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This recording is the final part of a session “Why Should You Care About Social Media?” at PMI Global Congress 2009 by the PMI New Media Council. Other parts of this session can be found here:

Collaboration With Skype, Vyew and Google Docs
Using Yammer For Frictionless Communication
Be Careful With Social Media: Words Of Caution

Personal Branding – Episode 34 Project Shrink Podcast is a post from: Project Shrink.

“I thought this was a blog about Project Management… uhm … Project Leadership?”

Thanks for bringing that up. Yes it is. In my view a project is nothing more than a bunch of people interacting together to achieve a certain goal. And it’s the role of the Project Manager to make sure the sum of the interactions fulfills the desired goal.

So, it’s about communication, and it’s your job to make sure communication is good.

If people know what you’re about, what your thing is, they know when to contact you, and when not.

You don’t contact me with questions about your critical-path. I know about it, but it’s not my thing.

By setting expectations on what you’re about, you can steer the assumptions people have about you in the right direction, with as a result improved communication.

But first, you have to know yourself what you are about.

What is your thing?

Finding out is a fabulous training for communication. You have to dig deep and find the words to express what you have found.

Sometimes people need a manifesto to explain what they are about. I love Chris Guillebeau’s Guide To World Domination and Ken Thompson’s Bioteaming Manifesto.

My manifesto can be summed up in one sentence:

“If your project sucks, you must have earned it.”

I try to explain this a little more. I still struggle finding the right words.

I started creating slidedecks for this purpose. It’s a medium that works for me.

By explaining yourself and engaging about “your thing” you practice your communication. And you learn a lot about yourself while you are at it.

Find out what you are about. It improves your communication. It improves communication with you.

If you need help with that, or want to tell what your thing is, just leave a comment.

Why You Should Know What You’re About is a post from: Project Shrink.

Conversations get strange. You’ve never met a person, yet you think you know them. You associate them with the agile crowd, the lean posse, the social media gurus or any other label in existence. And presto, you have a whole set of assumptions about your conversation partner.

It’s strange, but also very powerful. You can skip the obvious stuff and dive directly into some interesting topics to discuss. You connect faster.

If you are involved on the internet, you can nurture the labels put on you. At least, so we think.

Yeah, yeah, this is about personal branding.

Years ago when I started blogging, I decided to cover “projects and humans”. There is no way I can pronounce “The Project Sociologist” (my first option). So it became “Project Shrink”.

People remember that name. Not my real name. But they remember “Project Shrink”. Because it’s funny. It’s short. But in general, people have no real topic associated with that name other than “something with humans”.

I am not the Kanban-guy, the Scrum guru, the Monte Carlo Simulator or SharePoint-man.

That’s a Personal Branding sin. People have to know “what you’re about”.

I started out writing about “Project Management”. But under that label humans don’t play a role. (At least, that’s what I’m told.) In “general management”: yes. In “human resourcing”: yes.

So I adopted “Project Leadership”. Now that is a lovely area in which you can throw any human topic you can imagine. The drawback is, nobody really knows what it is exactly. It may be a safe label, but it’s not an effective one.

I like discussing how you can combine different project approaches effectively. Dave Prior came up with “Project Mashups”. I tried “Freestyling“. I liked “Project Management 2.0″, but that has “Project Management” in it, and, as I explained, “Project Management” doesn’t do humans. Besides, it’s been taken.

And don’t get me started about the responses you get when you use the word “Social Media”!

Currently “Project Shrink” stands for “Project Leadership/Social Media” – guy. That’s my view on the matter.

At a recent PM congress I found out that I am “the video guy”. Just because I am weird enough to walk around in a suit with a cheap flip cam (ha! there are more of us!).

300 thought provoking posts about projects could not do what walking around with a $100 electronic gadget established.

So, it seems: weird is good.

Or perhaps: more distinctive is good.

With a gazillion PMPs and agilistas, it doesn’t make any sense to use that label as a differentiator.

You have to be in a party of one. Or two. Max.

You have to make up your own words, otherwise you end up in some kind of turf war, yapping about semantics.

