Team members can’t work in a bubble. 

They need to bounce ideas off each other—but that can be tricky when people are in different buildings, let alone different countries. A little technology helps.  

Here’s a roundup of tools project managers are using to foster collaboration and communication.

Tool: Mash-ups

Mash-up Google Maps combines cartographic, public transportation and real estate data.

Mash-ups are Web application hybrids that deliver content and consolidate information from different sources.

Designed as portal sites where you can customize the content, mash-ups can help project managers track certain markets, competitors or feeds from team members, explains Brian Mennecke, associate professor of business at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA.

“You’re taking tools that have isolated functions and integrating them,” he says. Mr. Mennecke adds that project managers can create mash-ups that track the markets their projects depend on—or that follow competitors’ updates.

Tool: RSS Feeds

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds can provide project managers and their teams with constant updates and help coordinate information about a specific subject. 

RSS is an XML-based format that distributes information to subscribers so they don’t have to go searching for it. For example, you can assign an RSS feed to a specific document so when a team member updates it, other subscribers are immediately notified—eliminating long e-mail trails.

“You’ve got tools that are designed around collaboration and interaction,” Mr. Mennecke says. “I want to participate with this community, but I want them to tell me what happens and when there is news.”

Tool: Microsoft Sharepoint, Microsoft, Redmond, Washington, USA

Microsoft SharePoint features include document libraries, project task lists, discussion forums, and surveys and polls.

This veteran platform allows users to share common documents and information. With features such as document libraries, project task lists, discussion forums, and surveys and polls, project teams can assemble a variety of different modes for better communication.

The software also offers “social computing,” which can help you easily connect with all members of your team—no matter the distance. It also features such tools as blogs and podcasts in a collaborated presentation.  

“The value in SharePoint comes from the fact that you have one portal. I can go there and find everything I want,” Mr. Mennecke says. “You don’t have to search all over the place.”

Tool: Google Wave, Google, Mountain View, California, USA

Google Wave allows participants to communicate while working with shared documents, photos, videos, maps and more.

Call it SharePoint on steroids.

Set to debut later this year, the software features “waves” that carry a variety of multimedia messages located on a central server. Like a threaded conversation, a wave allows participants to communicate while working with shared documents, photos, videos, maps and more.

The wave also provides a live transmission as you type, so team members can have conversations, make edits and interact in real time. “It’s positioned as a one-stop shop, a corporate enterprise resource,” says Mr. Mennecke.

Tool: vidyo.com, Vidyo Inc., Hackensack, New Jersey, USA

Vidyo.com provides high-definition video quality that works on any network with web browsing.

Bas de Baar recommends Vidyo.com for large project teams.

“This system can handle a large group of participants, with the person speaking centered in the middle,” says Mr. de Baar, an Amsterdam-based project manager with IT and business services company Logica, “It also removes the delay between picture and sound, so it’s in perfect sync.”

Capitalizing on advances in video compression, vidyo.com provides high-definition video that works on any network.

“Video conferencing can bring an additional level to the collaboration,” says Mr. de Baar, who is also a member of PMI’s New Media Council and author of Surprise! Now You’re a Software Project Manager. “People like to see the faces of the people they are dealing with.”

Tool: Banana Scrum, CodeSprinters, Kraków, Poland

Banana Scrum is conducive to the constant change of the scrum process.

Scrum teams have their own way of doing things—and their own collaboration preferences. Designed to cover the entire scrum process, this platform allows project managers to estimate product backlog, create sprint calendars and monitor progress on multiple projects.

For virtual teams, there’s an advanced feature offering team members access from any browser, which helps “reduce some of the stress that distance can place on a team,” says Dave Prior, PMP, project manager at Valtech, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA.

It’s free and it’s simple enough that I have taught my 8-year-old daughter how to use it,” Mr. Prior says.

Before You Choose Your Software

Before your organization settles on one of the many collaboration tools available, be sure to:

• › Consider what relationship you’re facilitating. Is it between employees who work in the same office or time zone—or on opposite sides of the world?
  
• › Look for communication bottlenecks. Where can improvements be made and how can a collaboration tool support that?
  
• › Define what function the tools will serve. Is it to facilitate project management, brainstorming or scheduling?
  
• › Decide on your sophistication (and cost) needs. Will a free version suffice or do you need a more powerful tool?