Archives for posts with tag: reputation

Mastering Three Spaces: Personal, Reputation And Project

November 13, 09 //
4

Do you remember last years “The Four Dharmas Of Project Management“?

“I learned that you cannot jump from the PMBoK directly to topics like “mental flexibility” and “emotional intelligence”. I am sorry to tell you, but most people cannot make that jump that fast. A path to “project enlightenment” has to be defined. Conveniently, I think I have one… In Buddhism teachings are presented in Turnings of The Wheel Of Dharma. Each turn builds upon the previous one and brings the student to a higher level of consciousness.”

I have been going back and forth this year between “Second Turn: Structure For Resilience”, “Third Turn: Global Pool” and “Fourth Turn: Flexible Mind”.

While writing, talking and discussing about these levels, I have found a more effective, easier to explain version of the 4 Dharma’s. The message doesn’t change. But the emphasis and words are slightly different.

Three Spaces: Personal, Reputation And Project

Basically, I just went from 4 to 3. :) I currently talk about:

  • Personal Space
  • Reputation Space
  • Project Space

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Project Shrink Rerun: Knowing And Promoting Yourself

July 9, 09 //
2

On “Project Shrink” a recurring theme is “knowing and promoting yourself“. The following postings are among my favorites within this topic:

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.”

discuss Project Shrink Rerun: Knowing And Promoting Yourself

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?

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What Makes Social Media Social?

May 29, 09 //
6

Why isn’t a document on a shared workspace “social media”?

Social media is all about having a “conversation”. An exchange of information between persons.

You can write your question in a word document. Upload it. Send me a mail. I check the mail. Download the document. Answer the question. Well, you get the idea.

Yes, it’s a hassle. But that is not why this conversation isn’t “social media”.

contact What Makes Social Media Social?
Photography by From A Second Story.

Social media puts the emphasis on the person in the conversation.

It is not only about the message itself, but also about the persona’s of the people involved in the exchange.

That is why we love big photos of REAL people next to the conversation. That is why it’s important to have an prominent “about” page on your blog.

When we have a conversation the actual content of the message is only a small part of the story. Based upon our perception of the other person we fill in blanks, we create assumptions, we draw conclusions and color the message to a more “detailed” image.

Social media supports multiple mechanisms to help us fill in the blanks.

LinkedIn displays the badges of the groups you are a member of. People see the groups you are associating yourself with and create assumptions based on that. I am a member of the Triiibes group; so I must be cool.

The mechanism works the same as the “I am a PC, I am a Mac” campaign. If you have a PC, people think you are a nerd, if you have a Mac, people think you are cool and creative.

LinkedIn provides recommendations. People write recommendations for other people. Building a reputation. If I need a plumber, I ask my neighbour. I trust my neighbour, so I trust the plumber he recommends. The reputation that is build up and propagated is used by me to build up a mental construct of the persona.

Social media puts the person back into online conversations. That is what makes it “social”.

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Does Transparency Lead To More Ethical Behavior?

April 2, 09 //
6

We are working with people from all over the world. Globalization goes together together with an increase in transparency of reputations. The Internet introduced deadly transparency. The flattened and connected world makes sure reputations spread faster than you can say “Slartibartfast”.

With an increase in geographical and cultural distance the aspect of “trust” becomes all important. When people have never met, there are only two mechanism we can fall back on:

  • reputation: what others are saying about the other person, and
  • trying to read “telltale signs“, look for behavior or other marks that they identify with trustworthiness.

This second mechanism might be as simple as being friendly and saying “hello” every time you see someone down the hall. People attempt to detect the tell-tale signs of trustworthiness not only based upon behavioral markers that society associates with it; it has also to do with the similarity of the other with you. Persons that are more viewed as being equal or “the same” are more likely to be considered honest and sincere towards you.
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Dear Project Manager: Why Should Anyone Want To Work For You?

September 20, 08 //
6

Why should people want to work on your project?

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?

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

Let me start with the answer:
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