I read an interesting comment by someone last night about how project management tools should mirror current reality. This is absolutely true. What is happening currently? Who is doing what? Did the client like the new banner that we showed them? No? Why not? Capturing inter and intra-workplace conversations can eventually become your project health yardstick.
Would you want to know how your Gantt charts and plans look that you created 2 weeks back or would you want to know what is happening within your project today and how its going to impact tomorrow?

“Collaboration at the heart of project management” - PM 2.0 Definition: Wikipedia

Projects are no longer created, managed, tracked and controlled by project managers. Thats the thing of the past. Today, everyday work that has a business outcome is treated like a ‘project’. e.g. launching your website, releasing a new version of a software, gathering input from your clients etc. Business people (even business owners) that have a stake in the project are the new ‘project managers’. The control has shifted from top-down to bottom-up. At the heart of this shift is the need to collaborate effectively, easily and quickly. 

Going back in time, project management 1.0 was all about planning, getting schedules right and setting up the project with nice looking charts and graphs. Today, with dispersed teams, always-online gadgets and sophisticated online technology, Project Management 2.0 is about people, conversations, relationships, sharing, execution and collaboration. Less planning and getting more work done.

Project management 2.0 gives you complete visiblity to whats going on within your projects. Real-time changes and updates to your projects can be easily tracked online. This helps your team to take action early or change course quickly if things are not going right. 

At DeskAway, we are striving to create an online service that is not only simple and powerful to use but also facilitates social collaboration. DeskAway already includes comment threads, RSS and instant email notifications. In the coming months we plan to integrate user profiles, twitter-like social message updates, email integration so that your conversation via email can be logged easily into DeskAway. 

At the end of the day software should be fun and easy to use. Just like your social network, right?

Unfortunately, they don’t hire Internet marketing folks. Otherwise we would all be in for a treat. What you find are Analysts. Oh well, DeskAway is hiring people who are really really passionate about Internet marketing and can drive seo, sem, socia media etc. with our current team. If you or anyone else is interested, then do drop us a line from the contact form with some samples of your work etc. Anything that’s going to excite us!
People are telling me that this is the best time to hire since the salaries have gone down and there are a lot of people who are looking to join innovative and stable companies. Lets hope this proves to be true!

After you spend most of your time online its crucial to break away for a week or so and take a mini vacation someplace quite and serene. So, fortunately that’s what I could do last month - off to Bali, Indonesia. Though, I must confess that I could not leave behind my MacBook and Blackberry. I still needed to be in touch with my team back in Mumbai and see how things are going with DeskAway. Well, what I loved most was to sit on the beach, look at the blue sea and send off some mails…

One of the experiences I wanted to share with all of you is of the customer service my wife and I received at this high-end restaurant in Ubud called Mosaic. Sure, all high-end restaurants have superior customer service but this one was different. I have never experienced such spectacular level of customer service and attention to detail. Amongst many things one thing that jumped out was the fact that the chef took special care in creating a special vegetarian set menu for my wife having only a 2 hour notice before the place becomes packed. After our meal, he made sure he and the 2 other people came back to ask us how everything was. What got me was the fact that he and his team cared. They were passionate about what they were doing and how that would have an impact on their clients. They wanted everyone to feel special and leave with being completely satisfied. Even the guards outside were hospitable.

I don’t think I will be going to Bali again for a while (probably explore other places), but I am sure to tell folks I know about this restaurant cause they made a lasting impression on me. Isn’t that the best form of marketing anyone can get?

As positive experiences shape us, they sure do have a positive impact on the businesses we work in also! Hopefully, at DeskAway, we can serve you even better now.

Sahil
Founder, DeskAway

The other day, I was chatting with a friend of ours who works at a media agency here in Mumbai. She was explaining to me how haphazard the work environment is over there. Some of the things that she mentioned that were wrong with their 40 member company are:

- no clear responsiblities for any of their employees
- no deadlines or clear workflow. Hence, training new employees becomes a huge headache
- missed deadlines for every project
- lack of a employees handbook or any written process that can be followed.
- and more…

This is a classic case of dis-organization, inefficiency and an un-productive environment. Amazingly, the company has been going on like this since more than 5 years. Wow! Its like driving a car in first gear instead of overdrive. Either way the car is moving except it consumes more fuel (money, resources, unhappy customers, employees etc.) when its in first gear! There are many solutions to take your company into overdrive. If you feel you are stuck in first gear, I would highly, highly recommend reading Micheal Gerber’s E-Myth. This is what guides us here at DeskAway to produce a better service and a better company!