Organizations Make the Shift from Simply Sharing Information to Getting Work Done
The explosive growth of social business software has created a new set of demands on employees’ time and attention. As people participate in projects with information scattered across multiple blogs, wikis and activity streams, staying organized and knowing what needs attention is a real challenge. A new type of tool is needed, one that combines the collaboration features of social networking software with the organizational and task features of project management software.
Project/task management is certainly not a new area, but many of the tools and processes that organizations currently use were created years ago and lack the collaboration features that are common in today’s enterprise social networking platforms. These legacy tools suffer from a variety of shortcomings that can impede the successful completion of a project. A new generation of task management tools is now emerging -- called Social Task Management. These STM platforms augment standard project management features, such as assignments, due dates and priorities, with modern social networking features enabling people to work together more efficiently. STM platforms are available in a variety of architectures, including stand-alone solutions, integration with enterprise social networks or as native features of enterprise collaboration platforms. Regardless of which style an organization chooses, a Social Task Management solution can improve the way people get their work done by helping employees organize their tasks and collaborate efficiently.
This document provides an introduction to the emerging Social Task Management (STM) market. It covers the shortcomings of traditional project management tools and explains how the issues can be solved using an STM platform. An architectural overview of STM explains how these tools work. Finally, a set of steps is provided to guide your organization in getting started with STM.
This is the first paper in a series, with future papers expanding on the concepts introduced here. Future papers include:
- Social Task Management Features Today and Tomorrow – A look at the core features STM software needs to have in order to provide project management and collaboration, as well as a look at what the next areas of innovation and integration should be.
- The Social Task Management Vendor Landscape - A detailed look at the key vendors, along with pros and cons of each platform.
- Putting Social Task Management To Work – Use cases and success stories showing how Sales, Marketing, Development, Human Resources, Finance and Information Technology departments can benefit from STM software.
