Team Collaboration

• IMAP to Google Mail … Google added the ability for users to migrate email from any IMAP-compatible email server into Google Gmail. It does impose some new ways of working, however. “Additionally, in the case of this announcement, GMail is unlike most other e-mail solutions in that it doesn’t use folders as a means of organizing e-mails. Instead, it uses a tagging system that’s very much like foldering, but that could take some getting used to. In fact, when migrating accounts from an IMAP-based server to GMail, e-mail that’s stored in some folder ends up getting tagged with that folder’s name instead.” ZDNet
• 2.0 at Procter & Gamble … More details and insight into how Procter & Gamble are approaching the use of Enterprise 2.0 tools for fostering innovation and information sharing. itnews.com.au
• eProject Summer 07 Release … eProject released its Summer ’07 Edition of PPM6, its Web-based project and portfolio management hosted service. “The new edition is highlighted by eProject’s DeskDocs, a new way to access documents within eProject’s Web repository directly from a user’s desktop, tight integration with Microsoft Outlook, timesheet enhancements and login improvements for greater security and ease of access.” Available July 2007. BusinessWire
• Hosted MindAlign … Parlano announced a strategic partnership with mindSHIFT Technologies for the offering of a hosted edition of Parlano MindAlign and Microsoft Live Communications Server, for financial services organizations. Includes trusted federation capabilities, industry chat channels, and integration services, among others. Parlano
• New Compliance Capabilities in MindAlign … Parlano announced new compliance capabilities in MindAlign 2007, for compliance with industry regulations and ensuring that people who shouldn’t talk to each other can’t. “Parlano also announced the immediate availability of enhanced functionality in MindAlign 2007 to proactively enforce “ethical walls” that prevent group chat between parties with conflicts of interest, such as energy traders and energy producers, or equity traders and mergers-and-acquisition professionals. The enhanced capability utilizes pre-defined “channel categories” that determine channel membership from Microsoft Active Directory domains, organizational units, and/or groups.” Available early July. Parlano
• Collaboration White Paper … Interaction Associates released a white paper on how collaborative leadership drives innovation and value creation in business today. “Collaboration is at the core of a huge shift in business today, from traditionally hierarchical companies to flexible, nimble, and often matrixed organizations. It’s also emerging as a key ingredient at many of the most innovative and successful companies in the world.” The white paper is available at no charge. PRWeb

Mobility

• Motorola Good Mobile Messaging 5 … Motorola released Version 5.0 of Good Mobile Messaging, its mobile email offering for business users and IT professionals. New features: improved task and calendar management capabilities, a mobile RSS reader, greater IT control, and more. Available September 2007. Motorola

Productivity

• Time and Place Matrix … The EOC from the UK has a new way of visualizing “work” … mapping dependence on location against dependence in time, resulting in four categories: timelords, shift-shapers, time-stretchers, and remote-controllers. From James … “… the report …. says “for the majority of people, the reality of work is still fixed hours at a set place of work, which no longer fits the way they lead their lives” . It moves on to look at more flexible approaches and divides up jobs based on whether they are location dependent/independent and time dependent/independent.” Equal Opportunities Commission (hat tip, James)



• An Hour a Day for Solitude … Leo summarizes 15 ways to carve out an hour a day for solitude and quiet contemplation. “Finding time for solitude is extremely important, and yet it’s an area that is often neglected. I don’t mean time alone, where you’re watching TV or surfing the Internet or reading or watching the news. There’s nothing wrong with those activities, but they aren’t conducive to contemplation, to getting to know yourself, to reflecting on what you’ve been going through, for thinking about your dreams.” The strategy: take time from other low-value activities. zenhabits

Other Stuff

• Pitfalls of IT Management … Five pitfalls of IT management to avoid: (1) continual reactivity, (2) breeding conformity rather than innovation, (3) failing to set a reasonable pace, (4) failing to share knowledge, and (5) not separating the big rocks from the little rocks. eCommerce Times