Technology Development is Organizational Development

From the Aspiration Manifesto:

Technology challenges are organizational development challenges in disguise. Designing and redesigning web sites, developing online communications strategies, deciding who gets to blog, Tweet, and update social network status: these objectives tease out underlying issues of how an organization represents its work, talks about itself, and empowers its staff and allies to convey the same. Technology projects too often go awry not because of tech issues, but because an organization is not prepared to address the foundational dynamics that underpin effective technology utilization. Organizations should be prepared to do heavy lifting in challenging existing process (and/or the lack thereof) and associated control dynamics, and should treat technology engagements as opportunities to move to more transparent and accountable ways of doing business, communicating and affecting social change.

There is much, much more, including:

  • Technology without process is bad technology.
  • What has worked offline for generations still deeply informs what works best overall.
  • Nonprofits should never forget who technology leaves out, and what it leaves undone.

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <blockquote> <img> <h2> <h3> <h4>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Adds typographic refinements.

More information about formatting options

Transmission Project