Post-TIG 2008: Beaucoup Basecamp … and beyond!
Following up on all things TIG 2008 in Austin last week, I have posted a slightly trimmed version of the presentation given by Tony White and me: Rethinking Collaboration. It is a bit heavy (5MB+ zipped) since the presentation was built with 100+ screenshots. I could have saved some weight posting it as a PDF, but that invariably compromises the quality of the screenshots, so I’ve instead posted it here in all its original PPT glory. I saved you a few KB of download by excising all the lame joke slides, as well as the screenshots of Google Docs with local LSNC office information. (Yes, a copy of the same slides will be available via the LSC 2008 TIG repository.) Hope the slides are helpful to others in getting at least a modest feel for how use of Basecamp and Google Docs can be powerful tools in your organization for managing and sharing projects and documents. That was the goal at least.
I must apologize for attempting at TIG to cram 10 pounds of cement into a five-pound bag. As a result, the Google Docs segment got truncated and I never even got to a planned discussion of the wonders of MediaWiki, WordPress, Live Writer and a slew of alternatives to the Google Docs paradigm. While at TIG I posted links to those various alternatives, so I encourage those interested to try them out as well. Google Docs is fab, for sure, but other options may suit your work style better. (I must admit I do not actually use it, but on my personal Web slick-o-meter, I have to give props to Adobe’s flash-based Buzzword. It’s worth a Web drive-by just to take a look at it. It is a beautiful thing.)
I give public thanks again here to Tony White of Bay Legal for his participation in and support of the presentation. In my book Tony remains the best sounding board in the legal services tech business, and he committed a huge amount of unseen time to help our presentation come together. Thanks, of course, to Glenn Rawdon and Joyce Raby for all the hospitality and their patience and attention helping me out with some last minute logistics. Mea culpa, guys! And it was great to meet and talk with so many familiar names but unfamiliar faces (Gabe, Steve, Siobhan, among many others) and others I knew well but had not seen for many years. Keep up the good work, people.