Posted by Matt Geiser on April 19, 2011
AnotherPlace - This was a sensitive word with the OnePlace founding team. They did not want to hear that their OnePlace social software for teams could easily be delegated as “AnotherPlace”. I joined the OnePlace team one year ago as a business development consultant and, of course, I had to challenge the product’s value. Collaboration is cool, but is it worth the hassle of another software application, and another subscription? As I came up to speed on Social Business Software space, I looked at dozens of applications that were developed to enhance team performance while leveraging the social aspects of popular interfaces like Facebook and Twitter, they all were AnotherPlace: each valuable in their own right, but not critical tools.
Now as a part Bluewater, 22 people are using OnePlace daily to various degrees. For some it replaces the network drive where files used to be stored. Others use it to share their daily conquests, collaborate and/or manage their daily workloads. This morning I received a team activity report from OnePlace that showed OP usage by individual and the overall team; the numbers were impressive and the range of usage by team member is wide. User adoption is very individualistic in collaborative solutions and that is okay, as long as every user sees value in participating in the discussion.
In the new software model, solutions are casually brought in by the team, and users are not forced to adopt them. Rather users now need to find value on their own terms. The new model isn’t all or nothing, instead value is driven at an individual level, and team adoption reflects that. For everyone on our team the consensus is that OnePlace isn’t AnotherPlace, rather it has become ThePlace for team social and work activity.
Posted by Dana Larson on December 27, 2010
Do you want your teammates to be more innovative, communicative and collaborative? Great! We do too! But first, you may need to make some big changes in your office structure.
If you think that gray walls, hard office chairs and boring white boards under florescent lighting is conducive to collaboration, you’re may not be a very creative person. Most people flourish under bright colors, fun themes and a new experience so their teamworking efforts ooze efficiency and productivity.
One thing you need to create in your office is a collaboration space. This is the place where teams go to generate ideas, work together and build success as a unit. And you need to make this space awesome to facilitate better innovation.
Posted by Dana Larson on December 20, 2010
As you are probably aware, increased business communications enhances workplace satisfaction and overall business success. These days, businesses focus more on improving their communication to build up their employees rather than forcing them into producing work. This business management style is going a long way toward a more open, professional culture that improves the work experience and ultimately moves the business forward.
One challenge with this open communication culture is how to organize those communications. Is there a good way to store information, dialogues, decisions and notes based on spoken communication? How about finding ideas buried in email inboxes? What if someone forgets a key decision and a project isn’t started on time? These are all questions businesses are facing with regard to facilitating open dialogues in the office.
So, how can you organize these business communications? Here are a few tips that will keep your team more productive as a result.
Posted by Dana Larson on November 29, 2010
Is your workplace connected? Do your employees work together? Are they communicating about the work they are completing? If not, you may want to think about working to connect your office a bit more.
The idea of teamwork and business collaboration is getting a lot of attention lately, as the benefits of improved workplace communications and connections are proven over and over again. So, how do you go about connecting your office and your team on a more productive level?
Here are a few tips for creating a better connected office.
Posted by Dana Larson on November 15, 2010
Business collaboration software is, as its name implies, a software that facilitates better collaboration among business teams. Not only can it help your team communication better around the work at hand, but it can help your team get work done faster and with higher quality.
Collaboration software can even help bring teams closer together. Now, rather than spending a great deal of time and money on team building activities, utilizing the tools at hand can bring about the same result.
So how can collaboration software help build a stronger team?
Posted by Dana Larson on October 25, 2010
In your business, there are times when you purposefully gather your team together, and times when they find themselves chatting and planning on the spur of the moment. These are called “workplace collisions” and are the centerpoint for all effective planning and processing inside your office.
Aside from the standard team meetings or even one-on-one meetings between an employee and their supervisor, workplace collisions can happen in offices, in cubes, in the hallway, and of course at the watercooler. So, how can you facilitate these collisions, and make sure they are as productive and effective as possible? Here are a couple tips to help your team connect and collaborate better.
Posted by Dana Larson on September 28, 2010
So, you think it’s time to implement a new collaboration solution. Great! We think it’s time too. Business collaboration can bring about many benefits, and really connect teams.
