Mantra for leveraging Emerging Trends

Ashutosh MutsaddiDirectorNTT Data

Leveraging Social Media Analytics in Project Management

Theme: Mantra for Leveraging Emerging Trends

Keywords:

Social media, communication, sentiment analysis, metrics, voice-of-customer

Abstract:

This paper aims to provide a roadmap to leverage social media in project management. The social media

tools available today can be used to improve project communication; provide a platform for collaboration

and introduce new project metrics. But a project manager should assess if social media is appropriate for

his project. We will discuss the ‘4C’ framework to classifystakeholder profiles and determine if project

ecosystem is conducive for using social media.

One of the key benefits of social media is the ability to introduce new metrics in project management.

Social media and analytics help us capture the voice-of-customer-(or stakeholders in this case). Metrics

such as stakeholder sentiment analysis can augment existing metrics such as EVM; thus helping the

manager drive the project effectively and address issues proactively.

A project manager has to ensurethat the social media tools are customized to meet the communication

needs of the project team. In this context, we will discuss the ‘SLATES’ framework to check if theusers’

requirements for Search, Links, Authorship, Tags, Extensions and Signals are being met.

As with any other project management initiative, there should be a strong mechanism to gather feedback

from stakeholders and enhance the solution. We will focus on some of the best practices for continuous

improvement of the social media initiative.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction.............................................................................................................................................3

2. Roadmap for implementing social media in project management..........................................................3

2.1 Assess stakeholder requirements and suitability of social media......................................................4

2.2 Select the social media tools for the project.....................................................................................5

2.3 Monitor sentiments and build metrics..............................................................................................6

2.4 Assess effectiveness and continuous improvement..........................................................................8

3. Challenges...........................................................................................................................................9

4. Conclusion...............................................................................................................................................9

5. References.............................................................................................................................................10

1. IntroductionThe recent years have witnessed rising popularity of consumer social media applications such as Twitter

and Facebook. People use these tools for communication with their friends and peers. With the increasing

consumerization of technology, users have easily adapted social tools without any formal training. At the

same time, they have developed similar expectation from their office tools. They seek to interact rather

than consume information passively. They like to participate and voice their opinions through blogs,wikis

and IM updates. They are open to the use of podcasts and webinars to get information. Such social

interactions in the enterprise help knowledge sharing and empower people to express their views.

(Altimeter Research, 2012)

Globalization has brought new complexities to project management. Project teams are diverse; often

scattered throughout the world and located in different time-zones. This increases the challenge of

effective communication among project stakeholders. Leveraging social media toolsin project

management offers an effective solution to meet the challenges ofproject communication; provide a

platform for collaboration and introduce new project metrics.

2. Roadmap for implementing social media in project managementIntroduction of new process or technology presents unique challenges and opportunities. Social media is

widely used in daily life but its application in an enterprise requires detailed planning and execution. In this

document, we will study a roadmap for the implementation of social media tools in project management.

Following are the key steps in this process (as shown in Fig. 1) -

2.1)Assess stakeholder requirements and suitability of social media.

2.2)Select the social tools suitable to the project.

2.3)Monitor sentiments and build new metrics.

2.4) Check effectiveness and initiate continuous improvement

2.1 Assessstakeholder requirements and suitability of social media

Project managers have to assess if the social media tools are suitable for their projects. The success of

this initiative is largely driven by the participation of the stakeholders. The project members should have

an inclination to contribute and actively use the social tools. The project manager should also consider the

enterprise environmental factors – such as the organizational culture, access to social media tools etc.

But when the other factors are conducive, the project team determines the success of the social initiative.

To assess the suitability of social media for a project, it is important to classify the stakeholders based on

their propensity to participate. Project managers can use the‘4C’ framework to categorize active

stakeholders(based on Li and Bernoff, 2011). It classifies the active participants into four major

categories, as shown in Fig. 2 –

1. Creators: These are stakeholders who are likely to create new content for the social webpage.

They express their opinions and ideas in the form of wikis, blogs or webcasts. These team

members play a crucial role in the propagation and popularity of the social media initiative.

