The mere existence of your Foo is not enough for people to be interested
Andy Lester at Perl Buzz wrote up a nice short piece yesterday on How to announce an event, or, awesome is not always self-evident (no, I haven’t regressed into massive nerdery, I grabbed this link from Kathy Sierra’s bright green tweeter).
It hits on some great points of self promotion that apply to not only announcing something, but making sure that your bright light isn’t hid under a bushel.
It’s not enough to do great work at work, but you must also let people know about what you’ve done, specifically your boss. The same is true of your … projects.
... If someone asks you about your project, can you explain its awesomeness, and why he should use it? If not, why are you bothering? And if you can, are telling everyone you can about it? If not, why are you bothering?
Often your boss will only hear negative feedback about your work. People just don’t go out of their way to tell your boss if you’re doing a great job. Often they’ll tell you, but meanwhile your boss hasn’t heard squat.
Can you explain your awesomeness to your boss? Are you telling them about it every week?
Same goes for the project you’re working on. Can you explain its awesomeness? If you can’t, why are you working on it? Get your awesomeness straight, or shut it down. And when it’s awesome, make sure peoples know about it.