Open source changing how we think

Product Development Other Than Software
How does collaboration and the open source mentality shift our thinking about other 'products' outside of software? The open source model suggest that by releasing an idea or prototype to the outside world (including your competitors) will allow for more input to produce a superior product, and potentially identify critical flaws before taking it to market, ultimately creating a better product at a lower cost. What if we took a media/marketing campaign and released it via an open source model prior to the actual launch? Not only could it help ensure that the campaign is communicating with its intended audience, but it could help identify different audiences and audience experiences with the campaign.

Improving Quality On Non Strategic Software
See this blog article (feb 22 - Can Vendors Control Open Source) on how the open source model could be used to develop non strategic software at lower costs, while having higher quality through collaboration and well maintained code. Win-win for the CIO, customer and development community.

How We Manage
Distributed Management - Employees leading themselves. If an orchestra can win a Grammy without a conductor, can a business succeed without (or with less) management? Another spin on this topic is described in The Marine Corp Way - A book about using Maneuver Warefare to lead an organization. Their is an entire chapter based on decentralized decision making.