Posted by Dana Larson on March 11, 2010
We’ve discussed how staying connected to your teammates is an important step toward overall business success. We like to make sure everyone on our team can communicate with each other and stay up to date on other’s activity, as this allows us to build on projects, tasks and ideas together.
One main way we at OnePlace stay connected is through Team Pulse. Team Pulse allows us to know what the others are currently working on, and ask questions directly to one person, the members of one workplace or the entire company.
Posted by Dana Larson on March 08, 2010
When starting and running a small business, there are times when disorganization can take control. But it’s all how you manage your business people and information that can increase organizational success in your business.
This week we are highlighting some of last week’s blog posts on increasing organization in your business. Here are some of our favorites.
Posted by Dana Larson on March 05, 2010
It’s true that business teams can benefit from some good team collaboration and increased communication. It increases the connection felt by team members, and encourages participation in all projects. With this increased communication, teams increase the success of the business.
But there’s another team that could benefit from a bit of collaboration - your home team. No, I don’t mean your favorite home town baseball or football team; I mean the team comprised of your family members.
Posted by Dana Larson on March 04, 2010
At OnePlace, we strongly believe that collaboration is the key to business success. Allow everyone an opportunity to participate on a project, and everyone can be proud of the results.
By integrating online team collaboration tools into project management, small business teams are able to keep all communications and projects organized in a centralized location. This can lead to increased task management, increased collaboration on projects and less information lost - allowing your team to be more successful.
Posted by Dana Larson on March 02, 2010
Something we strongly believe in at OnePlace is the ability to give back whatever we can to the community. Our team members participate in local non-profit organizations, but we always want to do more for others.
It’s because of this that we offer OnePlace free of charge to non-profits, charity organizations and school. We want to help all businesses and organizations increase their small business success, and OnePlace is the solution that can help do that.
Posted by Dana Larson on March 01, 2010
At OnePlace, we believe that companies - large and small - can benefit from online business organization and project management solutions. They are the right tools for encouraging your team to be as successful as they can be.
Here are a few posts published last week that offer some great tips for small and large businesses - highlighting everything from project management tips to ways to keep your employees dedicated to their jobs.
Posted by Dana Larson on February 26, 2010
Last week, we wrote about how file sharing and file versioning within OnePlace can be a great team collaboration solution. This is especially true when many members of a large team need to update one file before a meeting or presentation.
Imagine what would happen if there weren’t a good system for tracking versions of files - how would a team know that all updates and additions were made in the right places across each version of the file? This is exactly what happened to Mark, the manager of a design company who had just landed his first big client.
Posted by Dana Larson on February 25, 2010
Good online project management software will allow users to view detailed reports of the status of a project. This is exactly what OnePlace offers.
OnePlace allows users to view reports for any workplace or project, and be able to visually see the status of that project. Now, project managers will be able to see at a glance how many tasks are completed, how much time has been spent and which team member has been working the most.
Posted by Dana Larson on February 23, 2010
We love talking with our current and potential customers. Because of this, we are offering a OnePlace Web Demo every Thursday morning for attendees to learn more about OnePlace and how it can make their business even more efficient and effective.
At 11am CST each Thursday morning, join Steve Kickert - CEO and co-founder of OnePlace - as he takes you through using OnePlace to improve your small business organization and communication. You will review the different features of OnePlace, including online project management, team collaboration, discussions and file sharing. You will also learn how OnePlace will empower your people to be successful, so your business is too.
You can register for the OnePlace Web Demo on our homepage at http://www.oneplacehome.com to hear more about how OnePlace can positively impact your business.
See you on Thursday!
Posted by Dana Larson on February 23, 2010
Riverock Technologies, a software development company based in Minnesota, was founded in 2007 with one goal in mind - to provide employees with a balanced life while allowing the team to create small business software that people love to use. Riverock Technologies developed OnePlace to do just that.
OnePlace was created as the solution to effectively manage the complex projects that come with developing software. OnePlace also combines this information with personal organization to increase personal productivity. With OnePlace, users can organize their personal and professional lives in a way that keeps all tasks and projects in a central location and alleviates the stress of not knowing what is on deck for tomorrow.
