Getting ready for my move, I decided to setup a web-based tool to document information and links. The tool will be maintained by my wife and myself. I went through my usual brain spasms - what technology should I use - Wiki, Blog, or some other CMS tool. If it was just me using the system I would have immediately chosen a Wiki, however, since Mel would be updating it too, it needed to be simple, and here I believe is where Wikis fail at being a mainstream application. One - They require the learning of an awkward sytax which may be fairly simple for a technically minded person to use but even I find it annoying. Two - It requires everything you do to be in the mindset of EDITING rather than ADDING. This is key. What I like about blogs is that when I add a post I am really adding it, not editing existing content to add it as is done with a wiki.

The State of Email on Many-to-Many provides an overview of the current state of email as a business communication tool, its problems, and alternatives.

The State of Social Tools in Darwin Magazine discusses the for “C”s of social tools: Communication, Coordination, Collaboration, and Community.

My task management system has a problem. It only allows you to create tasks. The problem that I am running into with this is that many of the things I need to represent are bigger than what I consider to be a task. Many of them are projects. And I’m still not sure how to label tasks that lie somewhere in between a project and a task. For example, when I first define a task and then determine that it is actually made up of a few sub-tasks. Is the parent still a task or is it now a sub-project of the parent project? Should a task be indivisible???

Let’s say I have a task, of which I create a couple of subtasks. I am now tracking and reporting the status of each of those subtasks individually. So how do I report on the status of the parent task? If someone were to look at it, it would appear that the status has not progressed. I could have it display the status of its child tasks, but what about child tasks of the child tasks? This would create a confusing representation of the status of the task. Additionally, the sum of the child tasks may not exactly represent what needs to be done for the parent task. Also, the parent task might have had status updates of its own. Do tasks stop being tasks as soon as they have children? Do they just become a container for additional tasks? What if they started out as a task and already had status notes associated with them?

a klog apart has a nice little post on some of the positive aspects of blogging and its differentiation from other forms of posting content including websites and wikis.

The David Allen Company - Projects provides a detailed description on what a project is and how it differs from a task or action step. David Allen defines a project as any outcome you are committed to complete that requires more than one action step. He goes on to say that you can’t “do” a project, you can only do action steps.

Objectives/goals are separated out from projects by making the distinction that a project can usually be completed within a few months whereas an objective would be the kind of thing you would usually find on yearly goals. A sample objective is “Increase profitability of XYZ product line.” This objective would then have one or more projects to help achieve the objective/goal.

Sub-projects are touched upon as well with the example project “Reorganize Marketing Division” having subprojects of - Engage outside consulting firm - Complete internal HR survey - Hire new division head. Something particulary smart that he mentions is to “Create a game you can win.” Define the project as something that can really be completed, no matter what anyone else does. For instance, he says not to make a project “Sell Acme Brick the program,” because Acme Brick may decide not to sign. The project is better defined as, “Finalize Acme Brick proposal”.

Another point he makes is to always start project titles with an appropriate verb that clarifies the nature of the work. He provides some sample verbs: Finalize… Implement… Install… Look into… Resolve… Handle… Clarify… Submit… Maximize… Organize… Reorganize… Publish… Ensure… Design… Compelte… Update… Roll out… Set up…

I’m STILL trying to figure out what the correct definition of a task is. Is it a single, actionable item such as making a phone call or sending an email? If so, what happens when you create sub-tasks? Does the parent task immediately become a Project?

Defining Projects is one of many great tips and ideas for personal project management from the David Allen Company website.

VH1 promotes a show. Article discusses how VH-1 setup a blog for internal idea generation leading up to launch of a show and then made the blog public where it continued to have a wide appeal. This would be useful for a client of mine that is launching a new tv series.