If you know all that, you’ve just got to get your boss’s approval to move forward with the implementation of your new solution. This may sound easier than it actually is. A lot of times, supervisors know they want a new solution, but they aren’t sure how to put it in place, or aren’t willing to take the time to figure it out and understand it.
Posted by Dana Larson on September 21, 2010
As mentioned in a previous post, motivating your virtual workforce can mean the difference between a successful virtual team and an unsuccessful one. One of the key drivers behind virtual collaboration is the increase in social business software and communication technology. With this technology, working with someone across the country doesn’t have to be challenging or expensive.
When your business is utilizing the best technological options available to connect your team and increase collaboration, the success of your business will grow. It’s a simple formula, and one that more and more companies are discovering. Virtual workers (less cost + right talent) + improved collaboration (more communication) = great business success.
Posted by Dana Larson on September 14, 2010
In today’s business world, more and more companies are expanding the reach of their employees across cities, states and even countries. Now, more than ever, virtual teams are being built and working together on company projects. Whether they are brought on the team on a project by project basis or as full-time company employees, the virtual worker trend in here to stay.
Facilitating this trend is the ability to connect with anyone anywhere at any time. The internet and web conferencing tools like DimDim and Skype have allowed face to face interactions to happen over the web, rather than in person. Online project management solutions can keep the entire team on track, no matter where they are located. Businesses can also feel better knowing they chose the right candidate for the job, regardless of where they are located, because they can stay connected to the company and the work at hand from anywhere.
Posted by Dana Larson on September 07, 2010
When you open a new television, or set up your new smart phone, you may think it’s okay to skip over the instructions and set up your piece of equipment all by yourself. If you’re more technologically inclined, you can probably figure out the setup of your new equipment on your own, and not have to worry about those pesky instructional guides.
However, when adopting a new team collaboration tool in your business, you may want to at least review the instructions to point you in the right direction. And while OnePlace is not nearly as complicated as putting together a bookcase from IKEA, our Support Center can provide valuable information for setting up your account, using new features and working with your team.
Posted by Dana Larson on September 02, 2010
Online team collaboration is a hot topic of discussion, and managing communications in the cloud is something many businesses are looking into and implementing these days. There are a great many benefits to online collaboration, but do these benefits really help? Will they replace the traditional forms of communication?
Will we all end up typing, IMing, emailing and tweeting so much that we lose the ability to speak? Will we be able to function in a face-to-face meeting?
Here are a few popular, more traditional, communication methods that can be enhanced by effective online team collaboration.
Posted by Dana Larson on August 30, 2010
It seem that, across the board, the success or failure of team collaboration adoption into the well-known business processes hangs on one factor - a designated “champion” in the office. This person, if assigned, can help push the idea and benefits of team collaboration to others in the business.
Posted by Dana Larson on August 26, 2010
Business collaboration has been steadily growing for the past couple years, and conversations about it have also been growing over the last few months. In April, we wrote a post on businesses collaboration software benefits, and how these benefits positively impact the people on a business team. The six benefits we mentioned were increased communication, improved idea generation, increased transparency, increased product quality, stronger teammate connections and improved planning processes.
These benefits are all still valid, and have been proved invaluable over the last few months. By improving upon the communication and the connectivity between teammates, better work is completed is less time.
Posted by Dana Larson on August 19, 2010
It’s no secret that the main idea behind team collaboration is the idea of open communication. If you’re team isn’t communicating, you’re team isn’t collaborating either. So you need to make sure you find a solution that facilitates this communication between your team members.
One of the most efficient and effective ways to hold conversations in through online discussions. Rather than holding meetings or having phone calls where notes may or may not be taken correctly, online discussions allow team members to stay connected and talk about anything related to their business or the projects they are working on.
Effective team collaboration can be achieved through online discussions because of a variety of factors.
Posted by Dana Larson on August 17, 2010
We’ve all heard by now that effective team collaboration can greatly impact the productivity and success of the business. In a recent study, over 80% of businesses stated that collaboration was the key to future success. This sounds great, right?
Absolutely! But there are many businesses who are hesitant to jump on the collaboration bandwagon because they aren’t sure exactly how collaboration will benefit them. A big concern is that the new collaboration process may not be as productive or beneficial as they want it to be.
