My two favorite blogs are Fluent Self by Havi Brooks and Penelope Trunk by, well, herself. Every blog post is great on its own. But you miss more than half if you only read a single post. You miss the steps that Havi and Penelope had to go through to get to their insights.

It helps to be familiar with the unusual level of metaphorical expressions at the Fluent Self blog to understand that a post about moving to Bolivia is actually referring to not having children.

And with Penelope Trunk … well … uhm … you have to understand large chunks of her background to appreciate her advice.

For me it is not actually the individual insights that are important. Well. They are. But not that important.

Yes.

It’s the explanation on how they get these insights that makes me an eager subscriber to the blogs.

I wrote as a note: “It’s the journey that is more important than the destination.”

But I cannot say that out loud without throwing up. So. I quote myself to make it less cheesy.

That’s my problem with books.

It is a final product. All polished up. Shiny.

A book provides a coherent view, a description without hesitation. Without gaps in the argumentation.

But reality has gaps and is not coherent. Authors do have hesitations. And doubts.

How they cope with doubts and how they resolve gaps, now, that is far more interesting.

I think.

But that is probably because I have a blog. And doubts and hesitations. Lots of that.

Oh. And gaps. Way too many gaps. And holes.

I realize that I hardly share my process on how to combine sociology, psychology, management, leadership, project management, communication and everything else that comes to my mind.

I found one post that tried to explain how I make complex stuff less complex.

“The path I am on is spiral. It looks like I am running around in circles. Heck. It sometimes feels like I am in this loop. Lead actor in my own Groundhog Day. I write about topics and revisit them again and again over a longer time frame, refining them, adding to them, and mixing topics I didn’t know were related.”

Hmmm.

I actually do use techniques.

Visualization for example.

I have a notebook in which I make drawings of concepts.

Hideous drawings. But that is beside the point.

(What is his freak flag? Reading cues.)

You have to simplify when you draw.

(Using expressions of identity as attractor for your people.)

If you make a lot of drawings, a common visual language emerges. You use several symbols over and over again. The use of identical symbols reveal a hidden link.

(How groups collapse and renew. This was the basis for The Adaptive Cycle In Social Systems.)

(Balance between homogeneity and diversity.)

How To Make Complex Stuff Less Complex? is a post from: Project Shrink.

He asked Scott Selherst, Elizabeth Harrin, Pawel Brodzinski, Fadi El-Eter, Josh Nankivel and Glen Alleman. Oh. And me.

So. I wondered.

Why not turn the tabels and ask Craig his own questions?

Yeah.

Why not?

So, Craig…

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned in the last 5 years of blogging?

“About blogging; that it’s all about focus.  Focus for me on learning what I am writing about, and focus on a topic area so you have consistency for your readers.  Not that I am able to maintain focus particularly well…
  
I’ve also learned what I like best – the discussion part of the process.   I WISH more people would get on and start engaging in conversations.” 

Why are you still blogging on project management?

“Because I’m still learning.  I go through phases of learning heaps and then plateauing and then learning some more.  And that means sometimes the blog reflects that learning, sometimes it’s me just noodling about, and sometimes lecturing (hence the lack of focus comment above.)

One thing I know is that Context is EVERYTHING.  Understanding the situation you are in is a critical first step.  The next is diagnosing the problems and challenges, and then you go forward with a solution.  So there is an infinite amount of things to learn and I am never going to be bored.”

What do you think you’ll be blogging about in 5 years? (And will you still be going?)

“I think I’ll drift into more management, less project.  But because I have project in the blog heading it’ll be interesting  

And then there are higher level issues like strategy and innovating yourself into the future.”

What’s the biggest social media mistake you’ve made?

“My unfulfilled purpose is better conversations and more personal learning.  I think I should have come up with a better way to get people to engage in the content and create discussions.  Maybe a Facebook page, maybe more direct and intimate conversations.  I’m not sure.”

Old School PM Blogging With Craig Brown Of BetterProjects. is a post from: Project Shrink.

Ten years ago I registered SoftwareProjects.org, my first real website. I had been active on Usenet from 1990 until 1994, but SoftwareProjects.org was my first real attempt of writing about projects.

Around 2004 more people than just me wrote for SoftwareProjects.org, so I became an editor.

Based upon the first articles I wrote in 2005 “Surprise! Now You’re A Software Project Manager“.

