Originally titled “How can groups hack?”, I decided to change the title June 22, 2008.

This is exactly what I need to read on a Monday morning:

Hacking means taking things that suck and making them better.

Sidenote: For my non-tech friends, don’t let the language obscure the meaning. Although we think of hacking as a computer-based activity, it really just refers to “an appropriate application of ingenuity to a problem” (from Jargon File). Think of it as a grander form of problem-solving and that will help you understand the rest of the thoughts.

Hacks aren’t always elegant, though they should be. But the logic of hacking is elegant: find things that suck, and make them better.

… Everything can be hacked. One of the most enduring aspects of hacking was that it was anti-authoritarian. It wasn’t about software: rather, it was about rejecting an industrial era worldview of narrow, limited possibility – anything could be hacked, and often, with tremendous simplicity.

… Hackers play. Hackers don’t spend huge amounts of time learning in a structured way. … The bigger the problem you’re focusing on, the more you’ll likely need to play to solve it. Big problems aren’t solved overnight, and they often can’t be solved in a tightly structured way. Hacking goes (way) beyond the limits of structured, rigid thinking.

… Hacking industries, markets, and companies is more valuable than hacking technology. Yesterday, hacker principles yielded the greatest gains when applied to technology. Why? Because changing the ways in which we organized and managed people was costly - but bits and microchips were relatively cheap.

Today, it’s hugely powerful to apply hacker principles not to bits, but to industries, markets, and companies - because putting resources and activities together is cheap and getting cheaper.

Why was this so important to me? Because every day I try to create change by asking questions to identify and solve problems, often by questioning fundamental “accepted” maxims. I try to figure out what is wrong, identifying problems and opportunities.

Hacking as an individual is one thing. But hacking in a group is a very hard thing to do, especially every day.

Why is it so hard to hack (applied meaning: create change) in groups? I believe it comes from some of the fundamental natures of how people work in groups. [1] Think of your experiences working in groups, committees, teams: could the result have been better, done cheaper, faster?

Individuals can create great ideas. But we only create and spread value by executing on ideas, and execution requires people to interact, if in no other way than it takes people to actually USE the final output. [2]

This execution process of delivering an idea to a result in the market inevitably creates friction: no two people are exactly alike, and thus all solutions encounter friction while being created and used. But friction is not a bad thing: the process itself can lead to a range of economic and social, positive and negative outcomes.

But what happens when we start interacting in groups? Our individual greatness dissipates. Groupthink. Death by committee. 1 + 1 + 1 = 1.5. We all now the process, the terms, and have been a part of and seen the results.

It is not because we are flawed as individuals; instead, we are flawed as groups. Somehow, as we organize into groups and work together we forget that we ultimately choose this system: we create these group systems and rules of interaction that fail us, time and time again. [3] When instead, it should be the exact opposite: by working in a team we should benefit from the sum of the skills and strengths of the team members. Take advantage of our similar and disparate experiences and backgrounds. Maximize our weakness. Increase our productivity. 1 + 1 + 1 = 4.

But how often do we see that happen?

Perhaps as we organize we should think less about groups and more about swarms? Build around smart individuals and “dumb” networks instead of “dumb” groups? [4] In today’s world, perhaps the most important thing any person and company should understand is how we interact (or don’t interact) with networks. [5]

So I ask: What can you hack? How can you help others hack? How can we hack in groups? How can you organize yourself and your groups to hack?

How can we make sure we “find things that suck, and make them better?”

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[1] This will be the simple view of organizational behaviour. There are a ton of resources out there to get a far better understanding of how people organize and work in groups. Clay Shirky is an excellent place to start.
[2] Need some ideas? Free ideas, just add execution.
[3] What can we learn about organizations like the military that live and die (bad pun) by working in groups? They understand the individual / group dynamic and created an organizational and decision-making system and culture to allow them to complete their mission.
[4] Two different applications of the word dumb. “Dumb networks” refers to how networks organize, interact, and make decisions. “Dumb groups” means, literally, how groups are often dumb.
[5] Read Kevin Kelly’s Maxims for the Network Economy for a better understanding.