Allowing team members to define their own roles sounds like a sensible way to empower employees and engage them with their work, but in a counter-intuitive post HBR pundit Tammy Erickson cites research showing well defined responsibilities are key to great collaboration. Read More »
Virgin Media announced today that it’s rolling out a suite of Cisco collaboration tools after a successful pilot. How did they ensure a widespread adoption of these tools and a smooth transition to new ways of working? Both companies share lessons from the pilot. Read More »
Nowadays nearly every team aims for collaboration, but far from all succeed, often for emotional reasons as well as rational ones. Now a new study is aiming to figure out what sets teams that gel apart from those that fall apart, and you can participate. … Read More »
“Solitude is out of fashion,” declared author Susan Cain in the New York Times Sunday Review, arguing that our fetishization of collaboration is bad for introverts and innovation. Is coworking a symptom of this groupthink or a solution to it? Space owners weigh in. Read More »
Which applications are best for scaling a business from a tiny startup to an enterprise powerhouse? And how do you get your employees to use them? For most companies, success will come from adopting those which are easiest to use, and which employees are already using. Read More »
How do you get the most out of collaborative teams? It helps if you can quantify their performance and provide feedback to workers. At GigaOM’s Net:Work 2011, executives from LiveOps and Rypple said measurement was key to improving collaboration between teams of contract workers and experts. … Read More »
InterContinental Hotels Group, the luxury hotel chain, has spent the last five and half years creating a technology platform for its business that helps it span multiple brands, cultures and continents, according to Tom Conophy, EVP and CIO of the hotel company. Read More »
Social is no guarantee of effectiveness in an organization because it creates unnecessary friction as people try to figure out how to work in new ways, according to David Gutelius, the Chief Social Scientist at Jive Software, speaking at the GigaOM Net:Work event. Read More »
You might think that tech companies are more flexible and resourceful in seeking out the best talent. But you would be wrong, said Allen Delattre, global managing director for technology for Korn/Ferry International, the big executive recruitment firm. Read More »
Those of you who hate meetings and can’t stand endless PowerPoint-based presentations, there’s hope. Todd Barr, chief marketing officer of Alfresco had some encouraging solutions for how to improve them at GigaOM’s Net:Work 2011 conference on Thursday: use tablets. Read More »
As work media — social media tools designed to get work done — become more ubiquitous, futurist Stowe Boyd sees an even greater need for well-defined standards that would help companies transport their data out of the current silos. Read More »
Iongrid’s new Nexus software promises to bring your Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets to your iPad with what it calls “pixel perfect” fidelity and in a way that won’t give IT or the compliance department a collective heart attack. Read More »
More Must Reads
The iconic office design company sees a trend away from personal space and toward shared space. Don Ball talked to Steelcase about the changing state of the “office” and how it is designing spaces that allow people to be “on” — not “at” — work. Read More »
Simply joining a coworking space is obviously a necessary first step to joining the movement, but it’s not enough to get the maximum benefit out of participating, according to Genevieve DeGuzman, the co-author of a coworking guide. She offers tips for newbies to find their footing. … Read More »
Kerio Workspace 1.1, described as “an online file and content sharing platform,” has some features in common with collaboration solutions such as Basecamp, but it omits project management features. It has more in common with file sharing solutions such as ShareFile.and with enterprise microblogging solutions like … Read More »
Imagine if you could turn the text and illustrations on a traditional whiteboard into digital data in real-time. That’s the premise behind the eBeam Edge Whiteboard by Luidia, Inc. The technology works with any whiteboard and most Mac or PC computers. Read More »
David Robins’ company Binfire created project management software based on the philosophy that better collaboration and communication leads to increased productivity. But as his global team worked on the software, he learned how best to manage that collaboration and when to involve others in planning. Read More »
This month, online collaboration platform Teambox added private elements, offering users various levels of privacy. More than just a response to Google+ Circles, the feature supports modern organizational practices, allowing employees to share limited information with vendors and clients. Read More »
A recent study seems to indicate that remote workers commit fewer ethical violations than in-office workers. But why? Is it simply because there’s less opportunity when you don’t see your coworkers? Or, as some experts suggest, could trust be the key difference? Read More »
If you want to use your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to go paperless, these apps have many basic business needs covered, helping you take notes, scan documents, sign contracts, send faxes, convert business cards to Address Book contacts and even process payments. Read More »
Cisco said today it was buying a little-known collaboration software company, Versly for an undisclosed amount. Versly makes it easy to collaborate inside Microsoft Office products. This seems like an acq-hire, aka a large company buying small players for their skills. Read More »
Consider this: managers spend between 30 to 80 percent of their time in meetings and more than 50 percent of them consider many meetings to be a “waste of time.” oDesk CEO Gary Swart shares his proven techniques for running a successful company meeting. Read More »
After developing databases for Namibian non-governmental organizations while in the Peace Corps, Jay Haase moved back to Minnesota, moving the databases he created to the cloud and offering fractions of his time so the organizations could afford to keep him. Read More »
