News - Traction Software

The Future of Work Platforms: Like Jazz

February 16, 2011 · Blog1591 · Posted by Greg Lloyd

Yesterday I read GigaOM analyst and editor Haydn Shaughnessy's Future of Work Platforms report (registration required, free seven day trial available). I commented: Haydn -- A very thoughtful and useful analysis – a combination that’s all too rare! I’m particularly happy to see your thoughts on observable work (see the full report for Haydn's excellent analysis).

Ever since Jon Udell coined the term, it struck me as good way to talk about practical benefits and a business purpose for collaboration. In my opinion it helps by pealing back issues of privacy in context and activity streams, along with subtleties required to support the social dance of getting things done, dealing with exceptions, and staying aware of what’s going around you without getting swamped. This is much closer to jazz than the world of canned business transactions. It requires a level of attention to ease of use and user experience that’s just as important but in many ways more challenging to do well in a business context than for the public Web.

15 Feb 2011 | GigaOM Pro - The Future of Work Platforms

GigaOm Pro analyst Haydn Shaughnessy writes "The enterprise collaboration space has entered an exciting new phase of collaboration. New software and applications are coming to market, as are new concepts for how to work and communicate in the knowledge age." Shaughnessy analyzes the new diversity of work, the human element, and provides key takeaways as well as reviews of hosted and E2.0 collaborative platforms. The free summary includes complete table of contents [ including Traction® Software in the E2.0 Platform space ]. A GigaOm Pro subscription is required to view the full report, with a seven day Free Trial available. » Read the summary see also The Future of Work Platforms: Like Jazz

15 Feb 2011 | Web Worker Daily - Looking Beyond the Features to Find Good Collaboration Tools

Simon Mackie of Web Worker Daily writes about the new GigaOm Pro report on The Future of Work Platforms (subscription required). Mackie highlights experience, driving new concepts in collaborative, work, ease of implementation, deep system integration, work process innovation, and stronger management oversight as potentially sustainable differentiators for companies [ including Traction® Software ] in a feature comparison table from the report. » Read the full story.

4 Feb 2010 | SFGate - New Research Benchmarks Best Practices in Mobile Marketing, Business Intelligence and Enterprise Collaboration

Gleanster today announced the publication of three new "Gleansight" benchmark reports, on Mobile Marketing, Business Intelligence and Enterprise Collaboration. Drawing from the experiences of more than five hundred companies, the reports offer a comprehensive look at how Top Performers are implementing each of these initiatives to achieve their desired business objectives.

December 2010 | Gilbane Conference - Portal vs. Enterprise Social Software Panel

January 18, 2011 · Blog1571 · Posted by Jordan Frank

Jordan Frank writes: At the Gilbane Conference last month I stood in for Greg Lloyd in the Portal or Enterprise Social Software: Which Collaboration Environment to Choose? panel with David Seuss (CEO, Northern Light) and Jay Batson (Co-Founder and VP, Acquia).

14 Dec 2010 | TECH.ASCII.jp - プロジェクトの円滑な遂行をサポートする「TeamPage 5.1」アプライドナレッジ、コラボレーションツールの新版を発表

12月13日、アプライドナレッジは、コラボレーションツール「TeamPage 5.1」を発表。同日より販売開始した。

7 Dec 2010 | CTOLabs - The 75 Most Disruptive Enterprise IT Capabilities

Bob Gourley, CTOLabs writes: "This list reviews the companies regarded as having very high potential to change the way IT is done in large enterprises. For a company to be on the list they must have a currently shipping capability that appears to be a real game changer in enterprise IT." Traction® Software is listed as one of the Disruptive small to medium companies versus IT Powerhouses like IBM, Microsoft and Oracle. » Read the Full Story

2 Dec 2010 | AppGap Review - Traction TeamPage 5.1 Moves Forward with Project Management Capabilities

Bill Ives AppGap Review of Traction® TeamPage Release 5.1 focuses on Traction's new integrated action tracking and project management: "The action tracking concept is not old school project management with Gantt charts and resource allocation. It is allowing employees to manage their work tasks and make this management transparent to those who need to know...This is the action tracking part of project management for the regular employee, not the program management office. It brings this activity into the enterprise 2.0 world as every task is treated as an object for comments, RSS, and made searchable to those with the proper permissions. Traction has always had great granular security and this permission level technology is applied here, as well." » Read the Full Story

