EXTRANET NEWS * Week of 9 September 2003
Editors: Joel Orr and N'omi Orr
http://www.extranetnews.com

 

1. GROOVE WITH PROJECTS
2. THE LIST
3.
TIDBITS
4.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK

 

1.  GROOVE WITH PROJECTS

Joel interviewed Brigitte Hayes, vp of marketing and strategic alliances for TeamDirection (http://www.teamdirection.com).

 

“One of our customers, in a medical products company, said he loved the product because it allowed him to feel like a participant among project peers, not just someone to whom a project was being dictated,” said Hayes. “I think one of the things everyone loves about Groove is its democratizing effect,” she added.

 

We’ve commented on Groove here before (http://www.extranetnews.com/2003%20issues/EXTRANETNEWSWeekof24Feb2003.htm); I like it a lot. We use it within Cyon Research.

 

TeamDirection adds two tools to Groove:

 

  • TeamDirection Project is a project-management system that works within Groove. It can synchronize with Microsoft Project, and integrate with Outlook’s calendar function.

 

  • TeamDirection Dashboard is a tool for tracking progress on multiple projects within Groove.

 

It took years for Ray Ozzie’s earlier invention, Notes, to become accepted by corporations. TeamDirection will, I believe, help Groove achieve faster penetration. (Of course, both Groove Networks and TeamDirection hope so; their unit price is so low that success will only come with mass adoption.)

 

The company is finalizing an arrangement wherein TeamDirection products will be at the heart of a new package from Groove Networks: the Groove Workspace Project Edition. This will relieve TeamDirection of some of the burden of finding sales; Groove Networks has a major-accounts sales force.

 

Meanwhile, TeamDirection augments its cash flow by offering consulting to its clients, customizing the software, and providing other services.

 

Users are enthusiastic. Here are some quotes from the TeamDirection site:

 

“Carlson Wagonlit Travel Australia's selection of TeamDirection's toolset was the culmination of a search for a complete project-management solution at a price point that allowed cost-effective distribution to a wide 'project authoring' audience.

 

“One of our primary organization goals is to actively encourage leadership at all levels of the organization -- we see TeamDirection as a key enabler in this vision, giving developing leaders the ability to take control of both small and large projects easily, whilst giving mentors and managers the ability to monitor leaders' progress and more effectively support and guide new leaders to success.

 

“To date, TeamDirection has delivered on all counts, and their post-sales support and responsiveness has been nothing short of excellent. I would readily recommend TeamDirection to any organization looking to decentralize and broaden employee participation in project management.”

— Daniel Oertli, IT Director, Carlson Wagonlit Travel

 

“As the only US member of a 10-person software development team, this solution allows me to exercise a real-time, hands-on management presence in our off-shore development lab in China.”

— Jim Kilmurray, CEO, Grapevine Software

 

TeamDirection's Project Management software is the most capable, easiest to use and manage product in its category. It allows instant synchronization of multiple dispersed teams, a must have in LumiCyte's 24 * 7 software development efforts. Highly recommended!”

Nikolaj Ivancic, VP, Software Engineering, LumiCyte

 

“The new Dashboard is awesome! It will keep me apprised of all our IT projects across multiple shared spaces. I expect it to be of huge benefit.”

— James Haskell, CIO, Fox Racing Inc   

 

Project and Dashboard together cost $99 for a single user, less for groups.

 

Our take: Two powerful and inexpensive enhancements to the peer-to-peer power of Groove. Definitely worth checking out.

 

 
2. THE LIST

 

Total companies: 260 (see who's on The List at http://www.extranetnews.com/).  

 

ADDED: TeamDirections; Trichys.

 

 
3. TIDBITS

 

·        Important reminder: Please go to http://rebar.ecn.purdue.edu/WPMS_survey and, if you can, fill out Frank's survey. (He’s a Purdue PhD student.) There is not much hard data about the impact of extranets, and studies like this one will contribute substantively to our knowledge base. And just to help you do the right thing, Frank is conducting a drawing for five prizes of 128 MB “pen drives”--those amazing keychain-like devices that have become so popular--among the first 250 participants. Do it now!

·        An excellent review of PHP-Nuke, the Open Source content-management system, can be found at http://www.intranetjournal.com/articles/200307/ij_07_30_03a.html

·        Meridian Project Systems User Conference, October 1-3, Las Vegas, NV. See: www.mps.com

·        PLANT SUCCESS is not just a conference at the Philadelphia Airport Marriott, October 15-16, 2003 (http://www.plantsuccess.com). It is a community. And it comes with a free newsletter, full of thoughtful commentary and fascinating links by industry veteran Carlton Howk. If you have anything to do with plant design, construction, or management, you should find out more about it.

·        PROJECT EXTRANETS IV: SUCCESSFUL COLLABORATIVE WORKING : MAXIMISING EXTRANETS FOR OPTIMUM RESULTS will be organized by Ross Sturley and Construction News in London, England, 3 December 2003, at the IEE Savoy Place. The one I attended a couple of years ago was outstanding. See http://www.projectextranets.co.uk/ for information.

·        Good extranets article: http://www.cnplus.co.uk/proj_collaboration/?ChannelID=35

 

4. QUOTE OF THE WEEK

 

"We know that the composite impact of single-parent homes on children is huge. The poverty rate in single-parent homes is 400% of that for two-parent homes. Among long-term prison inmates, 70% grew up without a father in residence. There are comparable figures for illiteracy and drug use. The social problems we concern ourselves with in our mammoth federal programs would substantially end with the reconstitution of traditional family life."

--William F. Buckley, Jr.

 

‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡

 

Entire newsletter Copyright © 2003 Cyon Research Corporation

 

To subscribe, please go to http://www.extranetnews.com. To unsubscribe, please reply with "remove" in the subject line. I'm interested in knowing why you'd want to unsubscribe; but it's not essential.