Cut Down on Email and More with an Internal Blog

We have a secret here at Viget Labs ... we have an internal blog. And, no, you can't read it (no, not even for the "right price"). Our internal blog is great. In fact, it often can be a breeding ground for what you read here. But, more importantly, is that it definitely reduces internal e-mail volume, yet makes our communications more useful. Here's how: 1) Announcements and newsworthy items (including the ever-significant, "There are cookies in the kitchen.") get posted to the blog. Note: We are currently thinking through how to maintain the long-term historical integrity of the blog by removing these sorts of posts, a process which we are calling "weeding." 2) Knowledge-sharing as it relates to the web industry and to our clients gets posted to the blog. Unlike e-mail, the blog facilitates conversation better (follow-up thoughts are posted as comments) and provides a nice way for us to preserve the collective "Viget brain" when it comes to time-sensitive information. Note: We are currently thinking through how to take the gems of the internal blog and migrate them over to our wiki to provide long-term value, a process which we are calling "harvesting." Another benefit of the internal Viget blog is that it allows Vigeteers to consume the information passively and on their own terms. Now, to be frank, that sometimes can be an issue because certain people are a bit too passive (i.e., they are focused on producing great work for our clients). But, we definitely are developing a culture that gently encourages folks to check out the internal blog on a daily basis (and, no, we aren't on the internal blog secretly mocking the colleagues who aren't reading it). If you are struggling with internal dialogue, think about getting an internal blog up and running. It's also quite helpful to start there, especially if you still are not sure how a public blog would actually work. If you'd like to know more, contact me at: ken [at] viget [dot] com replace the [at] with an "@" and the [dot] with a "."