2. Conversationalists: These stakeholders are likely to update their status profile or post smaller

messages or micro-blogs. They create new content but not as voluminous as the Creators.

3. Critics: The Critics play an equally important role. They participate in discussions and post their

opinions in response to the content posted by others. They help build on other’s ideas and voice

their feedback. They also enable online collaboration by editing wiki articles.

4. Collectors: The collectors actively read and follow the content posted by other members. They

are likely to use signals (RSS feeds) to keep themselves abreast of the latest updates. They

participate in surveys or opinion polls online.

Theother team members would fall under the categories of Joiners, Spectators and Inactives. These

groups basically consume the social information passively or are reluctant to participate. Based on the

percentage of project stakeholders in the 4C categories, the project managers can gauge if social media

would be successful. Further, they should focus on gathering requirements from these user groups to

determine the social media tools to be deployed in the project.

2.2 Select the social media tools for the projectSocial media applications offer a suite of tools, each designed to meet different requirements. Following

are some of the key tools (Harrin, Oct 2010) and ways to leverage them in project management.

2.2.1) Blogs: A blog is an information or discussion log posted on a social website, from

where it can be accessed by the team members. Blogs are organized in reverse

chronological order with the latest posts at the top, for easy access. Micro-blogs are

brief statements and updates with a limited character length. For example, the project

management team can maintain a blog with the latest information and updates on the

project. Some organizations have a structured format for their blogs (such as a blog for

minutes of meeting) or an unstructured format (for announcements, updates etc.) to

convey information. The team can also seek comments from project team-members.

This allows them to participate in the discussion, ask questions and simulate further

thinking. A micro-blog with the current status, updates or reminders to the team is also a

handy communication tool.

2.2.2) Feed and notifications: In case of large project teams, there can be a plethora of

information on the social media site. Team membersshould be able to focus on the

areas that are relevant to them. The feed functionality allows the users to select the

topics and authors they want to follow. Any subsequent update or post is received as a

notification. For example, in each project phase, the team will be focused on different

work areas. They can subscribe to these areas accordingly and follow them in their

notification tab.

2.2.3) Instant messaging(IM)– This feature is popularly referred to as a chat. It allows users

to communicate with each other in the form on an interactive discussion. IM is one of

the most popular tools in project management. It is particularly useful for scattered

project teams to discuss any complex or technical details that cannot be verbally

communicated over telephones.

2.2.4) Wikis – Wikis are articles co-authored and edited by several team members. It is an

effective tool to build a knowledge repository with participation from different sources.

Team members are free to edit or add content and synergistically build a complete

article. For instance, at the end of the design phase, different team members can

contribute to the design aspects that they are responsible for and create a collaborative

document.

2.2.5) Webcasts and Podcasts – Information can be shared using video and audio feeds

through webcasts and podcasts. These files can be played back on demand, as per the

convenience of the user. These tools are extremely useful for project teams in different

time zones, who may not be able to attend a live meeting. The videos feeds are also

effective in sharing live pictures of a prototype or screen-sharing with program data,

which may be difficult to explain in words.

Table 1 summarizes the major social media tools and their applications -

Applications Social Media Tools

Communication - Blogs, Micro-blogs

- Feed, notifications

Collaboration - Wikis

- Instant Messaging

Knowledge sharing - Webcasts

- Podcasts

2.3 Monitor sentiments and build metricsSocial media tools can help improve communication in the project team. Another key benefit is that they

can help a manager to gather critical feedback and measure the health of the project.

A project manager relies on several metrics to gauge the actual progress in comparison with the baseline

plan and determine if there is any slippage. The Earned Value Management is one such technique

commonly used by managers to determine cost and schedule variance (PMBOK ®, 2013).

However, it is important to measure the qualitative factors related to the project. The perception of

stakeholders, their opinions and sentiments can provide a good measure of the progress of the project.

Although a project may be on-time and under-budget, the deliverables may not be shaping up to

theexpectations of the stakeholders. Hence, measuring the voice-of-customer (or stakeholder) (VoC) can

provide useful insights into the qualitative aspects of the project.

