Wide Teams

Screencast: Cardmeeting

Dec 1, 10 • In Toolkit

One of the simplest, most versatile tools for meetings is the good ole’ stack of index cards. Is it possible to recreate the experience of pushing 3×5 cards around on the table in a virtual meeting? In this video I demonstrate a free tool that does a pretty good job of it. Sometimes the simple tools are the most useful. Cardmeeting is a tool that enables members of a dispersed team to collaboratively move virtual index cards around on a virtual table top. Best of all, it’s completely free! Check out this video for a quick demonstration

Wide Links #14

Nov 12, 10 • In Links

Another fresh serving of articles and presentations about remote work and distributed teams, from all around the web. In this edition: building trust, collaborating on visual design while distributed, keeping a team together during dry spells, and much more! Creative Remote Collaboration » IQ Blog – Annotated tags: wideteams Remote collaboration is important for any line of work where people are divided by time and space, but the need is expanded in a creative industry where there is an increased requirement of collaboration, communication, and execution of ideas. When you work for a creative agency with colleagues and clients around the country (and developers around the world), how can you improve and streamline the creative collaboration process? Building Trust Within Virtual Teams – Small Steps Add Up – Annotated One of the ideas

Avoid meeting hiccups with a dress rehearsal

Oct 26, 10 • In Practices

Coordinating a large remote meeting can seem like putting on a major stage production. Make sure your meetings go off without a hitch by practicing first. Picture this: it’s time for the very first whole-company monthly meeting since adding remote team members to the team. The presentation slides are all ready, everyone is at their desk, the clock is ticking – and half the company can’t connect to the videoconferencing server. You start a frantic troubleshooting session. People are tapping their fingers. Your manager starts wondering if building a dispersed team was such a great idea. This scenario is all too common in distributed teams. The fact is, remote workers are dependent on technology in order to make collaboration possible, and that technology doesn’t always perform as expected – often going down at the worst

Wide Teams Podcast Episode 7: BohConf Roundtable Part 2

Jul 26, 10 • In Podcast

This episode features the conclusion of a roundtable about dispersed teams held at BohConf, an unconference held within RailsConf 2010. In this part, the participants talk about video conferencing, balancing team collaboration time with solo work, optimizing virtual meetings, meeting deadlines, finding talent for their teams, and much more

Screencast: Flowdock Test Drive

Jul 22, 10 • In Toolkit

Flowdock is a web-based hosted text chat application, along same lines as Campfire or Talker. Flowdock has some unique features which set it apart from those tools, which I demonstrate in this video

The Wide Teams Bootstrap Guide: Part 2

Jul 1, 10 • In Basics

In part 2 of this series, I talk about why face time is essential; the two types of realtime communication tool which should form the backbone of your day to day interactions as a dispersed team; and why instant messaging can do more harm than good. If you missed Part 1 of this series, you may want to go back and read it. Face Time A little face-to-face communication goes a long way with remote work. A day spent working with a teammate in person can change the whole character of your subsequent online interactions. Before, they were a screen name and an avatar. After working with them in person, with every instant message or email they send you’ll have a mental picture of their tone and mannerisms to go with it. People become more

The Remote Toolkit: Google Drawings (screencast)

Jun 24, 10 • In Toolkit

A quick walkthrough of the basic features of the new Google Drawing app, with a focus on remote collaboration features. Photo credit: Fran Pregernik

Remote Toolkit: MindMeister (Screencast)

Jun 17, 10 • In Toolkit

A short screencast demoing one of my favorite remote team collaboration tools: MindMeister. In it, I demonstrate how mind maps can be built collaboratively by multiple users, and talk a little about how this can be useful in remote meetings