Comments on: Twitter as Microblogging, Timelog, and Team Tool http://with.gilbert.org/2007/03/12/twitter-as-microblogging-timelog-and-team-tool/ connection • community • compassion • conspiracy • complexity Wed, 26 Sep 2007 23:07:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Reinventing the wheel: Twitter backchannel | blog.forret.com http://with.gilbert.org/2007/03/12/twitter-as-microblogging-timelog-and-team-tool/comment-page-1/#comment-13 Reinventing the wheel: Twitter backchannel | blog.forret.com Wed, 18 Apr 2007 12:37:04 +0000 http://with.gilbert.org/2007/03/12/twitter-as-microblogging-timelog-and-team-tool/#comment-13 [...] Then we refresh it every X seconds, project it on a screen and tada!! … ladies and gentlemen: the backchannel! We’re not the first to think of this, of course. [...] [...] Then we refresh it every X seconds, project it on a screen and tada!! … ladies and gentlemen: the backchannel! We’re not the first to think of this, of course. [...]

]]> By: John Dukovich http://with.gilbert.org/2007/03/12/twitter-as-microblogging-timelog-and-team-tool/comment-page-1/#comment-12 John Dukovich Mon, 19 Mar 2007 23:46:51 +0000 http://with.gilbert.org/2007/03/12/twitter-as-microblogging-timelog-and-team-tool/#comment-12 I am perplexed by the idea of using Twitter as a time-tracking tool. It seems to me the point of Twitter is to tell others what you are doing. But by using it as a time-tracker, you make a vast contribution to the noise, while letting others know you are working on a proposal. It doesn't pass the "so what" test for me. Unless I am missing something (a highly probable scenario), it seems to be a lot like Dodgeball.com, which I tried for about one day before I had to shut it off. People used Dodgeball to let others know when they were putting in a load of laundry. Other than your mother or your partner, does anyone need to know that? I will be at N-TEN and am interested to see how Twitter could add to the conference. With 1000+ attendees, I don't see how I could wade through all of that data, even limited to 140 characters at a shot. But, I am open to finding out if it could work. Surprise me. :) I am perplexed by the idea of using Twitter as a time-tracking tool. It seems to me the point of Twitter is to tell others what you are doing. But by using it as a time-tracker, you make a vast contribution to the noise, while letting others know you are working on a proposal. It doesn’t pass the “so what” test for me. Unless I am missing something (a highly probable scenario), it seems to be a lot like Dodgeball.com, which I tried for about one day before I had to shut it off. People used Dodgeball to let others know when they were putting in a load of laundry. Other than your mother or your partner, does anyone need to know that?

I will be at N-TEN and am interested to see how Twitter could add to the conference. With 1000+ attendees, I don’t see how I could wade through all of that data, even limited to 140 characters at a shot. But, I am open to finding out if it could work. Surprise me. :)

]]> By: Beth http://with.gilbert.org/2007/03/12/twitter-as-microblogging-timelog-and-team-tool/comment-page-1/#comment-11 Beth Mon, 19 Mar 2007 22:39:15 +0000 http://with.gilbert.org/2007/03/12/twitter-as-microblogging-timelog-and-team-tool/#comment-11 I like your three frames to describe Twitter. Frame #1 - Micro-Blogging - I agree with your take on it, particularly your summatino: "It’s easy to invent another system to interrupt us and send us even more information. What we really need is trusted systems that will intelligently postpone, aggregate, and otherwise filter out interruptions and information. (I have some ideas about that, which I’ll share another time.) But until then, Twitter scares me." What I'm doing is manually moderating the flow - by "dipping into it" when I have something to share. I can't see doing this for more than a few minutes a day and I'm not sure of the ROI on it on long-term. For your frame #2 - Twitter as TimeLog. It think that's a great use of a tool like Twitter - but using Twitter for that now is a stretch for all the reasons you outlined above. The "What are you doing?" nudge feature reminded of a timetracking tool that I used about ten years ago. It was a local application that could set to remind me everything hour or whatever increment to prompt me with "What are you doing? and then I would fill out the log - the task and who/what should get billed for it. I would use the information to reflect on my weekly time log at the end of the week because you'd get a report. The problem was that it had an "ignore" option .... I also found, as you've noted, that reminders for short periods of time were very distracting. Frame #3 - has the most promise. Not sure that Twitter has yet developed the feature set (groups) to carry this out. I think the tool that Ken Thompson of bioteams (http://www.bioteams.com/) called Swarm It might be a better designed for what you're called "Twitter for Teams." You'll love it - it is based on his bioteams manifesto that he wrote with Robin Good - based on how teams work naturally. Thanks for the higher order thinking on twitter! I like your three frames to describe Twitter.

Frame #1 – Micro-Blogging – I agree with your take on it, particularly your summatino:

“It’s easy to invent another system to interrupt us and send us even more information. What we really need is trusted systems that will intelligently postpone, aggregate, and otherwise filter out interruptions and information. (I have some ideas about that, which I’ll share another time.) But until then, Twitter scares me.”

What I’m doing is manually moderating the flow – by “dipping into it” when I have something to share. I can’t see doing this for more than a few minutes a day and I’m not sure of the ROI on it on long-term.

For your frame #2 – Twitter as TimeLog. It think that’s a great use of a tool like Twitter – but using Twitter for that now is a stretch for all the reasons you outlined above. The “What are you doing?” nudge feature reminded of a timetracking tool that I used about ten years ago. It was a local application that could set to remind me everything hour or whatever increment to prompt me with “What are you doing? and then I would fill out the log – the task and who/what should get billed for it. I would use the information to reflect on my weekly time log at the end of the week because you’d get a report.

