INDEX of Matt Taylor Papers
2006 |
| 2005 was the first time that the PAPERS section appeared on my web site. The objectives of this work are outlined in the forward to the 2005 index. |
 |
The THEME of the 2005 Papers section is “Here Be Dragons.” Click on the dragon to go to the Index which links to 12 subjects plus a Red Thread piece that ties them all together and bridges to the topics that will emerge in 2006. |
|
| I started the 2005 Papers in December of 04 while a Elsewhere during the end-of-year break. This first Paper was a 20 year tour of MG Taylor work environments with a statement of the principles that govern their creation and purpose. Our major corporate focus at the time was the design and manufacturing of the RDS for the World Economic Forum’s 2005 Annual Meeting at Davos. The eleven pieces, that followed this first one, emerged out of my experiences as the year progressed, and the major ideas that came to mind in regards these experiences. At first, the papers seemed unrelated. Over time, the integrating red-threads started to emerge [link: 05 papers red threads]. |
| I expected that my first 06 Paper would start sometime in December or early in the 06 new year. A very stimulating dialog with a friend advisor and entrepreneurial colleague, in October, provoked a piece on business, and my relation to it [link: first 06 paper] . It just may be that this is an early indicator of what the focus of 2006 may be: the realization of MG Taylor as a successful business. Time will tell. |
|
click on the images to go to the Papers |
 |
WHY MG TAYLOR IS A BUSINESS
And... why I steward the idea and practice of MG Taylor the way that I do - and do not. A non-business way of reinventing the business of business. |
|
| I am writing this update from the NavCenter (coming-into-being) in Triesen. We have just finished the first co-design and transfer session, with WEF team mates for the 2006 Davos WorkPlace. Later in the week we will be doing a session in this space with the FKPR Group our JV partners in this first Taylor NavCenter in Europe. As this is happening, the SDC project in Baltimore is starting to gain traction; and, two NavCenter projects in San Francisco are becoming a strong possibility while the third VA project is going into production and three more are now on the drawing boards. What Red Threads weave all these activities together? This question prompted me to use the Red Thread graphic from the September 2004 WEF Workshop facilitated by AoGG as the masthead for this 06 Papers Index. |
| 2005 was without question the most difficult and promising year in the history of MG Taylor. Promising in the number of opportunities coming our way and difficult in the slow pace that they have materialized. There is a certain level of work necessary so that MGT can continue to invent its System and Method and be profitable. We need not just work but work of a certain kind to accomplish our mission. Success, for us, is a more stringent standard than most organizations judge themselves by. There have been times in the past when we have tasted this success only to find it not sustainable. Now we face a mountain of work - all of it the right kind. Is this trend or a blip? Is our message beginning to resonate with our society or will this turn out to be a shallow interest? Have we learned what we must to appropriately respond to these challenges or will be discover that we have yet to master the organizational aspects of our craft as we have the design and delivery of our products and services? Only time will reveal the answers to these questions. This time period will surely be longer than the year ahead. A year, after all, is an arbitrary distinction when it come to the governance of enterprises. Still, it seems feasible that 2006 will prove to be a significant period for us and may well be the tipping point of this effort. |
| The Red Threads of 2005 may well turn out to weave themselves into the year ahead. |
|
| When I stated to outline “As We May (Re) Think” in support of a presentation to IDIAP with the intention of adding to it later, I did not contemplate turning it into a Paper. As the writing progressed, I realized it was a comprehensive history and outline of a set of ideas I have neglected to document for too long. MG Taylor’s work with environment and process has long been recognized. The way we employ technology has attracted far less attention. There are three reasons for this. One, we are not technologists and although we have been innovative in this realm we have been substantially outside the game of making technology which is where the focus is. Second, of the three aspects (environment, work progresses and technology augmentation) of the MG Taylor Method, the development of our technology components is the least mature - this is because of the costs involved and because the base technology, itself, is just becoming robust enough for our purposes. The third reason is the more interesting for it is a consequence of our own success. We have always insisted on using technology seamlessly not allowing it to get between people or them and their work. It goes without saying that I have not been pleased with how technology has developed and been applied in our society nor my inability to bring a different vision to the design/build/use process outside of our own NavCenters. In recent months I have been asked several times to present my ideas on how technology can best be used to augment creativity, collaborative work and in support of the knowledge worker. It seems that the design economy has been discovered at last. This has provided me the incentive to go back to some very old ideas - mine and other’s - and bring this thinking into a contemporary context. The following Paper is the first step in this effort. |
|
click on the images to go to the Papers |
 |
So As We May (Re) Think
Documentation of a presentation and dialog at IDIAP. This Paper is a review of my ideas related to the appropriate use of technology in support of creative work and a look at possible work tracks ahead. |
|
 |
By Design - not Default
The Red Threads of a generation come together at Davos - the proof-of-concept phase is over. Now, the task is the full development and expression of the Creative Economy to ubiquity. |
|
My time since the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting has been totally consumed by two design projects and MG Taylor Method License negotiations.
What time I have had free of these projects has been spent drafting A Future By Design Not Default - time lags and implementation cycles. This paper has grown to four parts and is the most comprehensive statement of what the Taylor Enterprise has been about since ReDesigning the Future course was first offered in Kansas City in 1975. It is a draft on one of the opening Modules of the new ReBuilding the Future course will we expect to off at Vanderbilt University. I think that it might be an outline for a book at can be topical for our times. |
|
|
| GoTo: By Design - Not Default |
|
|
|
|
| GoTo: Why I Run a Business... |
|
|
|
|
| GoTo: As We May Think - IDIAP |
|
|
|
Matt Taylor
Zurich
October 10, 2005
SolutionBox voice of this document:
VISION • STRATEGY • EVALUATE
|
posted: October 11, 2005
revised: January 30, 2006
• 20051011.332819.mt • 20051011.888123.mt •
• 20051113.232391.mt • 20051225.677682.mt •
• 20060130.767610.mt •
(note: this document is about 25% finished)
Copyright© Matt Taylor 2005 |
|
|
