Why Twitter is a great resource for project managers ?
I have been on twitter for the last 2 weeks.
After a friend of mine said to me, that twitter is a great resource and great articles and pearls are referred to, I started to create an account, loaded the great ‘Tweetie 2’ Application onto my iPhone and gave it a go. I looked for public known PMs within twitter, like the ‘pmstudent‘ or ‘CorneliusFicht‘ aka Cornelius Fichtner and started to build my ‘network’ on Twitter. I started following Project Managers and accounts from Companies. During that time Twitter announced the ‘list’ feature, where you are able to categorize Twitter accounts into lists so that you can build areas of interests. So it started to set-up a list which follows great individuals around project management (you can see it on the right side in my blog; an example for the real time web, where all new tweets are published at the very second they are visible on twitter).
So after two weeks I almost posted 200 tweets, more or less in the area of project management, and I do have around 80 followers. I guess most of the followers are not organic, they follow me because of specific key words I have used in my tweets. Those guys are following a couple of thousand accounts or even more, and I am not sure how you can follow more than appr. 200 people. I would call that information overload.
But the best part are the tweets that I am seeing every day (I check them while I am on the train in the morning and in the evening while going to work and back home; wondering sometimes how I get there as I am fully focused on my iPhone 🙂 )
Out of all these tweets I am getting I do tag the ones as favourites that are focusing on my key areas of interest like ‘pearls in project management‘, ‘social media and project management‘, ‘How to use agile approaches in your projects‘ and other special topics.
As I have written 2 books in the recent past and another one due to be published in December this year, the next book has been planned and kicked off already which will focus on revolutions in project management, twitter has become a key resource for me. Just look at the fantastic pearls I have identified in the various fields over the last two weeks (abstract) thanks to all the great people I am following.
Perls in Project Management:
- theplanis : New article: Disaster projects and how to recover them: http://bit.ly/7UAJWF
- projekt_log : Super Artikel über Festpreisprojekte und Scrum: http://bit.ly/8cqOOQ
- commsabilities : PMs: practical advice on how to turn projects round using communications http://cli.gs/2QRPj
- pmstudent :What to Include in Your Project Kickoff Presentation: http://bit.ly/8JWncM #PMOT
Social Media and Project Management:
- JoachimNiemeier : 12 Adoption Strategies for Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 – http://bit.ly/8HwJgH
- shim_marom : “Social Media in the work place | quantmleap” ( http://bit.ly/7GY0Pi )
- tweetmeme : 10 Ways Social Media Will Change In 2010 http://bit.ly/7vKnms
Agile Approaches:
- zcope : Turning #Storyboards into #Agile #Requirements http://bit.ly/5lYDtp
- thepmp : Presentation: Principles and Practices of Lean-Agile Software Development http://bit.ly/4th6kj
- garmahis : The waterfall trap for “agile” projects http://bit.ly/4JlTwi
Specials:
- garmahis : Nine Awesome iPhone Apps for Business – ReadWriteEnterprise http://bit.ly/4pUwa2
- chaoskind : Betrachte nicht müßig den Steinhaufen, sondern frage dich, wen du damit bewerfen kannst. (Persisches Sprichwort)
- PhilipGDavis : Tips For Attractive Book Covers http://bit.ly/8egDWJ
Twitter is wonderful and I am looking forward to receive more perls and to contribute to the #pmot network. Thanks to everybody out there.
5 Comments
I agree with your post. I use Twitter as a personalized news feed of the PM industry, folling project management companies and individuals, as well as the larger IT industry that concerns my business.
I find articles I might never have found on my own and keep up with trends!
Glad you found me on Twitter!
I’m really enjoying contributing there, and meeting a lot of great people in the process!
Josh Nankivel
@pmstudent
WBS Coach Instructor
Hi Torsten –
I agree that twitter is a good resource for PMs online. For me, here are the key benefits:
* Industry awareness: For example, I’ve become more aware of certifications beyond PMP and those from PMI, and I’ve become aware of some of the “controversy” around “which is best.”
* Incremental learning: Currently, I’m interested in incremental learning, the quick reads and ideas around core PM topics. I get a lot of leads on Leadership articles, for example.
* Networking: For those occasions where I may want to look at a give topic in more detail, I get a feel for who’s talking about that topic over time. For example, I met Josh Nankivel (PMStudent) on Twitter while I was preparing for the PMP exam, and his recently released package, WBS Coach, fits very well into the in-house PM training program I’ve been delivering since certification.
So while I don’t handle the Twitter info to quite the level of detail and tagging that you use, I do find good value in even a summary look at the info stream. I’m now hoping reciprocate on that value by adding my own perspectives into the Twitter space.
Thanks fro
Hi Torsten,
You asked me why Twitter is a great resource for. Here’s my reply.
First of all you make the not completely correct assumption that it a great resource. It surely has been quite the experience the last two weeks. I believe I’ve been active for about the same time as you.
I must say a whole new world has opened for me. I have met some great new people such as @papercutpm @projectrecovery @unlikebefore @writeadvantage and @lauriehosken to name a few and have had quite a few interesting and sometime very humorous chats of and on Twitter.
Twitter really started to make sense when I realized the importance of the # and @ symbols. All of a sudden I was able to focus on specific interests and to chat with individuals.
From a project management perspective I’ve been exposed to some very good new insights and read some really good stuff. I’ve also been able to share some of my own insights and experiences with the #pmot folks and others out there. I’ve also seen in my website traffic analysis that clicks from twitter are surely increasing.
But, as for you, not only project management is what I follow.
On the other hand I find quite a lot of what I see on the tweets (not per se #pmot) regurgitated and shallow. It seems twitter is the ideal platform to toot one’s own horn. It’s the ultimate quote machine.
What I also don’t understand (yet?) is how someone can follow 2, 5 or even 70 thousand people.
But all in all it has been a very positive experience and I will for sure keep delving in the possibilities of Twitter and supporting tools/sites.
Cheers,
Erik Hamburger
@AmbidexterMan
I’m pleased you found my article on storyboards and agile interesting. Like you I also find some of the best discoveries are made through referrals from friends on twitter.
I look forward to having you read more of my articles.
@magia3e