When you move from a corporate desk job (and HP and Microsoft are as corporate as you can get) to a virtual startup team, you miss out on a lot of things – steady salary, 401k matching, stock purchase plans, and, of course, the office! It wasn’t until a few months ago that I realized the value of office dynamics and layout in helping a business churn along. Here are some pieces that you’ll find in many cubicle lands (think “The Office” or “Office Space“) and how you can mimic them using NetVibes modules (shown in parenthesis).
- Company Kool-Aid (WebNote): The tagline, motto, mantra. How does the company do business and what attitude should employees take? There are often banners or signs posted in the hallways or on the walls reminding you how to act.
- Current Goals (WebNote): As a team, there are often short-term goals that the team is trying to rally towards and these are also posted.
- Project Schedules (To Do List, iCal calendar import): There’s nothing more motivational that publicly posted schedules. They keep people accountable and keep people on track. I’ve seen giant Project Plans printed and posted on walls.
- Team Roles (WebNote): It helps to know who to go to and who’s responsible for what. A simple list will do.
- Processes (WebNote): Are there certain protocols people should remember? Or a daily routine that should be followed?
- Suggestions (WebNote): How can we make our product better or make the working conditions better? An informal way to note suggestions helps get discussions going.
- Company/Industry News (RSS feed import, Serph RSS feed import, Technorati Blog Search, Web Search): In the breakroom you’ll often see related news printed and posted. It’s a great way to keep people informed of how the company is being perceived and make them feel like their work is making an impact. You can also use it to keep up on the competition.
- Progress (Alexa traffic graph, WebNote for manual notes): The team wants to know if it’s hitting the goals and gaining market share. Keep them informed to keep them motivated.
- Helpful Tools/Tips (Shared Del.icio.us bookmarks import): Some companies do informal roundtables or “coffee talks” where people can share tools or techniques that are helping them on the job.
Just setup a shared NetVibes account and have everyone set it to the browser home page. Then when everyone starts their browsing in the morning, they can also easily mentally sync up on what’s going on in your virtual company. We group things into 3 panes:
For more tips on using NetVibes, Mashable has a post on making it a personal office.
Anyone still in an office or remember what other things kept the team synchronized?
- Justin
If you need a spreadsheet module for your netvibes personal office, EditGrid would be nice choice, I recommend you to check this out.