The Critical Mass

When reading Jonathan Grudin’s paper “Groupware and social dynamics: eight challenges for developers” I found challenge #2 to be the most interesting one. It deals with the critical mass and Prisoner’s dilemma problems. Grudin states that “Achieving a “critical mass” of users is essential for communication systems”, otherwise it is useless. Consequently, it is in every developer’s interest to find as many user as possible, or at least, to reach the critical mass. But how can one do that?

According to Grudin the best and easiest way is that the top management of a company obliges his employees to use a certain communication system. This way he creates the necessary critical mass of use. If this is not possible the author suggests that the work required for all users should be reduced. Furthermore incentives for use should be built and the process of use should emphasize on the individual and collective benefits.

When reading this, I felt that this solution was too superficial, because those incentives and collective benefits still need to be perceived by potential users. So how can a developer achieve this?

In his paper Grudin mentions the early adaptors - and in my opinion they play an important role when it comes to answering this question. When trying to find out more about early adaptors I stumbled across an interesting survey by Ryan and Gross from the year 1943. In the 1930s a new corn seed was introduced to Iowa. It was more fruitful than any other seed before, but it required a few organizational changes from the farmer. With their survey the two scientists wanted to find out why some farmer adopted this innovation earlier than others did. At first sight you might think that this has nothing to do with groupware or the challenge of the critical mass. However, I think that their results can be useful when it comes to creating a critical mass with the help of the early adaptors.

Ryan and Gross discovered, that early adaptors play an important role because they effect other people remarkably. From the media and the vendors you learn that a certain innovation exists. However, the final decision weather to use/buy the innovation or not is influenced by people who have already had experiences with it – the early adaptors.

Ryan and Gross also found out, that the farmer, who used the new corn seed first, had bigger farms, a higher income and they came from a higher educational background. On top of that they were more cosmopolitan than the average farmer. This tells us, that the have indeed certain characteristics in common.

In order to reach the critical mass, a developer should find out the characteristics of those people that have used groupware earlier than others. By convincing early adaptors his development will be much more successful and he will reach the critical mass earlier.