And than, hope it sticks.

And that’s the great thing when people know you from your blog. You get a glimpse of what you are really about.

Do you know what you’re about? And do you know how people view you?

The Real Project Shrink. is a post from: Project Shrink.

Dave is the author of the Drunken PM blog, PMP, Scrum Trainer and past chair of the PMI IT&T SIG and this is his second appearance on my podcast.

We discuss the following questions:

• Why should PMs care about personal branding?
• What is a personal brand in the first place?
• How do you take care of your own brand and can you name some examples of personal branding in PM or outside PM?
• Can you name some easy techniques/steps to start a personal brand?

Why Should Project Managers Care About Personal Branding?

How To Take Care Of Your Personal Brand (for Project Managers)

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Personal Branding For Project Managers is a post from: Project Shrink.

Marketing: Tech People Hate It. Boy Are They Going To Need It!

“If your are into software project management, you are into marketing. If you are planning to keep on working on software projects in the years to come, you better get darn good at it. It seems to be a dirty word among technical people: “marketing”. But it’s not about selling your soul to the devil. It’s not about tricking people into buying stuff they don’t want.”

Dear Project Manager: Why Should Anyone Want To Work For You?

“If it’s not your reputation that’s going to kill your job, it’s your poor, old school skill set. Project organizations are getting more and more distributed over our globe, team members are becoming more mobile. The project manager will have to deal with an increasingly multi-cultural, global and mobile environment, in which the employees are working on more fragmented tasks. You desperately need to update your skills.”

Define Yourself As A Professional With Margaret Meloni

Earlier this year I had an interview with Margaret Meloni in which she answers the following questions:

• Why is it important to define yourself as a professional?
• How do you get to know what you bring to the table?
• How do you broadcast that to others?

Project Shrink Rerun: Knowing And Promoting Yourself is a post from: Project Shrink.

I am delighted to talk to Margaret Meloni on this subject. She consults with individuals and organizations on the topic of conflict resolution and she coaches professionals in advancing their careers. She used to work as a Project Manager, so she knows our profession.

Margaret answers the following questions:

• Why is it important to define yourself as a professional?
• How do you get to know what you bring to the table?
• How do you broadcast that to others?

You can view the video below… or follow this link to YouTube.com.

Special Offer For Project Shrink Readers/Viewers

Margaret has provided us with a great offer: her course “Define Yourself, Define Your Life- Develop clarity around – the real YOU at work” (which covers the topics discussed in the video chat and much, much more) will be available with a 30% discount until March 6, 2009.

To make use of this offer, go to the product overview (and read what you get, it is course nr2), and use the code ‘Bas’ at checkout. You will receive $23.70 off the regular price which is $79US.

You might also want to check out…

Intersection Between Personal Development, Change Management And Project Management
Alignment Of Individual And Organizational Objectives With Andrew Meyer
Successful Virtual Teams With Jessica Lipnack

Define Yourself As A Professional With Margaret Meloni is a post from: Project Shrink.

This doesn’t always mean that you have 20 years of experience. This doesn’t mean you know everything about anything.

Being “an expert” is essential for successful working in global, virtual and “usual” teams. So, it’s great that everyone is an expert… at least in something.

Yes, this is going to be some practical advice… (just to reassure you, it makes sense to read on).

You just have to pick a niche and become an expert in it. Start with a very small niche as it is easier to become an expert in a small niche.

Living in a developing country and working within an offshore industry?

Learn how your culture is different from other countries, learn the ins and outs of your local business eco-system. Learn to tell the story of your own region. How can your region contribute to software development, how does it work in your neighborhood? People that are outsourcing labor are in desperate need for guidance on how to make the outsourced business work locally.

What makes you “you”? Why are you more suited for the job then the rest of the crowd?

Remember… it is something you already posses … the smallest niche being “expert in myself”.

In a community of project people, in an organization, in a project, in your neighborhood… what do you bring to the table to make a difference?

The answer to that question, how big or how small you may think it is, is your expertise.

