Benefits of group blogging

Prompt: Does group blogging benefit you? Does it benefit your company? If so, how?

Rose:

Group blogging provides a forum that I find valuable. Having a somewhat regular prompt or a question to think about not only stimulates my brain to reflect, it also provides the opportunity to connect, converse, and empathize with others who respond to the same prompt. I think it’s a particularly useful way of staying in touch; the nature of our jobs at ThoughtWorks means at any given time we’re strewn across the country (sometimes the world), but having the blog keeps us united in a small but meaningful way. Cheesy but true!

Abby:

My biggest fear on being a part of a blog is whether or not anyone cares about what I have to say, and I can’t say this will ever get completely quelled. However, I find more and more that it is not about the many people who won’t find it valuable, but instead about the personal value I gain from the thought that goes into writing a post. I find both the personal reflection and the group conversations a chance to learn a lot about a new topic and my relation to it. I do obviously hope that some who read these posts find value in whatever way they qualify that, but even if its just that they formulate their own answer to the prompt in contrast to all of ours, that can round out the full reason for my participating in this blog.

Linda:

I think of the written word as a reference point, and enumerating ours externally improves the technology ecosystem in which we work by enriching the perspectives available to others' inquiry in our field. Also, as the people who spend a lot of time in the thick of things, our insights are fascinating and valuable to people who are concerned with this business, but not yet or not currently on-site.

Technical/industry blogging gives your admirers (and project managers, and yearly review participants) something to point at when saying "this person is awesome". It's an easily linkable, skimmable, and quotable source of brag and usefulness.

When I blog alone, I am a tiny voice with unfounded opinions in an uncaring wilderness. When we blog as a group, we're having a public discussion on interesting topic, with each of our posts adding value to the whole, and encouraging each other to meet our group post goals.

Bill K:

The reasons I show people the Agilistas blog are several. The obvious one is how great it is for a group of women to have a public presence in an overwhelmingly male industry. There is more to it, though. I know the authors. I watched the first wave of Agilistas join TW, and I know what adversity they had, how they bonded and supported one another, and how they did great work for our clients. To me it's a lot more than countering the image of the predominantly male industry. I'm proud to know them all and look forward to the day when they run the company!

I'm also proud that this first generation has passed the torch to another generation. Maybe that's not even the right way to say it. The current Agilista bloggers didn't need any prompting and took the initiative on their own.

I have shared this blog many times over the last few years. I know that other women in our company are happy to see it. It is still not common to have a group of women working together and blogging. Every time I've shared this link, people have responded to me by saying how happy they were to have received it.

I hope I haven't embarrassed any of you too much, but I am very proud to know you all and have you all in TW. You have made it a much better place.

Sarah:

Group blogging provides a regular forum of expression which is valuable. By providing a prompt, it gives a both a goal and a start of thought. These prompts may or may not be answered in a personal self-reflection irrespective of their value simply due to the chance one may not even think of it or believe it is a valuable thought.

It benefits the company by providing a place for people to have an exchange of thought which others can hopefully derive value from.