Book Review: Crowdsourcing by Jeff Howe

Jeff defines (link) crowdsourcing as the act of taking a job traditionally performed by a designated agent (usually an employee) and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people in the form of an open call.

Interesting.

I thought about whether I would try to do a review on it for this blog and I was not sure if I found it relevant to the scope of the blog. If product management is involved in crowdsourcing, then it is mostly definitely a tactic in helping to achieve a strategy and if managed properly, with the proper expectations I would support a crowdsourcing initiative for you as a roadmap supporting activity. Not that you need my support or approval.

That being said, as product managers (or all associated types) start hearing the word “crowdsourcing” being used (or consider using it themselves), I highly recommend reading the book so that you can understand really what it means. I suspect most people think of it as a way to outsource a role or worse that crowdsourcing just magically manages itself.

I know what you are thinking. Jeff’s definition says, “taking a job … and outsourcing”, but I don’t read this as a job job I read this more as a outsourcing tasks.

I think crowdsourcing can be a successful tactic and as more people execute successful crowdsourcing projects you will hear more about it. My advice is be prepared.

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