Project Collaboration Tips April 16, 2010
Posted by Andrew Wee in : Internet Marketing , trackbackI find myself working on 3 different computers – my desktop or one of my laptops and keeping files synched and having easy access to email when I’m at home, at the office, or at a coffeehouse can get challenging. Here’s some of productivity tips I’ve been using.
Dropbox: My buddy Josh Todd tweeted about this and the concept of a desktop client used to access a bit of web storage seemed silly to me, since you could set up a FTP account on each of your machines and have easy access to hundreds of gigabytes of data storage on your web server. I take that back. When collaborating with partners, setting up a shared folder gives easy access to project files, especially if you’re labelling the files. This adds an extra dimension to collaboration via web apps (next tip) alone.
As an added bonus, if you’re running torrents you can set your home machine to auto-start downloads from torrent files in a dropbox-ed folder. So if you’re dropping torrents into your dropbox from work, you could go home to your evening’s entertainment.
If you sign up for the free version through this link, you’ll receive an extra 250mb of storage with your free 2gb account.
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Google Docs: Google Calc, the free, web-accessible spreadsheet application has been useful in the last month, especially with filing my tax stuff. I’ve also used the “Powerpoint” type presentation tool to create and share simple presentations in a pinch.
The text editor is functional and good for to-do and tracking projects, although I probably wouldn’t be creating any finished products using it soon.
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Skype/AIM: You need some instant messenger to collaborate, especially if your partners are a continent or two or three away. If they support voice-chat, it will help cut down on long distance phone bills. Video chat hasn’t been a deal maker or breaker in any of the projects I’m working on now.
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I used to use basecamp, active collab and other tools, although I don’t use them as much anymore.
Are there any other project collaboration tools you find useful/invaluable?
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Great list. I’ve used Google Docs for collaboration projects and it has worked well.
Depending on the nature of the project and where the members are located, a physical meet might be best.
Yes, I’ve switched to using google docs quite a bit.
Since many of my partners are in Europe and the US, and the average air ticket + hotel would come up to $3,000 – $4,000, I keep the meet ups to once a year, twice max.
What was your experience with base camp andrew? I’m investigating that, DotProject, and Liferay right now to assist my organization with project management solutions. Some people also try Sharepoint out.
Basecamp is ok for simple project management, especially if you’re using Filipino, Indian, Eastern European outsourcers.
If you’re looking for something more robust, then something self-hosted like Active Collab or more enterprise-grade solutions (tailored and priced for SMBs) might be a good choice too. I’ve had friends who like Salesforce.com (esp for lead gen) and MySAP (the SMB grade version of fullblown ERP solution SAP).
Whatever solution you choose, you’d probably have to customize it to your needs and after a certain level of investment, you’ll be likely to stick with it for the long haul.
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If you’d like a tool for managing your time and projects, you can use this application inspired by David Allen’s GTD:
http://www.Gtdagenda.com
You can use it to manage and prioritize your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, schedules and a calendar.
Comes with a mobile version too, and with an Android app.
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I just recently started using Dropbox and it is awesome for collaboration with others, as well as between my two computers as well.
Zoho CRM and Wiki has also been helpful for collaboration online between multiple teammates in as many locations as well.
We tried different project management software, and after a long research ended up using Wrike.com Criteria is simple – it has most advanced features (super cool email integration, handy overlapping folder system, interactive Gannt charts etc) accommodated within easy and user friendly interface. There were few alternatives, but we placed confidence in Wrike since they were first ones to introduce those features.