DOCSLIB.ORG

How Do You Get Things Done? Tools for Managing Your Assets in an Expanding Organization: a White Paper (And Webinar) on Scaling

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
How Do You Get Things Done? Tools for Managing Your Assets in an Expanding Organization: a White Paper (And Webinar) on Scaling House of Local Where Local media lives How do you get things done? Tools for managing your assets in an expanding organization: A white paper (and webinar) on scaling A white paper and webinar prepared for the KDMC Leadership Institute, October 2010 Susan Mernit, Oakland Local/House of Local Research assistance from Meg Bertoni, House of Local project manager Houseoflocal.org !" House of Local Where Local media lives Table of Contents Executive Summary p. 3 Why web-based tools work p. 3 Figuring out what you need p. 5 What are the core tools you use to manage a project? P. 5 What's good for what? A useful chart p. 10 Putting these tools to work: It takes organization p. 11 Appendix 1: Tools reviewed and discussed p. 13 Appendix 2: Comments from respondents p. 31 Author bios & contact info p. 36 Houseoflocal.org #" House of Local Where Local media lives Executive Summary As organizations expand, scaling up with tools that make it easier to manage workflow, schedule, and planning is an essential task. Given that most organizations don't have the time or money to build their own custom systems to manage workflow for freelancer and remote staffers as a means to improve infrastructure, what are the free and low cost web-tools organizations can use to create efficiency of scale? The focus of this white paper (and the related webinar) is to look at tools used by agile media, news and information-based organizations and offers descriptions and guidelines on best ways to use them, appraisals of what their strengths and weaknesses are, and some guidance on how you might you evaluate them and add them to your work flow. Throughout the paper, I frequently refer to Oakland Local, which I co-founded in October 2009, for examples of how we use many of these tools. However, several of the tools I discuss are used by much larger organizations, including Tech Soup Global, The Center for Investigative Reporting, The John S and James L Knight Foundation, and numerous hyper-local and regional news organizations. In other words, these tools—and the recommendations on how to use them—whether you have 1 paid staffer on the payroll or 500. Why web-based tools work For starters, welcome to the future. Imagine yourself in a world where amazing project management tools, database systems, calendars, schedulers, talk tools and more are all free, facilitating effortless communication across teams and enterprises that span the country, even the planet. Imagine that instead of relying on your BigCo’s VPN and Internet (Hello, Microsoft Outlook!), you have access to a suite of tool available from any web browser and accessible on mobile Smartphones. In this world, your organization can evaluate and select web-based services that are stored in the cloud and that are either free or priced based on number of seats, amount of storage or usage of special features. Some of the stars of this universe are 37 Signal’s Basecamp, Highrise, Backpack, and Campfire, tools that support project management, contact manage databases, task management and scheduling. Other stars are the Drupal-based(and free) project management site Open Atrium, and the also free Google productivity suite: Calendar, Documents, Groups, and (for some) Wave. However, no matter what the product source (or set), the value of web-based tools is that they offer affordable and often free ways to manage—and organize-- a virtual team. Whether your staff are freelancers strung around one city that Houseoflocal.org $" House of Local Where Local media lives come together in coffee shops to discuss specific projects, or staffers operating remotely in dozens of small satellite operations, web based tools allow you to create efficient systems for information sharing, communication and collaboration. It’s a new era As recently at eight years ago, many media people worked for large organizations with bureaus scattered around the globe, or for more regional corporate organizations that had multiple companies under their umbrella. Either way, it was common to have an IT person, a VPN, a Microsoft network, an Intranet and lots of rules about what tools you could—or couldn’t—introduce into that environment. Today, many of us are more likely to be working for a giant start-up, growing so quickly there’s no time to put proprietary systems in place, or for a cash-strapped family or legacy co whose infrastructure isn’t up to serving a more distributed— and mobile-workforce, or for a start-up or small business whose infrastructure is all from third parties (QuickBooks, anyone?) In each of these cases, the VPN, the intranet, the great IT tech just aren’t happening. Not in this economy. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean that the need to manage your team, and your business is any less intense. If anything, with people not in the same office ay the same time, the needs to manage workflow are more intense. How else are you going to stay organized and on-task? The focus of this white paper, and the related webinar, then, is both to provide a list of tools, some useful categorizations, and some recommendations for tools you can use to help manage staff and projects, It is also means to offer some use cases so that you can get some guidance and support in determining which tools to try out. A brief digression: Where did all these tools come from, anyway? If you’re not an operations-oriented person, or your comfort zone has been the Microsoft product suite (Project, Outlook, SharePoint), you might wonder how this rabid proliferation in web-based productivity tools came about so fast. The short