this process will be a document for AboutUs.org that says WhoWeAre as a community. Once we agree to this stage 1 document , stage 2 begins which will contain Solution Pieces. Stage 2 - Solution Pieces • This stage definition and framework are modifiable in stage 1. Stage 2 is designed to get all the different "pieces" out in the open.

The above is confusing to me. It states, “stage 2 is designed to get all the different pieces out in the open?" Great! but it seems to me that what is so quickly breezed over is stage one, stating (as I understand it), “the outcome of the stage one process will produce a document for AboutUS.org, that says “WhoWeAre as a community. Once we agree on this initial version we move on to stage 2”

Seems to me that to do stage 1, one must also get “different pieces out in the open” – so to me, this raises the question, "in terms of the process how is stage 1 “openness” different than stage 2 “openness”?"

Also I think your noble attempt to gain process clarity in others also raises an issue that I see repeatedly raising its head, but we seem to sweep under the carpet (I think I know why). As mentioned some time back, one can classify how people’s brains work in perhaps 3 to 5 different ways.

For example some brain types like a quick overview first to put everything into context. Other brain types view that explanatory process as too much verbiage and initial complexity, rather just want to be steered through the process one step at a time, keeping the next step invisible until they get there. Other brain types don’t like all the text in any sense and would prefer things like flow charts or visual images, etc.

We are dealing with process issues (consensus details) that are foreign or never previously considered by many people, thus there is an underlying learning curve. Make the learning process painful and most folks will stop doing it. An important way to reduce learning curve “pain” is to better tailor explanations to one “brain type”. In this way one does not have to figure out explanations that will make everybody happy and gain more efficient clarity, which from my life experiences is simply not possible (somebody is always left short changed).

In such regard the bigger issue I don’t see being addressed by the aboutus staff and management is, “are we going to spend some of the company's start up money to figure out how to determine peoples' brain types at early stages of visiting our web site?" I argue if this is not done, then over and over again this “how do we best explain this or that” problem will continue to rear its head. In contrast if some basic brain types were determined early on, then people like us, trying to figure out how to better explain process issues, could tailor different explanations or tours, for perhaps 3 to 5 different brain types.

This approach obviously requires more work by people with different skill sets. Content creation folks like us, might produce tour content, but I sure don’t have the smarts to figure out the automation needed to initially filter out the brain types in the first place. Ideally automation would peg each person with some type of code. Then anywhere they go on the web site after this, when an explanation or tour is given, the computer automatically recognizes the person it is dealing with, and they automatically get the tour for their brain type (rather than each time and explanation is needed or wanted having to tell the computer what is their brain type). I know that given enough money and resources this could be made to work – it is a matter of management priorities.

In the world of “explaining” and “learning” and “gaining clarity” the underlying process issue that I bring up is actually the elephant in the room. Not everybody's brain type is the same - first figure out what brain type one is dealing with. Prior to computer automation this process problem was simply not possible to solve, now it is – if relevant resources are committed.

Ibesi.org

Martin, while I was updating some entries on AboutUs last week I found I was unable to access the website for IBESI.org. Kristina also left a note she was unable to access it. Is this group still in existence? Or did the server simply fall over & needs someone to help it up? -- Llywrch 08:46, 14 August 2007 (PDT)


WikiWork

Martin, I'd like to return to WikiWork soon, and see if I can summarize some useful points out of the great ideas you've posted there.

WhoWeAre

Hi Martin. I left you a message here: WhoWeAre:Stage2Status/MartinPfahler TedErnst | talk 13:12, 15 November 2007 (PST)


long tail

thought you might be interested in this: http://howtosplitanatom.com/news/lessons-from-entrepreneur-morten-blaabjerg/ TedErnst (talk) 16:30, 8 June 2008 (PDT)