Posted by Dana Larson on August 05, 2010
A few months ago, we highlighted many reasons why happy employees are productive employees. A few of our favorite ways to make employees happy, and thus more productive, were to recognize success, set goals, provide career growth opportunities, offer flexible work hours, provide quality office supplies and go on team field trips.
Because we want to do our part to make sure everyone on your business team is happy, productive and successful, here are a few more ways to keep your employees happy.
Posted by Dana Larson on July 27, 2010
If you’ve been reading our blog over the last few months, you’ve heard us talk about the benefits of team collaboration, and how businesses can effectively engage others in online collaboration. And if you’ve taken a look at our website, you’ve seen that we offer a (fantastic) business collaboration solution to do just the things we preach.
But today, I’m going to go over a few different ways to use OnePlace. Because, well, it’s not all about the business and the collaboration. It can be used for a great many things!
If you’ve been a fan of OnePlace for a while, you are well-aware that OnePlace is not only a business solution, but a personal solution as well. OnePlace can be used for many things not relating to work, and still be an effective tool. Here are a few examples of how OnePlace can benefit your personal organization and collaboration.
Posted by Denis Ahearn on June 23, 2010
Welcome to the inaugural "Did You Know", a series we plan to do from time to time about various things in OnePlace that you may not know about. Today's article focuses on your personal account within OnePlace.
Posted by Dana Larson on March 15, 2010
For most of the United States, yesterday marked the start of Daylight Savings Time - the wonderful time of year when we set our clocks forward one hour and suddenly it is much lighter in the evening. Now we can go out for walks on a nice Spring evening, or just enjoy the fact that it is no longer dark out when we are heading home from the office.
The hardest part of the switch to Daylight Savings time every year is the event of “Springing Forward” - where we effectively lose an hour to our day. This can cause people to feel a little behind during the Sunday on which we change our clocks, to feeling sleepy the next day at work.
Here are a few tips to stay productive when moving to Daylight Savings Time:
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 Steve Kickert on February 03, 2010
At OnePlace, we are strong believers in making the individual successful - not just professionally, but in their personal life as well. We understand the lines between work and home life are blurred more than ever, and want to manage that blurred line to keep organized and benefit all facets of life.
We have built our small business organization solution to focus on the individual first. Because of this focus, we help the individuals in any business setting improve their organizational styles and communication techniques. The skills our solution aids in developing are incredibly important workforce skills that increase the productivity and the success of that individual. And you definitely want successful people in your business.
Why? Without good, successful employees, your business doesn’t stand a chance.
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 Steve Kickert on September 29, 2009
We are getting close. We have been working on a major upgrade for OnePlace for over two months now, and we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are hoping it is not a train. :-)
Back in July, we met with many of you to get your feedback on how OnePlace was working for your team, and to hear what you would like to change about OnePlace. Thanks again for taking the time to do that. We listened carefully, and have made some big changes and a mountain of little ones to OnePlace as a result. We can hardly wait to let you move into your new OnePlace. We are excited to use it ourselves.
Here is an abbreviated list of the changes that are coming:
Posted by Denis Ahearn on January 20, 2009
Once in a while someone will ask us why we decided to create OnePlace, especially when you consider the number of other online tools that are available today for helping manage your projects and tasks and for collaborating with others. We have a pretty standard response to that question that I thought would be fun to share in this blog.
Posted by Denis Ahearn on January 14, 2009
Launching a startup was never considered easy. As if developing a business plan, getting funding, and focusing hard on product development wasn't enough, the entrepreneur has to worry about attracting key employees, taxes and benefits, creating a pleasant working environment, and building a culture of teamwork and collaboration.
But today's startups face an even more difficult challenge: working effectively as virtual teams. Almost every startup these days, certainly in my experience, is at least partially made up of dispersed employees—oftentimes in different cities or states, and sometimes even spread across country boundaries. Many startups, at least in the technology field, are made up entirely of individuals in separate locations. How then do they function? How can the entrepreneur possibly succeed with his or her venture if there's no single "place" where employees can regularly meet and work? Email and instant messaging are not the answer—teams become quickly overwhelmed trying to manage their collective work that way.