Even if you are not considering yourself a “real” expert. That’s because there are no real experts, as Havi Brooks ponders:

“That’s because — in some sense — there’s no such thing as, you know, the ultimate expertise where you know everything about whatever it is you’re an expert in.

A real expert is someone who knows how little she actually knows and is throwing herself into learning more.

No matter where you are in your field and no matter how much you know about a topic, there’s pretty much always going to be someone (or — more likely — thousands of someones) who knows more about it than you do.”

But if you are perceived as an expert, people are going to ask you things. It is clear for people what your “thing” is, what it is you bring to the project or organization.

People are asking me about Software Project Management and People, no one asks me about taxes.

You get my point.

Do yourself a favor and start answering this question, NOW.

It will not be the final answer, it will change over time. But make a start.

Every Project Member Needs To Be An Expert is a post from: Project Shrink.

And we all know … (right?) … the secret to coping with change is: MIND + NETWORK!

“The resilience from every individual is a combination of his mind and his social networks. The mind provides the lenses to which reality can be perceived, and the network provides information and social constructs that feed and shape the mind.”

In this post I will provide a simple sample of what this means, how this can work (it is a question I frequently get). I will use my favorite subjects: me and this blog .

I am currently blogging for about 18 months. I’ve been writing my book between 2001 and 2005… so I can seriously say that I have been working on my “mind”. (yep… and lost it several times – hmmm, sounds like a new series of posts: “narcissistic Monday” )

The site attracts daily 1500 new interested visitors and the blog has 22.000 subscribers. And that is just my virtual network!

I am not telling this because I love looking in the mirror… it is an illustration of how the formula of MIND + NETWORK applies to me. It is an example of what I am writing about.

And now, what do you do with the network?

The power of the network is amazing. The network can achieve so much more than I could ever achieve on my own. So we need something to work on, a purpose for the crowd. But why should people want to work on my project?

“Because you have a project that is life changing, that is worth their effort. Because you provide an awesome creative and inspiring environment. You provide leadership that inspires people to rise to the occasion, to become larger than themselves. You give trust, and you can be trusted.

A few weeks ago I called this working environment a Project Tribe:

The central element of a tribe is the leader and the idea, the goal. You need a leader who can inspire, one that can present Big Audacious Goals that seem to rock the world. Your project needs Al Gore, your project needs goals like “Save The Planet”. That’s why people join the gang. That’s why people want to be part of it .

The leader will set some rules of interaction. The leader will keep efforts aligned. Within this context the teams get self-organized and the Big Hairy Audacious Goal makes sure it’s all in the right direction.”

Yeah, yeah… I will be working on my engaging leadership skills… I didn’t say that I was an example for everything! I definitely need working on my Al Gore mojo.

I have the Big Hairy Audacious Goal though: a few weeks ago I posted the new mission for SoftwareProjects.org… (ambitious enough?)

“The mission of SoftwareProjects.org is to make global, virtual and multi cultural software projects work. By this we don’t only mean delivering the proper end result within agreed constraints, but also by running the projects in such a way that they provide a genuine contribution towards a sustainable global society.”

So, what I will be doing the next couple of weeks?

You guessed it … work on my “inspiration” skills and provide means for the Project Shrink Tribe (yeah, that’s you) to get organized around the mission.

And what could you do?

I can only recommend to you to build your MIND + NETWORK.

“Software projects are ideal conditions for using labor from all parts of the world and using technology to let people work together. Even the main output of the endeavor (software) is digital!

If you are trying to get on board a fabulous project team, you are competing with the rest of the world. Why should the project manager pick you? Why should the organization pick you as a PM? Why should they have even heard of you?

“Self promotion, Baby!”

Keep reading and learning. And start working on your network.

Tip: Give Twitter a spin. It is easy to start, and it’s a great way to learn virtual networking. This movie explains how it works.

Of course you can follow me on Twitter.

How I Work On My MIND + NETWORK is a post from: Project Shrink.

You know about globalization, you know this makes employees competing with people from all over the world. Have you considered The Other Consequence? That you have to compete with other GLOBAL companies and Project Managers to get good people to staff your projects?