OnePlace allows the team at Riverock Technologies to manage projects online and follow the agile development practices of the software industry. OnePlace is the main tool used for communication and collaboration between team members, using features such as Discussions and Team Pulse to ask questions and keep the team updated on the status of tasks. And because Riverock Technologies is a virtual company, OnePlace keeps everyone connected, making it feel like the rest of the team is in the next office.
This solution is perfect for the Riverock Technologies team, and has proven to be perfect for other small businesses as well. Read more about how OnePlace has improved business, organization and communication for Riverock Technologies, and sign up for a free 14-day trial of OnePlace to improve your business success.
Posted by Dana Larson on February 22, 2010
All small businesses are looking for more ways to be more efficient and effective. There are online solutions available to increase this effectiveness, many of them inexpensive enough for anyone to use.
Last week, many blog posts were published discussing these tools to increase business efficiency. Here are a few of our favorites:
Posted by Dana Larson on February 19, 2010
This morning I read an article from Candice Arnold called “A Positive Attitude at Work Could Make Tough Times Easier to Bear”. The article struck me as interesting, as I try to stay positive most of the time, and I try not to let the little things get me down.
But this article went ahead to explain that business owners - while trying to make it through the tough economic times - may be putting on a positivity charade in front of their employees. They may be saying that everything is fine; meanwhile their business is crumbling around them.
On the other hand, business owners shouldn’t fall down the negativity rabbit hole either - all that brings is gloom and doom, and no one is encouraged to get any work done because they feel it’s worthless.
Posted by Dana Larson on February 18, 2010
We truly believe that a strong team collaboration solution is the key to a growing small business. Collaboration and communication are the cornerstones for bringing team members together on projects and improving business success.
OnePlace offers many different features that aid teams in working together on projects. One of our more unique team collaboration solutions is our file sharing feature.
Posted by Dana Larson on February 16, 2010
OnePlace is proud to say that we have some great customers with whom we work to increase their business success. And they help us too. We thrive off of customer feedback and are always working to make our small business organization solution better.
One of the customers who has offered some great suggestions to OnePlace is Accountants-4-Less - a provider of back office solutions for businesses that need a way to better manage time consuming tasks. And in turn, Accountants-4-Less has received a great business benefit from OnePlace.
Accountants-4-Less had been using Basecamp from 37Signals for a couple years prior to moving over to OnePlace. They liked how OnePlace gave them more features for less money, and the hierarchical project feature better suited their project management needs.
After utilizing OnePlace in 2008, Accountants-4-Less was able to reduce time spent on project management by 50%. Now the staff has more time to focus on keeping their clients happy rather than managing tasks in another project management system.
You can read the entire Accountants-4-Less case study on our website, and view other case studies to see how more small businesses are using OnePlace to increase the success of their people and their business.
Posted by Dana Larson on February 15, 2010
Last week was a busy week for project management with hundreds of blog posts being written about the topic. This is a key indicator to how important a good online project management solution can be.
Here is an overview of some of the more popular project management posts that came out last week.
Posted by Dana Larson on February 12, 2010
In honor of Valentine’s Day coming up this Sunday, the OnePlace team wanted to share how much we love and care about our customers and their success. We thrive off of your feedback to keep making OnePlace better and better.
And OnePlace users love us too - below is a list of the Top 5 most loved OnePlace features that keep our customers successful in their personal and professional lives.
Posted by Dana Larson on February 11, 2010
In online project management, the ability to track time spent on tasks is almost as important as the ability to manage tasks in the first place. Knowing how long it takes to complete a task or a project aids in project planning and ultimately the team’s success of that project.
For small business project management, effective time tracking can mean the difference between a well-oil machine and an over-worked stressed out team. You want to make sure you are planning appropriately for the capacity of your team, as well as giving yourself enough room to complete quality work in a timely manner.
Posted by Dana Larson on February 09, 2010
When you think about it, there aren’t many companies that couldn’t benefit from any type of project and task management system. There are certain small businesses that don’t need this type of solution yet, but if they have any hope of being successful in the future, finalizing processes and getting organized now will definitely help.
Task management software like OnePlace can keep individuals organized, as well as business teams. And for a growing business, strong organization is necessary.
