Even smaller projects can benefit from a project management tool where the team lead and members can at least centralize task management. However, Microsoft Project can be overkill in such situations so it is better to look for a more mid-range tool for managing such projects and tasks. This is where cloud based project management applications really excel. After recently writing about Do.com, I learned about Asana – a cloud based task management application and had to check it out.
I’ve been following all the news about email bans in offices and the state of cloud based productivity tools in general lately. While I am a proponent of social media tools inside the enterprise, nothing cuts it as good old-fashioned forms based workflow in some environments. When I previously wrote about Adobe FormsCentral, a forms creation tool, it was easy to see where it could sit as foundational tool inside a virtual team or to take forms based process out of the email inbox.
The latest round of Adobe FormsCentral updates further cements it as a leader in electronic forms and a tool to consider if you want to move your forms from email to something more cloud-based and usable.
Microsoft OneNote 2010, a note taking application, is really gaining a wider reach as more enterprises upgrade to Microsoft Office 2010. Including OneNote 2010 as part of Office 2010 is a great move by Microsoft to get this simple yet elegant productivity application into the hands of more users.
Getting started with OneNote 2010 is quite easy. This post lays out some of the basics for getting started with the application.
As a cloud-based task management application, Do.com greets you with full HTML 5 goodness. It’s a real slick and responsive task management application for individuals or project teams. I’ve long been a believer in the democratization of project management data and how cloud-based applications can help geographically dispersed project teams collaborate and communicate during projects. read more
With the cloud becoming more the project management platform of choice, the market for cloud-based project management tools is really heating up. Cohuman – now owned by MindJet, of MindJet MindManager fame—is in the same league as Asana and Do.com but touts more control over tasks and projects with their locking feature. Cloud-based project management tools are great for freelancers and project teams because they are easy to learn and implement while owing no allegiance to any particular project management methodology.
Before crossing back over to full-time work, I spent much of my career as a contract technical writer. It was a good time until the economy tanked and even let me work remotely on some contracts.
As the economic apocalypse lingers, I am noticing fewer part-time remote projects as I once did. Combined with some recent online conversations I’ve come across, I got to thinking about the times I’ve seen remote technical writing projects work and not work for both the organization and the writer.
I first worked remotely as a freelancer in the computer book publishing industry and later as a technical writer.
If you are on the hunt for a remote technical writing project, remember these things make them (im) possible:
When I first thought about enterprise uses for the iPad, project management was at the top of my list. When I first held the device in my hands, I could imagine it replacing many paper based tasks and offering an unprecedented level of mobility for tasks like project management. ProjectPlanner HD for iPad helps fulfill that early of vision of mine for the iPad as a project management tool. While it can be easy to argue that iPad project management apps lack the robustness of mainstream project management applications like Microsoft Project and cloud-based apps like Liquid Planner and Zoho Projects, they do offer the features that the non-PMP ninja PMs should find useful.
I’ve been using Penultimate since I first got my iPad. Up until now, I had to email my Penultimate note pads to my Evernote account. The email step in my workflow was fine but I longed for Penultimate to get Evernote integration.
Well, my wish came true because of its last release, Penultimate now includes Evernote integration enabling you to send Penultimate notebooks and pages directly from the app into your Evernote account without workarounds like having to email Penultimate notebooks to your Evernote email address.
Evernote is one of those cloud-based apps fees I have no problems paying every year. It helps me centralize a lot of information and keeps me organized both personally and professionally. I’ve liked watching the growth of Evernote’s ecosystem through the Evernote Trunk and seeing the application extended into new directions.
Evernote is ideal as a backend for information-centric applications and the Evernote Trunk shows some excellent extensions of Evernote through its API.
As 2011 ends, I am looking back over the year both personally and professionally. It was by all means a rebuilding year and some of that rebuilding is going to extend into 2012 as I work hard to get back to where I want to be on all fronts of my life.
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