III. Building Blocks for Bootstrapping Collective IQ 0

Over the years Doug Engelbart refined his R&D strategy for unprecedented innovation to show how it can be applied within any knowledge-based organization to bootstrap its Collective IQ. 1

This begins with the ABC model of organizational improvement to identify the individual roles and organizational units that will be facilitating a reverberating chain of innovation within the participating organization(s). Following are the strategic focus areas for boosting Collective IQ up and down that improvement chain. 2

Even if you are not representing a participating organization and are contributing to the field as an individual or interest group, begin by understanding the ABC model to get a picture of how the Collective IQ capabilities you might contribute to (particular tools or processes) can be piloted with the greatest bootstrapping leverage and evolutionary learning curve. Keep in mind that if you are an interest group or networked community (an Improvement Community in Doug's terms), you might want to think in terms of that being your participating organization. What better way to test drive your pet tool or process than to have it piloted intently by its own developers and implementers to boost their own Collective IQ?3

Component Highlights 4

Over the years, Doug has worked out the specifics of the Collective IQ capability and bootstrapping into their component parts encompassing both the tool system and the human system, which are expressly co-evolving up and down the ABC innovation chain. 4a

These include: 4b

• The key target capabilities for boosting Collective IQ being the Concurrent Development, Integration, and Application of Knowledge (CoDIAK) and the facilitation of Dynamic Knowledge Repositories (DKRs); 4b1
• The foundational tools for supporting these target capabilities piloted within a framework like HyperScope -- an extendable evolutionary web-based open software prototype tool designed specifically to facilitate Collective IQ and bootstrapping (just as NLS once did for Doug's lab); NLS/Augment still provides a model for such a system plus a wealth of valuable lessons learned from decades of real world usage; 4b2
• Open Hyperdocument System standards (OHS) to make HyperScope proven functionality embedable in the organization's existing computer environments; and 4b3
• The change agents collaborating on the above tools and processes in Improvement Communities (ICs) to facilitate and bootstrap the Collective IQ capabilities; targeting themselves for advanced pilot usage of their collective contributions turns the ICs into specially endowed Networked Improvement Communities (NICs), which in turn qualifies them to launch more refined pilots within their respective ABC innovation chains. 4b4

The Bootstrap Alliance was conceived as an organizational base for collaborating on this work, for promoting and advancing both the strategic framework and its component parts.4c

(For you advanced students, in Engelbart parlance the Bootstrap Alliance is a networked alliance of "C" level NICs collectively bootstrapping the above Collective IQ capabilities.)4d

Further Reading 5

1. On Bootstrapping An Organization's IQ - a backdrop for this piece, including how Doug applied the ABCs of organizational improvement in his own laboratory resulting in extraordinary levels of innovation. 5a
2. The ABCs of Organizational Improvement - delineating the strategic points of leverage in the improvement chain where the key elements of bootstrapping are deployed. 5b