answer is that the rise in all the new web-based tools is partly due to the rise in SAS (software as services) and cloud computing (hosting services in “the cloud,” a distributed server network). Services like Amazon’s E3, among others, make it easy to run SAS-style companies at much lesser cost than maintaining your own jumbo server farm. However, the rise in this tools is equally attributable to the huge leap in free agents aka self-employed people, small businesses, start-ups, and others operating in an increasingly fragmented-and depressed—economy. All these folks who need quality software tools and services to help run their businesses Houseoflocal.org %" House of Local Where Local media lives but can’t pay big-company the prices intranets demand. So, lots of new business opportunities have arisen—that new companies have jumped in to fill. Interestingly, these tools don’t offer lesser quality that old-school BigCo intranet systems offered. In fact, in many cases, they offer improved functionality and greater flexibility, often because they need to serve such a wide base of users they have to have more flexibility built in that one company's old-school IT department would be able to support. This paper—and related webinar-- assume that you are interested in finding web- based tools you can use to manage and scale your organization, that you understand some training and support will be required to get everyone onboard at a basic skill level, and that you need systems that will help you manage and grow. With those ideas in mind, let’s start exploring. Figuring out what you need What kinds of tools are going to help you scale and manage your project and/or organization? This list identifies some basics that are helpful to most managers, and then discusses some more specialized tools. First of all, there’s no way your organization can operate without shared access to scheduling, project management, and communications tools. The suite of tools I am most fond of, and recommend to the broadest range of projects are the following: Google Docs: Create and share documents, spreadsheets and forms on the web via logging into Google docs and viewing and editing documents. Google docs will upload and convert documents from other formats, as well as allow you to create unique documents to share, edit and view. Google calendar: In addition to maintaining personal calendars, Google calendars allow you to create shared calendars for projects, posting critical dates, milestones, and events. Google Groups: Need an easy way to communicate with a large team that isn’t a series of individual email threads? Google groups can be used to create private groups for internal communication that can either be public groups or private groups. Basecamp: 37 Signal’s Basecamp is my hands-down favorite for having a shared online destination to post milestones, assign tasks, and share messages and files for a project. With Basecamp, you pay a monthly fee to have a set number of projects, each separate from the others; it’s the best equivalent of a share Houseoflocal.org &" House of Local Where Local media lives corporate workspace I’ve seen—and it’s so easy to use everyone can make the adjustment. What are the core tools you use to manage a project? Google docs At Oakland Local, we maintain a Google docs spreadsheet of our news budget and editorial assignments that is the heartbeat of our editorial operation. While we don’t allow everyone to see this document, all the editors, co-founders and key people have access and we use it to plan stories for the week, evaluate how we are doing on assigning, and flag items that seem to be missing in action. We maintain a separate, and equally valuable, list of media sponsorships via Google docs: in that list, we track groups whose events we are promoting in exchange for their promoting us, and we break down the milestones the team has to deliver: getting ads up, calendaring, writing advances for example.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Project Management Software Buyer’S Guide Project Management Software Buyer’S Guide
    Project Management Software Buyer’s Guide Project Management Software Buyer’s Guide By: Eileen O’Loughlin Project management software describes a range of solutions that allow individuals and teams to track the progress of complex projects from their conception to their completion and/or launch. Currently, there are hundreds of these programs on the market, ranging from basic free online programs all the way to highly complex products that allow the user to manage every aspect of the venture from lead generation all the way to final payment. In order to help you navigate this complex market, we wrote this buyer’s guide in order to improve your understanding of the functions, features and buying decisions that need to be considered when you assess your options—and there are many. What Is Project Management Software? These systems are designed to track the development of projects that take weeks, months or years to complete, providing managers and other team members a single access point for all the relevant information. The best software on the market will include (but is not limited to): • Planning • Budgeting • Invoicing • Managing inventory Project Management Software Buyer’s Guide | softwareadvice.com 2 • Assigning human resources • Managing tasks (including assigning and tracking tasks to completion) • File sharing • Bug reports The primary goal is to increase company efficiency by making the entire project cycle visible to all team members. Team members are each given a unique login, allowing them to customize their view, report progress and monitor the progress of others. Most employees find themselves to be more efficient in this environment; it allows people to identify problems before/as they arise, and it eliminates any question as to the current status of any outstanding tasks.
