February 21, 2018February 23, 2018 Linky

Project Success Story: Mix and Match Innovation

This is the story of an IT Project Manager, Shaun Oppel, who was responsible for a project to implement an innovative new concept called “Mix & Match” in Retail. It basically meant that customers could buy any 3 products on this promotion and then receive the cheapest product for free. Since the company was the first Retailer to bring this concept to South Africa, it was hugely exciting with high risk and high reward. Above all, it was envisaged that it would give them an edge on competitors.

The project complexity lied in the fact that it required cross-functional teams as well as impacting different systems across IT and Business. In this instance, Marketing was the main stakeholder and owner of the project. It consisted of a National roll-out to approximately 220 stores; of which 100 stores had Pharmacies.

Challenges

A large number of projects were running simultaneously thereby making it very difficult to assign the most senior and best resources available for the duration of the project. This led to resource conflicts and constraints as multiple projects pursued team members with significant expertise of various systems as well as that of the business.

Dedicated resources

Initially a Shared Resource Model was used, but it wasn’t working very efficiently. The Project Manager had to take corrective action by requesting dedicated resources. A recommendation was made to “ring-fence” the project team from BAU support resources so as to circumvent resource constraints. Some business as usual (BAU) work was then outsourced.

Language differences

Since some work was outsourced to India, it created difficulty among team members to understand one another due to different accents. People had trouble understanding what was being said especially due to the fact that the Meetings were being facilitated via conference call. In order to address this issue, a Manager responsible for that Account who was based on-site, would be present on conference calls and would help translate and minute what was being said.

What worked well

Due to the very strategic nature of the project, and it being managed as the highest priority in the overall portfolio, the resources had to be dedicated which helped to create a strong project team.

Good project governance was applied through-out and the mature PM methodology was followed consistently. Risk Management worked well; through keeping a detailed Risk Log and consistently reviewing it. All risks were validated with the respective Systems Managers. Risks categorised as high Impact were raised at Steercom and addressed appropriately.

Members of the Audit Team were assigned to various projects as team members in order to provide steer, guidance, and adherence to standard practices and good governance. The project was well supported by Business and IT from a Steercom and Management perspective. As a strategic project it had a strong Business Case with good ROI and clearly defined Metrics in order to track benefits.

A RACI matrix was produced at the start of the project which ensured that roles and responsibilities clearly defined. It was agreed upon, clarified with resources involved and it remained a living document.

Change Management well executed

The project required a good Change Management strategy and delivery, because of the touch point in Stores. It followed an approach of Train the Trainers. The Trainers had an exam to pass; then they would be allowed to train their own staff and subsequently they would be required to pass the assessment as well. The staff had to be familiar with what the changes were and they had to be enabled to answer any questions posed during the National roll-out.

Testing and Quality Assurance

Key to the successful delivery was to have an experienced Test Manager assigned. The Test Cases were clearly defined, well understood, and well executed. There were separate Development, Test and Production Environments which were refreshed quarterly so as to ensure Data Alignment.

Handover to Operations

After implementation a 6-week period was allowed for handover to the support function. The longer period helps to build up history of typical issues and how to address them.

Key learnings

Governance: One team member cannot make decisions without the others. Apply good governance and facilitate regular Steercoms whilst encouraging and ensuring good attendance. It helps significantly to keep and maintain the focus.

Stakeholder Management: Have consideration for all stakeholders that are impacted by the project. The RACI matrix produced and the exercise of work shopping the details thereof was key in getting people to understand what was expected of them. Regular communications to all business stakeholders, eliminated “corridor talk” and the scenario of “broken telephone” syndrome as people were informed about the progress and the go live details. It’s important to keep Management (Business and IT) on the same page; as it takes much more effort and time to get everyone re- aligned.

Team management and performance: Alignment with the whole Project Team around all Deliverables, Milestones and dependencies is very important and will ensure that team members are kept accountable. A Project Manager needs to escalate if a person is struggling or not performing and also let the Systems Managers understand this. Don’t hesitate to request and obtain help from Leadership to support the team if and when required.

Emotional Intelligence: Give greater attention to Emotional Intelligence (EQ). Make time to understand the people, what makes them tick and work with each person as an individual. Appreciate the culture, the dynamics at play and how to get the very best out of them.