In 2007 I moved to this blog, The Project Shrink, after years of thinking about it. When I finally “got it”, when I finally understood how blogs really are different from static sites, I was ecstatic. A blog supports the style I prefer, more emerging, more incremental, refining ideas. Writing becomes more of a continuous flow and you become more aware of what people think about it.

I am not really writing about software projects any more. Project Shrink is about the role “identity” plays in communication and collaboration in virtual and global spaces. About temporary social systems.

Projects are still my main source of inspiration and discussion. Because they are a special type of social system: they are temporary by definition and create change. They have defined boundaries and have visible disturbances. Ideal case studies when talking about social systems and resilience.

But still, it all started today 10 years ago with registering the domain SoftwareProjects.org.

Image by SqueakyMarmot.

Ten Years Digital-Me. is a post from: Project Shrink.

I have my internal idea about what it is I’m about. My “blog identity” if you want.

Blogger-Me.

Blogger-Me is about sociology, psychology, complexity and stuff. The cool human stuff. In a project context.

Last year at a PM congress I found out that I was “the video guy”. Just because I was weird enough to walk around in a suit with a cheap flip cam.

So. My internal representation of Blogger-Me, my perception of that part of my identity, doesn’t have to be in line with my external expression of Blogger-Me. People picked up different cues than “wow. cool stuff about humans.” They picked up “ha. cheap video recorder.”

Identity is about inward reflection and outward presentation.

I tried to come up with one sentence describing my topic. You know.

A pitch.

Yuk.

Well. That didn’t go well. It only resulted in a post called “I Hate Elevator Pitches.”

Yes. I know. Identity crisis.

This Blogging Identity Crisis is ironic, because “identity” is a central part of the topic. Again. I know.

So. I left it there. For a while.

But every year in December, I look back and have to summarize the blog posts I wrote in that year.

Ok. Here I go.

“Project Shrink is about the role “identity” plays in communication and collaboration in virtual and global spaces.”

If you have no idea what I am talking about, I suggest you start here.

Now. I need a hug.

Blogger-Me. A Small Adorable Identity Crisis. Every Year. is a post from: Project Shrink.

Ali suggested I give it a try. Great idea! We are studying the effects of comments. I am experimenting with adventure mapping, the highly playful, interactive and intuitive way of communicating complex elements in your project. Why not combine them?

Why not?

So. Mapping The Project Shrink blog and the function of comments.

See if it provides me with some insights.

Every adventure starts with a quest. The purpose of the blog. Why am I writing?

For me it’s a personal thing. I want to sharpen my mind around this riddle: how can we run projects in a virtual and global environment by focusing on social interactions? It’s about being able to combine sociology, psychology, management, leadership, project management, communication and everything else that comes to mind in one fluent motion, in any context.

Yeah. I know.

The path I am on is spiral. It looks like I am running around in circles. Heck. It sometimes feels like I am in this loop. Lead actor in my own Groundhog Day. I write about topics and revisit them again and again over a longer time frame, refining them, adding to them, and mixing topics I didn’t know were related.

Did you notice I link a lot to my own posts and combine elements I have talked about before? No? Anyway. That’s why.

I just circle around the quest, making the topics more and more my own.

I use my own archive extensively. You forget what you write. But that is why you write and have an archive. The blog knows what I know, or used to know.

Monks. Comments.

Along this path I encountered people who provide comments. Thank you! You have no idea how I appreciate that.

Talking about paths and spiral movements creates the image of monks along the stairs you are climbing.

This adventure map is turning into “India Jones” meets “Seven Years In Tibet“.

There are comments to keep me on the path, that keep me going, that motivate me. Happy and cheerful monks.

There are questions. Curious and sometimes skeptic monks. Fantastic way to focus your efforts. Your direction.

There are more questions. Great way to see if what I am writing is relevant to people. Is perceived as a “real” issue? The “keeping it real” monk.

Comments are awesome in creating social connections. I met some great people through my blog comments.

There are comments that are feedback to the content and help me refine the concepts.

Although people agree and disagree in the comments, it’s always been respectful. But than again, it’s my house, so I remove disrespectful comments. This doesn’t happen very often, but there is no room for that.

What do you think?

Want to draw a map of your own blog? Do you see other applications?

Groundhog Day. Happy Monks. Analyzing The Project Shrink With Adventure Maps is a post from: Project Shrink.