The problem was that it had an “ignore” option …. I also found, as you’ve noted, that reminders for short periods of time were very distracting.

Frame #3 – has the most promise. Not sure that Twitter has yet developed the feature set (groups) to carry this out.

I think the tool that Ken Thompson of bioteams (http://www.bioteams.com/) called Swarm It might be a better designed for what you’re called “Twitter for Teams.” You’ll love it – it is based on his bioteams manifesto that he wrote with Robin Good – based on how teams work naturally.

Thanks for the higher order thinking on twitter!

]]> By: theory.isthereason » Twitter: Don’t leave home without it (A Primer) http://with.gilbert.org/2007/03/12/twitter-as-microblogging-timelog-and-team-tool/comment-page-1/#comment-10 theory.isthereason » Twitter: Don’t leave home without it (A Primer) Mon, 19 Mar 2007 09:25:42 +0000 http://with.gilbert.org/2007/03/12/twitter-as-microblogging-timelog-and-team-tool/#comment-10 [...] On Media Twitter isn’t really instant-messaging, nor is it really blogging. It seems to be in-between, and yet a lot more. Michael Gilbert calls it micro-blogging , which is more tuned to sharing your stream of consciousness (like tumblr). Linda Stone explains how “continuous partial attention” describes how we use our attention today, how it is different from multi-tasking and that the two are differentiated by the impulse that motivates them. Her essay could possibly explain why Twitter fits in the attention-niche so well. [...] [...] On Media Twitter isn’t really instant-messaging, nor is it really blogging. It seems to be in-between, and yet a lot more. Michael Gilbert calls it micro-blogging , which is more tuned to sharing your stream of consciousness (like tumblr). Linda Stone explains how “continuous partial attention” describes how we use our attention today, how it is different from multi-tasking and that the two are differentiated by the impulse that motivates them. Her essay could possibly explain why Twitter fits in the attention-niche so well. [...]

]]> By: Deborah Elizabeth Finn http://with.gilbert.org/2007/03/12/twitter-as-microblogging-timelog-and-team-tool/comment-page-1/#comment-9 Deborah Elizabeth Finn Tue, 13 Mar 2007 19:15:59 +0000 http://with.gilbert.org/2007/03/12/twitter-as-microblogging-timelog-and-team-tool/#comment-9 Dear Michael, O, you loveable curmudgeon! Right now,I'm also convinced that Twitter could have very limited utility. I can see it working well in specific situations. For example, some of us are working on a Twitter backchannel at the upcoming Nonprofit Technology Conference in Washington, DC. Now that the projected registration is 1,000+ nonprofit techies, how are we going to find ways to touch base in person with everyone we want to see? Perhaps an opt-in Twitter group will help us ping our people. After that, maybe I'll retire my Twitter account, at least until the next big meeting. Warm regards from Deborah Deborah Elizabeth Finn Boston, Massachusetts, USA deborah_elizabeth_finn@post.harvard.edu www.cyber-yenta.org "What is good...but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your god?" (Micah 6:8) Dear Michael,

O, you loveable curmudgeon!

Right now,I’m also convinced that Twitter could have very limited utility. I can see it working well in specific situations. For example, some of us are working on a Twitter backchannel at the upcoming Nonprofit Technology Conference in Washington, DC.

Now that the projected registration is 1,000+ nonprofit techies, how are we going to find ways to touch base in person with everyone we want to see? Perhaps an opt-in Twitter group will help us ping our people. After that, maybe I’ll retire my Twitter account, at least until the next big meeting.

Warm regards from Deborah

Deborah Elizabeth Finn
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
deborah_elizabeth_finn@post.harvard.edu
http://www.cyber-yenta.org

“What is good…but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your god?” (Micah 6:8)

]]> By: Ted Bongiovanni http://with.gilbert.org/2007/03/12/twitter-as-microblogging-timelog-and-team-tool/comment-page-1/#comment-8 Ted Bongiovanni Tue, 13 Mar 2007 17:48:48 +0000 http://with.gilbert.org/2007/03/12/twitter-as-microblogging-timelog-and-team-tool/#comment-8 Very grateful for your thoughtful analysis. When twitter asks, "what are you doing now?" I want to say, "updating twitter!" which I know is foolish but is also somehow accurate. I periodically keep track of my time to cultivate awareness and see how I am making use of what I see as a scarce resource. What I don't like about Twitter is that updating it is somehow external to the task of what I'm actually doing. The ideal time tracking tool would be one that kept tabs on what I did without me having to update it. This is why I'm a fan of tools like FogBugz from Fog Creek software--I do the work on a ticket, make a note of how much time I spent and I've tracked my time with little additional effort. The time tracking will eventually help me see if I'm good at meeting my estimate, whereas Twitter seems like idle chatter. Thanks again for the post! Very grateful for your thoughtful analysis. When twitter asks, “what are you doing now?” I want to say, “updating twitter!” which I know is foolish but is also somehow accurate. I periodically keep track of my time to cultivate awareness and see how I am making use of what I see as a scarce resource. What I don’t like about Twitter is that updating it is somehow external to the task of what I’m actually doing. The ideal time tracking tool would be one that kept tabs on what I did without me having to update it. This is why I’m a fan of tools like FogBugz from Fog Creek software–I do the work on a ticket, make a note of how much time I spent and I’ve tracked my time with little additional effort. The time tracking will eventually help me see if I’m good at meeting my estimate, whereas Twitter seems like idle chatter. Thanks again for the post!

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