Level2wo

Without sounding too…something, I can’t stress the importance of teamwork. Not only in the sense of your coworkers helping you achieve the goals you need to achieve and vice versa, but in bringing together ideas and perspectives that, when combined (again, sorry to use this word, which I’m sure you’ve all heard plenty of times just in the past few weeks alone) create synergy. It’s what makes projects succesful, initiatives succesful, and, to go a little further, it’s what makes communities, country, and the world succesful.

But with teamwork comes personalities, egos, opinions, and every other factor you can imagine that has the potential to throw teamwork off track and away from the goals you’ve set for that team to begin with. Though not always the case, gathering groups of people, especially in business, means that you’ll often have to deal with adversity, often have to defer when you think your points may be valid, and, the true test of your understanding of situations and benefitting from teamwork–you’ll have to be able to open your eyes and be receptive to points other than yours, right or wrong.

It’s through that process that the best ideas will emerge–be it for a direct mail piece, a larger marketing strategy, creative, or even what type of venue to have for company outings. Let me stress that again: open your eyes and be receptive to points other than yours. You’re not going to be right all of the time, and I’m not going to be right all of the time. I learn from you, and you learn from me. It’s what makes the wheels turn, and what brings the good ideas to better ideas.

Rarely will you encounter that genius who’s ideas and insight and execution are perfection incarnate; rarely will you have anyone single-handedly, at least in a company of any size, be the end all be all for whatever product or service you’re hawking.

Knowing how to be a teamplayer doesn’t mean giving up your place in the food chain–it means securing it through smart decisions, an open mind, and the realization that we’re all consumers of good ideas and bad, and we’re all producers of them as well. It’s the end result we’re after by participating in a team of any size or structure–so don’t sabotage it, because you’re the beneficiary.

Take a peek at some of these websites–for design, content, and just plain weird experiences. Some of these go through About.com–

Samorost

Subservient Chicken

Stuff on My Cat

SodaPlay

NotPRon

Boxwars

Bore Me

When you’re out there in the middle of techville, managing website builds and SEM campaigns and thinking about Search Engine Optimization, and writing copy (that, obviously, needs to be keyword rich), and you’re thinking about CTRs and PPC and maybe viewing your client’s business from the actual business perspective rather than from your point of view, and you’re google-ing things to help you cram in the minor bits and pieces of technology and the latest trends, you often for get the best resource of all (in my opinion): Books!

Below are a few books I find helpful when managing interactive media projects, some better than others–but I’ll stay hushed on which ones, as you may find some more interesting than others and I don’t want to skew your opinion in any way.

1. Managing Interactive Media: Project Management for Web and Digital Media by Elaine England and Andy Finney
2. Managing Interactive Media Projects by Tim Frick
3. Fundamentals of Technology Project Management by Colleen Garton and Erika McCulloch
4. Lean Project Management: Eight Principles For Success by Lawrence P. Leach
5. The Project Management Memory Jogger: A Pocket Guide for Project Teams (Growth Opportunity Alliance of Lawrence) by Paula Martin and Karen Tate
6. Web Project Management: Delivering Successful Commercial Web Sites by Ashley Friedlein
7. IT Project Management: On Track from Start to Finish, Second Edition (Certification Press) by Joseph Phillips

If you’re an experienced project management professional, or a newbie, the above books are good. I didn’t include the Project Management for Dummies book, but I’ve actually read it and it’s a good resource to keep at home–but don’t bring it to the office if you have a copy or buy one–not that you should be ashamed of it, because it’s a good resource, but you want to look your best, especially in front of clients–and Dummies books aren’t always the best way to project professionalism to the PM craft (or, likely any other professional position).

No, I’m not linking the two to go into any in-depth analysis today, only going to point out a truth you already know but one I thought I’d remind you about one more time: Visibility.

Blogs and social networks are great fun, great tools, and you don’t really have to be a computer geek to get into them and accomplish what your blog and social networking idols accomplish (ok, maybe you are a little geeky like me, because let’s face it, the cool kids…well, no, they probably blog and social network too, so scratch that.

Anyway, we’ve all heard how you’re not supposed to post pictures of certain things such as:

• You upside down drinking from a keg
• You streaking down main street
• You doing anything elicit
• You commiting a crime
• You…yea, you get it, YOU doing anything you’re not supposed to

The same applies to business blogs and social networks geared to business (think LinkedIn, etc). Sites like LinkedIn are used by professionals, and there’s a certain standard that has been created that LinkedIn users expect. It’s why they (and I) use the site, and anyone breaking away from those pretty strict standards gets either politely nudged (at best), or pushed aside in a business-violent manner (at worst). I probably created a term there, but you get the gist of what I’m trying to say.

Same applies in blogs. Business blogs can serve many purposes, but what you want to make sure you don’t do is anything you wouldn’t do at work, or with a client, or in front of anyone who you don’t want to insult (unless, of course, that’s the whole point of the blog, or of the entry). But even so, taking the high road is always a better bet than not. Remember, what you post today will likely still be showing up a decade from now in some form or fashion, and the negatives you throw up now could come back to haunt you.