Grant Killian's Blog

No, this has nothing to do with beer -- but maybe it should?

Blog Quandary

Here's the scenario:

The blog helps secure a contract with a customer; the blog's tech content helped to sell the customer. This is wonderful!
The contract with the customer has aggressive timeframes that involve overtime etc. Project can't be done soon enough. This isn't wonderful, but fairly typical.
The blog is now used as a barometer of how busy the blogger is: if the blogger has time to blog then they have time to rename these columns and tackle all the other items on the todo list. Translation: time spent blogging is time not spent on the contract and, therefore, time wasted in the eyes of the customer.

Has anybody else been stuck in this quandary? Blogging is good for business . . . but blogging is bad for the blogger. I don't think a frequent blogger is an unproductive worker (necessarily!), but I've heard of Human Resource issues around bloggers posting and so on.

I'm thinking one approach is to queue up all the blog posts until the contract ends and then let them loose like a dam breaking . . . maybe one every 12 hours or so until they're all out there. The problem is, what happens when the contract renews . . . I think a more sustainable compromise is necessary.

Published Mar 04 2005, 06:07 AM by grant.killian

Comments

Chris Wallace said:

You could always be like Scoble and post a slew of entries in the wee hours of the morning.

# March 4, 2005 6:29 AM

Darrell said:

Yeah, just post blog entries not on work time. Then if they say something, you can respond that you only blog on personal time. :)

# March 4, 2005 9:12 AM

David M. said:

Blogs are usually very current items. A blog ripples through the blogs of others -- so saving completed blogs for later dates would be self defeating, you'd be out of date when posting. I think a consistent rate is important, so people know how often to check back. Just make sure that the posting time is some ridulously early time in the morning, which may keep your job but lose your spouse. Blog Quandary -- Posting early in the morning...

# March 4, 2005 9:36 AM

Jeffrey Palermo said:

In my opinion, my client doesn't own me. Time spent doing what I want (non-billable hours) doesn't matter. Time spent blogging is time not working on their project. Time spent sleeping, whizzing, eating, hanging out with my family. etc is time not spent working on their project.

I would never commit to 8-5 every weekday, every minute, I'll be working. I would set a reasonable deadline that they would agree to. That has to be set. The sooner the better is not a deadline. It's an unreasonable expectation.

I wouldn't do a project under these contraints. The contract isn't enforceable. No deadline. No terms. This is my opinion.

# March 4, 2005 9:49 AM

Brendan Tompkins said:

I spend 1 hour every morning at work reading blogs and posting to our link blog. I consider this good for the client, as it's learning for me. When I have something that I really want to post about, I take a short lunch, or do it at the end of the day. This is also good for the client because it's documentation of sorts, and I also learn through blogging about the topic so I don't worry too much if it bleeds into work time.

But, the big thing is that to me it all comes out in the wash, and blogging has made every project I do better. The client wins no matter what.

Now, try convincing an HR person that, and you're out of luck! It is a total Quandry.

# March 5, 2005 6:40 AM

Dave Burke said:

Excellent three-point description of the quandary. Exactly!

As a teleworker, I do experience some blogging bleed time on the 9-5 block. But productivity is always the focus, so if a goal or project needs done, blogging gets bumped. Not an issue.

A list is good. I often have a list of blog posts I want to write. My current list contains13 items! Of those 13, I want to write at least 9 or 10, and they will still be timely. When I DO blog between 9-5 its for something that's happening right now or that I just resolved, and I don't hesitate to enter those posts whenever they occur.

Like Brendan, I have a small block of AM time where I usually read and comment on blogs, but most of my blogging is during downtime when the work is done or after hours. Blogging in spurts for the three reasons you captured.

Great post! (Hope it wasn't entered during working hours when you should have been working on that project... :-)

# March 5, 2005 11:20 AM

Steve Campbell said:

My interpretation...

I think perhaps you have a broader problem of your client not perceiving enough transparency in your development process. They are seeing you as a black box where they input their requirements and you output the finished product. The blogging gives them a window into the "box", but if it is the only window they have, then I am not surprised at their confusion.

Solution: Better communication - give them more "windows" and more opportunity to interact with the development process. Make them participants rather than observers. (Need I say Agile?)

# July 14, 2006 1:26 PM

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