FACEBOOK AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT

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Submitted by Terri Griffith on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 10:27
I've been meaning to write about Facebook and project management.  It's taken me a while because I'm "on" Facebook, but don't do much work via Facebook.  I know renegade teams in Fortune 100 firms who do -- so this has kept me wondering what they see that I don't.  (I tend to use home built Google Sites to support my projects.) I started my research with a search on "Facebook project management."  I also tried "Basecamp," a popular project management tool, and "Facebook" in a separate search.  Basecamp doesn't seem to have built an application for Facebook (yet?), though there have been calls for integration on the Basecamp forums. The following are some lightly informed thoughts.  Hopefully we can get a conversation going among people who use these tools. Interesting aside: Facebook and Basecamp were founded on the same day.  On Feb 4, 2009, both sites turned 5. There are a variety project management applications available on Facebook (run a search on "project management" from the Applications tab).  Toodooz and Workspaces by Huddle (full web version of Huddle) caught my eye.
  • Toodooz: You can upload files up to 1MB in formats: .doc, .gif, .jpg, .txt, .xls, .zip Toodooz seems to be built for Facebook and includes all the basic project management tidbits: Milestones, Tasks, Files, Discussions, Invites, and Notification.
  • Workspaces by Huddle: You can upload 2MB files and there didn't seem to be restrictions type -- and you can edit Word and Excel files on-line (note: this is not the same as editing and then syncing with your desktop version -- See more here).  Editing does "lock" the file so others can't edit at the same time.  Huddle also can connect via LinkedIn.  Most of Huddle's power seems to come from the full web version - the Facebook version seems to only have Files, Notifications, and Invites available (please correct me if I'm wrong).  The full web version syncs with your Facebook version.
Summary: I suspect both of these tools will gain power over time.  For me, I'll be staying with Google Sites for the time being.  The value of collaborative real-time editing is key for me, so I'm willing to put up with the overhead of creating my own project management workflow.  For folks who live their lives on Facebook, and don't need collaborative editing, Huddle, Toodooz or any of the other tools may be better as they are purpose-built for project management.  I'll be interested to hear what my students think about the tradeoffs. That said, this line alone from the Toodooz page was enough for me to want to try it in my next project: "Create Tasks and assign them to your Toodooz friends."  I love creating tasks and assigning them to my friends.  Now if I could only get my friends to do those tasks.... As with all such services, please read the terms of service carefully to ensure that it matches your business needs. Value of Being There (Stickiness) will be my next post.  A reason Facebook is an attractive platform for project management is because people are already there.