(10th anniversary of Topsight)

 I can't believe it's been 10 years since I published my methodology book, Topsight: A Guide to Studying, Diagnosing, and Fixing Information Flow in Organizations. (The link now goes to the revised edition, print version. There's also a Kindle version.)

Topsight was a labor of love for me. I had been teaching methodology courses since 2000, and by 2012, I had developed a set of resources and examples for my undergraduate students. These resources structured the process of conducting case studies in organizations so that students could see texts being taken up, used, and coordinated in action. They could then model these interactions in various ways. Over and over, I got to talk with students about the sometimes mundane, sometimes bizarre sites they investigated, and how to turn these observations into positive, beneficial ideas for change. 

By early 2011, I decided to write an accessible methodology textbook along these lines. But -- since I had already published two books with academic presses -- I decided to try self-publishing this one as an experiment. 

I published a set of blog posts about this process, which was pretty interesting in itself. And on January 15, 2013, I pulled the trigger. The book was live. 

What I expected and hoped was that the book would make this process clear and simple, encourage students and practitioners, and empower people to understand what texts do in organizations and how to improve those ecologies of texts. But I didn't expect people to begin citing this book in their methods sections. And they have -- as of today, Google Scholar says that Topsight has been cited 79 times. 

Since publishing Topsight, I've used it in undergraduate and graduate classes as well as professional workshops. But I have also seen it pop up on other professors' syllabi at both grad and undergrad levels. And I always feel blessed when it does. Case study research can be really scary and intimidating at first, but when you have a good method to follow (and improvise over, and improve on), it can be really exhilarating. And helpful to the people participating in your research as well. 

If you haven't checked out Topsight, it's only $7.99 on Kindle, or free with Kindle Unlimited. And if you have, I hope you have found it useful!