How To Promote Yourself As A Project Manager
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Craig Brown and I are conversing on project management, and in particular professional development. The conversations is across both our blogs.
Dear Craig,
This time I have to explain why I am blogging and why I am yelling "Projects are about humans. Deal with that!" It is the only way I can answer your question in your previous response about project management communities and industry organizations:
"Are you an outsider looking in? Are you an insider selling something?"
(Great question BTW)
Concerning industry organizations I am definitely an outsider looking in. But as I am eating, living and breathing this stuff for over a decade, I consider myself definitely an insider. And yes, I am selling something.
Me.
(Perhaps "promoting" is a more appropriate word.)
A dominant topic on my blog is "not knowing what the future will bring". We are living in crazy times and no one really knows what to make of it. The solutions lies into being adaptive, to build up resilience. This is valid for projects, but also for yourself. As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, the secret to cope with change lies within your trained, flexible mind and your social network.
MIND + NETWORK
As I have no idea what curves the future will throw at me, I am building up my own resilience by working on my MIND + NETWORK.
Blogging is in my view the most convenient way today to work on both. By writing about a subject, in our case projects, you have to express your thoughts in writing, you have to think and read about the domain to come up with new things. Blogging helps you to form your mind.
Blogging is a conversation. It is a way to connect with other bloggers or readers that have a strong interest in your topic. A fabulous way to expand your network.
Putting out content is not enough. Thousands of blogs and regular websites are created each and every day. You need to promote yourself and your manifestation on the internet to get the discussion going you need for your mind and network. You have to sell yourself.
The average person today has the attention span of a fruit fly. To promote you need to be able to distinguish yourself very fast from the crowd. People want to know quickly what you are about. Every professional has to get into the game of self-promotion or personal branding sooner or later. At least, that is what I believe.
You know the kicker of it all? By giving information, by connecting to people, by reaching out to others, your karma tends to grow, live is rewarding you back. By working on your mind, your network, other people are benefiting as well. How about that for a win-win?!
If I can only provide one advice to Project Managers, or any other professional for that matter, it is this:
Start blogging.
Now.
Craig, you blog, so you must know what I talking about. Heck, you even teach Project Management (I recommend people your great presentations, here, here and here). What are you hoping that students take home from your lessons?
Cheers
Bas
Bas and Craig have a conversation, back and forth on their respective blogs, Project Shrink and Better Projects. With blog titles like that, you don't have to guess what the topic will be. Feel free to join in.
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Bas de Baar, blogging as "The Project Shrink", is taking his message to the International Project Management community with a vengeance: "Projects Are About Humans. Now Deal With That!" ... 
Hi Bas,
Resilience/adaptability and building up a strong and stable network are key. The great value of putting time and energy into colleagues at different places than where we are currently working came home to me again recently when I changed primary clients. I had been working so intensely with these wonderful people. When my work with them was done, I spent about 6 weeks in real grief at saying goodbye. It felt as if I had lost my village.
What is the old saying, "Make new friends and keep the old ones"? Very good advice for all of us in these exciting times.
Thanks for a continually thought provoking blog.
From a long-time lurker who is turning another leaf.
Alec
Bas and Craig,
I enjoy both of your blogs very much. I agree with you that blogging is a great way to engage in intelligent conversations (well, you guys are intelligent, I'm just an opinionated bloke who ought to have his keyboard confiscated…)
I'm not sure most people could or ever would start blogging. Gartner, Forrester (http://tinyurl.com/5ery3k) and many others looking at blogs, youTube, communities and other examples show again and again that about 0-3% of the people will ever create content. Between 3-10% of people will consistently contribute, 10-20% will opportunistically contribute and the rest, around 80% will just watch. (the numbers from Gartner but stolen from Jeremiah Owyang's blog)
Also, of the 0-3% who start creating content, most will stop within a month. Talk to anyone who sells gym memberships and you'll find almost identical percentages. Mr. Pareto had it right when with the 80-20 rule, though he might have been a bit conservative. It's probably more like 90-10 or 95-5.
As people creating content and promote our ideas, (http://alignmentinquiries.blogspot.com/) (sorry for the shameless self promotion…), why would we ever want it to be otherwise?
One final question, are we better off promoting ourselves or our ideas? You're probably more attractive than I am, but if I had to sell myself, I'd starve.
Andy
Andy
I think you're selling yourself short. Blogging is a lot like radio. You can photoshop the photos before publication
Ourselves or our blogs?
I'll have to respond to that in my blogged reply also!
I am enjoying your conversational style, its a refreshing way to go through a blog.
Reminds me of that baz lurhmann (sp) song - "if I could give you one piece of advice it would be this: floss" except a more relevant one for the modern world: blog.
Good read, and keep 'em coming.
@Alex: Hi, welcome to the blog and thanks for commenting. (I just subscribed to you :). You are absolutely right and that is a great example! Thanks for the compliment. Looking forward reading your blog.
@Andrew: hi also
I agree that most people will not pick up blogging… but I really hope they do. Otherwise they have to find another way to train the brain and create the network. Of course we all are eager to see what Craig is going to come up with… but my first take: promote first yourself and than your ideas: you are eternal and ideas come and go. 
And yep… PHOTOSHOP RULES! (you got yourself a new subscriber).
@David: thanks for the nice compliment. I LOVE THAT SONG! "Wear Sunscreen!"
Okay, over a month later and I have responded.
And I didn't directly answer you. Instead I wrote a letter to my students, some of whom read the blog.
Cheers
No problem
for those who want to read it:
http://www.betterprojects.net/2008/10/to-all-pm-students.html
[...] from my…'; digg_media = 'news'; digg_topic = "; Dear students, Bas de Baar asked me what it was that I hope you take home from my classes. Of course I want you to take away knowledge [...]