1 Dec 2010 | KMWorld - Collaborate Completely

Traction® Software has announced new Traction® TeamPage capabilities to help teams work together more effectively. Traction TeamPage Release 5.1 makes it easy for individuals to see their own action plans, the status of shared projects, team workload, individual progress and team progress toward common goals--all within the context of the TeamPage collaboration and communication platform where the planned work can also be managed or done. » Read the full story

30 Nov 2010 | R&D Magazine | Borlaug Global Rust Initiative wins industry award

Cornell information specialists received a 2010 Forrester Groundswell Award Nov. 19 for the globalrust.org website, which provides wheat warriors the advantages they need to combat the virulent new diseases of wheat that threaten world food security... From the beginning, the project presented various communication challenges related to intranets and extranets that the DRRW Web team knew they would have to solve to engage all the project partners... "We wanted to engage wheat scientists and promote multidimensional engagement," said Nelson, former communications director for the DRRW and an extension associate at Cornell. "We were looking for the ability to mix social, mobile, multichannel and media to make it easier for these high-value scientists to work together."... A combination of Traction® TeamPage software and Attivio's Active Intelligence Engine enables the globalrust.org website to be user-friendly and deliver key content to more than 300 researchers daily » Read the full story

22 Nov 2010 | Traction Software named to EContent 100 Companies that Matter 2010-2011

Traction Software is honored to be named one of EContent Magazine's one hundred companies that matter most in the digital content industry. Traction was one of only ten companies named to the list in the collaboration category. Traction Software partner Attivio was named to the 2010 EContent 100 list in the search category. EContent Editor-in-chief Michelle Manafy said: "... this year our judging team was tougher than ever before. Few (if any) incumbents were kept on through mindshare and momentum alone; every company was held up to scrutiny in terms of innovation and meeting customer needs. It was a challenging year for voting—as it has been for the companies that made this list through their hard work, customer focus, and continued responsiveness to the changing digital content landscape. The need to leverage tools to effectively maximize the value of digital content has never been greater. Like the creation of this list, the process is a tough one, but it’s well worth it." » See the EContent 100 Introduction and Category Descriptions and the EContent Judging Team.

19 Nov 2010 | Borlaug Global Rust Initiative Wins 2010 Forrester Groundswell Social Impact Award

London, November 19, 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. honored the six final 2010 Forrester Groundswell Award winners for excellence in effective use of social technologies to advance an organizational or business goal. Winners of the fourth annual Forrester Groundswell Awards in the International Business-to-Consumer (B2C) division were honored at Forrester's Marketing & Strategy Forum EMEA in London. "We're thrilled by the diversity and quality of the entries in this year's International Forrester Groundswell Awards," said Nate Elliott, principal analyst at Forrester. "With consumers worldwide embracing social technologies, the Groundswell is now global. The finalists and winners we've recognized — including local efforts on four continents and a number of truly global programs — are among the leaders in using social tools to reach and serve their customers." » Read the Forrester Press Release

16-18 Nov 2010 | Showcasing Traction TeamPage 5.1 at KMWorld 2010 Washington DC

Meet Jordan Frank and see Traction® TeamPage 5.1 at Booth # 406, KMWorld 2010 at the Renaissance Washington DC Hotel. TeamPage Release 5.1 makes it easy for individuals to see their own action plans, the status of shared projects, team workload, individual progress, and team progress toward common goals, all within the context of the TeamPage collaboration and communication platform. This clear and simple model is focused on the lightweight coordination of individual and team actions that drive collection, analysis and planning for knowledge management, intelligence analysis, and all business activities.