Team motivation: Keep team members as motivated as possible. It will uplift their spirits and the team as a whole if you bring a positive attitude to meetings. Don’t bash individuals but rather see what can be done at all times to lend a hand and how best to move forward and resolve the issue being encountered. Ask if there are obstructions that would prevent them to deliver. As a Project Manager stay positive, remain optimistic and keep a similar approach of having a good attitude. Do take the time as a Team to celebrate successes and major milestones on the project. It motivates the team and makes them look forward to meetings.

Have regular conversations and verbalise frequently with regards to yourself as the Project Manager being approachable. Let team members know that they won’t be in trouble if they fall behind. Keep supporting the team members to be better at what they do. Encourage your team to have conversations with one another; don’t wait for meetings to raise problems. Be pro-active. The PM is there to help, support, but you don’t want to micro-manage the team.

Cost management: Build in Budget contingency for example, you have to make provision for Exchange Rate fluctuations. It can blow the Budget if you don’t mitigate the risk.

Over time and with experience, a Project Manager will rely more and more on soft skills like leadership and emotional Intelligence (EQ); as in the end, that is what helps to be successful at project delivery.

*********************************************************************************************

About the Project Manager:

Shaun Oppel has been in Project Management for more than 20 years. He started his career in Project Management at an Internet Service Provider (ISP), and continued to build skills in Project Management at different Blue-chip Companies. He’s Education includes an Electrical Engineering Degree, a Master in Science (MSc) Degree, an MBA Degree, a PMP Certified and Prince II Certificate.

He may be contacted on Shaun.Oppel@gmail.com or on his Mobile: 083-5055983.

February 12, 2018April 26, 2019 Linky

4 Reasons Why Waterfall isn’t a Fit for your Team

By Joel Roberts

Even though the Agile method is now being increasingly adopted by organizations worldwide, especially for software development, too many organizations still cling to Waterfall. The existing processes are probably influencing the decision of what methodology is used.

Your organization’s current processes are likely to determine the way you run your project, regardless of its nature. But, this shouldn’t be the case. Project managers are more than able to assist their organizations and suggest effective ways of implementing projects while reducing risks at the same time.

For this, you need to have a deeper understanding of how each project management methodology may impact the project and its success. Choosing the right methodology can be key to successful completion of a project. So, if your organization still uses the waterfall methodology, read on and see for yourself why this needs to change.

Waterfall Method and its flaws

As you know, the Waterfall method is a sequential approach, separating a project into different phases, where one phase has to be completed before starting the next one.

So here are the 4 crucial flaws caused by this:

#1 No Flexibility

The Waterfall method in its core means following a predetermined set of steps, as the methodology, in its traditional form, leaves almost no room for unexpected changes or revisions. You have to be clear with all the development requirements beforehand and just keep your team always moving forward.

A probable and highly undesirable scenario is that your team will carefully follow the steps nearly to the end of the project but, they may face an unforeseen obstruction that requires a change in scope or goals. Since the used methodology doesn’t welcome change, proceeding with the initial plan won’t be easy. As you’ll have already put a considerable amount of work into a project, under very specific and fixed assumptions, an unexpected change to any parameter of the project may render much of the finished work useless.

This may have severe consequences and even throw off the entire timeline. Another aspect of Waterfall that reduces flexibility is that Waterfall projects are highly integrated and not an object-oriented approach.

#2 Uncertain and Time-consuming Preplanning

When using this method, you must produce a detailed and thorough requirement definition in one of the earliest phases of the project. But, in such an early phase of the project, trying to define the requirements is often very difficult.

Therefore, many of the requirements are subject to change throughout the project. Specifying requirements in advance means that a lot of the requirements are based on assumptions. You may come across many difficulties to validate those assumptions since the first builds are not available until late in the development phase.

Even the client has to outline all their preferences upfront, without seeing a working version. Once the first builds are available, it’s often too late to change requirements without substantial delays of the project. Also, when planning everything up front, very often you can overlook certain changes due to business plans or market influences. Since change is unwelcome and difficult to carry out, any new developments or changes of requirements which may occur after the initial agreement could raise serious concerns.

#3 Delayed Testing Period

Testing is a very important phase of a project as the results have an impact on all the work that has been done. The best practice would be to integrate testing as a fundamental and continual process throughout development. This has been the case with more recent SDLC models, whereas the waterfall model largely differs, leaving the testing until quite late into the life cycle.

This means quality and security issues or integration problems with existing products are typically discovered quite late in the process. Fixing such issues requires a lot of effort. What’s worse, sometimes testing may be short-changed in order to stay on schedule, and that means that bugs will be discovered by the customer only after the delivery of the product.