In 3 years I wrote 468 blog posts. Although perhaps not always obvious, all posts are based upon a mission, powered by my specific passion.

The mission of The Project Shrink is to make global, virtual and multi cultural projects work locally in such a way that they provide a genuine contribution towards a sustainable global society.

Yeah. I know.

During a trip through India in 2008 I read Thomas Friedman’s book “Hot, Flat and Crowded”. In it, among thousand of other things, he describes a company operating in India, that changed the way I look at how what we do as Project Managers can contribute to global problems. Friedman describes a call center in India that handles telephone inquiries for US corporations. But instead of being located in one of the large cities like Mumbai or Madras, this company is located in rural villages.

The original inhabitants of the village who got an education in the city are now able to return to their village because there are good jobs. The employees are extremely loyal to the company, income of the villagers is going up and the level of eduction is rising. If you have nothing to eat, do you think you care about environmental issues? But having an income, education, a job you love, living in the town you love surrounded by your family you start caring about the future.

Translating this to IT: we have the jobs, we have the technology to perform this partly location independent. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we can make it work? And this isn’t just about India.

It is about reducing urbanization and its heavy toll on the environment (no commute is no pollute).
It is about a more healthy (sustainable) distribution of wealth.
It is about improving education in general.

But this is also about getting rid of certain things. We cannot afford having unmotivated people, extensive corporate politics or bloated organization with an enormous amount of overhead.

As project people we would like to see the roadmap now. The recipe for success.

Sorry. There isn’t any. No single solution. No silver bullet.

With every approach there is this “it depends”. Circumstances. What might be the best solution in one case, might be disastrous in another.

There is this ALWAYS this big “IT DEPENDS…”

Education. Good. Books. Fantastic. Best practices. Awesome.

But, for inspiration purposes only.

I know that the knowledge and intelligence you need is locked in you and your team.

You need fun and creativity to get it out. Not compliance and punishment.

And that, lucky us, is no rocket science.

Image by Tony Crescibene.

Three Years Project Shrink Blog is a post from: Project Shrink.

We start with Josh Nankivel from PMStudent.com, where he helps new project managers achieve their career goals.

B: What is the topic you write about?

J: “I write about topics that new and aspiring project managers are interested in, with their perspective in mind.  Some of these include project management fundamentals, career topics like resume writing and interviewing, how to gain experience, education, etc.”

Josh and me

B: How did you come up with this topic? (or, why this topic?)

J: “I was a professional trainer for years before getting into project management.  I have always loved teaching people and helping them acheive their goals.  After I became passionate about the discipline of project management, it was a match made in heaven!”

B: What triggered you to start online? Was there a specific cause?

J: “In the beginning…  I started blogging primarily out of a desire to document my own thoughts about Theory of Constraints and Critical Chain project management, and formulate applications to my daily work.  I hadn’t even been reading any blogs, I had just discovered what they were actually. 

I remember thinking, “Hey, this is cool!  I’ve got to check this out!”

I figured that if I wrote my thoughts down on a public blog it would be a good way to hold myself accountable and then I could reference it whenever I wanted to.  I never really thought anyone would end up reading my blog when I started, but I didn’t care back then either.”

B: What are the main questions you are trying to answer?

J: “There are 3 primary questions I try to answer for my audience:

• How do I become a project manager?
• How do I deal with people on projects? (soft skills)
• How do I use process and tools on projects? (hard skills)”

B: Is your current topic different from a while ago?

J: “Yes, my writing has evolved over time to be much more focused.  At first, I just wrote about whatever came to mind, very broad and general project management topics.  As I began to realize who I really wanted to reach out to and help, my focus shifted.  Since then I have created several newsletters and training courses geared specifically towards new and aspiring project managers, and my writing, podcasts, and videos are all focused on that group of people I want to help.”

B: Why are you active online?

J: “The primary reason for me is the opportunity to interact with people who are interested in the same things I am interested in, and at the same time knowing that I am helping a large number of people all around the world with specific problems they have.  I especially love helping people through challenges and those emails I get when someone achieves a major goal or milestone in their project management career.”

B: How did your online activity affect you?

J: “Here are a few key benefits I’ve gained.

