David Pitkin

One of the first things I did when I started my new job was install FlexWiki on a server. It has since taken off and the activity on it each day is fun to watch (via RSS). I had success with an internal wiki at my previous job and felt lost without a way to share and document things I was doing.

The latest @Wharton newsletter has a great article about the new internet. The fact that 50% of non-governmental GDP in the US is accounted for as transaction costs is shocking but easy to believe if you think about it. How much time is spent negotiating and figuring things out each day compared to actually doing them. Imagine the transaction costs of getting some text on a typical company intranet site. Now contrast that with the self-service of just clicking edit and save on a wiki page. The article also touches some of the social network things I am excited about.

After reading it I also thought about the fact that the FlexWiki I use is an open source Microsoft project. This is a company giving back in the Toyota model. Instead of using this technology internally or trying to sell it they are sharing it with everyone. This is a concrete example of the guys in Redmond being very fast and smart. I can imagine Channel 9 and the Microsoft employee blogs make a big difference both internally and externally for the organization. Compare then that Microsoft to the typical CFO or general counsel that Fraser thinks it will take 10 or 15 years to understand and embrace these new concepts.

p.s. How funny is it that the Channel 9 homepage has a video of David Ornstien the creator of FlexWiki on it today!