Collaborate on Projects Online: Choices, Choices, Choices.
I've been finding myself with more and more projects that will involve collaboration with others--some across town, and others across the globe--lately. So, though I've been a Basecamp user for years on and off, I decided it was time to have another good look at what was available. In fact, I even worked with one very innovative company that created a very solid mobile integration solution for Basecamp called TrailGuide a few years ago for Windows Mobile prior to iPhone application development taking off. At the other end of the spectrum, while a consultant at Mural Consulting, we'd used SharePoint somewhat, which rescued a certain Microsoft project along the way for one team, and I'd also had some experience working with SMBLive's SharePoint interface layer innovation called Workspace, which found life initially as BT Workspace and has since been picked up by various other telecoms in their offerings. So, I've used light-weight and 'robust' enterprise class solutions for project management and team collaboration quite a bit over the past 8 years or so.
I have to admit, I've never been a huge lover of Basecamp. (Ducks to avoid flying vegetables.) Though I give Jason Fried and the gang all their due for their minimalist product development chuzpah and creating Ruby on Rails, etc., I find the solution just doesn't work the way I like to work. Or, at least the way I worked when I was using Basecamp then. I relied on Outlook for email (another duck) and I found the all/nothing notifications from Basecamp useful at times and overkill at others. It didn't read my mind. I found it a hassle to remember multiple passwords and logins (some projects were on client's accounts, some were mine) and sometimes I was waiting for browsers to open when I just needed a quick bit of information. It was annoyingly burdensome overhead at times. It was also wonderfully elegant and simple to use for others I worked with--which has been a huge part of its appeal.
So, anyhoo-- I'm going to be relooking at this category over the next many days.
I'd expected initially to have my review ready for tomorrow. Fat chance. Look for it by mid next week, folks. Should be interesting, and very useful.
Oh, the products I'll be looking at in no particular order are shown above: Zoho Projects, attask, Manymoon, Central Desktop, GoPlan, 5pm, and Basecamp. If youve got other suggestions, email me, but they won't make it into this round or the wrapup will never get written, folks! :)
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