Social Media for Project Managers

As a member of the Project Management Institute, I receive the monthly PM Network magazine. While reading it last week, I found one interesting article called “Social Media for Project Managers”. In my current role and organization, we utilize Microsoft SharePoint extensively. Historically, we have called these SharePoint team sites - “wikis”, even though we don’t categorize the use of this technology as “Social Media”. One of the primary reasons for utilizing wikis is ease of communication and ability to upload and store various documents, keep track of communication threads and etc…  As this article correctly states, one of the primary roles of the project manager is communication flow and management. The author suggests that usage of microblogs, podcasts, vodcasts and other similar technologies should not only be limited to the goal of reaching external customers but has a potential to improve project processes and communications within the organization.

The use of social media tools in project management has the following potential benefits and uses:

·         Effective and efficient communication.

·         Improved morale when team members feel connected, well informed and realize they are a part of a team.

·         Teambuilding.

·         Networking.

·         Community blogging.

·         Open forums for discussion and feedback.

·         Shared best practices and lessons learned.

Even though utilization of Social media has a lot of benefits, I agree with the author that the Project Manager has to decide whether her team is ready for Social media on a specific project and if it would benefit the team. In my opinion it depends on team dynamics, company culture, and communication skills of the team members and other related considerations. Moreover, social media just like any technology is not a “silver bullet” to success. You still need to have a good team, project manager, project sponsor and processes. Social media will not be able to solve morale problems or resolve conflicts, however it is a good aid for keeping the team engaged, connected and informed.

The author of the article, Elizabeth Harrin published a book called “Social Media for Project Managers” (http://www.amazon.com/Social-Project-Managers-Elizabeth-Harrin/dp/1935589113). In addition to discussing what the project managers should do to initialize the use of these new tools on their projects, the book covers legal and security factors that often influence and guide company’s decision to utilize social media tools.

I have always been a fan of online communication and sharing, so usage of Social Media tools in my career and job sound very exciting. Moreover, I can see how social media type of tools are extremely beneficial on projects where a lot of team members telecommute and take advantage of flex time. With these tools, you are able to communicate 24/7 anywhere around the world as long as you are connected to the Internet. Effective project managers will definitely take advantage of these and make their projects even better.

References:

Social Media for Project Managers Elizabeth Harrin. PM Network. September 2010. pg. 69