Let’s face it, most blogs – including my very own – are repetitive, made up of remixed ideas and concepts.
This, in itself, is not really a problem. Ideas need to be repetitive, open for public debate and evaluation before they can be internalized. As different people get exposed to different ideas at different times it is necessary to bring these ideas up so readers would be able to be exposed to them and have the opportunity to evaluate their content and their validity.
The competitive nature of today’s blogosphere gave rise to social media experts and the proliferation of ‘how to’ guides for maximizing the number of clicks coming your blog’s way.
For instance, one of the ‘trick’s recommended by the experts is publishing posts with titles (and content) that conform with the following construct:
7 Must-Have Project Management Skills for IT Pros
or
11 Simple Concepts to Become a Better Leader
Got the idea? As Twitter mentality takes over the thinking world – making us all think in batches of 140 characters – ideas and concepts need to be simplified into pre-digested and well chewed up lists.
Another observation worth mentioning here is the proliferation of platitudes.
In the last 12 months we have seen an explosion of articles and opinion pieces dealing with the very important topics of leadership and innovation. While some of them are intellectually stimulating and thought-provoking; many are, well…just repetitive. It is as if the author felt compelled to write a piece containing this two words just to ensure his/her audience is aware of their interest in this topic.
In my research for writing up this post I have come across an interesting HBR post by Greg McKeown, titled “If I Read More Platitude Filled Mission Statement, I’ll Scream“. I am taking the liberty to adapt Greg’s recommendations and tailor them to my observations above.
If you intend to publish an article incorporating the concepts of Innovation or Leadership AND you want me to read and internalize your thoughts, please adhere to the following principles:
- Be specific, not generic – make sure your suggestions are practical and actionable
- Provide concrete ideas of how your suggestions could be measured
- Move from “pretty clear” to “really clear” – don’t use abstract language – be coherent and don’t fluff around.
Think about it!
Shim,
Nice post. I too respond poorly to the platitudes coming from many self-proclaimed project management experts, even ones with PhD’s. “Hold the PM accountable.” “Have the client produce better requirements.” “Use my one personal version of EV and you’ll solve all your problems.” “Build a better WBS, and you’ll get control of your project.”
Yea right. I heard a cute phrase today on NPR. “We here in American have many freedoms. One of the freedoms of the freedom to be stupid.”
In a safety poster process at Rocky Flat (an nuclear weapons clean up site) where I was a PMO lead stated it clearly “Don’t do stupid things on purpose.”
But without fail those provided platitude advice rarely have “actionable” advice and even more rarely provide any units of measure that would guide the application of that advice. “Have the customer provide better requirements.” Really, good idea. Can you tell exactly how that is going to take place.
So I’ve turned to being a technocrat.
▪ You have a strategy? Show me you Balanced Scorecard, with Strategic Objectives, Performance Goals, Critical Success Factors, and Key Performance Parameters. No platitudes please.
▪ You have a “Plan”? Show me the Measures of Effectiveness, Measures of Performance, Technical Performance Measures, and Key Performance Parameters, along with you risk retirement plan that supports the assessment of the increasing maturity of the deliverable from you project.
▪ You doing agile? Wonderful. Show me the capabilities that will be produced when you’re done, how those capabilities are connected the measurable business value, measures in units meaningful to the decision maker.
▪ You want skills in managing IT projects? Can you tell me what “done” looks like, how you’re going to get there, what resources you’ll need along the way, what impediments you’ll encounter and how you’re going the handle them, and how you’re going to measure progress toward getting the “done?”
Without credible answers to these and many more question, no platitudes, no soft skills course, not much of anything is going to keep you out of the ditch.
Glen B. Alleman recently posted..Deterministic versus Stochastic Trends in Earned Value Management Data
Thanks Glen. Your comment speaks for itself and there’s really nothing I can add – just read and internalize.
Shim,
Good post. What you are describing is a fad or fashion approach to blogging. Basically, many people blog for the sake of blogging, not to disseminate ideas or experiences.
A couple of years ago, it was Risk; lately it is Agile, PMOs or generally across industries, Innovation. Who blogs the loudest is deemed an expert. The expert always has a 5, 7, or 12 step approach to anything. I just listened to a podcast about a 12 step approach to PMO creation that NEVER fails.
I have been culling my blog reading and my Twitter following. There seems to be an inverse relation between volume and quality anyways. Sometime you read less but you learn more.
Patrick Richard recently posted..The Illusion and Promise of Self-Organizing Teams webinar