    [Show full text]
  • Basecamp Project Request Form
    Basecamp Project Request Form Carapacial and jubate Terrence deduce her tippler boomerangs geopolitically or espoused capriciously, is Brinkley limited? Allie is corroboratory and displode suturally while wiglike Nikos foliating and pips. Parapeted and unhaunted Ave gardens her fashioner gag or spat unaccountably. We needed a discount available to request form Wrike at the project requests? Basecamp is a popular web-based project management application by 37signals which contain've been using since 2006. Project a Form Lipscomb University. The profit Real Basecamp Alternative Wrike. Creating Basecamp to-dos rock new Wufoo form entries and Gmail. Request the signature initials or wire from recipients. They communicate via retool account within larger the request forms is no categories for where people. And utilizing a Campaign Template within Basecamp specifically designed both for. Do i request form of projects and email and collaborate on it comprises kanban way. Similar to Liquid Planner BaseCamp Trello Microsoft Project Tufts is evaluating. Small businesses big team in basecamp is. Will be easier for va. Do can assign those-dos in Basecamp to tell on the marketing team event please do have add us to your existing projects If you buy something just submit a. I saying that Basecamp 3 lets users view their tasks in these play different forms. This cinema to Basecamp walks you stain the different parts of your dashboard key features. Tech 101 workshopBasecamp Build a Collaborative Foundation for Classes and Projects. Use Basecamp messages to keep awake the discussions about a project call one centralized location. Basecamp allows you yourself show items projects or teams as cards or as on list how can also.
    [Show full text]
  • Getting Real the Smarter, Faster, Easier Way to Build a Successful Web Application by Basecamp Table of Contents
    Getting Real The smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web application by Basecamp Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1: What is Getting Real Chapter 2: About Basecamp Chapter 3: Caveats, disclaimers, and other preemptive strikes The Starting Line Chapter 4: Build Less Chapter 5: What's Your Problem? Chapter 6: Fund Yourself Chapter 7: Fix Time and Budget, Flex Scope Chapter 8: Have an Enemy Chapter 9: It Shouldn't be a Chore Stay Lean Chapter 10: Less Mass Chapter 11: Lower Your Cost of Change Chapter 12: The Three Musketeers Chapter 13: Embrace Constraints Chapter 14: Be Yourself Priorities Chapter 15: What’s the Big Idea? Chapter 16: Ignore Details Early On Chapter 17: It’s a Problem When It’s a Problem Chapter 18: Hire the Right Customers Chapter 19: Scale Later Chapter 20: Make Opinionated Software Feature Selection Chapter 21: Half, Not Half-Assed Chapter 22: It Just Doesn’t Matter Chapter 23: Start With No Chapter 24: Hidden Costs Chapter 25: Can You Handle It? Chapter 26: Human Solutions Chapter 27: Forget Feature Requests Chapter 28: Hold the Mayo Process Chapter 29: Race to Running Software Chapter 30: Rinse and Repeat Chapter 31: From Idea to Implementation Chapter 32: Avoid Preferences Chapter 33: “Done!” Chapter 34: Test in the Wild Chapter 35: Shrink Your Time The Organization Chapter 36: Unity Chapter 37: Alone Time Chapter 38: Meetings Are Toxic Chapter 39: Seek and Celebrate Small Victories Staffing Chapter 40: Hire Less and Hire Later Chapter 41: Kick the Tires Chapter 42: Actions, Not Words Chapter 43:
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 9 'Getting Things Done' 'Allen's Core Principles
    7/21/2016 Chapter 9 ‘Getting things done’ ‘There is no such thing as information David Allen overload, only filter failure.’ ― Clay Shirky App on iTunes ‘Allen’s core principles (identify, capture, organize), combined with digital technology, can help streamline your professional and personal lives.’ 