• Broadened Perspective – I have been able to interact with people from all over the world and many who disagreed with my approaches and had great approaches of their own.  I have learned so much this way and gained some exposure to project environments outside my own country.
• Relationships – There are so many great people that I have met through my online activity.  It has opened doors for me to build relationships with other people who do similar work online and for volunteer opportunities as well.  My life would look much different today if I had never started blogging.
• Recognition – I won’t lie, it does feel good when lots of people like what you are doing.  It’s crazy to think that now I get books mailed to me all the time by publishers, software licenses from PM tool vendors, etc.  I don’t have time to review them all, but I’m more shocked that anyone values my opinion and presence that much to seek me out.  It’s all good for the ego and has helped me realize that most people undervalue their abilities…anyone could be doing what I’m doing.
• Professional Development – I’m a better project manager, communicator, and teacher because of my activities online.  The process of writing and editing has made my email communication at work much better.  I’m more focused at work and can cut to the meat of issues much more quickly and get them resolved.  I am more proactive than I have ever been, and a better mentor than I have ever been before.

The great thing is, it just keeps getting better!”

B: Is your online “voice” different from your “real” persona?

J: “Not much, if at all.  That is one thing that has changed over the years too.  At first my writing was very academic in style.  Now I basically write and record podcasts, video training, etc. as if I’m sitting next to someone and mentoring them in person.  That is one trick I use, to picture a specific individual who I am communicating with because it makes it much more natural and sincere.

The only caveat is that I don’t communicate my feelings on unrelated topics.  Just like everyone else, I have a lot of opinions about “the human condition” and what goes on in our daily lives.  There have been times where I almost wrote about unrelated topics on my blog, but for the most part I stick to the topic areas that I’m known for.  I wouldn’t want someone to be put off because we disagree on some unrelated topic; I want to help as many people as I can, regardless of where they are from or what their world views are.”

B: What was/is your biggest challenge being active online?

J: “Managing my time.  The amount of people asking me questions via email or inside my pmStudent e-Learning program has exploded over the years, and yet I’m adamant about handling each and every one of these personally and as quickly as possible.  If you send me an email, you will get a response, period.  As far as I know, I’ve responded to every question I’ve ever received.

Over time I’ve learned how to use the questions as the basis for blog posts, videos, podcasts, and my video training courses.  This has helped, and I even think I’m receiving less email – hopefully because I am getting better at answering the common questions up-front.”

Check out his blog at PMStudent.com.

Professionals And Social Media: Interview With Josh Nankivel is a post from: Project Shrink.

He is talking about a dream some people have. Not necessarily a vision of spending your days at the beach, in your shorts earning a living with your laptop. But nevertheless, this dream is oozing with “freedom”.

Problogger.net is one of the more popular blogs on the Internet. A lot of people comment on his articles.

Every. Single. Time.

They provide positive feedback. They discuss among each other.

Darren’s readers are all on the same journey. Beach. Shorts. Freedom. And, oh yeah. Money.

Darren’s influence is huge. He holds no formal authority over his crowd. He doesn’t pay them any money. Yet, he can make them move.

He is creating a vision. He is teaching by example. He motivates with words. He provides feedback to the crowd.

This is leadership.

Projects need leadership. Teams need motivation. With vision, the right words and positive feedback.

By observing how Darren operates on Problogger.net you can learn a lot about effective leadership. This is true for a lot of blogs and social networks on the Internet.

By participating on the Internet, you can train your leadership skills. The skills you need to create a small online community around your blog, are the same skills you use for leading your project team.

Same.

Well. Almost.

Beach. Shorts. And Leadership. is a post from: Project Shrink.

For more details about the podcast, like subscribing with iTunes, please visit ProjectShrink.com.

Great Exercise To Train Your Feedback Skills is a post from: Project Shrink.

In this episode of The Project Shrink I have the pleasure of talking to Stephane Grenier, author of “Blog Blazers”, a fabulous book for every type of blogger. He also runs a software company and has his own blog (of course).

I asked Stephane the following questions:

• Most of my viewers are Project Managers and other professionals. How would you convince them to start a blog?
• What are your personal 3 favorite tips you encountered during the book interviews on how to write successfully blog posts?
• If people have one day of spare time, have the desire to start a blog, how would you recommend they arrange their day?

You can watch the interview below or follow this link to YouTube.com.

New: Subscribe with iTunes to “The Project Shrink” episodes

You can subscribe to this (and all other) video(s) using iTunes. It is available as a full video version or audio (mp3) only.

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Project Managers And Blogging With Stephane Grenier is a post from: Project Shrink.