Online Collaboration

My last stint as a free agent was during the pre-'Net era. I was writing ad copy and editing several newsletters; interaction with my clients was always face to face or by phone. Collaboration, as a practical matter, was limited by the amount of face time I could get with someone. Often, that wasn't much.

I'm back to doing my own thing, but in a much more collaborative environment - an environment that's limited only by the extent to which I want or need to collaborate with a client, vendor or partner. Collaboration is the underlying foundation of Web services companies, which means many of the tools I need for collaboration are only a few keystrokes away. Costs are extremely low and the return on the (minimal) investment is incalculable.

For example, a client of mine relied on email as the sole collaboration tool for a series of concurrent projects and tasks. Imagine the problems:

• Poorly defined workflow
• Terrible visibility of milestones and task assignments
• No control over document versioning
• Etc.

By implementing a simple solution -  37 Signals excellent Basecamp - we were able to quickly streamline management of projects and tasks, and give everyone involved better visibility into and control over their work. Even a year or two ago this approach wouldn't have been available; the closest alternatives would have been a suite of desktop and/or server based applications, or a server based Sharepoint implementation. The barriers to entry were just high enough to turn off many companies. But the new generation of Web apps knock down the objections. If you can have a collaboration solution up and running in the space of a few minutes, instead of months, weeks, or even days, why not?

But while I appreciate an elegant app like Basecamp for what it is, my real appreciation stems from its contribution to the bottom line. It frees me up to spend more time thinking about the work - not how to manage the work. Same for clients, or anyone else involved in a project. Meanwhile we're all actively, frequently collaborating on the substance of projects, not burning time keeping track of them. What's not to like about that?