Posted by Steve Kickert on January 06, 2009
Do you need a shot in the arm? (Pick me up)
Watch this movie (16 min)
Posted by Denis Ahearn on December 31, 2008
2008 was a very busy year at Riverock Technologies. Our sole mission during this entire year was to prepare for successfully launching OnePlace into the market. Every day was spent focusing on this goal, which we achieved back in September when we released OnePlace for general use, and officially opened the proverbial doors for business.
So, before we close the books on 2008 and turn our attention towards the year to come, we thought it would be fun to take one last look in the rear view mirror to see what happened to OnePlace during this past year.
Posted by Graeme Thickins on December 22, 2008
TAH-DAH! We completed another upgrade to OnePlace™ over the weekend! To be precise, it happened on 12/21/08 at 7:30am CST. As you know, we push updates to OnePlace™ approximately once a week—and, in some recent weeks, we've done it even more often that that. We love listening to our customers!
What's the major addition this time? A OnePlace™ "Customer Forum"! It gives you a convenient way to communicate not only with the OnePlace team, but with other OnePlace™ customers as well! Check out this new feature today by simply clicking on the 'Forum' link in the upper righthand corner of your OnePlace™ screen. Or, you can visit the forum directly by going to the following url: http://forum.oneplacehome.com.
Posted by Steve Kickert on December 16, 2008
I heard the quote below while just about killing myself in spinning class yesterday. I thought it was really great and wanted to share it. Enjoy!
Do not deny yourself the opportunity to do your best.
by Doug (my spinning coach)
Posted by Denis Ahearn on December 12, 2008
One of the keys of effective team collaboration is what we like to call staying in-the-know. Knowing what your teammates have done, are doing, and plan to do is crucial for making sure that your efforts align properly with those of your team.
Unfortunately, keeping informed is not easy. Think about the team you're on right now. How many members does it have? How many initiatives is your team tackling right now? How much new information does your team receive on a daily basis? How much of what you knew yesterday will change today? Did you lose a team member yesterday? Did you gain a new one today? I could go on, but you get the point. Keeping track of all those things is difficult, and you need help.
Posted by Graeme Thickins on December 11, 2008
When we say the OnePlace™ team is ever-vigilant, folks, we're not just a whistlin' Dixie. The dedicated development team here at OnePlace's worldwide headquarters (half buried in snow here in suburban Minneapolis), never rests—constantly stretching their minds for new ways they can make your favorite software better. They never let up in their quest to help you take maximum advantage of OnePlace to boost your team's productivity. Not only did they push an update on December 8, but dog-gone if they didn't follow that with yet another one on December 10! Here's what these two updates included...
Posted by Mark Peterson on December 10, 2008
In real life, we all squirrel away stuff that we don't use regularly in closets and throw stuff that we don't need away in the trash (except children and college students, who just seem to keep everything on the floor).
In our Internet lives, we need to do the same thing, store some information and throw other information away. OnePlace supports these needs through Archive and Trash (for you children and college students, we're still working on a Floor).
The OnePlace archive is accessed via the 'safe' icon in the OnePlace toolbar and can be thought of as your OnePlace closet. You can put items in the archive that you only need occasionally and/or information that you may want to review again at a later date. Stuff that you put in the archive stays there forever unless you take it out again or move it into the trash.
Posted by Graeme Thickins on November 28, 2008
One thing we can say about our crack development team, they are ever-vigilant. They upgraded OnePlace™ again on 11/23/08 at 7:30am CST—even though it's been less than a week since the last upgrade! The OnePlace™ team added several enhancements that have been requested by nearly everyone. Here are the highlights of this latest upgrade:
• Project "Save As" - Now you can make a copy of a project!
• List "Save As" - Make as many copies of a list as you want.
