This is a pretty good introduction and survey of communication tools for distributed teams, written by Josh Catone last month.
Rolling Your Own Online Office
The difference between the ventures that failed and those that succeeded was how well set up the communication structure was for the team.
I don’t really find the term ‘virtual office’ very helpful when describing an online toolset. To me its a misuse of metaphor. Like who nicked my virtual pencil sharpener, huh?
I have a real office, and it has a computer in it and I use that to communicate with real people in the world using various asynchronous channels. What’s ‘virtual’ about that?
Anyway, getting back to the article it seems to be a big recommendation for basecamp, with which I’m not familiar so I’m wondering if we should be considering that.
One dimension not mentioned is that of language. International distributed teams face communication challenges through the use of diverse languages, or through the participation of many people for whom English is a second language. However fluent and articulate a second language speaker may be, there are always going to be nuances, regional variation and vocabulary shift which can cause endless misunderstanding. Not that there’s likely to be a technological solution to that, but there may be some tools or procedures which wil help.
Andy Roberts is a writer who initiated DARnet. Contact me on aroberts@gmail.com or @aroberts on twitter
Hehe agree… it’s like saying that websites can be ‘virtual’ stores and website owners run a ‘virtual’ businesses except the money earned from these business aren’t virtual but real!
I tested Basecamp, Near Time, as well as installing my own Wiki, all had significant shortcomings.
I needed a space to use to communicate with my clients, track documents, and projects and do it all in a secure environment. I settled on the SAS by http://www.centraldesktop.com
The greatest feature is that I can easily close an entire space with content which works great for setting up a space with a new client, especially when you have 370+ documents in my Action Tools library like I do.
BTW .. I use Basecamp for my projects and love it. Only problem is that many people don’t find it easy to use – and it relies on everyone in the team using it, to be effective.
Please look at http://www.edeskonline.com. i am sure this time you gonna like it.