Working with Michael Sampson made me realise that collaboration isn’t something I set out to directly do – it wasn’t a new years objective, or a corporate goal I had to meet. It’s more a way of working that I’ve adopted because I know I don’t have all the information I need, but I know people who do – both inside and outside of Plantronics.
Out of curiosity, I audited the tools that i use for collaboration (no recommendations here)
Microsoft Sharepoint – document storage, sharing and version control for internal users
Microsoft Lync – IM, screen sharing, video calls, and voice calls for internal and external (we openly federate) users
Dropbox – document storage, sharing and version control for internal and external users
37 Signals Basecamp – project management and article sharing for internal and external users
Skype – internal and external voice calls
Instant Meeting – Simple app on PC and mobile to get me into conference calls on time
I also use text messages (SMS)
A mix of on device and cloud based software – similar to most people I suspect. I also access most of these from multiple devices – some mine, some the companies – again, similar to most people. Yes it would be great if one piece of software did everything for everyone on all devices, but it would probably be bloated and useless most of the time…
As we do more collaboration, I expect this list to grow (Slideshare, Jive, Kloosion, Prezi I’m coming for you!), so I’ll keep it updated.