In a connected workplace, the conference call is a necessary tool, albeit one that is often used in unnecessary ways. Here are a few tips to help you make them more efficient, more collaborative, and actually productive. Read More »
Though the “gamification” of work has been something of a hot topic, there are some valid concerns about how game-like elements are incorporated into work and collaboration tools. Gamification may not only clash with a company’s culture, but also be a bit manipulative. Read More »
The traditional office space is in the midst of its most dramatic shift since it was rocked by the creation of the cubicle more than 40 years ago. These new workspaces create fresh challenges for IT departments and technological demands from today’s workforce. Read More »
What lessons has Chuck Robbins, a senior VP running Cisco’s sales team for the Americas, learned from his experience at a company that was not only an early adopter of flexible working, but also builds a number of remote work solutions? Read More »
Last week, Inmagic introduced IdeaNet, an innovation management platform. I spoke with Phillip Green, Inmagic’s CTO, about how the company approaches B2B collaboration and how its clients integrate innovation into customer interactions. I came away from the conversation with a new appreciation for keeping things simple. Read More »
What’s wrong with email today? That’s the question posed to me recently on Twitter, and considering that I use email as a primary method of communication, I was happy to think of a few ways to help tame the inbox. Read More »
quanp, an online file storage service from Japanese electronics giant Ricoh that we’ve covered previously, is being shut down in the U.S. In an email sent to customers, the company notes that the service, which was in beta, will be discontinued on September 30th. Read More »
What’s the fastest way to get collaborators to invest themselves, or their time, in a new project? Whether they’re colleagues within your organization, outsourced or remote talent, customers and clients, or subject experts you’re connecting with, the answer is the same: ownership. Read More »
ting, a web conferencing solution that we’ve written about previously, has unveiled the ability to create high-definition video conferences. The new service, dubbed HDFaces, allows users to create video conferences with up to six attendees at no additional cost. Read More »
There’s plenty wrong with the traditional office full of cubes, including terrible lighting, collaboration-killing isolation, an abundance of soul-crushing beige . But is the solution to slap some paint on the walls, cart in a couple of plants and reconfigure layouts to be more social? Read More »
GoFileDrop is an app that adds a public mailbox to your Google Docs account, enabling anyone with the appropriate link to upload files to your account. It was previously only available to Google Apps customers, but it can now be installed by regular Gmail users. Read More »
An interesting example of the practice of open innovation is the SAP Co-Innovation Lab, as SAP and its partners have found a way to integrate hardware and software innovation in a way that is open, but also protective of intellectual property. Read More »
The latest IBM CEO study reports, “More than 62% of development projects fail to meet the intended schedule and 30% of project costs are due to rework and poor execution of requirements.” IBM Jazz is working to address these problems through greater support of developer collaboration. … Read More »
If you’re working remotely, finding ways to improve and streamline communications with your clients and team might seem like a never-ending chore, but with the right mix of tools, it’s possible to keep projects moving forward. Here are ten tools that will help improve your communication. Read More »
Cohuman, a web-based collaboration and project management app that we’ve written about previously, has been acquired and will be shutting down on August 31. Current Cohuman users should check out the company’s blog post, which contains instructions for exporting data from the service. Read More »
Many have discussed email etiquette, but for the average web worker, the notion of politesse can seem counterproductive. Here, then, are five golden rules for respectful, productive digital communication, whether you’re using email, IM, video chat, phone, or other communications tools. Read More »
As mobile devices become more prevalent at work, the need for security continues to rise. WatchDox provides document control, tracking and security features through a web app, apps for iPad and iPhone (we covered it late last year) and now for BlackBerry. Read More »
Popular cloud-based notes service Simplenote has many useful third-party add-ons. One such add-on is Syncpad Webnotes, a Chrome extension that enables you to attach virtual “sticky notes” to any web page that can be synchronized across different browsers through your Simplenote account. Read More »
Simple drag-and-drop file sharing service Minus, which I wrote about a couple of months ago, has acquired the Minus.com domain name. Minus.com will be used as the service’s primary domain going forward, rather than min.us, which was used previously and was thought to be confusing. Read More »
RedCritter Tracker is a thoughtfully gamified project management tool for software development teams that’s set to launch later this month. Founder and CEO Mike Beatty walked me through the app’s key capabilities, including project management support, visibility into employee skill sets, customizable rewards, and badges. Read More »
The key to remaining productive is to not let the many distractions in your work day sidetrack you from your primary job. Here are a few tips for taking charge of your day and kicking a few of the most common distractions to the curb. Read More »
Your to-do list has taken on a life of its own, and after several failed attempts at taming it, you’re now looking for a way to peacefully co-exist. Fortunately, new apps and devices are being created almost daily to help us improve our productivity and collaboration. Read More »
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