Karri Flatla of Snap! Virtual Associates, Inc. wrote an indepth, thoughtful post at Partner with a Virtual Assistant about using collaborative software. Virtual professionals discuss and keep themselves updated with information about tools that can be useful to them and beneficial to their clients at VAnetworking.com. Besides the experiential discussions, leadership at VAnetworking.com is always looking for new items and offering connections to seminars to learn more about them.
I was recently in a conversation with a colleague who likes BaseCamp. For my interests, I looked at BaseCamp, but have to confess I haven’t tried it. It looks like overkill for my projects. Karri mentioned ClientSpot and this looks like something I could be comfortable using. Smartsheet is a service that is being used and researched by leadership at Vanetworking.com
Karri discusses the ‘impression’ given by using the collaboration services. Does it look ‘hot’ to have them available? Can one subscription serve multiple clients; a subscription maintained by the Virtual Assisttant who then charges appropriately for her investment? Do clients really care or ‘get it’? And exactly what are the advantages.
Are you, as a client, really interested in collaborating online beyond email and instant messages? Does your work need this? Does the online collaboration service represent one more thing to learn?
When a VA (Virtual Assistant) steps into your browser with an arsenal of tools that you don’t understand, do you wonder if you are paying for Platinum when Aluminum would work? As a client who is a newbie in collaboration, what would it take to get you comfortable with working online? Would you, Mr/Ms Client, be comfortable with the Virtual Assistant working with you used the online collaboration service without your involvement, but for the efficiency of the assistance delivered to you?
For the client/VA relationship that is trying to see if collaboration and wiki-work to keep everything in one place, one low cost option might be Google Apps. I will tell you right up front, I find many Google Apps clunky, but effective. The FREE option is the greatest appeal. I like the thread system for Google’s g-mail system for maintaining a conversation. (Be careful how you forward things) I like the IM/chat pop-up with gmail. It works simply and effectively. Google Sites and Docs can provide exchange of information with editing privileges for ” the chosen”. Others can read, but not tinker with the material with permissions.
When everyone is completely easy with their desktop software, Yahoo Groups makes a reasonable collaboration option. Files can be uploaded and read as can photos and other links. There is an IM that works for the instant connection. Comments can be shared quickly with email. I have ‘heard on the grape vine” that Yahoo sometimes batches email which could cause delays, but I haven’t experienced any greater problems than with any other email client.
I don’t believe, if you are really going to get serious about project management, you will like either Google or Yahoo. But, they can give you a feel for the process while you are mapping out your system. When considering a system map, I recommend looking at Wikipatterns.org. Wiki takes on a persona that you never imagined!
