Making the Most of #PMOT

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

  Communications Management   Knowledge Management   Lessons Learned  

I’m still slightly surprised how many executives still turn their noses up at Twitter. There are a lot of senior managers who recognize that Twitter can be a powerful tool to assist their staff--but there are also many who not only think that Twitter can add no value, they also feel that it actively reduces productivity and will block access to it within their organization.

I accept that Twitter use can be abused, but the same can be said for virtually any tool that the modern organization makes available to its employees--from the internet to the photocopier. What Twitter can bring is a wholly new perspective on project management delivered to a PM’s desk with no effort. In this article, I want to look at some ways that PMs can leverage Twitter to assist them in their daily lives.

Finding the benefit
I suspect that one of the problems that Twitter faces in being taken seriously as a business tool is that it is also a tool that is a long way removed from business in some instances, and some aspects may in fact be completely opposed to the values of your employer. This is simply because of the vast amount of information that is available on Twitter at any one time--over 250 million tweets per day as I write this.

To ensure that the tool is of value, you need to be able to distill that information down to the most relevant for you; otherwise, it …

Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.