In turn, this makes fixing the code expensive and time-consuming. It has been shown that a bug identified at a later stage can cost up to 60 percent more to get fixed, as compared to its cost when identified at an earlier stage.

Another issue related to the testing is the possible appearance of careless coding practices. Testing teams often have less time to complete test execution and since more time is spent during the initial stages for detailed documentation, not enough attention is paid to testing.

#4 Lack of Client or Stakeholder Interaction

At times when communication seems to be one of the crucial factors that can impact project’s success, you cannot afford to leave the client or stakeholders out. In the Waterfall method a lot of time is spent with the client at the outset, with an attempt to document all the perceived requirements.

After this has been done, the implementation team usually take over and the client has no say until the project is nearly done. However, the feedback that arrives late into the development cycle can present a significant issue.

Due to the strict sequential process enforced by the waterfall model, an unforeseen requirement or request for a change, although not impossible to be done, will be both costly and time-consuming for everyone involved in the project. So, this method is definitely not suitable for projects with moderate to high risk of change of requirements.

If you are still not completely convinced with these reasons, add the high amounts of risk and uncertainty, longer delivery time, and other challenges that project schedulers might face to the list.

Considering the shortcomings of the Waterfall approach, which method do you prefer? Which factors made you decide?

Please provide some feedback in the comments section.

**************************************************************

About the Author:

Joel Roberts is a Project Management Consultant and an established author with more than 12 years of experience in working for PrimaveraReader – Primavera P6 companion tool for viewing and analyzing project plans by the project team.

She is passionate about Mind Mapping and innovation management and her articles have been featured in more than a hundred project management and business websites.

February 7, 2018July 2, 2024 Linky

Staying relevant as a Project Manager in today’s world

By Derek Smith

In today’s digital and disruptive world, executives and organizations are faced with fierce competitive challenges that require them to continuously adapt, or else face the consequences and the stark possibility of not being around for much longer. The same goes for project managers who need to keep abreast with what is happening with Agile methods and philosophies in Project Management in order to keep themselves relevant and employable.

Agile and Lean Practices

Flexible Agile and Lean practices, such as Scrum and Kanban which were once the sole domain of software developers, are uniquely positioned to create business success, and are making significant inroads outside of IT and finding acceptance and support by C Level executives. Organizations need to quickly sense and adapt to external and internal changes to deliver results productively and cost-effectively, without losing sight of the fact that governance is still required.

The quest for success also starts with the right approach to support project delivery, and specific project characteristics and organizational needs should form the basis of selecting the correct approach.

With everyone hopping on the bandwagon to capitalize on training and adoption, combined with so many choices when it comes to approaches, it can be daunting to try and keep abreast of how these practices are evolving, and how and what to choose. PMI have a series of reports which have been geared towards thought leadership, and it is pertinent to note that six reports deal with achieving greater agility.

The reports cover topics such as focusing on the customer, frequent feedback, choosing the right approach and transforming the organization by focusing on people and monitoring progress. Evolving the collaboration between lines of business, changing the culture and assessing the need for cross-functional support are other key aspects to consider when seeking to achieve greater organizational agility.

Career advancement

From a career standpoint, project managers need to keep themselves relevant to be employable and earn a decent wage. PMI’s Pulse of the Profession® research has indicated that stakeholders are pushing to adopt agile practices. Organizations that are agile and responsive to market dynamics, complete more of their projects successfully than those that are not — 75 percent versus 56 percent, according to the research.

It is for this reason that they have included information on agile practices, alongside traditional approaches in the PMBOK® Guide – Sixth Edition, and partnered with Agile Alliance® to create the new Agile Practice Guide. The PMI-ACP® is currently the fastest growing PMI certification, and spans many approaches to agile such as Scrum, Kanban, Lean, extreme programming (XP) and test-driven development (TDD.).

Sources:

PMI.org

Achieving greater agility

Project management.com

Agile certifications

****************************************************************************************

About the Author: Derek Smith has over 24 years of experience in the technology and ICT industry. He has been a CIO for 2 listed companies, and has also managed some of the top outsource operations for 2 of South Africa’s leading service providers. He is currently a Projects Portfolio Manager, Mentor and Coach, and is an advocate and evangelist for Agile philosophies and methods.