Imagine how you would handle Annie’s situation without a project management system. Annie is a young accounting professional that, after getting her first taste of the corporate world, decided to go out on her own and start a financial virtual assistant company. Annie helps small businesses with their financial needs including accounts payable and receivable and financial forecasting.
Posted by Dana Larson on February 08, 2010
We are starting a new trend every Monday here on our blog, which is to feature blog posts from the past week that we think are informative, educational, interesting or just plain awesome.
Because we at OnePlace focus on increasing small business productivity and employee success, below are some great new blog posts featuring additional ways to improve upon that success.
Posted by Dana Larson on February 05, 2010
The world seems to be changing faster than ever. With the aid of new technology and the emerging personalities of new generations entering the workforce, the traditional ways of doing business are being pushed back to make way for new business practices.
There may be people in your company who don’t know how to use email. There may be people who need a business organization solution to keep projects straight. Entry-level students who grew up with the internet don’t know how to work without social media and team collaboration tools. You are going to need to offer training and education for many members of your team throughout the life of your business.
Whether you are hiring someone new or looking to enhance the skills of your current team, there are many options available to improve their workforce skills.
Posted by Dana Larson on February 04, 2010
When we developed OnePlace a few years ago, we wanted to ensure our solution met the needs of small businesses to increase their business success. One need we saw over and over again was the need for project management within the business.
Online project management allows you and your business team to organize and manage projects and tasks in an efficient and effective way. Keeping track of projects across multiple team members can be a bit challenging without the aid of an online solution. We kept all this in mind when developing OnePlace.
Posted by Dana Larson on February 01, 2010
A main component of our small business organization solution is online project management. We are all very organized people, and like to help others stay organized as well.
Because of Post-It Notes, calendar updates and reminders on your cell phone, there are just as many ways to manage tasks as there are tasks to complete. And while we love it when stuff gets done, we want to make sure the people in your business are remembering what to do, and getting the right things done.
Here are 5 ways to manage tasks more effectively to ensure greater efficiency:
Posted by Dana Larson on January 25, 2010
The OnePlace team is dedicated to using OnePlace to help organize our professional and personal lives. And if we weren’t, what kind of advocates would we be for our small business solution?
Since joining the team, I have become increasingly aware of the intricacies of OnePlace and all the cool features that make this solution great. I want to take this time to point out some of these great features in OnePlace to aid some of our current customers in using OnePlace to its fullest extent.
Posted by Dana Larson on January 22, 2010
I recently came across an article published in October 2009 from Web Worker Daily entitled The Pomodoro Technique: A GTD Alternative?” After reading the article, I found myself relating to the issues that the Pomodoro Technique claims to alleviate.
If you’re not familiar with it, the Pomodoro Technique is a way to manage time and projects to get the most accomplished. It targets those people who are easily distracted by outside factors when trying to get work done, and those who have anxiety over looming deadlines and the “ticking clock.”
Posted by Dana Larson on January 20, 2010
At OnePlace, we take any chance we can to make small businesses more efficient and effective. There are hundreds of available tools to keep the individual productive, and we like to think we bridge the gap between personal productivity and small business productivity tools with OnePlace.
We also know that in order to be successful, sometimes all it takes is a cheerleader in our corner encouraging us to be the best we can be. That is why we wanted to highlight some of our favorite productivity blogs here - to share with you a few more resources to help you manage tasks.
Posted by Dana Larson on January 18, 2010
Even in today’s economy, there are new small businesses starting up left and right. Once an idea is formed, a multitude of meetings have to occur to plan for success, such as making sure the business strategy is secure, identifying the sales and marketing plan and key messaging, and targeting the right prospects.
It’s a true fact that there are too many meetings in business. On the flip side, it is true that meetings do need to exist. The trick is making meetings as efficient and effective as possible.
When working with OnePlace as your online collaboration solution, discussions play an important role in eliminating the need for multiple meetings, and can impact the major decisions that make a business successful.
Posted by Dana Larson on January 15, 2010
Do you ever have those days where you were really busy, but didn’t end up getting anything accomplished? Or when you can’t overlook the amount of work you have to complete, so you just don’t do anything?