• New Bookmarks List type - Share your bookmarks with your teammates, or just keep all your favorite bookmarks in one place.
• Export Tasks preview - If you're using the Export Tasks capability, then you will love this new capability.
• TeamPulse filter update - There are now separate settings for determining: 1) who you're pulsing to, and 2) which pulses do you want to see?
That last feature will strike a chord with Twitter users! (It's part of our recently announced TeamCentral capability.) First, you can actually select who you want following you (something you can't do in Twitter). Secondly, you can select which of your team members you want to follow (same as in Twitter)—so that you're sure to see all their ongoing updates, or "pulses" as we say in OnePlace™ lingo. Best of all, it's easy for you to adjust either of these selections anytime via this TeamPulse "filter."
Posted by Mark Peterson on November 21, 2008
When working with your data in OnePlace, you may have noticed a piece of data labelled 'id' in many places and wondered “What the heck is that?” Well, maybe not, but while ID's might be boring, they can make using OnePlace a whole lot quicker and easier.
All of the main data objects (projects, lists, tasks, notes, etc.) in OnePlace have a numeric ID associated with them. This ID is unique for the type of object it is associated with. So, for example, both a discussion and a note can have the ID 49, but two discussions cannot both have the ID 49.
Posted by Graeme Thickins on November 18, 2008
This past Wednesday evening, Riverock Technologies' fearless cofounders, Steve Kickert and Denis Ahearn, took to the stage at Minnesota's own quarterly Barcamp event to demo the OnePlace™ app in the strictly proscribed time of seven minutes. And deliver it well they did—one of ten presentations to a standing-room-only, information-hungry crowd of developers, founders, VCs and other investors, marketing folks, local media, and tech bloggers, all jam-packed into the theater at Intermedia Arts in Uptown Minneapolis. It was one high-energy event focused on technology innovation in MInnesota, in the form of ten hand-picked, highly promising startups. (In the photo, Steve does the talking, while Denis mans the controls in the foreground. Photo credit: Manish Shrestha.)
Posted by Graeme Thickins on November 15, 2008
New to OnePlace™? Ready to dive in and get get going? Well, do we have a great place for you to start! It's our new "Quick Reference" page—which is instantly accessible via a link in the upper right of your OnePlace™ user interface. (Of course, first you must start a free trial to see it!) We designed it to help you get a good feel for what OnePlace™ is all about, and how you can get the most from it. No other online collaboration software has such a feature! Just another way we show our love for our users... :-)
Posted by Denis Ahearn on November 07, 2008
One of the big benefits of using OnePlace on my iPhone, is how it allows me to quickly get up to speed in the morning on my commute to work, so that when I walk into the office, I'm already current with what's happened since the day before. This has been a huge time saver for me, because I don't need to spend any more time going through my email, unread discussions, inbasket items or team pulses before starting my work for the day. I'm up-to-date and ready to get things done.
Posted by Mark Peterson on November 06, 2008
In this day and age, many of us spend at least part of our mental bandwidth worrying about global warming, recycling, carbon footprints, carbon debts, and greenhouse gases. It's amazing to think that, only a few short years ago, most of these terms weren't even part of our vernacular and now they're part of our daily lives.
When thinking of ways to make ourselves more eco-friendly, software isn't usually the first thing that springs to mind. However, using the right software as part of your work and personal routine can indeed reduce your carbon footprint. How so? Mainly by reducing your need to travel.
Posted by Denis Ahearn on October 31, 2008
Much of the attention on OnePlace centers around all the great collaborative features that enable members of a team to plan out projects and execute on them. However, another cool feature within OnePlace is the Lists feature, which allows teams and individuals to keep track of things using a structured list. Lists are one of the things in OnePlace that work equally well for solo users as they do for teams.
Posted by Mark Peterson on October 29, 2008
We've blogged before about private workplaces, one of the key features of OnePlace. (See “Just give me a little privacy” by Steve Kickert) We here at Riverock use our private workplaces to manage our personal lives every day, so I thought I'd share some of our favorite uses of this powerful tool for managing your private life.