January 31, 2018 Linky

Qualities of a Great Project Sponsor

By Kevin Lonergan

We have to think very carefully about which projects need sponsorship and which person should fulfil this important role. No one person can sponsor multiple projects effectively, at the same time. This article will reflect on what a Sponsor is and the qualities a project Sponsor need, to make him great in the role.

What is a Sponsor?

In this context, the Sponsor is not just the client, or maybe not even the client. The term Sponsor is most commonly used when organisations are involved in significant change or business improvement projects. The Sponsor is usually someone senior in the same organisation as the Project Manager. Often someone who “owns” the project, can champion it amongst their peers and can be the first point of escalation when there are challenging issues to resolve. Following the definition phase, the sponsor would not be involved on a day-to-day basis (that would be the PM). Only on an exception basis.

When it is not obvious who a sponsor should be, it can be tricky to decide who should carry out this important role.

Qualities of an effective project sponsor (in no particular order)

Committed to the role: first and foremost they must commit the time to participate, especially in the shaping phase of the project. They cannot simply delegate all to the project manager (PM), no matter how experienced they are. There will be events at the front end of the project, that should be led by the sponsor.
Owns the business case: they may not write many of the sections, but they must own this document. They certainly should be heavily involved in the drafting of the strategic elements of the business case, most especially the benefits that are expected to be achieved following delivery of the project.
Available to the project manager: they cannot be a non-existent figurehead. When the PM needs their time, they have got to make themselves available, even if this is just for a short call, initially.
Ability to articulate organisational strategy: this is crucial. The sponsor must be able to articulate the organisation’s strategy and the relationship it has with the project at hand.
Drives the shaping of the project: this is where the sponsor must participate and not over-delegate. There will be times when their active involvement is key to ensuring the project is defined successfully and that the PM has fully understood and is focused on delivering the real brief.
Stakeholder engagement and alignment: this can be a very challenging task and must not be left to the PM alone. There will be conflicting needs amongst stakeholders often, especially when an endeavour delivers change. If this is so, the sponsor must participate and ensure that discussions are out in the open and resolved for the right reasons.
Resolve Enterprise issues: for example. There will be times when the priorities of key individuals across the organisation do not match those of the project. When their participation is essential and outside of the PMs ability to influence, the sponsor may well have to become involved.
Ability to make tough decisions: there will be times when tough and even unpopular decisions need to be made. A great sponsor will have the judgment to make the right call and share why.

Why does this role not always work?

It seems an obvious role to have for projects, but it does not always work. Let’s look at a few reasons.

if any or many of the above are challenged, the effectiveness of this role will suffer, maybe a great deal.
to be effective you need to be a senior, sometimes very senior person. That in itself comes with its own challenges, especially around participation.
many who are asked to do this role have never run or even worked on projects. If this is so, they will have a very steep learning curve and there is a real risk they will make poor judgments and decisions, especially in the early stages.

To ensure that the Sponsor is clear about his/her important role, it needs to be documented and agreed upfront at the start of any project so that the Sponsor will know what is expected to be really effective in the role.

About the Author:

Kevin Lonergan is a career long project management professional and works for PMIS Consulting. He coaches a wide variety of companies in many topics relating to improving project delivery. His experience all comes from the real world of delivering projects and introducing practices that make a real difference.

January 16, 2018February 23, 2018 Linky

10 Tips for Validating your Project Schedule

By Linky van der Merwe

Whether you’re a new or an existing Project Manager, it’s always a good idea to validate your project schedule. This is especially useful if you use a scheduling tool like MS Project, or similar to plan your projects and then to execute against the plan.

Watch the short video below to help you to validate that the project schedule contains all the necessary Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) elements to complete a project successfully.

Click here to download your own validation template that supports the schedule validation steps.

January 12, 2018December 22, 2018 Linky

How to be a SMART Project Manager in 2018

At the beginning of every new year people think about their goals and resolutions for the upcoming year. However, by the end of January, most people have forgotten their good intentions and fall back into old habits or routines and tend to do the same things they have always done.

I’m sure many of you have fallen into this trap, but there are always people who seem to have it together. What are they doing differently?

Good practices

Just like project management has been standardized by way of international standards and good practices ensuring consistent delivery and more successful outcomes, there are SMART ways to help you be more productive by keeping to your goals for the year.

Some experts recommend to have a vision by way of setting a personal theme as well as a professional theme for the year. This will take you beyond goals and resolutions and will help you to reach your objectives and become like a “heartbeat” for the year.