Research shows that companies that use VoC programs to capture sentiments and feedback, and

address them through personalized, timely interactions, succeed in delighting customers and improving

operational efficiencies (Minkara and Pinder, 2014; Roman 2011). The VoC technique is now commonly

adapted in different business areas – including projects, to gauge the opinion of customers (both internal

and external). The key challenge is to gather feedback from the customer on a regular basis.

Questionnaires, surveys and interviews are the techniques used to reach out to customers at certain

milestones. Social media tools and analytics can play an important role in communicating with the project

ecosystem. The project team has an open channel of communication to express their views and

feedback. Thus, the voice-of-customer can be heard in real-time and corrective actions initiated to rectify

the situation.

There are two ways in which social media analytics can be used for VoC measurement:-

2.3.1) Quantifying feedback from social posts – In case of small project teams, the project

managers and their team can review the comments, feedback and posts from the project

stakeholders. They can reply to the authors, answering their queries or assuring them on the

steps taken. The total count of positive and negative comments received during a period, can

be a good measure of the stakeholders’ sentiments. Other parameters such as the criticality

of the issue, impact and the importance of the contributor can be used to arrive at a score for

each post. The data can be mined further to determine parameters such as geographical

location, role or importance of each stakeholder. This can help isolate the exact issues and

take proactive measures to correct them.

2.3.2) Using Text Analytics technology- . In case of large projects with many stakeholders, it may

not be possible to measure the customer sentiment manually. There are analytical tools

available that can study large volume of social data and assess overall positive or negative

trends. These tools search for keywords in the text messages and derive the author’s

sentiment based on certain business rules. They also have trend analysis, alert functions and

workflow rules to highlight any major deviation. (Sterne, 2010)

In this way, the unstructured data scattered in the social blogs, comments and posts can be a source

of measuring stakeholder sentiment. Social media tools can thus complement the traditional project

metrics such as EVM to arrive at a complete picture of the project.

2.4 Assess effectiveness and initiate continuous improvement

It is important to review the effectiveness of the social media solution in a project. As stated earlier, the

success of the initiative depends on the active participation of the project team. It is critical to assess if the

solution and tools meet the requirements of the users. The manager should initiate a continuous

improvement initiative to meet the dynamic requirements for the project team and take corrective actions.

The SLATES framework(McAfee, 2006) focuses on checking if the users’ requirements for Search, Links,

Authorship, Tags, Extensions and Signals (Fig. 3) are being met. Following are the key parameters –

2.4.1) Search–It is essential for the users to search and access information posted on the website.

The effectiveness of the search will determine if the project teams relies on the social system

as a dependable source of information. For example, keywords and tag search should be

supported to look up any documents, IM conversations blogs or comments

2.4.2) Links – When users access a webpage, they should be directed to other relevant pages

linked to it. Effective linking of webpages is essential to ensure that relevant content is

displayed to the user. For example, when users look up the risk register, they can be

provided a link to risk management blogs, for ready reference.

2.4.3) Authorship – This is one of the major differentiators of social media tools. The project team

has the right to author new content or to express their comments and feedback on other’s

ideas. The manager should ensure that the right authorizations are provided to the team

members to create and edit content.

2.4.4) Tags – Tags are simple one-word descriptions that are attached to a webpage in order to

categorize and search effectively. For example,if the group has posted scattered feedback on

the lessons learnt, they can use a custom hash-tag which will enable them to search and

locate all the points and update them in a central register.

2.4.5) Extensions – These are algorithms that study search patterns and propose webpages to the

users based on their past actions.

2.4.6) Signals–Tools such as RSS feed or email alerts should be available, so that the users can

get updates on the tags, blogs or authors of their choice.

Based on this assessment, the project manager should initiate a process of continuous improvement and

refine the social media solution to meet these changing requirements.

3. ChallengesAdopting social media tools in project management can bring a major change in the way the team

communicates and interacts. This can be a major paradigm shift for some organizations and teams.

