Should you use Social Tools for Project Management?

Social media has introduced the world to many different, and new, mediums to connect and share ideas; from Twitter’s micro-blogging to podcasts on a staggering range of subjects. These communication methods are becoming more frequently used by people of all ages, nationalities and professions, so now we have to look at how we can use these tools to aid our professional lives.

People who have taken Project Management Training will know that openness and sharing of ideas is an important part of the development process, but how will making use of social media practices aid the overall project management duties?

Author, Elizabeth Harrin, published a handy book to help ease your choice of social medium to adapt to your project management style called “Social Media for Project Managers”.  In this book she goes through the advantages and disadvantages of each type of social media so you can easily make your choices without wasting unnecessary time.

The major benefit you will see from using these methods is an increase in collaboration, which fosters new ideas and transparency throughout the whole project team. Companies are beginning to swap their standard email communication systems to more open social project management tools. While this is still in its infancy the potential to enhance creativity is extremely exciting.

However, before you jump on board with these new tools you really need to look at yourself and your team to see at how quickly and to what extent they will be used and what type of training they have gone though, such as Prince2 Training . Social media is all about participation and openness, so if you don’t think your team would be willing to get involved and share information with others it might not be worth adopting.

For example; if you are working with a team where the majority of members who are tardy with their email responses, don’t use mobile or web based organisational tools and are generally stuck in their ways, then this may be more of a headache than an effective way forward.

However, if you are amongst a savvy, tech literate crowd who like to try new techniques and tools and are involved in social media in their personal lives, then the chances of the tools being adopted smoothly and effectively are much higher. So you are far more likely to see the benefits they can offer.

The major thing to ask yourself, though, is what value does the medium offer the project? Just don’t use it because social media is the trendy term of the hour. If the pros don’t out weight the cons then don’t use it – simple!