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Its a small world, Alexander!
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Posted by Ken
May 13, 2009 at 11:49 PM
I have been intensively searching for web-based collaborative software, of which there are way too many choices to easily analyze IMHO, and I came across this article which mentions our very own Alexander: http://www.smallbizpod.co.uk/blog/2009/03/23/ready-to-go-project-management-with-teamwork/ . I hope to post a bit more about this type of software, but right now my brain and schedule are on overload.
—Ken
Posted by Ken
May 14, 2009 at 04:46 AM
Well, I cataloged the sites that I initially decided to try out (for free) and here is the list:
[Basecamp]
[Hiveminder]
[Huddle]
[Manymoon]
[Nexo]
[Ning]
[OfficeLive]
[OfficeZilla]
[OnePlace]
[Shutterfly Share]
[Smartsheet]
[Task2Gather]
[Teamwork Project Manager]
[Wetpaint]
[Zoho]
Recent activities at work and at home have caused me to quest for a collaborative type of software in a big way. E-mail may be a known tool, but it just does not seem to be useful for getting everybody “on the same page”, especially when the page keeps changing. I will lay out my criteria in a later post, but I would appreciate any comments if anybody has used any of these programs in conjunction with others.
Also, when time permits, I will posat my experiences with trying to use an iPod Touch as a PDA. Its not quite there yet, but I am hoping that things will be a bit better with OS 3.0.
—Ken
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
May 14, 2009 at 02:40 PM
Hi Ken,
I don’t know if the world is small but it does run in circles; I first got in touch with David Tebbutt after registering for Brainstorm, a program I learnt about in this here forum (or rather its predecessor). I’ve been an avid reader of his and asked for his advice when looking for an online project management tool.
There’s a multitude of offerings of course many of them very similar to each other; ultimately it may be a bet, as you can’t be sure which will be around next year. That’s one reason that I didn’t want to go for a free option. In the past I had used the free Mayetic Village which is now no longer offered, even though it was backed by a fairly big player.
One thing you need to get clear right from the start (there’s obviously more but this was critical for me) is the social networking aspect; tools like huddle.net—an excellent offering by the way- require each user to register for a separate account; they then provide each a workspace which they can share in groups. ‘Classic’ project-oriented tools like Teamwork PM allow one to have one account and directly build a list of users without their own involvement (this is what we wanted). With the above in mind, available tools are immediately split into two major groups.
There’s more of course; do you want something to install in your own server or a hosted solution? (The answer is not necessarily straightforward). Without wanting to add too much to your list, here’s a couple of rather different offerings:
http://www.activecollab.com/
http://www.wrike.com/
http://www.projectcompanion.com/index_enu.asp (there is also a software application)
and a few short reviews:
http://www.appvita.com/2009/04/10/deskaway-put-your-projects-on-cruise-control/
http://www.appvita.com/2009/04/17/whodoes-teamwork-made-easy-and-attractive/
http://www.appvita.com/2009/04/03/producteev-work-collaboratively-online/
http://www.appvita.com/2009/04/17/liquid-planner-flexible-project-planning/
Posted by Ken
May 14, 2009 at 03:20 PM
Hi Alexander,
Well, lately I feel as though I have been running around in circles, so your description is appropriate. You are correct that many of the offering look alike (not unlike so many iPhone applications), and I am not a big fan of having to make people open accounts to collaborate. Right now, I feel like am at the beginning of a paradigm shift away from e-mail being the center of business communications, so I am just getting my feet wet with this whole new category of software. Unfortunately, this awareness is happening right while I am in the middle of a work and home project that seem like they could benefit from more coordinated communication.
At work, we have Shaepoint, and it is slowly being rolled out as we update our software. But, outside of work, I am free to experiment. At this point I am not interested in a server-based application, although I am aware of the limits of working “in the cloud”. I looked briefly at Smartsheet last night ,and like that it is based on a spreadsheet/task manager type of model. I guess there is no substitution for trying, so I am going to try and prioritize these candidates. Then, as time permits, I will try and sample their offerings. Thansk again for the suggestions.
—Ken
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
May 14, 2009 at 07:33 PM
Ken wrote:
>Right now, I feel like am at the beginning of a paradigm
>shift away from e-mail being the center of business communications, so I am just
>getting my feet wet with this whole new category of software.
Yes, I know what you mean; I am in a similar situation—though other than ‘away from e-mail’ I have no idea where I’m going to…
I suggest you take alook at these to post by David Tebbutt below, which play on the same theme:
Putting email in its place
http://teblog.typepad.com/david_tebbutt/2008/08/putting-email-i.html
Free Unified Communications?
http://www.smallbizpod.co.uk/blog/2008/12/15/free-unified-communications/