Email is a disaster when it comes to managing content and comments on work-related projects. Internal blogs are a cheap and effective way to cut down on finding information and allows workers more time to analyze it. So why aren't more workers usings blogs?
Blogs have a reputation
Blogs and blogging have a bad reputation in ithe workplace. They are still thought of as personal journals not to be taken seriously. What is overlooked is that blogs are powerful content management systems. A blog allows a worker to think and express her ideas without having to worry about where to place the information or how to find it later. A blog takes care of all that.
Most peope are familar with blogs that they have seen on the Internet. The blogs we're talking about here are similar, except they reside on your company's intranet so only authorized staff can view them. If you are managing a project within your office or from multiple offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia, a blog makes complete sense. They also make great sense if you are a government agency and need to collaborate with other agencies---we talking homeland security here and defense. Any large organization can benefit from blogs though. Here are some reasons.
1) Workers are free to communicate ideas about project issues and comment on them. They don't have to have a knowledge of IT. The blog will manage the content so that it is easy to find;
2) Workers can discuss ideas and get comments that are completely organized and available to them 24/7;
3) Anyone can set up a blog in about 10 minutes- you don't have to be a Computer Geek;
4) The IT Department only gets involved to keep the blog inside your organization's fire wall
or intranet and secure from unauthorized users;
5) Blogs are cheap.........They cost much less than comparable collaboration software
systems. We're talking magazinie subscription rates in some cases.
What kinds of projects are blogging suitable for?
Blogs are useful for any project where you want to faciliate communication and the exchange of ideas, and comments from a community of users. Remember, presidential candidate blogs were extensively used in the last election. Blogs are also useful in staying current on a project's status. They are also useful to get comments on ideas, short essays or white papers from other workers. Blogs, however, are no substitute for project management software.
Impediements to blogging in the Office
Real workers who have to make sales, manage projects and do real work are faced with a variety of obstacles in the office place. First and foremost, unfortunately, may be the IT Department. The folks in IT love complexity and large costly software and hardware systems that they can tinker with. So beware that if you come to them with the idea of a blog, you may be treated as a gadfly at a wedding reception or the Anti-Christ.
You will also be politely asked to use the current collaborative software in place. You actually should do this so that you will be prepared to justify why it falls short of your goals. Here are some of the reasons you might come up with after taking it for a spin:
1) Our collaborative software is a great system-- "It is overkill for what we are doing. Besides, you don't want to tie up 'valuable IT resources' for a project like this, do you?"
2) The learning curve is very high--- "Look, my team can bearly understand how to use MS Word and you want me to explain file sharing to them!"
3) The usability of the software is very poor-- the software is not very intuitive. We're going to be using this on very small projects and different groups of people are going to use it also.
How to get your blogging project off the ground
There are several ways to improve your chances of using blogs in your organization:
1) Try blogging yourself-- many of the most popular blogging software companies offer free demos- Movable Type's Typepad and Live Journal, Blogger and Radio Userland' Manila offer the web hosted blogs. All you need is an Internet connection. [Note, all of these companies offer software that can be sited behind your company's firewall];
2) Get some buy in from your immediate boss to at least try it. Emphasize that you're not going to spend money or alot of time;
2) Once you choose a demo program, ask your colleagues to try it out using a very simple project; [if you use a web-based program make sure your test material is non-public information]
3) Ask people in your organization if they are blogging. You might be lucky to find someone high or influential in your organization that can sponsor your effort;
4) Find someone in the IT Department who blogs or is willing to use a blog to detect software errors, etc. Share the Standford Univerity blogging case history with them to generate interest.
5) Try to stay below the radar screen so that you don't have to write a business case, at least not yet. If you have to write one, see the sample business case on RSS or Really Simple Syndication that I did . It was short and effective.
6) Suggest to your boss and the IT department that you do a Pilot Study of blogging. You'll be the gunieau pig. Management usually loves to do pilot studies. Everyone saves face and doesn't have to commit alot of $$$ or resources. ,Of course if the pilot is succesful everyone gets to claim credit and perhaps you'll get a bonus.
Comments are always welcome and of course advice. Just contact me.
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