project managers on twitter

7 Project Management Blogs You Can’t Miss

by Josh

Today I wanted to share a few impressive project management blogs I’ve recently discovered through Twitter and other watering holes on the inter-tubes.   Some of them are new, some are just new to me! I’ve discovered all of them in the last few months, some in just the last few days.  I’m listing them in no particular order below.  Leave a comment here and tell me what you think about these blogs!

(All links open in a new window, so click away and check them out!)

Not me; but this guy seems as happy as I am about these blogs! - photo by soundfromwayout via Flickr

Clear PM – http://www.clearpm.com/

Florida, USA

Brian Mossing‘s (@bmossing) blog caught my attention when I saw a post being RT’d around the Twittersphere with the #pmot hashtag.  Brian likes to write and it shows; he’s good at it.  I tend to critique writing automatically because I’ve been doing so with myself for so long.

Brian uses short paragraphs, sub-headings, and bullet points.  It makes his blog easy on the eyes and the few posts I’ve read so far are full of PM wisdom.

Cottage PM – http://www.cottagepm.com/

Utah, USA

Max Walker (@MaxWalkerPMP) contacted me after purchasing my WBS training course, which he will be using  to train teams in his company.  We had a lot of discussions since then via email and Skype about WBS Coach and his new blog, Cottage PM.  I absolutely loved the idea and the term “Cottage PM”.

His tag line is “project management for the rest of us” and the focus is on making project management better in the informal, small projects environment that so many of us work in.  He already has quite a few posts up and they are very well done indeed.  Great ideas, a clear writing style, and the elements I look for (short paragraphs, subheadings, lists) are all there.

Kareem’s Blog – http://kareemshaker.com/

Dubai, UAE

Kareem Shaker (@kareemshaker) has been blogging for many years, and it shows!  He has a really nice looking blog, with great use of pictures and illustrations.  He uses Xmind to create illustrations and graphics to support the posts, which I love and will probably copy!  (It’s the sincerest form of flattery Kareem!)  The lessons learned he shares are excellent.  Be sure to check out his recent blog series on Why Projects Fail.

Papercut PM – http://papercutpm.tumblr.com/

Ontario, Canada

Geoff Crane (@PapercutPM) is awesome for sharing lots of funny and creative illustrations on his blog, like the “Project Team Perceptual Matrix” which features characters like Forest Gump, the Invisible Woman, and Fonzie.  (Aaay!)

Great lessons, presented in a fun way.  Geoff also tells it like it is, which is totally awesome!  I want to drive up to Ontario and have some drinks in a pub with this guy so we can yell at each other a bit.  It would be good times!

Torsten Koerting – http://www.torstenkoerting.com/

Bad Homburg, Germany

I like Torsten Koerting (@TorstenKoerting) and his blog because of the voice he uses in his writing and his opinions on project management.  (See “What’s New in the PM World?“)

He’s a German who writes in English for lazy Americans like me who took 2 years of German language classes in high school and have forgotten just about everything I learned.  There are a few other German bloggers I’ve found on Twitter recently too, and it’s starting to make me practice my German again.

quantmleap – http://quantmleap.com/

Australia

Shim Marom (@shim_marom) writes with a lot of skeptical intelligence.  I found Shim through Twitter just like most of the bloggers listed here.  I’ve been following quantmleap the longest out of the group in this post.

The thing I really like about Shim is that he seems to have the same science-based slant that I do, reading lots of studies and relating them to our discipline.  Any project manager who reads Scientific American and quotes the likes of Lawrence Krauss in his project management writing has my vote!  I’m also fascinated with the applications of social psychology and other scientific fields to project management.

FTR – http://ambidexter.ca/

British Columbia, Canada

Erik Hamburger (@AmbidexterMan) is another awesome project manager I found through Twitter.  We had a good Twit-versation after he learned about my free report, “Top 7 WBS Mistakes Project Managers Make” and introduced me to the Product Breakdown Structure (PBS) concept in PRINCE2.

I asked him where I could find more information about it and he gladly emailed me lots of good resources on PRINCE2 and the PBS.  I haven’t been able to dive into it yet (I think the WBS in my paradigm covers the PBS, but I’m still undecided on that until I can do some more research).  Erik has the heart of a teacher and so I have a lot of respect for him and enjoy reading his blog.

