social media's influence on project management

Social Media Influence on Project

Management

Adam BlauAugust 31, 2011

Agenda

Three sections discussing social media and how it influences:

I: BusinessII: Online CommunitiesIII: Project ManagementIV: Questions and Answers

Tweets

Hash tag is #AECSocialPMRetweet information from webinarAsk questionsTweet comments or ideas from webinar and how you would implement them.

Brief Bio of Adam Blau

Spent 8 years working as sales and marketing executive for a worldwide translation company. Worked with sales, marketing and project management staff in 4 continents. Social media became an important aspect working with distributed teams to communicate its content marketing strategy to customers, employees and partners around the world.

It wouldn’t be a serious presentation without a definition slide!

Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and

audio.

Old definition from Wikipedia (not there anymore)

*Not a publication, not sales, not marketing

Social Media is a conversation

Emphasis varies by country

Social Media Ecosystem

Content is King

Without Content there is no need for Social Media

Without Social Media how will anyone find your Content

What will you talk about?

What’s the point of putting content up if no one knows about it?

All companies have customers.

Lucky companies have fans. But the most fortunate

companies have audiences

Social media influence on PM- Online Communities

Online communities – why should companies care?

“The stronger the social, professional and emotional relationships are among team members, the more likely each will go ‘the extra mile’ to make the project a success”

- Dennis D. McDonald.

Social media & online communities – what it is not!

A replacement for leadership or direction.

Removal of hiearchicaral layers.

Easy to start working with. It cannot be forced upon individuals.

A replacement for the real thing.

Social media – Implementation Challenges

THE WORRY CHART

Managing un-billable time

Fear of contributing inaccurate information; criticism.

Withholding information that may not seem particularly interesting, relevant, or truthful.*

Lack of sustained community management.

Disclosing confidential information* Wentling, T., Page, V., & Archichvili

Corporate Confidentiality

Companies need to provide structure and guidance on appropriate social media activity.

If companies outright refuse social media, it does not “teach safe behavior…and leaves without the necessary knowledge and skills to protect privacy and responsible speech.” –American Library Assoc.

If your company does not have a social media content strategy or guidelines, check Intel or Microsoft’s social media guidelines as a reference.

Social media’s influence on Project Management

Membership/User life cycle

*Amy Jo Kim, Wikepedia

*

According to research found on Wikipedia, communities

build upon social networking rely heavily on member

contribution

What motivates users to contribute?

What motivates users to contribute?

Reciprocation: benefits that compensate for the costs of time, effort and materials members provide.

Consistency: once a commitment is made to a virtual society, often they feel obligated to stay consistent with continuing contributions.

Social Validation: more likely to join and participate in an online community if it is socially acceptable and popular

“Social Media (in the Enterprise) is a Business Process, not a channel, department, or

vertical silo.”  Ytzik Aranov, Managing Partner, Social2B

Project Manager

C++ Programmer

QA Test Lead

Sales manager

MarketingHR

Localization

Architect

Example: 30% savings due to efforts from team.

PM Lead

Sales

Marketing

HR

• Blogs• Wiki• Chat

• Customer satisfaction• Global content strategy (social media)

• Case Study• New leads

• Performance review• Recognized

Examples of social collaboration in PM

Daily status updates from all members using Yammer!Online chat function to support queries that can be tracked/followed/escalated.Questions/milestones, etc. shared on specific groups on Yammer. Complete post mortem, tagged and searchable on a blog for members to comment.

Developing group participation

Find an internal champion to support time dedicated each day to social media.Assign a community manager to build a sense of community efficacy. Discuss at project kick-off which tools and setup is appropriate for your team and company.

Developing group participation

Set Twitter lists (public/private) or team hashtags. Implement chat functions of enterprise software (Chatter from SFDC for example). Utilize all functions of blogs – comment fields, tags and rating features.Make sure everyone blogs and contribute content to the conversation.

Developing group participation

Set examples of how to participate and converse with the community.

Maximizing knowledge exchange

How to:

Gain information on new applications or tools.

Get recommendations from trusted industry colleagues.

Asking for other’s experience – mitigate risk.

Not have to reinvent the wheel.

Knowledge exchange

Join, read and contribute in Groups.

Add friends and work colleagues, past and present

Add industry colleagues.

Ask questions.

Link tweets with status updates

Keep your profile up-to-date.

Knowledge exchange-

Follow groups using hash tags (#pmot)

Follow Insider/Veterans, colleagues, friends, etc.

Re-tweet content to your network and groups

Recognize achievements/content contributions to your network

Respond to direct messages or queries quickly.

Join the conversation!

Setup groups and circles

Add friends and work colleagues, past and present

“Like” companies

Add comments to status updates or content shared.

What if scenarios and project comments

Share information about your group / company.

Water cooler & Informal Change Control

What you can be doing?

80% of success is just showing up

Engage your colleagues

Find advocates and supporters

Contribute to the community

Participate to build relationships for the long-term

Reciprocate to help share knowledge

Create!

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Questions?

Thank you

Adam BlauAdam Blau Consulting

Washington, D.C. +1 (202) 617-4530

adamsblau@gmail.com

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