Raise the Pirate Flag

Steve Jobs famously said "It's more fun to be a pirate than to join the Navy." True enough. But what if you're IN the Navy? How do you change the system when you don't control it? How do you launch a management experiment—from wherever you sit in the organization and with whatever resources you have—and create real impact? Join us for a special session at this year's Mashup on becoming a productive management hacker.

In the meantime, enjoy Kim Spinder's rousing talk on "raising the pirate flag" within the Dutch Ministry of Internal Affairs, where she devised a seemingly simple hack of work with a potentially radical impact. Here she offers up a short course on how to hack the system and make a real impact—even when you don’t have permission or a budget.  
As a Dutch civil servant, Spinder set out to create a more social, collaborative, and innovative organization with a simple hack: civil servants across the Netherlands are invited to share their workspaces, expertise, and resources via a Web booking system and a set of social tools. Deelstoel ("share chair" in Dutch) doesn't just aim to share space but to align civil servants with each other and with the communities they serve.

Spinder launched the initiative with no money and no permission—and managed to enlist some 400 government offices (and growing) to open their doors, their databases, and share their coffee pots. The “Open Government Spaces” program is generating spontaneous connection and "common sense collaboration" among co-workers and constituents who were previously invisible to each other.

Her talk offers up profound and practical lessons for aspiring mavericks everywhere.