Although I have had no formal project management training, I have been project managing for the last five years. I’ve also become friends with, worked with, and have even dated project managers. I have met The Perfectionist, The Type Triple A, The Disorganized (although they will tell you otherwise), The Hardcore , The Hippie and The Nit-Picker and probably quite a few other types along the way. Allow me to offend and generalize introduce to you:

The Perfectionist
The Perfectionist believes that controlling the project is possible. We all would love to be The Perfectionist. When you first meet them, they make you believe that perfection is obtainable. Unfortunately, most Perfectionists end up pissing off their team by living in an alternate reality and will eventually burn out.

The Type Triple A
The biggest difference between The Perfectionist and The Type Triple A is that The TTA can let things go and probably has superior Excel skills. The Type Triple A will likely launch on time and on budget but needs to connect with his or her team in more meaningful and encouraging ways. That’s because they love pivot tables more than face-time. The Type Triple A is super-helpful and truly understands the big picture but could be a better listener. 

The Disorganized
The Disorganized PM has an identity problem. They think they are both a Perfectionist and a Type Triple A but they are really just treading water in the sea of details trying to keep their heads up.  They will take endless notes, have long meetings and hammer through a million details but when it comes to documentation it’s either over or under-documented and poorly written. They too, end up pissing off the team because the team is not receiving information or assets they need to get their jobs done.

The Hardcore
The Hardcore PM is elusive. They are armed with MBAs and letters on the end of their names and certificates. They only sleep in meetings at work. They know and use extensive PM software.  They are emotionally detached from the team. This is all I’ve come to know of the specimen that is The Hardcore PM. *Insert Western Cowboy Movie Whistle*

The Hippie
The Hippie PM loves email and group decisions. They love the team. No really, they LOOOVE the team. The team loves them back. The Hippie does not conform to company standards and therefore the team will do anything for them but the company will do nothing for The Hippie. Documentation is in bullets in an email somewhere but it doesn’t matter because The Hippie is always there when you need the details.

The Nitpicker
The Nitpicker is lost in the problem details. He or she gets stuck on how to solve the impossible and has a hard time communicating with the rest of the company. They are good listeners and understand and work with the team very well but need to let go and see the bigger picture when it counts.

The Zen PM
Meet John Carroll, a project manager consultant spreading wisdom and invaluable advice on his blog: thetaoofpm.blogspot.com. If you identify with any of the characteristics of the PMs I’ve listed above- go read his blog, learn something and chill out.

I am really excited to be going to the Youth Privacy Online Conference in September. Specifically, I am looking forward to hearing from speakers: Dr. Ann Cavoukian, Dr. Valerie Steeves (because we know how I disagree), Chris Kelly (Privacy Officer, Facebook) and Bruce Cowper (Microsoft). It’s a jam-packed day but it looks to be a good one!

I’ve been looking at how a lot of websites approach their FAQ lately. When it comes to website development, I think the FAQ is often an afterthought completed towards the end of a project.

I look at it as another line of communication with the community.  If questions are not addressed, I know that member support will increase and that usually means more time and money is involved.

As a community producer, often the FAQ and Contact Us pages are my responsibility. A general rule that I follow is that the FAQ page should be treated more like a knowledge base and ‘website handbook’ rather than a page with a list of questions, which is the more traditional idea. There needs to be a relationship between these two pages. The submission of questions via a Contact Us page should be a last resort for your members.

Right now I am in love with the idea of using a wiki for an FAQ. Here are my ten reasons why (in no particular order):

1. Categorization- A wiki is categorized by nature in a platform that is familiar to your visitors. It’s already organized!

2. Tutorials and the use of images- the key here is flexibility that you may not have with a static webpage. On Whirled.com, it looks like content can be created by members via APIs- and as such, they use their wiki to help guide developers through the process. As more and more sites allow platform development by third-parties, wikis are great for showcasing and archiving this information.

3. Alphabetization - When you need to scan and process a lot of text on a webpage, this is so important.

4. List of recent changes - A link to recent updates is a great thing for growing documentation.

5. Search - Your members should have a reliable search, especially when they need to find information quickly and are having issues NOW.

6. RSS- Frequent product or content releases can be followed by members via RSS readers.

7. Your community knows your site better than you do - trust me, they do. They will be the first to point out solutions to new members OR bugs and problems to everyone. If you allow your member-base to contribute, not only will they pick out the finer points but they will do it in a tone and manner that other members can relate to.  

8. Moderation- this is a must-have if you work on websites for kids.

9. Printable versions - sometimes there are steps involved and old-school members like to print out those steps. Personally, I like saving trees. But I like options too.

10. Keep the discussion about problems with the answers on how to solve them. - There is a discussion page within a wiki so why not have questions there instead of on a separate forum? When members are having trouble they sometimes become upset and don’t have an investment in the community enough to care about where and what they are posting. 

However some site-owners do not like having criticism displayed openly on a forum- especially in Beta. I’m all for allowing criticism through on forums as long as it’s constructive, but there needs to be consistent moderation to accompany this. By using a wiki you can keep site questions and issues, tutorials and a knowledge base all in one place. It then becomes a ‘community project’ and gives members ownership, strengthening your community and providing a central help database for new members.

Okay, maybe one more…

11. Share the work- we’re all busy with different priorities. If you have internal stakeholders that require you to update your FAQ on a regular basis, why not hand it off to them so that they can assure that their content is accurate and timely? Then they too will become active participants in your community!

Happy FAQing!