Following are some of the hurdles faced in accepting social media in project management. These

challenges can be either technical or social in nature. –

2.4.1 Acceptance ofopen culture:The social media tools enable all team members to voice

their opinion and feedback. In certain hierarchical organizations, there may be resistance

to this open culture. It is essential for the manager to consult major stakeholders and

hierarchical leaders before introducing social media in the organization.

2.4.2 Perception of productivity loss: One of the common perceptions about social media is

that it can lead to loss of productivity. There are concerns that team members may spend

too much time using the social tools such as IMs. But research shows that the improved

communication provided by social tools often leads to improved productivity. Knowledge

workers spend 15 – 25% of their time searching for information. (Feldman and Sherman)

The gains from social media can offset any losses in productivity.

2.4.3 Alignment with corporate policy: In certain organizations, the corporate IT policy does

not include social media tools. Before the start of this initiative, the manager has to

consult the IT leadership team on the policy for social media. If the organization has a

defined policy, then the manager has to ensure adherence. This may require some

additional monitoring from the project management team to ensure that the content is

reasonable, representative, responsible, respectful and restraining (Meister, 2013)

2.4.4 Access control and traceability: The content generated on the social media webpages

should be transparent and traceable. The management team should be able to locate the

contributor of each comment or blog while restricting access where required. This is

important to ensure that the authors are credited for their content and any complaints or

feedback is addressed. It also discourages abuse of the system. Many social media tools

offer these features, but the manager should ensure that the access control and

traceability features are in line with their organization requirements.

4. Conclusion

Social media tools and analytics can improve project communication and measure stakeholder

sentiments. Success of a social media initiative depends on the participation of the team members.

Project manager should assess if the organizational policies and stakeholder profiles encourage the use

of social media. Based on the exact requirements of the project, the manager can select the social media

tools to be deployed. Social media tools help a project manager listen to the voice-of-customer.Gathering

feedback and analytically analyzing sentiments can build additional metrics for managing the projects

effectively.

5. References

[1] Altimeter Research, Making Business Case for Enterprise Social Networks, Focus on Relationships to

Drive Data, San Mateo, CA, USA, (Feb 22, 2012) (pp.12-16)

[2] Feldman, Susan and Sherman, Chris, The High Cost of Not Finding Information, An IDC White Paper,

Framingham, MA, USA, (July 2001), <http://ejitime.com/materials/IDC%20on%20The%20High%20Cost

%20Of%20Not%20Finding%20Information.pdf >

[3] Harrin, Elizabeth, Social Media for Project Managers, Project Management Institute, Newtown Square,

PA, USA (Oct 2010), ISBN 978-1935589112

[4] Li, Charlene and Bernoff, Josh, Groundswell, Forrester Research, Vook Inc.; Harvard Business

Review Press; Expanded and Revised Edition (30 June 2011), ASIN: B0057Z7H40

[5] McAfee, Andrew. P, Enterprise 2.0: The Dawn of Emergent Collaboration, MIT Sloan Management

Review, vol. 47, no. 3, (Spring 2006)

[6] Meister, Jeanne, To Do: Update Company’s Social Media Policy ASAP, Forbes.com, (Feb 7,

2013)http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeannemeister/2013/02/07/to-do-update-companys-social-media-policy-

asap/

[7] Minkara, Omer and Pinder, Aly, Voice of the Customer: Big Data as a Strategic Advantage, Aberdeen

Group research paper (April 2014), http://www.aberdeen.com/Aberdeen-Library/9000/RR-voc-big-data-

advantage.aspx

[8] Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK) Fifth

Edition. Newtown Square, PA, (2013) (Chapter 7)

[9] Roman, Ernan, Voice-Of-The-Customer Marketing, A Revolutionary 5-step Process to Create

Customers who Care, Spend and Stay, McGraw-Hill, USA. (2011). ISBN 978-0071740838 (Chapter 7 –

Harnessing the Power of VOC-driven Social Media)

[10] Sterne, Jim, Text Analytics for Social Media, SAS Research paper (2010)

http://www.sas.com/resources/whitepaper/wp_24091.pdf