In all honesty, there is a learning curve with collaboration processes and tools, as there is with almost everything else in the business world. The key is to agreeing to get around the curve as gracefully and successfully as possible to begin enhancing the communication and collaboration in your business.
Posted by Dana Larson on August 16, 2010
When it comes to online business collaboration and team collaboration solutions, there will always be a learning curve when adopting the new tools and processes. This just comes with the territory.
Unfortunately, there are businesses that, when faced with this learning curve, opt not to continue with the tool, labeling it as “unintuitive”, “challenging” and “complex”. While this can be said about some of the available collaboration tools, many options will work in a business team as long as they are properly integrated into the business processes.
Posted by Dana Larson on August 12, 2010
If your business is looking ahead for new solutions to make it more successful, you may have heard the phrase “social business software” recently. But you might be wondering exactly what it is and how it can help your business.
As a relatively new concept from an old need, social business software refers to a software application that allows those within a business to connect and communicate. It will allow those in the business to connect with those outside the business, such as customers, clients and vendors. It will also connect team members over great distances, thus allowing for a dispersed team and reduced travel costs for face-to-face meetings.
Posted by Dana Larson on August 10, 2010
Over the years, OnePlace has acquired many accounts from schools, either in our area or around the country. These school accounts range from managing offices of communications to managing collaboration in an MBA-level business class. Some of our school accounts include MidAmerica Nazarene University, and the University of Minnesota’s Waller Lab and Academic Health Center.
Even before we started offering OnePlace free of charge to non-profits and schools, we saw a large group of our accounts coming from schools and educational institutions. It’s interesting to wonder what exactly could be causing these schools to find OnePlace and to start using OnePlace. Is it because it’s easy to use? Is it because it fits well with their processes? Or is it just because smarter people use OnePlace?
Posted by Dana Larson on July 13, 2010
Now that your business is moving forward toward engaging in team collaboration, you probably expect some great success right of the bat, right? Fantastic! You can definitely achieve the collaboration success you desire. However, unless you know how to collaborate effectively, your efforts may be wasted at first.
Here are a few tips to learning how to collaborate effectively in your team.
Posted by Dana Larson on June 30, 2010
When it comes to implementing team collaboration in your business, there is no one way to help your business team collaborate better. There are many techniques that you can, and should, implement in your business. From learning how to work together to create a great product, team collaboration can impact every part of your business.
In order for team collaboration to be successful in your business, here are a few techniques that can get your business team started off on the right foot.
Posted by Dana Larson on June 28, 2010
Trying to find the right software, or place, in which your team can collaborate is a big challenge for businesses. There is a lot of research that needs to be done and a lot of testing that needs to be completed. But once you’ve found the right software for your business collaboration, everything will fall into place.
When testing out different collaboration software offerings, make sure to read a bit about what is the latest and greatest in software trends and look for a solution that drives you to the future. Your business collaboration and your business success will depend on it.
Here are a few recent blog posts that can give you a heads up on the trends in collaboration software.
Posted by Dana Larson on June 24, 2010
With all the chatter about effective business collaboration, you’ve probably heard that our main stance is that collaboration needs to be accepted and integrated into the corporate culture before it can take hold and be effective for the business. What’s incredibly challenging is when there are some in the organization that realize the need for an effective work management and collaboration solution, and others don’t realize that anything is wrong with their current situation.
So how can collaboration penetrate these businesses? Before we go into those solutions, let’s take a look at a real life case study of how ineffective processes are hurting individuals and business projects.
Posted by Dana Larson on June 21, 2010
With as much attention as business team collaboration is getting, it’s surprising that not as much attention is given to the idea of connecting within the business team. In order to collaborate effectively, team members - from internal coworkers to external customers and vendors - need to be connected to open the doors for communication and future collaboration.
Because keeping your business team connected is the first step toward successful business collaboration, here are a few recent posts and articles identifying the benefit of connecting with your teammates.
Posted by Dana Larson on June 14, 2010
Let me just say first of all, we are loving that Summer is right around the corner. That said, the sun is shining on a lot more collaboration areas lately, and are keeping us pretty busy with keeping up with these fantastic authors, analysts and bloggers!
So when it comes to team collaboration, what solutions do you use in your business? Are you already using a an online collaboration solution like OnePlace? Or still in the past using email to “collaborate” with your team? Somewhere in between? That’s what this week’s posts have been about - the wide spectrum of ways you can collaborate with your team.
