The Critical Path

I have been following a fascinating conversation started by one of our highly active community members, Mr. Stephane Parent, on the topic of those who ask questions and those who answer them within the community.  He posited that both are valuable ways of contributing to the community, and asked his colleagues how they felt about the way that these two trends play out on ProjectManagement.com.

The discussion (linked here:  http://www.projectmanagement.com/discussion-topic/39289/Question-or-Answer-) has been energetic and responses from other members validate that, yes, both actions create a more healthy community environment.  Of course, one member also pointed out the very real “third trend”:  those who log in and neither ask, nor answer.

In responding to this “third trend”, several have mused that members who are not actively participating in such discussions are difficult to connect with and that it is hard to feel a sense of connectivity to a silent community segment. 

But does that mean that our silent members are not contributing to our community?  It may be easy to draw that conclusion, but I wouldn’t start sketching it too soon.

Most communities, both online and in-person, have what community managers often hear referred to as “lurkers”.  These individuals do not tend to voice their opinions, respond to questions, or ask them in the public forums.  They quietly log in or enter a room, listening to the conversations, picking up resources, watch presentations and make notes, and quietly leave.  They may go almost completely unnoticed, but they are still part of the community and most would tell you that they feel engaged by the community. 

There is actually a commonly understood ratio of community member “types”, particularly online, and it usually looks like this 1:9:90.  For every 100 members, you generally have 1 highly active contributor who tends to generate and lead activity within the community, about 9 frequent participators who respond to and interact with community activity, and about 90 members who quietly observe and rarely raise their voice.  This is not a hard and fast ratio, but there are always higher numbers of “lurkers” than there are active contributors, and we are no exception.

There may be many reasons that this happens – even within a community of peers, not everyone is comfortable asking a question in a public forum, particularly if you feel that you are surrounded by subject matter experts who may perceive the question to be “simple”.  And, no matter how long they may have been practicing within the profession, some members may not be confident that their experience translates to actual expertise.  Circumstances can impact responses, and the best practice that works 99% of the time for them in their situation, may not be at all effective in another. 

But our silent members are still here to learn from one another and, while they may not be very vocal in the public threads, that doesn’t mean they are not highly engaged within their own network.  Their contributions may not be visible to the community at large, but they may have immeasurable impact elsewhere. 

Consider the mentor who logs in and reads new content, follows discussions, and watches webinar presentations, and may be sharing all of this with a new practitioner in his or her company.  Or the PMO Director who is not very visible online, but brings a wealth of knowledge back from ProjectManagement.com to her colleagues looking for tools and resources, helping develop his or her team and connect them with peers who can, in turn, help them develop themselves.  The consummate talent scout who is helping a chapter build out a local, industry focused program by reaching out to great speakers and authors.  And finally, some members may be facing very challenging issues which require discretion and cannot be addressed on a public forum – while these members may not post their questions on the discussion boards, they may be drawing upon their community network offline to seek help and talk through scenarios.

We may often tend to think of ProjectManagement.com as our community, however, as the Community Engagement team, we prefer to think of it as the “home” for our community – because we know that the website is only one of many places that the professional project management community gathers.  And this means that community members may have different comfort levels, needs and modes of engagement in the different spaces where community meets, whether in the forums, in a virtual event, at a chapter meeting, or industry conference or even when they just decide to get together on their own. 

When you look at our community in this way, it might surprise you to learn just how chatty our “silent members” are in these other spaces, and how they are contributing in ways we don’t see online.

Running a PMO is no small feat. But how do you go about it while trying to maintain a work-life balance and keep your team and stakeholders happy? Enter 'A Life Less Balanced,' our first serialized fictional drama authored by Robert Bulger that follows a PMO director as she runs a PMO for a cutting edge technology start-up while trying to find balance in her personal life. Keeping people happy is a full-time job. Make sure you catch up each month to see how she does it! Read the first installment, Release 1.0, today!

Since we're on the subject...

The Atlanta Building the Hybrid PMO workshop session registration is open! Don't miss out on this dynamic workshop that will provide you with tips on how to take your PMO to the next level. Whether you're just beginning to develop your PMO or you're trying to find solutions to an issue, this workshop is meant for you! 

The Atlanta workshop will take place 15-16 August 2016 and space is limited. Don't miss out on this event. Register now! 

Help shape the next edition of the PMBOK® Guide by participating in the exposure draft process!

The exposure draft is available for comment now until 5:00 p.m. EDT, 26 July 2016, and is open to any members of the public with an interest in project management. That means YOU!

This edition will mark the first time that PMI will release content on agile in the PMBOK® Guide.

This expanded coverage reflects evidence from PMI's research reinforcing that agile practices are used by increasing numbers of organizations in the management of some or all of their projects. It is also in response to numerous requests from our stakeholders.

By including this information, PMI will align proven, foundational project management concepts with the evolving state of the profession today.
  
Significant detail on agile will be included in sections of the PMBOK® Guide – Sixth Edition as well as in an appendix. As a companion to the PMBOK® Guide, PMI also plans to publish a practice guide focused on agile, tentatively set for release in the third quarter of 2017. Additionally, they plan to release the PMBOK® Guide – Sixth Edition in 10 languages at the same time as the English version in the third quarter of 2017.

For more information, visit the PMBOK® Guide exposure draft page.

From the PM perspective, is there a best or worst day of the week to send out project related emails? George Lewis asked the community this question regarding their communications management, risk management, and scheduling concerns and has received a plethora of quality responses.

The discussion has ranged to cover the context of the message, it’s relevance in the project communication plan, and the urgency of the audience’s need to receive the information. Nurlan Yelmuratov shared his views with the following insight:

“I personally think the best day to send a regular e-mail is the one that precedes the major scope of work for the week or after that (Monday, Friday).

The worse moment for it is in the middle of the intensive team work, which might distract the team.”

What are your views on this? Does the day of the week an email is sent impact the overall reception of the email for your projects? Is there a time you focus on for critical messages?

Join the discussion and share your thoughts and connect with experienced PM's in our community!

These days, many of us are glued to our mobile devices. If we’re not actually looking at them for information, entertainment, or to stay on schedule, our device is probably on our person. For PMI.org visitors, mobile life is about to get easier and more enjoyable.

PMI is about to release a fresh version of PMI.org that will be “responsive” — the site will look good on whatever device you are using, be it a full-sized monitor attached to a desktop computer, a laptop, a tablet or a mobile phone.

Soon when you visit PMI.org you’ll notice the pages look lighter, brighter and fresher. Although not specifically a redesign, the fresh site will deliver a new home page. And the information has been organized in a way that it is easier to see what’s new at PMI and quickly find what you need.

The transition reflects the adoption of a new platform that will improve PMI’s ability, over time, to provide content that better reflects your interests. The new platform is also more secure and more flexible in its capabilities. 

Members have greater access to content on both ProjectManagement.com and PMI.org, so if you haven’t joined PMI, definitely consider doing so now. If you’re not yet a PMI member, I’m happy to say that the PMI membership application is now faster and easier to complete, and much more attractive-looking!

Technology keeps evolving and so does PMI. Keep checking PMI.org for ongoing improvements to serve you better!