Why organizations need 2 different Social Media Policies

Dion made an excellent blog post on the subject of connecting employees to social media where he elaborates the need for a comprehensive social media policy. I agree with his thoughts on this subject and firmly believe that organizations, who want to start their journey towards social enablement need to critically think on the SM policy that they need to create. Starting the SM journey without a sound SM policy is like driving on a road with no defined destination.

While most SM efforts are targeted towards the enterprise engaging in & leveraging external social channels, I firmly believe that organizations need to be socially enabled internally and then only they can be truly socially engaged externally. Going forward, it just can’t be let to a select group of people (in marketing, sales, customer service) to be socially enabled externally without they tapping into the internal social enabled enterprise.

Towards this, I think that the dynamics, context & implementation nuances within the enterprise are different from the external landscape and hence there is a need for a differentiated internal & external SM policy. This doesn’t mean that they differ at the concept level but just the implementations, rules of engagement could differ and clearly articulating it though separate SM policies would reduce confusion & give greater clarity.

For example, the external policy could have rules of engagement in external channels, do’s & don’ts, workflows, roles & authorizations, NDA’s etc aspects covered; while the internal policy could focus on tying internal social initiatives with work, collaboration, KRA’s, objectives, culture, rewards, acceptable norms of engagement, IP etc.

What do you think? do you also think there is a need for separate internal/external SM policies or just one will do? What’s been your experience?

Difference between online collaboration & online project management

It’s surprising to see how many people confuse between the two and use these two interchangeably. This can lead to confusion and even issues while choosing the most appropriate solution for ones needs.

If you are talking about online Project Management software, then important aspects of project management have to be incorporated — like task scheduling, gantt chart reporting, resource scheduling, ability to track project timeline and milestones.  Without these core features, the solution could probably be a online file share platform in a central place

If you are taking about Project Collaboration software then aspects like file sharing, file check-in/out, discussion forums, issue trackers, task assignment etc are central to the solution. Aspects like access control, email integration, mobile interfaces also become important NFR areas for such platforms

In an ideal world, (and from a project perspective, everything is one project)  there should be single platform for both project management + project collaboration. There are few solutions that provide the amalgamation of  the two but still one needs to be aware of which part is what.

Why project managers act like a frog in boiling hot water

Imagine a frog and then imagine a pan of boiling hot water. Now imagine that some crooked mind lifts the frog and puts it in the pan of boiling hot water. What do you think will happen? Yes, the frog will jump straight out of the pan within a faction of a second (if the lid of the pan is not closed).

Now imagine the same frog and a pan with room temperature water. Now imagine an even more crooked mind leaving the frog in that pan and putting that pan on a burner with a slow flame underneath it. What do you think will happen now? Yes, in this case the frog will not jump out but will feel at home in water.

Now, over time, the water in the pan will get warmer. What do you think frog will do? It will feel even more at home; feel happy at the warm water giving it a gentle massage to its skin & legs.

Now the crooked mind increases the flame and slowly the water starts getting warmer & warmer and then hot. What do you think the frog will do? As the water gets warmer, it will feel happier but it will not be able to realize when the water has become too uncomfortable for its own good. As the flame gets bigger underneath & water gets boiling hot, the frog will have lost all the energy in its legs to jump out. Its mind will tell to bail out but there won’t be any energy left in the frog and it will continue to be in the pan and face a slow death…

So, what has this got to do with project management & project managers?

Well, analyze carefully and you will realize that there is not much difference between a frog & the most project managers. There is also not much difference between the pan (with water) & the project environment. Most project managers, if asked to take over a project in between, would know how ‘hot or cold’ it is and then take appropriate action. This is just like the frog being put in hot water and it taking immediate action.

However, what most project managers don’t realize the 2^nd scenario they land up in — where they start with water at room temperature & the water gets warmer at first and with the flame getting bigger over time the temperature under the collar gets soaring. At the start of the project, just like the water in the pan at room temperature, things look perfectly in control for the PM – a small team, key members staffed, not much confusion.
Things remain fine for some more time (till the water is warmer) but somewhere down the line things just implode and before the PM realizes things have gone out of hand (water is too hot, in the pan, for the frog to take any action). There are quality issues, builds are failing, customer is dis-satisfied, the team is unhappy & clueless, senior management is watching with eagle eyes, your family life is ruined and while driving to office you wonder how things came to be where they are today…
You wonder how & when that excellent Tech-Lead became a bottleneck & the go-to person for even small things – such as from where to setup the development environment or which version of IDE to be used with what plugins — you wonder why the leads are spending more time in answering routine questions & forwarding emails rather than doing their actual work. You wonder why the testing team doesn’t have access to the latest requirements in order to prepare the test cases. You wonder why the same question is being asked and answered a gzillion times. You wonder why customer wants you to resend the status update report of last month. You wonder when this project will end..!!!!