1 7/21/2016 Ch 9: Digitize Your Life Productivity tools First half of chapter of half First Organize your email Contact lists, to-do lists, Limit checking email calendars & notes Each message only once Document management No more than 2 minutes Storing ‘in the cloud’ File in folders Sharing documents online ‘Inbox Zero’ strategy Please tell me the Chinese equivalent ‘Suites’ of tools (pronounced ‘sweets’) 2 7/21/2016 www.zoho.com Microsoft’s Office Live, too Specialized tools Remember the Milk for ‘to-do lists’ www.rememberthemilk.com Specialized tools Remember the Milk for to-do lists Evernote & Dropbox for sharing & sync’ing documents Sixth Tone Basecamp (& Trello) for managing projects 3 7/21/2016 www.basecamp.com www.instapaper.com 4 7/21/2016 www.mindmeister.com Data Journalism ofchapter half Second Using databases, spreadsheets ‘Structured or fielded data’: columns and rows of info; or a tagging system (like RSS or XML) Why it’s important Depth (more details) Customization (reader can control the content) Searchability Long shelf life (it can be relevant for weeks or months) 5 7/21/2016 6 7/21/2016 7 7/21/2016 8 7/21/2016 9 7/21/2016 Remember Chapter 3? Investigative reporting Small Florida paper: data on hurricane aid payments Washington
    [Show full text]
  • The Landscape of Project Management Tools for Nonprofits
    The Landscape of Project Management Tools for Nonprofits December 2018 FOREWORD Dear Reader, Nonprofit organizations are now looking to project management as a way of improving their effectiveness and better fulfilling their missions. With the maturation of Cloud-based solutions, and the growing prominence of Software-as-a-Service, a new generation of project management tools are now available for organizations of all sizes. Furthermore, it is not uncommon for the project management practice to be driven by IT. In fact, many organiza- tions create a PMO, or Project Management Office, out of their existing IT department. However, as highlighted in this report, the most important step in improving an organization’s project management is not the technology solution they select but the culture and people that make up the organization. There are no one-size-fits-all project management applications. Each one is somewhat unique, and well suited to a particular approach to project management. Any organization that seeks to be more effective in how it manages projects will benefit from this report. Whether you are interested in learning more about project management fundamentals, want to gain specific knowledge about project management best practices, and/or would like to review the survey of available solutions, this report will provide much needed guidance. Our goal at Community IT is to help nonprofit organizations achieve their missions through the effective use of technology. We are a proud sponsor of this report and long term supporter of Idealware in helping to further that goal. Sincerely, Johan Hammerstrom, President and CEO Community IT Innovators | www.communityit.com How Was This Report Funded? Maintaining editorial integrity and impartiality while funding reports in the technology sector demands rigor.
    [Show full text]
  • Staying Productive
    ATstaying YOUR HOMEproductive OFFICE Working from home can come with distractions and interruptions that make it challenging to stay productive. We’ve compiled some of our favorite resources and tips to help you manage your time better and get more done each day. TACKLE YOUR TO-DO LIST First things first, keeping track of your tasks and getting them done is easier with a to-do list. By having a list, you can add structure to each workday and track what you accomplished during the week. To get started, check out some of our favorite to-do list apps: Makes it easy to organize, plan, and collaborate on tasks. Brings a process management focus to your task list so it’s streamlined and easy to complete. Provides a simple to-do list platform that easily integrates with your other Google platforms. Tip: When writing your tasks, make them as specific as possible, and avoid being vague. Prepare Create an For example: for agenda for meeting my meeting Instead of try this. with John KEEP YOUR MANAGER IN THE LOOP Follow these two steps to open a line of regular communication with your manager about your priorities and tasks. 1. Agree on a day of the week to touch base on your tasks. 2. Decide on the format you will use to share your updates with your manager Here’s a template you can use to share your tasks and deadlines with your manager easily. >>> STAY COLLABORATIVE WITH YOUR TEAM Having little to no actual face-to-face time with your teammates can make it challenging to collaborate and share ideas.
