Social Networking Techniques in Project Management

Project Management Jumps into Social Networking

It might be difficult to fathom how a “pop” term like social networking could help you manage projects, but smart project managers practiced the tenants of social networking long before the term was coined. This article looks at how social networking can enhance project outcomes in terms of decreased risk, increased customer acceptance and drastic improvements in communications.

There are social networks all around us: our coworkers, customers, PMI chapter members, friends, professional organizations, Linkedin connections, etc. An important thing to remember is access to social networks does not always cost money. While many corporations spend heavily for access to certain social networks, everything I relate here is free!

What’s the big deal?

I’m short on space here but suffice to say, Madison Avenue is spending billions on social networking. Microsoft is under attack from “networked” competitors such as Linux and Firefox. Why? Because social networks don’t play by the rules. They are often radically better at creating, organizing and predicting than are traditional organizations. Harnessing the power of social networks requires an understanding of when and where to use them and how they compliment traditional organizational structures.

No Rules

Let’s play psychologist. The hidden secret behind the success of Firefox, Google and many other socially networked ventures lie in their superior approach to group dynamics. While corporations organize talent by job description and hierarchy, social networks are self-organizing, allowing people to take on tasks they feel comfortable with. Social networks better resemble the way people interact naturally, and that is why they move faster, make less mistakes, and deliver exactly what their customers want. Below are contrasting examples of how projects are viewed from the corporate perspective versus the social network perspective:

Cross-Pollination – Without departments or reporting structures, participants in social networks have nothing to loose when proposing new ideas. Some of the best ideas and solutions come from those outside the subject discipline, who simply looked at the problem from a different viewpoint. You would be surprised how good an HR department is at debugging an IT project.

Isolation from Competition - While companies traditionally develop products in secrecy, open source products draw skills across competitors and industries.

Isolation from Customers – Open source projects are often created by the very same people who use them. This “outsourcing to the customer” eliminates the gap between vendor and customer all together. Ask your customers if they would be willing to work on a project, most of the time they will say “yes”.

Strategies and Tactics Unique to One Organization - Organizations have slogans to celebrate their unique and proprietary methods; people are “True Blue” for IBM, GE has “Work-Out”. These programs can be great morale boosters but can also serve as barriers to collaboration. The PMI standards are a natural “leveler” allowing members to speak the same language across companies and countries. Social networks develop these same protocols, allowing for more seamless communication.

Failing to Consider All the Alternatives - Social networks are not shy; they throw everything up against the wall to see what sticks. Although a wasteful process, it is also an adaptive one that succeeds where fixed-expert models fail. Consider the following. US automakers continue to make cars with poor gas mileage, long after the realization of a direct correlation between corporate average fuel economy and profit. Coke launched “New Coke” even after their customers told them not to. Ego can have devastating effects on a project. Vetting project concepts off trusted networks of experts, outside the corporate firewall can reduce this risk.

Starting With the Answer - Social networks, by their nature, exist without preconception. Imagine a hive of bees searching for honey. The hive has no idea where they will find nectar. Every day they canvass the landscape without any preconceptions. Once nectar is found, the hive optimizes its efforts to harvest the found resource. Social networks are similar to the hive in that it is not reliant on one individual or practice to achieve an outcome. A multitude of potential outcomes and approaches are considered within the efficient framework of the network before a decision is rendered.

Groupthink. We as humans have a basic need to be part of a larger group, to be accepted by those around us. The vestigial fragment of genetic code that causes people to not step off the curb first, face forward in the elevator, or look up when others look up, interferes with business decision making and no one is immune to it.

Social networks keep fresh blood and ideas in the decision making mix and can help reduce organizational elements that lead to groupthink: hubris, ideas that fail the logic test, and most importantly, plans made in isolation that don’t represent customer needs. One of the striking characteristics of groupthink is the more gifted, intelligent and cohesive your team, the more susceptible you are.

The rapid decentralization of expertise with the growth of business and social networks across the Internet is creating monumental change for businesses. These knowledge networks can be powerful tools in the hands of those who know how to access and harness them effectively. Members of these networks – who have “been there, done that” - can be tapped for their diverse sets of knowledge and experiences to solve business problems via the social network platform.