Companies are still scrambling with the rise of social networks like Twitter. If people think you suck they’ll gladly express themselves and let everyone else who listens to them. Oh and by the way, this happens in real-time.
This is the type of change most companies have not embraced.
But you know what, this change in communications was going to happen eventually the moment we had access to the internet. Social networks simply accelerated the process. All change tends to break with existing convention and social networking is no different.
There are other changes happening because of the internet, that of ‘easy access to information’. As content creation and information sharing accelerates, knowledge creation is accelerating.
Who ever said computer engineers would be the only developers?
As more of our time is spent interacting with dynamic websites, devices that sync with one another, we are all being trained to customize the web. And at some point, program it as we see fit. Yes, it’s going to happen. You too, even if you have no formal education in coding, will be able to program the web.
Startups like Code Academy are pushing this trend forward making it super simple to learn how to code. In this future, as self hosted blog owners will tell you, people will become hyper-specialized in small tasks.
The Myth of Best Practices
It’s human nature to want to rely on activities that worked for us before, especially if we see them work for others, but these days ‘best practices’ become ‘old practices’ in a short amount of time.
Trends come and go, some converge. But if a trend affects you, like when the PC revolution, killing trends before they get momentum inside your company is a recipe for disaster. You can’t control the advancement of technology, you can only manage it and use it to your advantage before someone else will.
New and useful beats old and boring
Think about, are your best practices stifling your ability to transform yourself? To innovate? Yes they are. Best practices kill innovation once they become outdated. The only best practice, is that of transformation.
Now if you think that transforming yourself is risky, just remember that people will always make room for the new as long as it benefits them. Did you like that new iPod even though it looks just like the previous one? Yes. But I bet you liked the iPad a lot more. That’s called going from a small increment to another leap in value. They introduced new practices. It’s very simple but that’s how it works.
The best practices of 1975 don’t cut it in 2012. But neither do the best practices of a few months ago. The world has changed. And will continue changing no matter what you think or believe.
