Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

"Too many editors" vs. "cluetrain manifesto"

Author:Seth Gordon
Posted:11/3/1999; 9:35:15 AM
Topic:"Too many editors" vs. "cluetrain manifesto"
Msg #:12659
Prev/Next:12658 / 12660

A few months ago, I came across a Web site called cluetrain manifesto. The manifesto's basic points are:

  1. Since intranets make it easy for a company's employees to communicate across departmental boundaries, a lot of internal corporate bureaucracy has become irrelevant.
  2. Since the Internet makes it easy for a company's customers (and potential customers) to communicate directly with the employees who know what's going on, a lot of the standard corporate public-relations apparatus has become irrelevant.
  3. Corporations that use the above irrelevant tools to stifle communication (internal and external) will lose to the competitors who know how to stand back and let the network help them.

Of course, these three points are wrapped in a lot of overwritten rhetoric, but I thought they might be valid points.

Then I read Dave's "too many editors" complaint, and I started wondering: how much networking is too much? If the people who develop a popular software package (or some other product) are expected to read and respond to what the customers are saying, or if the people who work for a large organization are expected to keep in touch with others in diverse work groups, at a certain point, the overhead of communication would keep people from doing actual work.

Thoughts?



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