Cast your mind back...

[Duncan Edmonstone]

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away...

No seriously about 18 months ago, there was a link on the forums main page on the 'Forums Update' sidebar to an article which talked about the ITRC forums as an example of a successful 'knowledge community'.

I'm just about to join a steering group on implementing a knowledge management system, and I wanted to re-read said article and describe the forums to the other group members...

Anyone out there have a copy of this or where the link is now?

Thanks

Duncan

[Duncan Edmonstone]

Wow - if only I could award myself 10 points, here's the item :

http://bizforums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/0,,0xda5ffd3f91d3d5118ff40090279cd0f9,00.html


Of course if anyone has any others....

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Duncan:

I'm not sure exactly what you're seeking. Perhaps this(?):

http://www.software.hp.com/non-production/ITRCWEB/en/itrc_intro.pdf

Regards!

...JRF...

[Jeff Siegle · Accepted solution]

Duncan,

Glad to see you (and so many others for that matter) enjoyed that article a-ways back. It was fun to continue to raise the broader industry awareness of what so many of us have come to know and appreciate around here.... that this is one of the most talented online communities in the IT industry. It's always a pleasure to help give credit where credit is due (and help continue to differentiate HP in the process ;-) ).

One other resource that you might be interested in, but unfortunately this one does not come free of charge. The ITRC was also featured in a book called customer.community... you can check it out here:
http://www.customer-community.com/

It's got not only some points about the ITRC (falls under Peer-to-Peer Customer Service case study section) but also some interesting approaches by other companies out there... all in all, a good book (even if I am a bit biased), and one that you could also use, but unfortunately it doesn't come as cheaply as the article you found.

One other resource that you find interesting in your work would be to look at this:
http://www.mongoosetech.com/realcommunities/12prin.html
Although it's more geared toward designing a successful online community, you might find it very helpful to consider building a successful ecosystem for building knowledge exchange. By the way, if you look carefully you'll see many of these elements in the ITRC, as we worked with the originator of these principles to help design the Forums to be what they are today.. :-)

Hope this helps, an although my job has me less and less involved in HP's online community strategy, it still warms the cockles of my heart when I come across threads like this.

All the best on your knowledge management efforts, and sorry for the rambling sentences here.... I should really be in bed... :-Z

-jeff

[Duncan Edmonstone]

Jeff, thats not rambling! That's really useful information!

I think the lesson I really want to pull from the ITRC forums is that none of this really works without a lot of enthusiasm from the community members, and HP has done a great job of engaging this enthusiasm in a positive way.

I won't be surprised if my steering group tries to spend a lot of time drawing up rather dry and dull 'requirement documents' and 'vendor RFPs', whereas what I think will really make the difference is engaging the interest of our eventual community members - in an organisation with a lot of busy cynical people, this won't be easy, but hopefully the example of ITRC forums and some of the principles behind it will at least make some of my colleagues sit up and take notice.

Thanks for staying up past your bedtime to reply Jeff!

Regards,

Duncan

[Jeff Siegle]

Duncan,

Sorry for the delay in adding on to your last point here... I think it's a good one and I couldn't agree with you more.

When I try to explain the ITRC community to people, I try to explain it like a party.... HP is hosting the party, but ultimately the success of the party depends on the guests (number, quality, etc) that come.

If you as the host of your "party" don't think about what your guests might like at the party, or (more importantly) listen to your guests as the party is going on, then chances are ou won't have the best guests and best party in town (IMHO).

Now ultimately as the host of the party we have to ensure that we've provided all the things that make a function work well, and handled issues & objections that might come up over the duration of the event (like showing the guy who's had too much to drink and is ruining the event for everyone else around him the door (with a cab ride home of course) ). So it's defintely not a "open shop and check out" kind of thing, but at the end of the day as you've mentioned, the success of a community lies with the organizers (at the outset) but ultimately the members themselves.

Hope that helps and think you're on the right track!

best-
jeff

[Jeff Schussele]

Well, after that extremely insightful exchange, I choose to be the 1st one to step off the line & just say it......

Thank you Mr Siegle...
Thank you Jeff, I now know from whence my forum addiction stems - partying.

When I struck out for college, I knew not where I was headed. But when I got there I found, to my amazement, I loved it. I found a continual party. A party of constantly shifting dimension. Intellectual, physical, terrestial, moral, political, theological, you name it. There was ALWAYS a party. And I loved it. And it was a State school. Everybody was happy....most importantly the ones signing the checks. Times were good.

But time changes all, you change. So I set my course & steered a lot closer to the center as I married & had kids. I settled into that warm comfortable pattern.

And then WHAM....along comes the forum. And EVERYTHING changed. Now the wife & kids call out.....Where's Daddy!!!!
Sara responds...."Have you checked the PC?" And I'm busted.

And I struggled with the guilt & the satisfaction. I was pulled in both directions. What's wrong with me!!!

And that's why I feel such a weight lifted from my shoulders tonight.

I now know why.......

It's a party all over again!

Peace,
Jeff (Who's determined to die with a smile)

P.S. Keep up the great work. I'm looking forward to a steller year from the forum.
I'll catch you at the next HP-World. I look forward to it Jeff. Heck with that name you can't be all bad - even though you are mgmt =~)

[Duncan Edmonstone]

Hey if I listen really carefully I swear I can hear the sound of glasses clinking and people laughing...

Jeff, your right, it is a party!

Question is... who's that passed out behind the sofa? And who's that crying in the kitchen?

Seriously though, I'd just echo Jeff's sentiments regarding our hosts...

Jeff, Dan, HP, thanks for throwing such a great gig... keep it up.

Cheers

Duncan

PS - some of the material you pointed me at has gone down really well with my colleagues - the no 1 priority of our pilot will now be engaging enthusiasm and interest with our peers...

[Pete Randall]

What??? Harry's behind the sofa again? I told him and told him that was my spot.

Keep on partying (freely - without dying)!

Pete

[Jeff Siegle]

Now this really is a long time ago in a galaxy far away.

I was asked by some friends to help re-find some of the valuable links of the past.

For customer-community book, I see it's still available on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Customer-Community-Unleashing-Power-Your-Customer/dp/078795621X/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253145519&sr=8-6

For 12 Principles, thankfully the Online Community expert, Cynthia Typaldos, still has links to this available. You'll find her site a wealth of knowledge about how to design & manage a community. A link to the "12 Principles" is here: http://www.typaldos.com/word.documents/12principles/12principles.pdf

Hope this helps, and the timing of this is rather ironic. In 1 month from today (October-16), the Forums on the ITRC will celebrate their 10th anniversary. From one alum who considers this one of his HP highlights, thank you for continuing to keep the community alive!

All the best-
Jeff