Making Collaborative Work More Efficient

Do you feel there are not enough hours in a day? Working on a committee that's in need of goal reminders? Are you and your grad assistant really on the same page? Is your desk covered in post-it notes of all your "to-dos"?

If so, you're not alone.

Feeling overwhelmed with the quantity of post-it notes that were slowly overtaking my workspace, and recognizing that I needed a clearer way to communicate with my office assistant, I searched for a way to organize daily projects while keeping long-term goals in sight. I knew that I needed something that was easy to access and was incredibly user friendly. Of course, I looked digitally - thanks to advice from Swift Kick.

What did I find? Basecamp.

A free* online tool that makes collaborative work more efficient.

This flexible tool allows for sharing of ideas between users, a calendar of upcoming events or "milestones", a to-do list that allows for items to be checked off (giving a great sense of accomplishment), and so much more! Even when I'm out of the office, I can keep up-to-date with events and track deadlines.

(This tool is free* if you're only using 1 project. With multiple projects, there are different fees associated.)

Here's the current project my assistant and I are sharing: Spring 2008 Activities...a broad reaching topic with many possibilities.

For this project, we use "Milestones" as a calendar of registered events on our campus.

(A great visual to aid in determining when the "busy days" are.)

Beside each event, we list who's responsible as the office contact or who will be attending the event to represent the institution.

Event specifics can also be listed - aiding in risk management and year-end reporting.

With the goal of getting rid of post-it notes (GO GREEN!), all of our to-dos are posted with who is responsible for the task.

When at my computer, I keep the tool open so that to-dos can be added as the thoughts come to me.

We even share messages about the tasks we're working on!

This feature is similar to Email, with the fact that you can attach documents...but, more efficient for collaborative projects in my opinion.

In student activities, much of the work we do is a collaborative effort to provide educational experiences for our students outside of the classroom. Toward this end, it's important that we manage internal projects and "to-dos" of our offices, while coordinating campus-wide initiatives, and communicating upcoming event information to the campus community. Why not find a tool that makes this goal or task easier?

 

This tool is useful within clubs or committees, too! One of our student organizations is setting up a project in Basecamp to plan and implement Relay for Life. All members of the club are signing up as users and will share details about tasks. The organization's use of the tool is in its infancy; however, the time they are saving on meetings has already grown exponentially.

Think of the possibilities of what you could accomplish if you only had more time.

There are never enough hours in a day, and since I haven't quite figured out how to clone myself, this tool provides an organized way to keep all the projects I'm working on in check.

However, it's not the only tool. What tools have you found or use to make collaborative projects easier and more efficient?