Metaphors
October 10th, 2006 | Published in Technology Zen | 4 Comments
I’m a fan of metaphors. Human beings use metaphors all the time to understand the world, and to frame it. Metaphors are powerful in terms of the way we think about things. Think about how powerful the use of the metaphors around the "war on terror" are, and how differently we’d think about our world and our life if the prevailing metaphor were one of "catching criminals who use terrorist tactics."
Software uses metaphors all the time as well. And we all know how organizations end up reworking their procedures and way of doing things when a new large software implementation happens. It’s inevitable. It’s impossible to shape software completely to ways of doing that already exist - so those ways end up being shaped by the software implemented. So doesn’t the metaphor used for that software matter, then, in a nonprofit setting?
One of the big changes that has happened in the nptech space, besides the ways in which Web 2.0 has clearly changed the nptech providers community, is the increasing use of Salesforce as a nonprofit CRM tool. I know it was sort of in process when I was fading out, but I wasn’t much aware of it. When I came back, I was surprised to see how many consultants and technology providers have jumped on the Salesforce bandwagon.
Of course, the use of business metaphors, language and procedures in the nonprofit sector in general is far from new, and it’s been a trend I’ve not liked much. And I know that many nonprofits use software designed for corporations and for-profit entities, such as Quickbooks (although I know there is the NonProfit Books variant.) For the most part, this has been simple exigency. There just isn’t the number and richness of nonprofit software options out there that exist in the for-profit sector (except, of course, in fundraising software, but that’s where the $ is.)
Part of my perspective on this blog is a perspective I take in life: the means are the ends. If we adopt, in whole, or in part, the metaphors of the corporate world, whose basic fundamental goal is making a profit, and use it in the nonprofit sector, whose basic fundamental goal is making people’s lives better, does that create a problem or conflict? I don’t know how many people have raised this issue, but I think it’s one worth raising.
October 10th, 2006 at 7:57 pm (#)
Interesting that you and Jamie are thinking similar things at the same time:
http://mayfirst.org/?q=node/257
October 11th, 2006 at 12:33 am (#)
Michelle — thanks for this. I think this may be a false dichotomy and one worth having a longer conversation about. For me this is about good tools for people trying their damn hardest to make, each in their own way, make the world better. And even though this is probably heredical, I do not see a lot of good software for nonprofits out there that is not supported by scaleable, sustainable, seriously capitalized, and professionally run (and mostly for-profit) companies. Salesforce is a serious tool with a ton of functionality and it it supported by a growing community - some very much into open source software, building an ecology that goes beyond metaphors but that provides extremely interesting and useful tools. I also tend to think that while the paradigms differ, a donor, a member, a constituent in the end is not that different in terms of business processes from a client or customer. We need to watch to not try to be holier than though and in the process only provide shitty, cobbled-together, hard to use and miserably supported software (which we do often enough) all the while keeping a very clear eye on each of our own integrity and values, as Jamie suggests.
Katrin
October 11th, 2006 at 9:48 am (#)
Yes, this is all definitely worth a longer conversation. As you well know, one of the things that has been one of the most important to me is the availability of good software for nonprofits that’s built for them in mind. There is a lot of really shitty software out there, and undercapitalization is certainly one good reason why. But my question is more than just exigency. It’s asking the questions of what happens when nonprofits incorporate what might be considered the wrong metaphors? Maybe you’re right, maybe this is a false dichotomy, but I just want us to ask the question, not just decide that because there isn’t the good software out there, we need to use what’s available that’s good.
And I have to beg the question - why is it that we even think about “business process” for nonprofits? The wholesale adoption of for profit language into the nonprofit space has bothered me for years.
I’m not trying to get your goat, here, Katrin, I’m just wanting us to ask the hard questions I don’t think we’ve been asking ourselves, especially in a time where it seems to be getting clearer and clearer that in a general, big sense, we haven’t been so successful at doing much in the changing the world department. It might be about more than keeping a clear eye on our integrity and values, it might necessitate a much deeper investigation.
October 13th, 2006 at 7:31 am (#)
Michelle — this will be a fun conversation!! (Is, as it were..) And why do we think about business processes? Because we run organizatons! Call them organizational processes, but boy, do I think that is a non-starter! I have long had a pet peeve about the notion that we should not run professional, solid, sustainable ‘enterprises’ with good processes, great tools, sound management, and superior vision - organizations that make a difference MUST be that, in my view or they will simply not be successful or efective in the end. And precisely (!) because we have not been doing great ‘in the change department’ do we need to ask hard questions — about our effectiveness, about our approaches, about the fact that we are staisfied with crap and think we do not deserve better, with a culture of scarcity, and with bad management more often than not. And with bad systems, funding that is not adequate to capitalize change, and little rewards to innovation, risk, and thinking big. And I am damn tired of all of that, after many years in this “third sector.” I think we better start thinking big while at the same time being very hard-nosed about our own processes, cultures, and attitudes. I personally have about 30-40 years left and two children for whom I want a hell of a better world, so let’s get going :-)but not with ideologies (the ones on the left are almost worse than those on the right) and delusions as to our own crap, but with vision, clarity, integrity, and demand for excellence all around. And that includes software, and ORGANIZATIONAL processes :-) Love you, and see you soon! And keep pushing… :-)