One of the problems with the discussion about Enterprise 2.0 is that it remains abstract and conceptual. Until organizations see real improvements in performance that outweigh the risks in implementing web. 2.0 solutions behind the firewall, they will not move forward. So how do you begin? What are the specific steps that you need to take to get an enterprise 2.0 project underway?

I have been involved in implementing several of these projects this year. In my workshops on this topic, I suggest that groups find a deep need that can be addressed by a distributed architecture and start there. These needs are often about improving performance that can be directly tied to improved revenues or profits.

Once this need has been identified I recommend prototyping with consumer web 2.0 tools. Most of the features of the enterprise 2.0 toolkit can be demonstrated on a small scale with readily available tools: blogs, wikis, podcasting, and rss aggregation. It is very simple to build a platform for your prototype out of these tools.

Next step: get going. Give prototypers some basic training in how to use the tools and what is expected from them. Emphasize how using the new tools is going to save them time and expand their access to critical information that will improve performance. Get people solving an important problem using the web 2.0 toolkit.

Bring in experts to provide foundational content for the project and stimulate and guide thinking. Model behavior for how you work in a 2.0 network.

Run your project for a sufficient length of time (120 days) so that the group really gets the experience and benefits of working in this new way.

I have used this “recipe” with quite varied groups of people and found it to work in every case. There is a reason that 60 million people have started blogs and thousands are podcasting. These tools really work. They offer a powerful new channel for creative expression and efficient new means of getting the right information. But they are a new language and like a new language, the best way to learn them is immersion.

And in every case our prototypes have propagated beyond the initial small project. People tell their friends and colleagues about their experiences. They won’t abandon their blogs and aggregators once the prototype is over. Innovators in the group start their own prototypes.

Enterprise 2.0 is emergent. So let is begin simply and emerge naturally.