Posted by Dana Larson on June 10, 2010
We all know that once you fully integrate effective team collaboration processes and solutions into your business, your team will be working together more effectively. The quality of their work will increase, and so will your bottom line. There is, of course, a learning curve with integrating collaboration into your business, but overcoming that will only strengthen the connections made between your teammates and the tools you are using.
But there comes a time in any collaborator's life - usually at the beginning of the heavy collaboration efforts - when they think “Can’t I just send this one file over quickly via email?”
Posted by Dana Larson on June 07, 2010
Effective business collaboration can be achieved to increase the productivity and success of the business. However, in order to achieve this type of effective business collaboration, there needs to be a people and process change to accept the new direction of collaboration with open arms.
So who are the people to accept collaboration? And what people can you collaborate with? Where can we collaborate? What technologies are available for collaboration, and what are some of the expected outcomes? Never fear - all of these questions have been addressed in the last few days in the blog posts below.
Posted by Dana Larson on June 01, 2010
Okay, I know it’s not really Monday today (Happy Memorial Day yesterday!), but since we were all out enjoying sunshine and barbecues yesterday afternoon, today we can get back into the swing of things by catching up on the latest business collaboration news together!
Lately, I’ve been reading a lot about how effective team and online collaboration can lead to improved organization and increased innovation when it comes to a successful business. I have to agree with this, of course, as I - as well as my colleagues at OnePlace - believe that collaboration can bring a great number of benefits to the business.
Posted by Dana Larson on May 27, 2010
If you’re like many of us and working in a client or customer service business, you tend to do a lot of work for your customers and clients. There is a lot of communication going back and forth, and products and projects are being updated for the benefit of the client.
When you’ve already taken the necessary steps to improve internal team collaboration within your business and are using a solution like OnePlace, you see an increase in the quality of work and communications happening among your team. But then - horror of horrors - you need to take a file out of your collaboration solution (thus rendering it outdated) and email it to your client.
If you just said “Wow, this sounds very inefficient and ineffective,” you are spot on.
Posted by Dana Larson on May 25, 2010
Today's guest post comes from Lokesh Datta, a co-founder of All Collaboration. Focusing on collaboration, All Collaboration offers points-of-view, original research, reviews of products and services, interviews with industry luminaries, and the “best of” articles on the web. All Collaboration has a companion Discussion Group on LinkedIn. Follow Lokesh on Twitter: @LDatta.
People collaborate, tools don’t! We hear this admonition often and, in fact, I plead guilty to using it as well. Is that sufficient, however, for successful collaboration? Not really! People and tools are both necessary but not sufficient. Effective collaboration requires a holistic approach, consisting of: Purpose, People, Process and Place.
What happens if any one of these is lacking is detail, clarity or fit?
Posted by Dana Larson on May 24, 2010
Improving the amount and quality of team collaboration in the workplace can significantly increase the effectiveness of business communication and the overall success of the business. There is no place that this is more true than in today’s enterprise business.
With more and more team members working hard to drive the product and the company forward, you need to make sure teams are working together. You need to give them the tools to stay connected and increase that collaboration for the improvement of your enterprise.
These posts agreed as well. Here are 4 recent blog posts on enterprise collaboration and how to experience the benefits collaboration can offer.
Posted by Dana Larson on May 20, 2010
If you’re a part of the increasing trend of running a virtual office, you are aware of the great benefits of them. Team members in a virtual office have shown increased productivity, increased positivity toward their job and even a decreased environmental impact because of the lack of commuting.
One of the main challenges, however, of a virtual office is trying to keep everyone connected. There aren’t easy options of holding impromptu face-to-face meetings, and phone calls need to be thought twice about because of differing time zones.
So, in order to increase the effectiveness of your virtual office, and encourage increased productivity, here are a few tips for keeping your virtual workforce connected.
Posted by Dana Larson on May 17, 2010
With all the chatter about business collaboration processes and solutions lately, it’s no wonder that additional questions arise. Why should I use collaboration processes in my business? How does it help? What solution will be best for my business?
And along with all these questions is one over-arching question that needs to be answered: How does collaboration impact my business? You need to understand this - whether it be the positive impact or the negative impact - before engaging too heavily in a collaboration solution.
