Todd Biske: Outside the Box

SearchCIO.com recently had an article discussing blogging in the corporate world. I recently discussed the use of blogs and wikis inside the enterprise, this entry will focus on blogs that are exposed to outside world.

As James McGovern has lamented in the past, and Brandon Satrom recently, there really aren’t a lot of enterprise architects working in typical corporate IT blogging. By typical corporate IT, I mean at companies whose primary business is not technology. I don’t know if this carries over to other roles within IT, but I suspect it does. So, is this is a bad thing? A good thing? Some companies may have formal policies regarding blogging, some may not. It can be a complicated issue, however, I do think that there is one basic factor that comes into play, and that is trust. For the purpose of this conversation, I’m going to restrict it to where people are blogging about the domain in which they work. So, if you’re an enterprise architect, this is relevant if you want to blog about enterprise architecture. If you want to blog about your favorite TV show, less of this discussion applies.

From the perspective of the blogger, what are the reasons you’d want to blog? For me personally, my blog served two purposes. First and foremost, there are constantly ideas that go fleeting through my brain, and I wanted to use blogging as a way to record my thoughts. Secondly, I wanted to share those thoughts with others and see what conversation came out of it. If others found it valuable, that’s great, however, I don’t go around trying to look for topics that I know may have high market value. This may not be the case for others. Some may go out trying to capture the spotlight as a primary goal. There are those that argue that everyone who blogs is seeking the spotlight, but I don’t believe that to be the case. One thing that is true, however, is that if you blog, you are building a brand, whether you planned to or not. This is where things can get complicated.

Most companies are usually very sensitive about how they are perceived in their respective marketplace, regardless of whether they have a formal branding or marketing initiative or not. The real danger comes when someone can make an association between you and a company, and as a result, make associations between the two. Take the current situation with Michael Vick. While the NFL and Atlanta Falcons had no control over his off the field activities, there are now significant problems with not only his personal brand, but the brand of the NFL and the Atlanta Falcons. While the blogosphere isn’t usually under the same level of scrutiny as professional athletes, the impacts can be very similar. As an employee of a company, you have to realize that as a privately held (even if publicly traded) institution, you must abide by their rules, even if it is activities that you are doing with your own equipment, and on your own time. I’m not a lawyer, but most organizations do have some form of personal conduct policy that can apply. If you’re not officially blogging for your company, it’s best to try to keep the worlds as separate as possible.

For me, I looked upon my topics like a water cooler conversation. If I felt that I could discuss a subject at a local user group meeting, or over lunch with colleagues at a conference, or even on a discussion group (keep in mind that Google can typically find all of those discussion group postings…), then those topics would be okay for a blog. Specifics about the internals of a company were (and still are) strictly off limits. I personally believe that we can learn a lot from our colleagues at other enterprises, and there’s far more we can share without comprising any competitive advantage, than there is at risk. For example, take a blog on something like service versioning. There really shouldn’t be any concern about competitive advantage when discussing something like this, something every enterprise will have to deal with, etc.

It is unlikely that your company has a policy that makes these things clear cut. It’s especially difficult when the company may come back with the question, “What’s in it for us?” It’s hard to put value on something like blogging and it will ultimately come down from trust. If you’re going to blog, get quoted in a magazine, speak at a conference, etc. there has to be a level of trust. The company has to trust that you will represent the company well, even if you’re only speaking about them in generalities. The fact is, you are part of that company and will be perceived as a representative of that company. If you’re a shock jock at night, that doesn’t bode well if someone finds out that your day job is with a very conservative company. Even if there’s no mention anywhere in your blog of the company you work for, it’s not very hard to figure it out. For example, I know where James McGovern works, even though you won’t find it on his blog.

The short of this is that there has to be a level of trust, and probably more so on the side of your employer, which is an unfortunate fact of our culture today. As I’ve mentioned, there’s a certain fear of airing your dirty laundry. As anyone who has worked in multiple enterprises know, there are plenty of things that need improvement, and many of them probably have nothing to do with competitive advantage. A little bit of transparency and a little bit of open discussion can go a long way in building trust. That being said, you’re better off focusing on building trust inside the enterprise first. If you want to open up a conversation on a topic, why not open it up inside the enterprise first and let your colleagues have a crack at it, even if it may not be their responsibility? Good productive communication will build trust, which in turn, will make the company more likely to trust that people know what can not be communicated to the outside world and what can.

7 Responses to “Blogging in the Corporate World”