If developers, testers and other talented individuals can work for any project all over the world, why should they work for you?

Let me start with the answer:

Because you have a project that is life changing, that is worth their effort. Because you provide an awesome creative and inspiring environment. You provide leadership that inspires people to rise to the occasion, to become larger than themselves. You give trust, and you can be trusted.

A few weeks ago I called this working environment a Project Tribe:

“The central element of a tribe is the leader and the idea, the goal. You need a leader who can inspire, one that can present Big Audacious Goals that seem to rock the world. Your project needs Al Gore, your project needs goals like “Save The Planet”. That’s why people join the gang. That’s why people want to be part of it (…)

The leader will set some rules of interaction. The leader will keep efforts aligned. Within this context the teams get self-organized and the Big Hairy Audacious Goal makes sure it’s all in the right direction.”

This is a “happy view” of the world. It is optimistic. It assumes the best in people. Some people might consider it a naive picture of their “real world”. But everybody determines his or her own world view, their mental picture that determines how they view and experience things. If you assume people cannot be trusted to perform work on their own, that’s your pitty choice. I choose to believe empowerment works:

“I am convinced that if this style of management is in your brain, you have a more tolerating, productive and positive mind set, one that is based upon trust instead of fear. I am convinced that educating around the globe about this style (instead of the old top-down directive leadership style) will have an amazing impact on more than just how businesses are run. It is about a better human-human interaction.

Do I dare to say, a better, more ethical sustainable world?“

Photography by Elvire R.

WOW.

Isn’t that worth working for? Isn’t “a better, more ethical sustainable world” worth an extra mile?

And yes, it’s us, the Project Managers, that play an important role. If changes have to be done, you hire a Project Manager:

“People will turn to us to get thing done. We are the Getting-Things-Done-Squad! We have to drive these changes trough the swamp of corporate and global politics; we have to go full speed with zero-visibility; we have to make it all fit together in the end. There is no time for ass covering, compliance-for-compliance-sake, review-upon-review, no-you-cannot-change Project Management.”

You see, you really need to be this all engaging, empowering, inspiring, purpose providing Leader (with a HUGE L). It’s the only way to get the right people. It’s the only way to contribute to society.

For those of you who want to con the system, and keep on squeezing the last drop of performance out of depressed employees… Do it once, do it twice.. and you’re out of a job.

“The Internet introduced deadly transparency. The flattened and connected world makes sure reputations spread faster than you can say “Geronimo.” Over a decade ago it seemed almost impossible for someone in Europe to have a clue about the reputation of some person in Africa. With the Internet we have reputation systems in place where crowds share opinions among each other. It is not only that books and other products are recommended or thrashed, like on Amazon, but now people are taking a turn. LinkedIn provides a functionality to recommend. “

Who is going to work for you if you have a shady reputation?

If it’s not your reputation that’s going to kill your job, it’s your poor, old school skill set. Project organizations are getting more and more distributed over our globe, team members are becoming more mobile. The project manager will have to deal with an increasingly multi-cultural, global and mobile environment, in which the employees are working on more fragmented tasks. You desperately need to update your skills. If you’re a guy, sorry, but times will hit double hard on you:

“So, women are going to take the lead within project management? You bet! Multi-tasking, social and communication skills are natural properties for the ladies; no trick, no profession, just natural. Tom Peters, the famous management guru, has been getting all excited about it for years. He even wants to assign a degree to women: MnML/WR: Master of non-Masculine Leadership/Women Rule.”

If you are not engaging, empowering, inspiring, purpose providing, multi-culti, social Communicator (with a MONSTROUS C) nobody will work for you, and you will suck at your PM job also.

And this is my happy view on the matter.

Things You Can Do. Now.

• Be kind. Be tolerant.
• Study, learn and practice your soft skills. It’s not everything, but it’s the best start.
• Inflate your project goal. Make it BIG. Make it Life Changing.

Dear Project Manager: Why Should Anyone Want To Work For You? is a post from: Project Shrink.