Chartered Institute for IT: New book offers “coherent, pragmatic” approach for digital workplaces
In an article on the future of work, BCS expert Chris Yapp has identified “The Digital Renaissance of Work” as an optimistic, yet practical guide for digital workplace teams at large organizations.
In a compelling article on the future of work for BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, Chris Yapp (@Chris_Yapp) has offered a rich endorsement for “The Digital Renaissance of Work: Delivering digital workplaces fit for the future”.
This new book, co-authored by DWG CEO and Founder, Paul Miller (@paulmillersays), and DWG Director of Research, Elizabeth Marsh (@digitalsanity), aims to provide both inspiration and practical guidance for digital workplace teams at large organizations.
Yapp describes the book as focusing on the human element of work instead of taking the more common “technological determinist approach”.
From the BCS article:
I’ve just read a well-researched and practical book by Paul Miller and Elizabeth Marsh, ‘The Digital Renaissance of Work’. It was the Renaissance word that attracted my attention I confess.
What appeals to me about this book is that it avoids thoroughly the technological determinist approach and looks at collaboration, teamwork and so on from a human perspective, aided by technology. It also avoids the ‘lump of labour’ fallacy, that there is a fixed quantity of work in the economy or a firm.
Their starting point is that there is a lot of work around, but not necessarily jobs. In a world of portfolio work and freelancing that seems closer to the mark than traditional models.
There is some practical guidance on how to start the development, building the business case and how to measure progress.
Importantly, they don’t claim to have all the answers and leave some open questions. I think that’s the right approach. However, looking back at my year, if I’d had this in January I might have been more insightful.
The principle case studies are all large private sector organisations. Some of the thinking would probably need to be adapted to better suit the reality in some public and third sector organisations. However, the overall framework looks pretty robust.
For any organisation trying to get beyond the visual symbols of new ways of working to deliver high-performance workplaces that are manageable and deliver for staff and customers, this is the most coherent and pragmatic text I’ve come across.”
Read the full article on the BCS website.
Our team is thrilled that a futurist and IT industry seasoned expert such as Yapp has immediately identified the core perspective of the book. In “The Digital Renaissance of Work”, Paul and Elizabeth have developed an honest, yet hopeful take on work in the digital age. They also set out to produce a useful handbook for creating digital worlds worth working in. Thankfully this all seems to have worked.
From the book web page you can order copies from various Amazon country sites or from the book’s publisher Gower, as well as find related research and request speaking engagements.
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