AtTask

I think Bob Dylan said it best, "The times they are a-change'n."

New communication tools including blogs, wikis, Twitter, and other social media are making knowledge-based collaboration more spontaneous and informative.  Just spend a day following the project management feeds on Twitter and you'll have access to some of the most respected experts in project management—all willing to engage in discussion and answer questions.

These new technologies have the potential to make capturing best practices and relevant experiences from around the world readily available to project and business leaders within a mouse-click or two.  Only time will tell.

I remember when the computer on my desk was a dumb terminal attached to a mini-computer in the phone closet.  I'm excited about the pace that technology advances to make my job easier.  For example, before cell phones, I had to know every payphone in my area to retrieve my messages—and, it was my secretary who gave them to me, not my voice mail.

My first cell phone, the size of a small brick, made it possible to be on the golf course with one client and answer questions from another—at the same time.  However, compared to my iPhone, I was living in the dark ages.

That said, according to Spiderman, "With great power comes great responsibility."

Can we afford to use the same work management paradigms that existed even ten years ago—with edicts filtering down from the top of a corporate hierarchy?  Like it or not, information technology has changed things.  The way we address project based work being one of the things that is changing.  Customers aren't shy about providing product feedback—both good and bad, and organizations that successfully engage the workforce in the project management process are finding more success than those that don't.

Companies are starting to realize that user groups, communities, forums, and even Twitter are not to be taken lightly.  Listening to your customers, and your employees, is important.  Don't do it, and you'll be sitting in the phone closet, alone and in the dark.