Last week there were a few great articles published addressing this very question. Here are links to a few of them, but feel free to share your favorites with us as well!
Posted by Dana Larson on May 13, 2010
So you’ve heard about how great business collaboration can be - fantastic! You’re right, too, because collaboration between teammates, clients and customers can have a great impact on the success of your business. But you need to take the necessary steps in order to make that collaboration successful.
What you need to make sure you do first and foremost is successfully implement the collaboration process into your business. Your team - from the business leaders down to the interns - need to accept collaboration and have these processes ingrained into their very core.
Posted by Denis Ahearn on May 12, 2010
One of the things we've known for a long time is that the power and value of OnePlace increases exponentially when you use it to collaborate with other people. It works fine as a personal task management app, however once you add others to the mix, the fun really begins.
Posted by Dana Larson on May 11, 2010
It’s hard to deny that collaboration can significantly impact your business for the better. Effective team collaboration can improve the quality of communication, the quality of attitude and the quality of the work being completed.
There are some business cultures, however, that are opposed to this collaboration, or at least unaware of the benefits this collaboration can offer. In order to effectively integrate successful collaboration in your business culture, you need to make the necessary steps.
Posted by Dana Larson on May 10, 2010
Because social media is so popular - for marketers, for students, for families - businesses are starting to see how useful it can be as well. More and more businesses are looking at social media tools as ways to both connect with team members and spread the word about their business as a whole.
Here are a few examples of how businesses are using social media tools to connect their people to each other, and to customers, for increased collaboration.
Posted by Dana Larson on May 06, 2010
Well, if you have a a somewhat twisted mind, you can probably come up with an idea connecting beer, yoga and babies. And we aren’t judging you for it at all. But what we actually see as a common thread between these three very different industries is an increase in business organization and team collaboration success.
Lift Bridge Beer Company, Itsabelly and Yoga Pro have all been OnePlace customers for some time now, and have experienced huge success after implementing the solution. Make sure to read these case studies to find out how!
Posted by Dana Larson on May 04, 2010
So you’ve implemented a business collaboration solution in your company - fantastic! You have already taken the first, most important step to improving the effectiveness of your business communications and collaboration.
Now that you’ve received that gold star, you may need a bit of help encouraging the rest of your team to move away from their old ways of collaboration (email, IM, face-to-face meetings, etc.) and into the new solution that will benefit your people and your business as a whole. And once your people have begun using the solution, how are you going to make sure you get the most out of their communication and collaboration?
Here are 6 steps to making your team collaboration more effective.
Posted by Dana Larson on April 30, 2010
Because OnePlace loves to give back to non-profit and charity organizations, we are pleased to announce the arrival of a new customer - Shekinah Fire Ministries.
Shekinah Fire Ministries is a church organization dedicated to teach the Word of God. They were looking through many project management and task management solutions before finding OnePlace.
Posted by Dana Larson on April 29, 2010
The topic of collaboration - whether it be small business team collaboration or enterprise collaboration - has been a popular one lately. We’ve seen people write on the advancements in collaboration, what factors lead to successful collaboration, and how collaboration via social media is the wave of the future.
What I haven’t seen recently is a discussion about the benefits that a collaboration software system can provide. So, here it is!
Posted by Dana Larson on April 26, 2010
With the increased popularity of social media tools, and the State of Collaboration report released recently, the topic of team collaboration has been a hot one. More and more businesses are feeling the need for this type of business collaboration solution to increase communication between team members.
The blogosphere has been chattering about team collaboration recently. Here are some recent blog posts to bring you up to speed on team collaboration.
Posted by Dana Larson on April 22, 2010
In case you weren’t aware, today is Earth Day! Designed as a day to increase awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment, Earth Day was founded in 1970 and has inspired countless people across all countries to better the world we live in.
At OnePlace, we care deeply about helping others and helping our great planet. One of the greatest actions we are taking toward helping the environment is having an all virtual office.
Posted by Dana Larson on April 20, 2010
In many business settings, especially small businesses, every single person on the team matters. There is not one person without whom the business could succeed. This type of dependence comes from hiring the right people - the lynch pins - to bring your business successfully into the future.
