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
Microsoft Office applications have been a major part of my working life for years. Throughout my work as a technical writer and later as a computer book technical reviewer and then freelance writer, I’ve been able to watch the growth and changes in Microsoft Office from all sides.
The most exciting developments for me have been seeing Office applications move to the web and onto mobile platforms other than PCs. I remember the first time I saw a demo of Zoho Business and got first access to Writely (now Google Docs) and could see the potential for such applications on the web. But my question even back then was how smoothly could such applications integrate with desktop applications. This question is getting easier to answer now with many recent developments.
I’ve comes to see the desktop suite extend beyond its desktop origins into both the web and mobile layers. These are natural layers for Office applications since the way people work has changed so dramatically. This new model also accommodates the diffe
Harmon.ie for Google Docs is a free Google Docs client available in the Google Apps Marketplace or on their web site that does away with the need to send those annoying email attachments. While we can argue the merits of using Microsoft Outlook to manage documents, many people do it. Installing Harmon.ie creates a sidebar in Outlook 2007 or 2010 that is convenient and easy to use for users of all levels.
My biggest qualm with introducing Google Apps for Business into an enterprise is the scale of which it changes how the average user works within Office productivity applications like Outlook. Like it or not, it’s an application that rules the day for people at all levels in an organization. Therefore, a tool like Harmon.ie is worth investigating for organizations that are making a limited or full migration to Google Apps for Business. I especially like it as an interim step for users still with Microsoft Office on their desktop or for those needing to bridge the gap between Microsoft Office on the desktop and Google Docs after an organization migrates.
I’ve worked on a number of remote technical writing, reviewing, and editing projects throughout my career both full time and part time. Over time, I like to think I’ve learned a lot from these projects and put the effort to refine my workflow and approach based on what I learned on the previous project.
With some clear expectations and a little planning upfront, a remote writer or editor can be just as productive as one that is working onsite with the rest of the team. A little bit of upfront work means that remote writing and reviewing projects won’t be left out of sight and out of mind.
I’ve long been a proponent of a complementary model for Google Docs and Microsoft Office. While Google Cloud Connect is a great tool, I need to mention OffiSync — available in the Google Apps Marketplace — as another option for file syncing between the two office suites.
I was discussing the launch of the iPad 2 the other week at work with two colleagues of mine who are amateur photographers and pretty serious about their tech. Their use cases for the iPad are much different than mine but one bemoans the lack of an internal SD card slot. I have many technical discussions with these two colleagues and our iPad discussions have gotten me wondering, “Is the cloud overtaking portable media?” after I was able to explain where I store the bulk of my files.
The iPad and iPhone are prime examples of the cloud overtaking portable media with a growing list of apps offering DropBox and/or Box.net support. When I was looking at the iPad 2 specifications for myself, I confirmed how much memory I was consuming on my 32 GB iPad 3G+WiFi and was pleasantly surprised I had more than half my space free because much of my data is in the cloud whether on Dropbox, Google Docs, or in Gmail.
I recently wrote about my initial thoughts on Google Cloud Connect and that with some volunteer work I am doing got me thinking further about workflow in Google Docs. Despite how much my technical writing work includes a process/workflow element and my writing on the subject in the past, I still see instances of where organizations stumble on what are seemingly simple document workflow tasks.
The workflow in Google Docs appeals to me on certain levels but leaves me thinking the seamless transition that the glossy marketing slicks could quickly lose its sheen on a live deployment without the proper end user training and support. For purposes of this post, I consider the document author to be the document owner.
Here is how a typical document workflow would look in Google Docs:
Now that I am starting to feel better, I am volunteering with the brand new Jobs Ministry at my church. I am an inveterate job hunter after having been a contract technical writer for the bulk of my career so I thought I might have something to give. The ministry has drawn a group of senior professionals from a number of disciplines – with the corresponding disparate schedules – and requirements for putting documents online so they are accessible to the various work groups with the challenge that there is a wide range of technology skill sets in the overall group.
Many methods for collaborating got bandied about the meetings including:
After years of following web office apps like Google Apps, I finally decided to move willkelly.com, my professional site. to Google Apps for Business last September. A combination of drivers including my long simmering dissatisfaction with my ISP’s email (plus a long overdue need for IMAP) drove my need to make the change. Here is a status report…
Migrating willkelly.com to Google Apps has been one of those personal web projects that has been hanging out on my task list for sometime now. Last weekend, I finally made the move to Google Apps for my email. I was no longer happy with my ISP’s email especially after getting my iPhone 3Gs.
I’ve written previously about Google Apps on this blog plus for Projects@Work and WebWorkerDaily using a Google Apps account I setup back in the early days of its availability. So for a variety of reasons (and my own procrastination about personal web projects), I made the move because the list of potential benefits was only growing.
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