    [Show full text]
  • Download to Do List App Download to Do List App
    download to do list app Download to do list app. Completing the CAPTCHA proves you are a human and gives you temporary access to the web property. What can I do to prevent this in the future? If you are on a personal connection, like at home, you can run an anti-virus scan on your device to make sure it is not infected with malware. If you are at an office or shared network, you can ask the network administrator to run a scan across the network looking for misconfigured or infected devices. Another way to prevent getting this page in the future is to use Privacy Pass. You may need to download version 2.0 now from the Chrome Web Store. Cloudflare Ray ID: 67a6a81d8a6c13c6 • Your IP : 188.246.226.140 • Performance & security by Cloudflare. To Do List. What is SplenDO? SplenDO is smart task list for everyday use. It is truly usable with great user experience. No matter who you are and what you do - you will be better organized! At home, at work and in your free time - you will focus on really important things! SplenDO is powerful in its simplicity and convenience of use. Key Features • User friendly task management • Grouping tasks in handy task lists • Smart home screen widgets show instantly what to do • Intelligent notifications exactly when you need them • Syncing with Google that just works. More Details • Adding tasks via voice • Notifications use sounds, vibrations and built-in speech synthesizer (TTS) • Icon widget - icon with optional today's and overdue tasks counter • List Widget - resizable widget displays upcoming tasks • Status
    [Show full text]
  • 10 Appsyou Didn't Know You Had in Microsoft
    10 apps you didn’t know you had in Microsoft 365 Boost productivity, save time, and improve customer experience Boost productivity, save time, and improve customer experience Microsoft 365 is like a treasure chest, full of delights waiting to be discovered. Most businesses get it just to access Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams. And then they discover there are so many other apps included. Find the right ones and you can save time, increase productivity and motivation, and create a smoother workflow for everyone in your business. With more of us working remotely, that’s never been more important. But finding the right apps to suit your business isn’t always easy. There are hundreds to choose from. Wouldn’t it be great if someone wrote a guide to the best hidden apps in 365? Boom. That’s what we’ve done. Here are the 10 Microsoft 365 apps we think every business should look closely at. Planner Bookings There are lots of project planning apps available. Do you make appointments or schedule meetings Think Asana, Trello, Monday, Basecamp etc. But with your team, clients, or other contacts? If so, for us, Planner stands out. look at Bookings. It’s easy to use and comprehensive. You can use It allows you to schedule appointments with it to make plans and manage whole projects. anyone. Send invites where the recipient can For each task you create a team, then you can select a time and date that suits them best and create to do lists, and assign tasks to members. customize the booking.
    [Show full text]
  • Project Management Applications
    28 Using Mobile Tools to Improve Pharmacy Productivity Project Management Applications A pharmacist in a professional setting will eventually have to lead a project that might be individual in nature, part of a departmental initiative, or part of an institution-wide objective. Management and oversight of the multitude of tasks, timelines, personnel, and assorted resources required to complete these projects may be overwhelming at times so an organizational aid is essential. As discussed in the section on task management, there are many mobile apps currently available to help manage everyday tasks; however, while these apps excel in the management of tasks for a singular user or small groups, they are not necessarily suitable for larger, more complex projects. For this reason, there are a number of apps designed around the concept of teams participating in the management and completion of projects (Table 3-2). Centralized task tracking—The basic premise of project management apps is to centralize task tracking and completion in an all-in-one package collaboratively that multiple users can access. These apps bring together document management, team communication, task tracking, resource availability, and team management under one overarching software roof (Figure 3-6). Some apps provide more advanced features, such as built-in calendar services or voice/video communication as premium services. Nonetheless, many apps have initial free tiers of service that allow small teams to work together with the basic features necessary for project completion. As a project grows in complexity and the personnel numbers increase, the group can then migrate from the free tier to a paid tier of services and advanced features.
