Rescuing Projects in Trouble

 

Deanne Earle (@unlikebefore) was one of the first project managers I started following with social media. Having spoken with here a couple of times, exchanged many emails, and even interviewed her as one of the very first guests on the TalkingWork podcast, I was not disappointed by her intellect and have found her to be an incredibly charming person. If I ever find my way to Italy, she is on my list of people to see.

Not too long ago she wrote a book review that has added Todd William's (@BackFromRed) new book Rescue the Problem Project: A Complete Guide to Identifying, Preventing, and Recovering from Project Failure to my reading list. I have been following Todd over the years and have found him to be a very capable and insightful project manager. Well worth following.

Like William's, over the course of her career, Deanne has become a "project fixer" who spends time bringing troubled and complex projects to completion. Her blog is syndicated on the TalkingWork website and is well worth following. She doesn't write as often as some authors, but I can't think of anything she has written about leading people and managing projects that I haven't thought was worth the read.

It is amazing to me how many truly brilliant people are available as resources on the social web. Twitter, Facebook and blogs give us access to people who are solving real-world problems every day with an incredibly successful track record—and willing to freely share their expertise with us.

Uninformed people often complain that social media is a waste of time within the enterprise. I disagree. Project managers looking for answers to problems or suggestions have a vast resource of very talented project professionals (they would otherwise pay thousands of dollars to in consulting fees) at their fingertips—who freely share of their expertise on a regular basis.

Deanne and Todd are only two of the dozens of brilliant people I follow. Who are your favorites?