Based on your themes, you will still come up with objectives that will help you to achieve your goals and give you the best chance for success. If you don’t plan and prepare to win, how can you expect to win? This is taken from a Zig Ziglar “Born to win philosophy”.

There are numerous productivity experts and books available today that can help you reach higher levels of performance and it’s up to you to choose who to follow and what to implement. As long as you make it personal and you keep referring to your written goals on a monthly, weekly and even daily basis, there’s no obstacles that you cannot overcome.

How to make 2018 a successful year

Lastly, I want to share a wonderful resource on “How to make 2018 a successful year for your projects”, an eBook that was compiled by Elizabeth Harrin, containing ideas and tips from experts and inspiring project delivery professionals on how to make 2018 your most successful year ever? I was also privileged to be featured.

Some common themes that came up repeatedly are:

Agile – if you don’t know enough about it, you need to start learning
How crucial soft skills are for project professionals
Authentic and ethical leadership that will help to get the work done and set you apart from your peers

Enjoy the eBook, take responsibility for your personal and career development and implement those success strategies that will help you to make this year one of the best years ever!

Please subscribe to Virtual Project Consulting not to miss future articles, tips and success stories!

January 4, 2018May 12, 2019 Linky

The Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) requires a company to take responsibility for the impact of its operations on society and the environment therefore it can be described as the efforts a company makes beyond the legal requirements to improve society as well as the environment.

According to a 2016 study involving CEOs, over 65% of the CEOs who took part in the study, said that companies are increasingly treating CSR as a core aspect of business rather than a stand-alone side channel.

The Harvard Business Review recommends a number of approaches to engage in CSR:

#1 Transform the business model

This entails creating new forms of business to address the environmental or social issues with the aim of boosting business performance. A good example of this is hiring locals to help in the distribution of products instead of outsourcing that service to another company. By doing so, a company would be able to lower its operating costs, create employment opportunities for the locals and ultimately help grow the local economy.

#2 Improving operational effectiveness

These are the efforts geared towards boosting the functional performance of a business. For this reason, they optimize a company’s operations and in the process deliver social and environmental benefits as well. Examples of such efforts include green initiatives that not only help a company conserve natural resources, reduce pollution and waste, but also reduce its operating costs.

#3 Engaging in philanthropy

Philanthropy initiatives should not aim to boost a company’s profits or improve its performance. Instead, they should aim to benefit local community programs and charities. In most cases, such initiatives involve donating money or other assets to charities and other community programs.

Below is an Infographic from Norwich University Online explaining how consumers are more passionate about global social issues and would consider a company’s CSR efforts before buying its stocks or mutual funds. It also provides recommendations for how to improve engagement in CSR.

Norwich University Master of Business Administration Online

December 24, 2017 Linky

Christmas Wishes for 2017

December 19, 2017February 14, 2022 Linky

Top 10 Qualities of a Great Project Manager

When taking stock of 2017 and setting your goals for 2018, it’s a good opportunity to remind yourself of the top 10 qualities that will help to make you a great project manager, according to Brandeis University.

In the Infographic below, you will also find tips from experienced project managers. For more articles on project management skills and best practices, click here.

Brandeis University M.S. in Project and Program Management Online

December 11, 2017December 9, 2017 Linky

A Guide to Understanding RACI for Project Management

By Jane Sandwood

Ensuring the success of a project is vital for all project managers and their teams. The project manager is held accountable for the overall project but requires a team to complete the work.

No matter how detailed the project plan may be, even the slightest confusion about the roles and responsibilities of team members will cause major problems. Whether it is a 4-person, 10-person or an international team with virtual team members, they need to understand their roles and responsibilities on the project.

The best way to define each member’s role is to use a RACI matrix model also known as a Responsibility Assignment Matrix. This model is an essential project management tool that provides the project manager and team members with key information that clarifies the roles of the group.

What is the RACI Model?

RACI stands for:

Responsible,
Accountable,
Consulted,
Informed

The RACI Model helps you to identify who is responsible, accountable, consulted, or informed, for every task which needs to be done on a project.

RACI will structure and organize the roles of each team member or group within the project. Therefore, understanding how to use a RACI matrix model will be helpful in a project manager’s toolbox.

