Sharing at Work

Our new SharePoint site is coming in handy for status updates.  Yesterday afternoon I kicked off an ETL^? data load for a teammate.  It ran long and eventually failed so I had to fix it this morning.  In the meantime we fired off a few emails back and forth with about four people included thanks to Reply All.  Fixing the problem took about two hours and so I emailed folks a link to my issue tracking thread on SharePoint rather than continuously broadcasting my status.

How does this help?
By offloading status updates to a web service we’re achieving several benefits.  First, the information is public.  Interested parties who weren’t in on the initial emails can see this issue log without having to ask for a copy of the email chain.  Second, the information is now searchable and persistent.  I’ll be able to bring it back up in four months if I need it, even though my inbox has turned over three times by then due to a small mailbox quota.  Third, we’re removing some load from the email system.  Each status update doesn’t need to be directed to five different inboxes now.  I only have to send the really important emails now, like the ones saying “this is going to take longer than expected, I’ll call you when it’s done” or “problem solved!”.

The gains outlined above boil down to these two information sharing ideals: Transparency and network effects.  Anything important learned in the execution of this task is now documented, searchable, and available to the public.  An unlimited number of interested parties can check up on the thread without having been party to the original conversation.

Microblogs can be even better!
Even though it’s great fun posting status updates to a web service there are still more ways to improve our workflow.  It’s great having status updates publicly viewable, but I still have to communicate important events like “I’m finished” via email or instant message.  If my team used a microblogging service like Twitter or Yammer I could post a public update: “I’ve finished the CDW reload.  Issue log available at this link.”  With this addition there’s no need for me to send the emails or instant messages at all!

Another layer of our inter-team workflow has been captured on our intranet and is now offering the same value - transparency and network effects - as the status log.  We could stream our updates into a private team room on FriendFeed (like Nick Boucart’s team did) so teammates would have a central place to track and communicate with one another.  There are lots of opportunities here but my problem is going to be figuring out how to get the power of microblogging introduced into a culture where Sharepoint is already a hefty undertaking.  I don’t know that I can make microblogging happen here just yet but in the meantime I’ll try to lead by example.