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Welcome to the 'Plogging' World

Posted by Hemos on from the living-in-a-material-world dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "No, it's not a typo. A plog is short for 'project log' like a blog is short for 'web log.' And plogs start to be used as tools to manage projects, especially in the IT world, as discovered Michael Schrage of the MIT. He reports his findings in an article published by CIO Magazine, "The Virtues of Chitchat." Schrage found that if plogs are not really commonplace, they're not exactly rare. And they are even used to manage large IT projects, such as ERP rollouts. I totally agree with him that a plog is of great value to integrate people in a team or to keep track of the advancement of a project. And you, what's your view? If you're a project manager, do you use a plog for better control? And if not today, will you use one in the future? This overview contains selected excerpts from Schage's article which will help you to answer the above questions."

14 of 185 comments (clear)

  1. Basecamp for Plogging by gokubi · · Score: 5, Informative

    I recently started using Basecamp from 37Signals for tracking projects. It's basically a "plogging" system with to-do lists, milestones, file uploading, and one of the most intuitive interfaces I've ever used on the web. I've been tracking internal projects in the way described in the article--I think it's great.

    It also makes it really easy to make client-extranet plogs where clients can comment on your entries. Really slick.

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    I'm much funnier now that I'm a subscriber.
  2. Do we need more types? by Bobdoer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We already have blogs, flogs, photologs, moblogs and now these plogs? Someone needs to stop making new terms up and just call them all logs.

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    EVERYDAY IS CATURDAY
    1. Re:Do we need more types? by generic-man · · Score: 5, Interesting

      "Blogs," "moblogs," and "plogs" are not words. They are ill-conceived marketing creations, no better than "information superhighway" and "top-speed technology." They exist to perpetuate the myth that personal publishing is going to reinvent the web as a means of communication.

      Weblogs are personal web pages or journals. Plogs are project logs. Photologs are photo journals. Sure, the terms are longer, but they actually sound reasonable compared to "blog."

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      For more information, click here.
    2. Re:Do we need more types? by generic-man · · Score: 5, Funny

      'Web' should be replaced with 'Internet-based hypertext-linked document system'.

      It's still better than "blogosphere."

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      For more information, click here.
  3. Ah, like the old .project file by Mick+Ohrberg · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Brings back memories, when we would check out each others' .project files... Hopefully this tool will be a little easier to manage.

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    Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.

  4. one word by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    pwiki.
    They make for excellent documentation both for old and for new developers/users

  5. Following this naming scheme by pavon · · Score: 5, Funny

    Richard Stallman's page would be a Freedom Log, one of many in the new flogging scene.

  6. SF by Leffe · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Could you consider SourceForge a 'plog'?

  7. Star Trek by danormsby · · Score: 5, Funny
    Why are there all these abbreviations anyway?

    Never heard James T. Kirk put an entry in the clog.

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    Omnis amans amens
  8. We all knew it would come to this... by jiffah · · Score: 5, Funny

    O.K. it's time to shut off the internet. Thanks for your participation everybody.

  9. tlog? by lacrymology.com · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If a web log is a blog, then shouldn't project log be a tlog?

    -m

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  10. Duh! by imidazole2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People have been project blogging for a while. So someone comes up with the term PLOG and gets on slashdot? sigh.

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    -Imidazole2
  11. Workplace Wikis are useful by mikemacd · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've found that WIKIs can be useful as a collaboration tool in the workplace.

    It can be a free form tool to coordinate various teams and projects. Its important to bear in mind though that even the best tool is no replacement for good management.

    The WIKI I'm currently using is TWIKI which is GPL'd.

  12. Discussion groups by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For small projects, a "Wiki" system is nice because it is informal. It is kind of like a bunch of named note-pads where anyone (given access) can edit content. It has simplified editing conventions to avoid having to type HTML. For example, a bullet point can be created (upon rendering) simply by including an asterisk at the begginning of a paragraph. (Different wikis have different conventions.)

    But for larger groups a more formal "discussion group" may be more appropriate to keep track of who wrote what. These are generally hierarchical, AKA "threaded". The problem many of them have is that it is difficult to reference stuff outside of the hierarchy. They should use some kind of message numbering system so that one can easily make cross-branch references by typing in message numbers.

    However, many managers are not used to such systems and are sometimes intimidated by them. Some tend to be "verbal-oriented".

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    Table-ized A.I.