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Do You Twitter?

by Josh

twitterI’ve been spending a lot of time on Twitter lately.

I know what you’re thinking….”gee, I wish I had that much time to waste!”

Hear me out.

At first, Twitter seemed to be this scary, worthless time sink.  I signed up and then my account stood dormant for months before I got enough motivation to check it out out again.

Now, I’ve found out that it can really be a useful way to connect with people…if you know how to use it.

Here’s How I Use Twitter

  • Connect with people I already know -
    by carrotcreative via Flickr

    by carrotcreative via Flickr

    I don’t use chat clients at all, so Twitter has served as a pseudo chat  platform for me to connect with other project managers I already know in little snippets.  Several Twitter conversations have led to “I’ll send you an email” or “Give me a call and let’s chat about this some more.”

  • Connect with new people – There are many people  I never  would have met otherwise.  There is a “find people” feature on Twitter where you can find people who are interested in the same things as you are.  I found people this way, and they have found me.
  • Sharing links  to helpful articles and resources – One of my favorite things do to on twitter is to share and get links to interesting things.  There are URL shortener services that are free and allow you to put really short hyperlinks in your tweets.  This allows you to add something interesting or give a good summary for your links.  I follow a few project management bloggers that I think are really great, and when these folks publish new posts, I tell my followers about them.  I use a site called TweetLater to automate this process, but I set it up to only post every so often, and again I only post links for reputable sources.  I’ve actually started using my own Twitter stream as a feed reader….since these blogs are the ones I want to read anyway, I just check what I’ve tweeted and use that as my daily reading list.
  • Re-Tweet - When I see a tweet that is particularly good, I’ll re-tweet it.  It’s just adding a “RT” to the front of the tweet and copy/pasting it.  Then you re-send the tweet to your followers.  Sort of a way for things to go viral (if they are good).
  • Follow Friday – this is a little ritual that someone started somewhere and it became viral.  Every Friday I take a look at the people who have made helpful contributions to the Twitterverse, or people I know outside of Twitter and who are good people with interesting things to say, and I just use the #followfriday tag with their usernames.  This tells everyone who follows me that I think these people are worth following.  It’s like an organic referral system.
  • Clients – Sometimes I use twitter.com, but most of the time I use a desktop client called Seesmic Desktop.  TweetDeck is another popular desktop client.  The desktop clients make it easier to block people who are spamming you, filter and search, etc.
  • Direct Messages and Replies – I read ALL of my direct messages and replies.  Sometimes that can take a little time, but I always reply to the ones that are asking a question or need a response.  Like I said before, I’ve met a lot of great people this way and been able to help a lot of people this way too.

Twitter No-No’s:

twitter_pointless

by jmilles via Flickr

Here are some things I’ve figured out myself to not do, or have seen other people do and it makes me upset.  I’ll give people a shot, but beware if you are doing these things, it’s likely that I will block you.  That means I’m marking you as spam and slamming the door in your face.  Sorry but you deserve it!

  • Spam – if I see another “Make thousands of dollars automatically with Twitter!” message I’ll scream.  Oh, there’s one now.  AHHHHHHHHHHHH!
  • Links without descriptions – if you are going to put a link out there, give an honest and useful description of what it is you want people to click on.  Just common sense.
  • Posting too much – most of the time these are companies who are doing some kind of automated posting to Twitter for new jobs, etc.  If you post 10 tweets within a few seconds of each other, it’s really annoying.  If I see you so much in my twitter stream that it makes me look closer, usually I find you aren’t really saying anything of value.  (unfollow)
  • Posting too little - I unfollow people who are not active on Twitter.  No offense, but I wouldn’t keep calling you if you never answer your phone either.  Maybe Twitter is not for you, that’s just fine.  I essentially only follow people who are somewhat active though…why  would I follow you if you haven’t said a word in over a month?

Use These Tools For Good, Not Evil

I think I do a decent job of using Twitter like one of the good guys, but of course I can’t please everyone.  If you like project management though, you may want to consider following me on Twitter.  To me, Twitter is for the things I described above, and for a deeper conversation, I have this blog.

I’m @pmstudent on Twitter.

See you in the Twitterverse!

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