How to use RACI

You can apply the RACI model to your project by listing every task, strategy, key decision, and milestone. Here’s a break-down of what each component of the RACI model means:

Responsibility – Assigned to members who will be doing the work.
Accountability – Given to the person who needs to ensure that the task is done in a satisfactory manner. Typically, this person will sign-off on the task once completed. There should only be one accountable person per task.
Consult – For members who provide input before the task is complete. These people are highly active in the project.
Informed – This is for people who need to be informed about the status of a task, progress, and decisions. However, they do not need to be consulted directly or contribute to the task.

Good Practices with RACI

To follow the RACI model, project managers must identify the functions within the department and describe the key milestones needed to be completed to deliver the full scope of the project.

To be most productive keep activities and decisions short and specific. This will apply to a need or role, rather than the person carrying out the task.

When you create the model, follow the matrix by creating structure roles down the left side in separate tables and enter the RACI codes accordingly.

When the RACI model is complete, review it with team members to give them the chance to resolve any conflicts or confusion. The model will settle any questions and document the responsibilities of an entire team. The best way to do this is to balance the roles and keep each task simple, yet meaningful.

November 22, 2017July 2, 2024 Linky

Your Digital Reputation: What do Stakeholders see about you?

By Lorian Lipton

Your professional reputation is everything when it comes to your career. In today’s business world, your clients and your next employer are all looking at the ‘digital you’ on the internet. Everyday over 1 million names are searched on Google. Your digital resume is available online in one form or another every day of the year and every minute of the day. If you are not leveraging your digital reputation then you are leaving yourself vulnerable in ways that can hurt your career and your future projects. Every professional needs to own how they look in cyberspace, so stop writing that status report for a few minutes and let’s focus on your future.

Why You Want To Manage Your Digital Reputation

Managing your online reputation is not about self-promoting or trying to get your next position, it’s about providing an accurate representation of your achievements and knowledge. It’s about how you are perceived professionally. It’s about the brand of you.

Whether you use social media or not, mentions of you, your company, even your project, may be on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. People are talking about You; don’t you want to know what they are saying?

For years now, third party robots have been collecting and analyzing digital information about everything we do. Some of this information is in our control (i.e. social profiles), but most is not (i.e. other’s postings, credit card information, our app usage). All this information about you is your digital footprint whether good or bad, and it shapes your digital reputation.

Do you really want machines controlling what people know about you?

Take Control Of Your Digital Persona

1. Look at your digital footprint

When’s the last time your ‘Googled’ your name to find out what people see about you on the internet? The goal is to match your online professional self to your offline professional self. If you are a Six Sigma guru your social media persona should reflect that. Does it?

To take inventory of what information is out there about you type your name into Advanced Google Search. This is the most common way to check yourself and it’s free. Don’t forget to check your online aliases also, if you have them. They may haunt you at some point if you don’t. Check all the social sites you can think of to see what people are saying about you. This may take a few hours, but it is well worth the digital inventory to know where you stand.

2. Establish your business credibility on the internet

To build your digital reputation, you don’t need to be everywhere, but you need to be somewhere. For me, LinkedIn and Twitter are my virtual offices. Everything I post is business appropriate and helps establish my thought leadership in my chosen fields.

Facebook, on the other hand, is my living room. I like to keep this part of my digital life private for friends and family. On the internet, personal and professional details can get very mixed. You can use the private settings on social media sites to limit what people see about your personal life but, I do want to warn you that even behind a private firewall, you need to assume that information can, and will, leak. Do you really want your work associates to see those football party pictures? Think about how you want to be perceived.

3. Participate

You build a strong reputation by participating on social media sites. Posting your own information and commenting on other’s posts adds to your digital reputation and show up when you are searched. It’s helpful to join Groups on sites like Twitter and industry specific websites. When you comment in forums or digital communities, that information gets added to the internet’s vast collection of details on you. I use LinkedIn to write microblogs and post articles which highlight my expertise. Believe me, social media participation doesn’t take over your life – you don’t need to participate more than two or three times a week to build your reputation. Comments here and there add up over time.

Building and managing your digital reputation holds many positive benefits to you personally and professionally. As Dilbert® said back in 2013

“If you don’t have friends, followers, or social media influence, you are pretty much dead.”

If you leave me a comment I will do my best to answer and the bonus is that this will help us both improve our digital footprint. Keep up the good attitude.

******************************************************

About the Author: Lorian Lipton, PMP, is passionate about project management and everything digital. She provides project management consulting, training and coaching through her company The Digital Attitude, LLC.

Content is copyright of Lorian Lipton, The Digital Attitude, LLC 2017.