Another really good article from Terry Starbucker, on teamwork and project management. He stresses on leadership training for supervisors who are managing the team and hence also the project.

All too often I see new supervisors struggling mightily with the idea of actually “managing” a staff – setting priorities, communicating the company vision, motivating,  holding people accountable,  and delivering the necessary coaching and corrections. Delivering such training can be expensive, because this is typically the largest management group in most organizations. Read More.

Even though the training may take time, it would however enhance the work a lot more afterwards. Its always great to work with a person who knows how to go about stuff and what to expect, rather than someone who is just fiddling around without having the necessary know how.

One of the ways we tackle this at DeskAway is by having frequent meetings where the work processes are walked through, thus if any particular step seems onerous or too difficult then solutions can be sought for that. Through these meetings we can also figure out if someone is struggling over something.

How do you’l ensure that the people in your team know what their job responsibilities are and that they have the necessary skills to manage the work?

Quite a bit of buzz happening on Twitter. More compliments, praises, support queries, questions and the occasional grievance.

Thanks guys!

Conscious Web Solutions provides business consulting and web solutions. Some time back they had recommended DeskAway to their users.

“Some of my contract staff prefer working together on DeskAway instead of via email or Skype.” James Welsh, Owner.

Some insights into how they use DeskAway.

How are you using DeskAway and what value is it providing your team?
Team collaboration for project planning and completion.

Were you using any other tool before DeskAway?
Yes. Dotproject and Storm for Drupal.

Was there a learning curve associated with DeskAway? How did your team adapt to a new application?
Very intuitive, however still learning about how to streamline my business using this system integrated with FreshBooks.

What features does your team use the most?
Trying to use it all to realize it’s power.

Are you emailing (sending tasks, attachments etc.) less because of DeskAway? How has DeskAway helped in lowering project costs, profitability or improving efficiency?
Still training my clients to use this system. Conversely some of my contract staffs prefer working together on DeskAway instead of via email or skype.

Are there any other thoughts that you would want to share with us regarding our service, product etc.?
Yes, I am wondering if it is possible to add two fields to tasks. Task status field with options such as: requested, estimated, approved, in progress, complete, archived. the second field would be estimated time to complete task.

Thanks CWS!

Do tell us how You use DeskAway @ priyanka.d(at)synage(.)com

Lot of times I find myself introducing a new software to a team and see it received in a very lack-luster way. To make it popular and get everyone in the team to use it can be a task! These are some of the tips I find helpful:

Personalize the introduction: Make an introduction and pep the team to use it. Add some personalized info about the product like “these people are based in San Diego or they have an interesting blog or I had an email chat with their founder, Bob” The team should feel connected to the product over time.

Get the net wiz: Ask the net wiz in office to give the tool a whirl and generate some excitement about it. He can give a small 101 talk about how to use the tool to get the team started and troubleshoot simple queries.

Create a support process: The team should know where to go when they face a problem. So set up a clear process about who they can contact for help within office (the net wiz?) or on the companies support page as the case maybe.

Benefits & Value: Explain to the  team how they will benefit from the software and what specific value it will provide the business. If the tool saves time, then, show them how. By actually experiencing the benefits, adoption will be a lot more smoother!

Are there any other method you use for adopting a new tool in your workplace?

The one word that popped in my head after I watched Star Trek yesterday was ‘Teamwork’. Each and every one on USS Enterprise worked towards a common goal of destroying the enemy, surviving and saving planet Earth. It was a story of “us” rather than I. It was “you” before “me”. It was about looking at the bigger picture (of saving humanity) rather than what will happen to me?

I found these insights and hidden meaning crucial and important to all of us working with teams. Many times we don’t work as a team, go our different paths and fail to understand the purpose of our project; which ultimately leads to failure. This movie clearly demonstrates that working in a coherent team is the only way to survival or in our terms, completion of a successful project.

If you haven’t watched the movie then go watch it. It’s super!