The People Part of Enterprise Collaboration and Virtual Teams

• Telecommuting = Career Limiting? … A recent study by Korn/Ferry International discovered that 60% of 1,320 global executives believes that telecommuters are less likely to advance in their careers than employees working in traditional offices. “Oddly enough, despite this assertion, 48% of respondents indicated that they would consider a job which involved telecommuting on a regular basis and the vast majority 78% stated that telecommuters are either equally or more productive than those who work in offices.” Freelancer Boom, Network World
• Managing Off-Site Employees … Lorman Education Services is hosting an audio conference on August 20 at 1pm EST entitled “Effective Management of Off-Site Employees”. Topics include (a) guidelines for an effective program, (b) legal issues, and (c) program evaluation criteria, among others. There’s a cost to attend, and registration is required. HRTrainingCenter
• The Future of Work … Generational, time zone, cultural and language differences make effective virtual teams “seem almost impossible”. How to overcome some of these challenges? As per Nokia, look for employees with a “collaborative mindset”. ICT Blog

The Technology Trends of Enterprise Collaboration and Virtual Teams

• Microsoft and Xandros/Scalix … Microsoft and Xandros announced a licensing agreement to enhance the interoperability of the Scalix email and calendaring server with Microsoft ActiveSync and Outlook. “Scalix Mail Servers can now synchronize data over wireless networks with Microsoft Exchange Server as well as various e-mail clients that use these and other Microsoft protocols.” Microsoft
• The Value of Hosted SharePoint … Distributed organizations with offices and people all over the place can gain great value from a hosted implementation of SharePoint: the information is available from anywhere. Web Host Industry Review
• TeamDirection IntelliGantt for MindManager … TeamDirection shipped the IntelliGantt Add-in for MindManager Pro 7, for enhanced project management in MindManager. “IntelliGantt adds an integrated Gantt view to MindManager where users can assign tasks, apply task duration data, specify which topics to share, and with a single mouse click publish tasks to a SharePoint or Groove workspace. Members can then view and modify their assigned tasks using nothing but a web browser, and via two-way synchronization send updates back to the MindManager map.” Available immediately. PRNewswire
• Challenges with Zimbra Calendar … Carleton College recently switched to Zimbra for email and calendaring, and is experiencing some problems with sharing calendar availability with students via Google Calendar. “Even if we use Google Calendars to subscribe to our Zimbra calendar’s iCal feed, we cannot make Google Calendar understand that this is ok to publish this on our HTML web pages. We’re now in the process of searching for another 3rd party program that we could use to mimic this functionality, but currently we’re stuck updating two calendars.” There are other problems too: (a) some departments on campus are refusing to use Zimbra Calendar, and (b) Palm users can’t sync. Pegasus Librarian
• Thru Desktop for Lotus Notes … Thru released Thru Desktop for Lotus Notes, for secure messaging, file transfer and information management. “Thru Desktop for Lotus Notes seamlessly adds expiration and password protection, enabling users to control and expire access to the messages they send as well as track who is receiving and reading them.” Available immediately. PRWeb
• Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Beta … Microsoft released a beta of Service Pack 1 for Exchange Server 2007, which enables users and admins to integrate Exchange with Vista and Windows 2008. Redmond Mag
• iAnywhere for Symbian … The latest version of the iAnywhere Suite from Sybase, for wireless messaging and collaboration, works on Symbian devices. SymbianOne
• SaskTel Mobile … SaskTel announced the launch of Windows Live Messenger for Mobile, enabling Windows Live Messenger users to do IM and view presence on suitable mobile devices. Available immediately, for a monthly fee. SaskTel

Insights on Being Productive and Effective as an Individual

• Working on Your System Doesn’t Equal Working … Ensuring that all of your actions are captured, all your projects in line, and that you have an empty head is a start, but not the end goal. “GTD is a great tool, but is not a solution in itself. I’ve branched out from pure GTD and looked at other systems and have come up with a workflow that I am finding more manageable for now.” 7Breaths
• Learn By Watching … You can learn a lot about another person by watching how they respon to others — either in meetings, or by reviewing the way they respond to emails. “I know that an electronic form of serial file can replace the old paper trail, since that’s what I use every day. The TeamPage blog + wiki tool lets everyone look over my shoulder – and vice versa – as we tear off in different directions and do our work as individuals or teams.” Traction Software
• Recover Lost Time … Be prepared for times and situations during your day when you may have to wait, or when scheduled meetings don’t go to plan. Jason has some tips: (a) reconfirm meetings the day before, (b) clarify the purpose of upcoming meetings, eg, ask for the desired outcome, agenda, and your role, and (c) carry reading materials or listening materials for fill in down time. “You may not always be able to avoid cancellations, delays, and other people running late, but with a bit of preparation, you can get even more done when life doesn’t go exactly as planned.” ManageSmarter

Other Noteworthy Insights

• Burton Group Institute Seminars … The Burton Group is holding full-day workshops on October 4 in Scottsdale AZ on four topics, including “SharePoint and Office 2007: New Enterprise Collaboration/Content Opportunities and Risks”. Burton Group Institute
• Reduce Debt … Leo shares 10 ideas for living without credit or debt. In essence: save more, spend less. ZenHabits