Unfortunately there are instances when the people you hire in your business aren’t doing their best. And just like the saying goes, a business is only as strong as its weakest link. They may not be doing their best for a multitude of reasons, and before it can affect your business, try to figure out why there is a downturn in their efficiency and productivity.
Here are a few reasons why a team member may not be performing at the high standards you need in your business.
Posted by Dana Larson on April 08, 2010
At OnePlace, we love reading what others are saying about business organization, the latest project management tips and ways to increase team collaboration. By reviewing what others are putting out there about new and evolving processes for better business communication, we can focus on our position to improve our business, our communication and our product.
In order to “share the wealth”, so to speak, here are 5 of our favorite collaboration blogs for you to begin reading as well!
Posted by Dana Larson on April 06, 2010
OnePlace, the online team collaboration solution for small businesses, recently updated its solution with a new look and a better way for teams to stay connected. The new People feature allows users better access to teammate activity and contact information within OnePlace.
“OnePlace is the Facebook for business,” says Steve Kickert, CEO of OnePlace, “We want team members to communicate and collaborate on projects, and the new People feature enables both flawlessly.”
People pages display teammate contact information, what projects they have scheduled and their recent activity so project managers can stay up to date on their project status. The new feature further enables collaboration between team members within the OnePlace solution.
To create a free individual account or register for a trial of OnePlace for your business, visit our website at http://www.oneplacehome.com.
Posted by Dana Larson on March 23, 2010
As we’ve mentioned before, workplace communication is one of the most important factors to the success of the business. By having an open communication system in your office, team members will feel free to work together, and employees will be able to talk with managers when necessary.
Better communication also increases trust and collaboration between teams. By getting the basics of good professional communication down, all the people in your business will feel more connected, and increase success on all business projects.
Posted by Dana Larson on March 17, 2010
It’s time to share another OnePlace case study, and what better way to honor St. Patrick’s Day than to share the success story of a local brewery?
Lift Bridge Beer Company, based in Stillwater, MN, started as a hobby business, and needed some help organizing their distributed workforce. Because most people still had day jobs, the tasks associated with getting the brewery up and running were sent via email. This process led to lost tasks and forgotten notes.
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 Steve Kickert on March 10, 2010
One of the first things taught in management courses is the idea of delegating for success. This does not mean passing along all your work so you don’t have to do anything - this means splitting out the work among the appropriate members of the team to enhance the outcome of the project.
Team collaboration is bringing a lot of companies into the next tier of success. This is indicating that those managers know how to organize their team to be most efficient, and team members are working hard together to be the most effective.
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 Steve Kickert on March 03, 2010
It’s no surprise that the more communication occurring between a business team, the more connected they feel, the more productive they are and the more successful the business is. And with an increase in communication training for managers and supervisors, the trend and success of increased communication will be continuing into the future of business.
What business teams are also coming to realize is that strong team collaboration is what connects everyone to increase that communication. Identifying ways to bring a business team together on a project is an important step in the direction of increased business success.
So what about communication and collaboration increases business success?
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 Steve Kickert on February 24, 2010
When it comes to running a business, there are some great managers, and also some not-so-great managers. We’ve all had experiences with both, and after a while, we can pick out what traits we like in our managers.
One trait that is becoming more and more important for managers and supervisors are strong communication skills. Gone are the days of the manager barking out orders and hiding away in his office. Now managers are encouraged to meet face-to-face with their team on a very frequent basis and use communication to empower them to increase their success.
So how can you improve your management communication? Here are a few tips to improve your communication skills:
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 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 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 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 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 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 Steve Kickert on October 25, 2009
After three solid months of work, the NEW and MUCH improved version of OnePlace shipped today.
I would like to thank all our customers for helping us make OnePlace a success and for giving us your valuable feedback. Hopefully, you will see some of your great ideas implemented in this new version.
Click here to check out the new OnePlace.