The team at OnePlace knows how important it is to keep on top of your goals to get work accomplished. Heck, that is why OnePlace was created! We believe that task management and team collaboration can improve the efficiency of any small business team and make them more productive.
Here are some easy to follow tips for improving your business productivity:
- Schedule Your Work - Outlining exactly what you have to accomplish each day and managing your tasks gives you a nice visual of all your work, and allows you to choose which to work on next. And nothing beats the feeling of checking things off your to do list! (read a blog post on scheduling here)
- Take Notes - Have you ever left a meeting and forgotten your next steps? Take notes when in meetings, on the phone or anytime they pop into your mind. This saves time by not having to revisit the conversations later.
- Organize Your Workspace - A chaotic workspace can distract you from the work at hand. Make sure your desk and computer desktop are neat and organized prior to beginning your work.
- Open the Doors of Collaboration - Brainstorming with team members is a powerful tool. So is the opportunity to run an idea by a coworker to see if you’re on the right track. Team collaboration tools help to open the doors and keep team members connected all day.
- Love Your Job - If you don’t like your job, you are automatically going to suck at it. Make sure that you are doing the best for your boss and yourself by finding the right job for you. If it helps, take a career assessment to find out what skills match your personality best.
- Know When to Procrastinate - Procrastination is one of the worst time-sucks in the workplace - but there is a time and place to procrastinate. By managing your tasks, you can complete what you feel like completing, and move the other items out to another time.
- Attack the Big Rocks - There are some tasks, however, that need to be worked on right away. Start working on those “big rocks” first thing in the morning. Once you get them done, you’ll feel more accomplished for the day.
- Delegate to Team Members - If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the work in front of you, ask a coworker for a bit of help. Taking 5 minutes to reassign a task and explain it to someone else will free up a lot of task time for you to accomplish everything else.
- Exercise - A mid-day heart rate boost can increase productivity for the afternoon. If you can’t do jumping jacks in your office, a lunchtime walk works just as well.
- Keep Team Members in the Loop - By sharing your to do list with coworkers, you are instantly held accountable for completing that work. Ensure you are using a team collaboration solution that offers transparency and allows team members to see other’s work easily to manage that accountability.
- Eliminate Distractions - Get rid of email, Twitter, Facebook, and other distractions on your computer and get to work. Without the distractions of questions, tweets and status updates, you will find yourself working harder on your task list.
- Work When You’re Productive - There are always going to be times in the day when you are more productive than others. For me, it’s first thing in the morning. Identify these times for yourself, and plan your work accordingly.
- Just Do It - Sometimes the best way to get stuff done is to start working. Get to work and see how much you can do :-)
Being aware of what you have to accomplish can help push you get more done. Learn what tools help you work more efficiently and continue to use them to wow your boss and feel good about your work.
What other tools do you use to keep productive?
Posted by Dana Larson on January 07, 2010
OnePlace is enabling charities and non-profit organizations to continue helping out in a more efficient way by offering free online project management and team collaboration.
New Life Church - located in Foley, MN and currently meeting in the Foley High School - needed a bit of help collaborating with employees and members. They turned to OnePlace as a virtual solution to aid in team collaboration and project management. Now the New Life Church can more easily communicate with team members and keep more organized on current and upcoming tasks.
OnePlace is proud to welcome New Life Church into the OnePlace family. We look forward to giving back to those charities and non-profits that give of themselves as we expand OnePlace and our online project management solutions.
Posted by Dana Larson on January 05, 2010
With business expanding and OnePlace continuing to grow, we are pleased to bring on Dana Larson as the new Marketing Manager on the Riverock team!
Originally from Wisconsin (Go Packers!) Dana attended college at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities and graduated with a degree in Strategic Communications and a love for marketing.
For nearly 3 years after graduation, Dana worked at the Twin Cities internet marketing firm TopRank Online Marketing as their Search Marketing Supervisor. Her role at TopRank included everything from executing keyword research to social media marketing to developing and implementing client marketing strategies and back again.
When not marketing and promoting OnePlace, Dana loves to take naps, eat pizza dipped in ranch dressing, travel and spend time with her family.
We are excited to have Dana as a part of our team and look forward to the business growing even more!