The OnePlace private workplace lets you unleash the full power of a top of the line project management tool on your private life. You can build projects and tasks for managing your personal todo's and you can store files, lists, and notes to track information that is valuable to you. All the information stored in your private workplace is visible only to you.
I, personally, get a lot of use out of the lists feature of my private workplace. For example, I have running lists for items I need at the home improvement store and static lists of items that I'll need at the next boy scout camp. The information in your private workplace is available on your mobile device, so I maintain my lists on my Mac and use my iPhone to check off the items as I shop.
Posted by Graeme Thickins on October 22, 2008
Joel Dreyfuss has a long history as a journalist; he's a well respected voice in the industry. In his current position as editor-in-chief of Red Herring, he's carrying on the mission of a very famous brand name in technology journalism, which traces back to 1993 and is now in its second coming as a source of news about innovation, technology, financing, and entrepreneurial activity.
Posted by Graeme Thickins on October 14, 2008
Minnov8.com is a news and information site about Minnesota innovation in Internet and web technology. Its About page tells the story: "Borne out of a frustration that there wasn’t a showcase for the talent, brainpower, creativity, and innovation that exists in this Land of 10,000 Lakes, several geeks set forth on a quest to deliver a destination site for just such a purpose." Steve Borsch is the lead geek, and the most frequent writer on the site. Some weeks ago, he met with Riverock's CEO Steve Kickert to learn more about the OnePlace™ online team collaboration and work management system, and later wrote an excellent piece about it.
Perhaps the best excerpt from the Minnov8 article is this one: "What did I like about OnePlace?" Borsch asked. "It’s easy to use and, within 15 minutes, I’d used most of the key features that enabled project/task management; time tracking; reporting; calendar; discussions; file sharing; notes; lists and more. I loved the iPhone interface. Connecting what we do on our desktop computers or laptops to internet/web server functionality 'in the cloud' isn’t enough when we carry around devices like an iPhone..."
Borsch concluded his article this way: "I’d encourage you to go to OnePlace and sign up for the free trial. You’ll undoubtedly see that it already has hit the sweet spot of what’s needed to collaborate with others. If you’re waiting until risk-becomes-reality and you or your company can’t go into the office and you need to collaborate virtually — or even if you figure you’ll just keep emailing around .doc’s and spreadsheets to those with whom you’re collaborating — OnePlace is an offering that is perfect for today’s increasingly mobile and always-on, always-connected workforce collaborating with one another online."
Posted by Graeme Thickins on October 14, 2008
Our local business weekly here in Minneapolis/St. Paul, The Business Journal, regularly reports on promising new startups. Recently, tech reporter Kathy Grayson, in her weekly column, interviewed Steve Kickert about Riverock's OnePlace™ online team collaboration and work management system. An excerpt: "The product offers a Web portal where employees working on group projects can find files, schedules and other information, as well as communicate. It also allows workers to collaborate across different organizations, and access data via mobile phones."
The article goes on to note that OnePlace™ users also get a private personal workplace online "where they can track their outside-of-work schedules. That’s a feature Riverock hopes will make the tool more appealing to workers, who sometimes view mandated collaboration tools as a hassle, said CEO Steve Kickert, who served as chief technology officer at HighJump for 16 years." Our local edition of The Business Journal has a paid circulation of about 12,000 for the print version, and its web site gets more than 137,000 unique visitors monthly, according to recent reports.
Posted by Denis Ahearn on October 08, 2008
In an earlier article on this blog, we discussed how using the scheduling capabilities within OnePlace to determine what you should work on today is a powerful way to help you focus and gain increased productivity. Another way to focus within OnePlace, which ties in nicely with scheduling your work, are contexts.
Contexts is a concept that has been popularized by the "Getting Things Done" philosophy from David Allen. The main idea behind them is to identify the things you can do now, given your current location and situation, and filter out the things you can't do now. Maximizing your productivity relies on your ability to focus.