Click here to see the complete release notes
Regards,
The OnePlace Team
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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 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 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 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 Denis Ahearn on November 24, 2008
In the two years that we've been focusing on providing a solution to the problems that teams face when collaborating on complex projects, it never ceases to amaze me how often we bump into people who tell us they basically use nothing more than email and instant messaging to collaborate on projects. When we meet new people related to what we do here at Riverock Technologies, we like to ask them about the tools they are currently using on their team to help them manage projects and collaborate on doing those projects. Time and time again the answer we hear, delivered with a somewhat sheepish expression, is email. Of course, we also hear of tools such as Microsoft Project and Sharepoint being used, but clearly it's in the minority. When we ask follow up questions on the usage of those tools, we usually find out they're not really being used by the people doing the actual work. Most if not all collaboration happens using email.
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 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 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 Steve Kickert on October 02, 2008
I have been invited to be on a panel at this years Defrag Conference. The title of the panel is "Re-imagining the metaphors behind collaborative tools". I am looking forward to it.
Posted by Steve Kickert on September 11, 2008
An exchange between two OnePlace users via IM. The names have been changed to protect the guilty.
I thought you would get a kick out of reading it.
[15:03] Peter Gibbons: Am I really going to "enjoy using OnePlace in all facets of my life"? that sounds promising and scary at the same time
[15:06] Joanna: Yes, yes you will.
[15:06] Joanna: And you'll drink the Kool-Aid.
[15:06] Peter Gibbons: Not enjoying it so far... just created my account and it's telling me I already have 3 projects due in the next week and 2 overdue...great, more work!!!
[15:06] Joanna: It's BlackBerry friendly.
[15:06] Peter Gibbons: nice
[15:07] Joanna: suggestion: modify the deadlines at will... see if Bill even notices.
[15:07] Peter Gibbons: will try that
Posted by Steve Kickert on September 06, 2008
Scheduling your work is something that seems so obvious to me now that I am surprised that every productivity application does not do this. The concept is so simple that it is often overlooked. This feature is crucial in helping me manage the chaos in my entire life.
Most people already use a calendar to schedule all their appointments. Some even go so far as to schedule blocks of time for getting their own work done. However, I have yet to meet anyone (other than other OnePlace users of course) who actually plans "when" they are going to do each task on their list. There are countless side effects of not scheduling your work. Here are just a few:
Posted by Mike Yanke on September 04, 2008
Our firm, Misukanis & Odden, is certainly no stranger to the chaos that can ensue if just one team member misses one small (yet critical) piece of a conversation involving a project. Hence marketing's "butterfly effect."
In our video below, Thomas McMahon and I walk through OnePlace's discussion feature, and illustrate how this team collaboration will help to minimize the 30-second heart attacks we can all feel when we realize a team member has not been included in a critical conversation.
Posted by Steve Kickert on August 28, 2008
One of the features that was on our MUST HAVE list since the very beginning of OnePlace was that it had to work in our personal life as well as at work.
Posted by Susan Misukanis on August 15, 2008
Team collaboration is a feature rarely thought of when a firm is making the decision to implement an online project management software solution.
Oddly, while collaboration and management may appear to exist on separate planes, they are far more interrelated than one might think - especially in our everyday lives at Misukanis & Odden.
For example, should just one bit of a discussion involving a client's project be lost to the ether - an entire project or campaign could end up in complete chaos.
In the video below, Susan & Thomas overview the concept of collaboration, and help to illustrate how it is not only a critical component of the OnePlace Chaos Management System, but a critical part of daily life at Misukanis & Odden.
Posted by Susan Misukanis on August 13, 2008
Project management can be tricky thing. This is clearly evidenced by the approximately 245 different online project management software tools available on the market today promising to herald into your firm a new and efficient collaborative environment.
After a thorough run through of what felt like 95% of all available project management tools on the market today, we at Misukanis & Odden, a high tech online marketing & PR firm in the Twin Cities, were lucky to discover the OnePlace Team Collaboration and Project Management System.
What we've discovered most about using OnePlace, and one of the features that truly sets it apart, is the ease in which you can learn its features, and conversely, the beautiful difficulty you have unlearning what you've learned.
For example, if one of our team members were to assign a task and timeline for a project, it may take a quick tutorial to discover the most efficient way to accomplish this. The next time around, not only will that team member not require a tutorial, they will likely be the tutor.
All that being said, we are still in the discovery process with OnePlace.
We truly look forward to sharing this discovery process with you over the next several weeks, both through these posts, and the videos below as produced by president Susan Misukanis, SEO designer Thomas McMahon, and Account Manager Mike Yanke.