The fact is that we don’t realize or observe or are blind to the small changes happening around us and the long term impact of these small changes. Many downstream issues are caused by our inability  to react to significant changes that occur gradually. And in today’s era, nobody pays attention to anything ‘small’ unless it is on fire or priority#1. Everybody loves a hero – a person who turns around a losing situation into a winning one (organizations reward people who get troubled projects back on track but not necessarily those who avoid trouble and go unnoticed.) Because changes (from room temperature to warm to hot to boiling hot) happen so slowly that they go unnoticed and you are then left to wonder where and when things went wrong.

The irony is that it is not just first time PM’s who fall for this. Experienced PM’s also fall into this over & over again and then blame the ‘system’. Great PM’s foresee & preempt the ‘upcoming changes’ and plan accordingly. They plan like good chess players – several moves in advance and multiple scenarios. They manage the environment of the project accordingly to prevent the effects of ‘global warming’ within the project. Such PM’s ensure satisfied customers, happy people and predictable outcomes.

So, how can PM’s foresee & preempt the ‘upcoming small changes’ and prepare well? What can they do?  That’s for another post

iKAMP, a BarCamp for Innovation & Knowledge Management | 9th July 2011 | Bangalore Whitefield

The innovation & KM unconference is being planned for the 9th July 2011 in Bangalore on the 9th July 2011 @ MindTree Ltd Campus in Whitefield.

This will be a gathering of  practicing KM & Innovation professionals for discussing topics that are important to KM & Innovation professionals and get insights from fellow colleagues in an informal environment.
In true unconference style, there will be no KeyNote speakers or Chief Guests. All topics to be decided by the participants themselves. So everybody is requested to actively take part by contributing to the event wiki with your ideas!

The list of suggested topics to be discussed is quite interesting & relevant for the innovation & KM professionals.

• Why KM alone will not work. KM need’s to collaborate better with other departments KM Systems.
• Why “build it and they will come” doesn’t work
• Compliance or Adoption: Key to success of KM
• Everyone, including their Mother-in-law & their dog has an opinion on KM/Innovation. Challenges for KM/Innovation professionals
• Social/Web2.0 Systems & approaches to KM & Innovation. Have they delivered?
• Boot-strapping KM & Innovation within organizations without formal mandates
• Future of KM/Innovation professionals. Is there any; beyond content management?
• Reality Check: The organization cares two hoot about KM and is just a ‘nice to have’ function
• Communities: In the age of internet & google, what’s the advantage of communities within organizations
• KM for Project Delivery & Large Accounts
• Innovation 101. What are we talking here? Innovation in IT Services business? You must be joking

More details here on this barcamp wiki page

http://barcamp.org/w/page/40986156/iKamp

Google Map for the MindTree Office

How to best make use of your organizations social computing platform

Should you use your organizations social networking platform just like you use Facebook with your friends? Should you micro-blog the same way as you do on Twitter?

Maybe NOT.!!!
The purpose of social networking platforms within the enterprise are very different from the personal ones (the ones we use outside of work) — even if they look and feel the same. Social platforms within the organization are there to support the work of the organization and not to let individual employees do and say whatever they want.

So, what can you use corporate social networking platform for?
As part of your day-to-day work, you can micro-blog about the tasks and projects you are working on (subject to IP clauses), blog your views on various topics; you can bookmark the online links & resources you find useful; when stuck, you can ask questions to the communities for help, share documents etc.
This way, your digital footprints on the platform will become searchable, findable, and reference-able; helping people know what you are working on and in process make your existence and expertise better known throughout the organization, and benefit the organization as a whole.
This will let others discover what you know and what you’re good at. It will make you easier to find and increases the chances of you being a helpful colleague to someone. You can use the social platform to build relationships by adding value, being relevant — thereby fostering trust and respect; eventually helping in forge lasting connections.
Do all this on your organizations social computing platform and it will help build your personal reputation and brand.

What you should avoid

• Don’t talk about what you had for lunch or how the food in cafeteria sucks!!!. We all know that
• Don’t make personal attacks on people. It’s ok & perfectly acceptable to have difference of opinion and debates. But do those in a civil manner – without making personal attacks. 
• Don’t discuss sex, politics, or religion. In an organizational context, these are taboo topics and it’s just too easy to upset people and start nasty, pointless fights on these subjects.
• Be overly negative & cynical. Yes, there can be 1000 things that are not correct in the organization but try not to post/comment ONLY the –ve aspects. You can also look at the glass half full & then make +ve suggestions for improvement.