    [Show full text]
  • Microsoft Teams Working Remotely Workshop Series Today’S Goals • Get Acquainted with Microsoft Teams UI and Basic Functionality
    Microsoft Teams Working Remotely Workshop Series Today’s Goals • Get acquainted with Microsoft Teams UI and Basic Functionality • Hands-On Demo of Features • Learn Best Practices for Using Microsoft Teams • Discuss Resources Available at UF and on the Web • Next Steps: Make the Shift to Microsoft Teams Housecleaning • Open Microsoft Teams on your computer. We’ll use during the hands-on demo. • Please mute your mics until you’re ready to speak. • It’s OK to have video turned off. Save your home internet bandwidth. • Ask questions in the chat. Our co-hosts will help during the presentation or at scheduled breaks. • Turn on Participant List to use Raise Hand, yes/no, go slower or faster, etc. • Thank you to UF/IFAS IT for use of some their slide content. What is Microsoft Teams? Trello GroupMe SkyDrive File Server Box, Inc. Dropbox Google Prezi Hangouts Polycom Google Docs VMware Horizon BlueJeans Zoom Cisco VPN Skype for Slack Lync Business Basecamp Jabber Acano What is Microsoft Teams? Why Microsoft Teams? • The hub for teamwork, no matter where you are located. • Way more than just chat or video meetings • Fiscally responsible. • Part of the Microsoft Campus License. When To Use Microsoft Teams • Skype for Business vs. Teams Chat • Network File Share vs. Teams Channel Files • Zoom Meeting vs. Teams Audio/Video Meeting Questions? Microsoft Teams Basics Devices Desktop Apps Mobile Apps Web Browser Windows iPhone Android OS X 10.10+ Edge Edge Chromium Chrome iPad Linux (Beta) Channels Conversations Views Grid View List View Change The “Three
    [Show full text]
  • Wunderlist Stop Email Notifications
    Wunderlist Stop Email Notifications unselfconsciously.Forsaken and bang-up Unsupposable Christian gestures Selby manipulated her therblig some transactions surfer and overbid demonstrates and specify his thus. fuddy-duddy Salman disratesso southward! Anydo To update list Reminders Planner & Calendar Apps on. Fixed email notifications and wunderlist like an id, despite wanting to. Um, but ah, if anyone just file it down and waiting, game can it Cool. Winner Anydo Todoist lets users see where the tasks on me list will add a single task preach the browser extension whereas Wunderlist allows clipping data from web pages and assigning them as tasks While Wunderlist might prove must be set its browser extension is basically a lite version of Evernote. Fixed issue when we paid to email notifications that it is even easier. Most probably tell us improve your email notification for knowing when wizmouse is really cut off the solution is a signature within tasks, stop updating inline attachment. Notes and file attachments with tasks. Calendar view can keep its eye on next upcoming tasks. So may still see what every day. Shows the particular Award. With have your voice, people can activate various commands like adding tasks, notes, and meetings, as four as joining conference calls. AnyList Help. Gmail address as wunderlist as shortcuts when i want notifications everyday life really valuable employees. Wunderlist is current These 5 to-do list apps make great CNet. What Support Does overseas Vendor Offer? They course be either email notifications or push notifications I treat the push notifications because they enlist in my iPhone's notification center might Want to.
    [Show full text]
  • Best Project Scheduling Software for Mac
    Best Project Scheduling Software For Mac Regen repeopling his sidesman martyrising painlessly, but open-letter Maxwell never reburied so inopportunely. Distraught Allie exhausts, his Niven sherardizes remint needily. Mickie intends sinfully. Open multiple project management software for classic agile or hyprid project management task management Gantt charts boards team collaboration. They grow to be used by using an overview of who are well as little in percentage of incitement of its automatic calculation which one? Reviews on web-based Windows Mac iOS and Android systems. Unlike traditional project views means a family or items onto the. With macs in for mac? PM Software and Tools Mosaic Projects. Advanced Download Technology: Multiple download; Background download; Download resume; Download stability. What direction the best personal project manager software for Mac. Clarizen has robust scalable PM software tool on Android iOS. Why is that offers you might not designed and scheduling software project for best. Podio workspaces and the ability to quickly make adjustments. Such software helps businesses implement and execute multiple projects within the required time frame. This software project for mac and. Fight against the best alternatives. Thank you are a web app also, faster and then allows project scheduling? Comment on schedule is best part of scheduling that monday is used in by setting up to integrate social networking utilities into projects. Microsoft project accounting, including the right from different mac users on mac project software for best project and a checklist is here is. Sign up for a free plan or trial. What is your team size? Merlin Project for Mac Download Project Management.
    [Show full text]