Comentarios en: Price-fixing and communities of practice http://emekaeme.wordpress.com/2007/06/22/price-fixing-and-communities-of-practice/ Community buiding. Knowledge management. Social IT. Shaken, not stirred. Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:27:32 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 Por: Miguel http://emekaeme.wordpress.com/2007/06/22/price-fixing-and-communities-of-practice/#comment-441 Miguel Wed, 04 Jul 2007 10:11:20 +0000 http://emekaeme.wordpress.com/2007/06/22/price-fixing-and-communities-of-practice/#comment-441 Hi Ed, good lyrics :D. And a good question, come to that. I don't think there's a "going rate" for complex facilitation: it's just not that commoditized, thankfully, so you can command what you think the specific service's worth. And there's widely different opinions on that, I can tell you :-). Still, the prices are coming down. Simple online moderation is very close to commodity, on the other hand. Very often people hire part-timers or students, with very low qualifications. Expert volunteers are not very hard to find and often work for the thanks and some merchandising, which further depresses the price. It's a buyers' market. But you are a community project manager and consultant. You can handle the design, the software and the people. That's a rare beast. You should be able to squeeze quite a bit. Hi Ed,

good lyrics :D . And a good question, come to that. I don’t think there’s a “going rate” for complex facilitation: it’s just not that commoditized, thankfully, so you can command what you think the specific service’s worth. And there’s widely different opinions on that, I can tell you :-) . Still, the prices are coming down.

Simple online moderation is very close to commodity, on the other hand. Very often people hire part-timers or students, with very low qualifications. Expert volunteers are not very hard to find and often work for the thanks and some merchandising, which further depresses the price. It’s a buyers’ market.

But you are a community project manager and consultant. You can handle the design, the software and the people. That’s a rare beast. You should be able to squeeze quite a bit.

]]> Por: Ed http://emekaeme.wordpress.com/2007/06/22/price-fixing-and-communities-of-practice/#comment-432 Ed Tue, 03 Jul 2007 11:00:37 +0000 http://emekaeme.wordpress.com/2007/06/22/price-fixing-and-communities-of-practice/#comment-432 very interesting indeed. I have always been affronted (for some ridiculous Ed type emotional reason probably) that in many companies, you can be sacked for simply asking someone how much they get paid. People are funny about money, period. It's also interesting as a lone freelancer trying to get work at the right rate - having been manipulatively mislead about my worth by an outfit I have been with, I am still unsure how much I should cost etc. and guess many others feel this way, and thought maybe I could ask on one of the forums. <a href="http://www.lyricsfreak.com/p/pink+floyd/money_20108700.html" rel="nofollow">Money. Weird stuff.</a> very interesting indeed. I have always been affronted (for some ridiculous Ed type emotional reason probably) that in many companies, you can be sacked for simply asking someone how much they get paid. People are funny about money, period.

It’s also interesting as a lone freelancer trying to get work at the right rate – having been manipulatively mislead about my worth by an outfit I have been with, I am still unsure how much I should cost etc. and guess many others feel this way, and thought maybe I could ask on one of the forums.

Money. Weird stuff.

]]> Por: DARnet » Talking about wages is not the same as price fixing http://emekaeme.wordpress.com/2007/06/22/price-fixing-and-communities-of-practice/#comment-371 DARnet » Talking about wages is not the same as price fixing Tue, 26 Jun 2007 21:34:01 +0000 http://emekaeme.wordpress.com/2007/06/22/price-fixing-and-communities-of-practice/#comment-371 [...] decided to note it on his blog rather than reply there, which is fair enough. I do that sometimes. eme ká eme Price-fixing and communities of [...] [...] decided to note it on his blog rather than reply there, which is fair enough. I do that sometimes. eme ká eme Price-fixing and communities of [...]

]]> Por: Miguel http://emekaeme.wordpress.com/2007/06/22/price-fixing-and-communities-of-practice/#comment-348 Miguel Sun, 24 Jun 2007 11:24:18 +0000 http://emekaeme.wordpress.com/2007/06/22/price-fixing-and-communities-of-practice/#comment-348 Hi Andy, it was good :-). As mentioned above, I know more than a few communities in the field of creative industries whose membership mixes the entrepreneur-who-stays-on-the-edge and the creative-worker-solving-practical-doubts (freelance or not). You will find many of those in other spheres in which the size of the companies is not too big, and also on the scientific world. Even in software development SMEs, company leaders are frequently involved in the communities. So it's not always that clear cut. Communities are for hands-on people, but in many places, that's also the boss. The larger the company, the more specialised will be the managers and the less likely to be involved in production, evidently. IMHO the only way a CoP can fix prices is by becoming a real guild: almost-compulsory membership and profession-regulation attributes. Which is not likely to happen in the western world, now that liberalisation has taken root. Hi Andy,

it was good :-) .

As mentioned above, I know more than a few communities in the field of creative industries whose membership mixes the entrepreneur-who-stays-on-the-edge and the creative-worker-solving-practical-doubts (freelance or not). You will find many of those in other spheres in which the size of the companies is not too big, and also on the scientific world. Even in software development SMEs, company leaders are frequently involved in the communities.

So it’s not always that clear cut. Communities are for hands-on people, but in many places, that’s also the boss. The larger the company, the more specialised will be the managers and the less likely to be involved in production, evidently.

IMHO the only way a CoP can fix prices is by becoming a real guild: almost-compulsory membership and profession-regulation attributes. Which is not likely to happen in the western world, now that liberalisation has taken root.

]]> Por: Andy Roberts http://emekaeme.wordpress.com/2007/06/22/price-fixing-and-communities-of-practice/#comment-338 Andy Roberts Fri, 22 Jun 2007 23:38:22 +0000 http://emekaeme.wordpress.com/2007/06/22/price-fixing-and-communities-of-practice/#comment-338 I'm glad you liked the quip. I'll probably blog a reply myself but meanwhile I'd like to say that I view communities of practice as essentially horizontal, not vertical. What practices do managers have in common with workers? Employers have more to discuss with each other, even in competitive corporations, as do workers of the same trade regardless of who they work for. So I would think it perfectly reasonable for practitioners who organise together in communities to discuss pay and conditions. The confusion with price fixing cartels of the rich and powerful is not helpful, nor ever likely to be applicable. I’m glad you liked the quip. I’ll probably blog a reply myself but meanwhile I’d like to say that I view communities of practice as essentially horizontal, not vertical. What practices do managers have in common with workers? Employers have more to discuss with each other, even in competitive corporations, as do workers of the same trade regardless of who they work for. So I would think it perfectly reasonable for practitioners who organise together in communities to discuss pay and conditions.
The confusion with price fixing cartels of the rich and powerful is not helpful, nor ever likely to be applicable.

]]>