Work Management and Communication—Is It Time for a Paradigm Shift?

Previous to the acceptance of plate tectonics to explain large-scale geological changes, geologists assumed that the Earth's major features were fixed.  The theory grew out of the hypothesis of continental drift proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1912.  The paradigm shift that followed (plate tectonics) describes the Earth's lithosphere as broken up into tectonic plates that move in relation to each other at the boundaries.  Earthquakes, volcanic activity, and oceanic trench-building occur at these boundaries.

Plate tectonics is only one of many paradigm shifts that have changed the way scientists look at the world.  According to Thomas Kuhn, who coined the phrase in 1962, "A paradigm is what members of a scientific community, and they alone share."  A paradigm shift is a change in basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science.

Kuhn used the duck-rabbit illustration at right to show how a paradigm shift could cause someone to see the same information in an entirely different way.  In light of recent conversations with colleagues interested in how project teams communicate within the context of project based work, I wonder if there is an approaching paradigm shift regarding traditional methods of communication and the proliferation of social media like blogs, Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook, etc.  Not so much regarding the specific media, but rather in how people interact with each other and within the media. 

Whether or not you see the rabbit or the duck at first glance, it appears that we may all be looking at the same information and seeing it differently. 

One of the many challenges faced by project managers revolves around collecting quantitative and qualitative data regarding the projects they oversee.  Although project and portfolio management (PPM) software is widely used to manage and report on projects, most PPM software approaches the collection of project data from an executive level down perspective.  Traditional software methods for capturing project information are inherently so complex that they alienate team members and force managers to beg, cajole, and nag for status updates at worst—and only provide quantitative project information at best.  Respectively ineffective and inadequate, in my opinion.

What's more, task management and collaboration software designed for team members, typically lacks the reporting capabilities required by executives for making informed decisions, once again relegating project managers to collecting information and creating status reports to be pushed up the org chart.  I believe this diminishes the role of project managers, who's time is best spent "leading" teams.

The way people interact with social media demonstrates that under the right conditions, people will gladly update status, collaborate, and interact both quantitatively and qualitatively.  Is it the simplicity of the interface?  Is it the instant gratification they receive from their Facebook friends? Or is it something else?

Whatever the reason, I suggest the imminent paradigm shift will involve how successfully organizations can integrate those aspects of social media that make sense into the work management process, opposed to those who are turned off by what they consider the trivial aspects of Facebook and Twitter.

Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts on this topic.