Borlaug Global Rust Initiative

Combating the Wheat Rust Pandemic: Bridging the Worldwide Scientific Community with Enterprise 2.0 Social Software -- Wheat rust is a serious fungal disease affecting wheat caused by the rust fungus Puccinia triticina. It is the most prevalent of all the wheat rust diseases, occurring in nearly all areas where wheat is grown. Thought to be all but extinct for more than 50 years, the world is now facing a new pandemic of wheat rust -- Ug99, a highly virulent stem rust variant. This strain could potentially be responsible for the destruction of more than a third of worldwide wheat production. Such a failure could be devastating as wheat is the world's most widely planted crop and accounts for a fifth of humanity's calorie intake (1).

9 Nov 2010 | EContent - Collaboration and Knowledge Management Working Well Together

EContent's Marji McClure reports on how collaborative tools integrated with knowledge capture can streamline complex business processes while also providing valuable insights organizations for future use. She interviewed D. Craig McHenry, senior director of competitor insights of Pfizer Nutrition. “The big issue we found ourselves needing to address,” says McHenry, “was how do we really build over time a complete record of the different pieces of information gathered and analyzed and assessed and document it? How do we create a living history or a living document of that conversation?” McHenry and his team turned to Traction® TeamPage. McHenry cites benefits of the Traction solution including reduction in the amount of information being pushed through the company's email system, making it less burdensome to stay engaged and on top of what happens in discussion. » Read the full story

9 Nov 2010 | Portals and KM - Traction Team Page 5.1 Integrates Project Management Capabilities

Analyst Bill Ives reviews Traction® TeamPage Release 5.1 new Action Tracking capabilities. Bill includes screen shots of task, milestone and personal profile views along with his analysis. He says: "The action tracking concept is not old school project management with Gantt charts and resource allocation. It is allowing employees to manage their work tasks and make this management transparent to those who need to know. This is where the observable work comes it. I have seen considerable improvement in employee and team performance when their work becomes transparent to the right others. The spot light does wonders when applied correctly. ... I think that this complete collection of new capabilities builds on the strong platform already established to take it further into the ideal of enterprise 2.0. Here the activities of an organization are accessible to those who need to know and this transparency operates at the task or action level." » Read the Full Story

9 Nov 2010 | Traction® TeamPage 5.1 Introduces Integrated Action Tracking For Improved Team Performance

Santa Clara CA / Enterprise 2.0 — November 9, 2010 — Bridging project management and the flow of work Traction Software, the leader in enterprise social software innovation, today announced new Traction® TeamPage capabilities to help teams work together more effectively. Traction TeamPage Release 5.1 makes it easy for individuals to see their own action plans, the status of shared projects, team workload, individual progress, and team progress toward common goals – all within the context of the TeamPage collaboration and communication platform where the planned work can also be managed or done. Read » full release

8 Nov 2010 | EContent - A Case of Life-Saving Collaboration

EContent reporter Kurt Schiller describes how the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) is marshaling a global response to a threat to world's food supply. Wheat rust is a virulent crop disease spread by the wind that can rapidly decimate crops leading to drastically reduced harvest and the threat of famine - currently endangering Africa, Asia and the Middle East. BGRI chose Traction® TeamPage and its Attivio powered advanced search capability to quickly stand up a hub for collaborative scientific research, planning and public communication of the latest research results to a global audience. See the Traction TeamPage powered BGRI site globalrust.org » Read the Full Story

TUG 2010 Newport | Interviews

Paula Thornton followed up on a TUG tradition she started last year with a series of short and lively interviews of folk who participated in TUG 2010 Newport. This year Paula interviewed: Brian Tullis, Alcoa (preview below); Michael Wadsworth; Patrice Livingston and Masayuki Kojima, AKJ Ltd.

TUG 2010 Newport | Videos and Slides

TUG 2010 Newport was the best Traction® User Group meeting yet! For links to individual video and audio podcasts of the fifth annual Traction User Group 12-15 Oct 2010 sessions and slides, see the TUG 2010 Newport Agenda page. See Chris Nuzum, Traction® Software CTO and co-founder's TUG 2010 Traction Update below.

Follow TUG 2010 Newport on Twitter

If you can't make it to the fifth annual Traction User Group meeting on 12-15 October 2010 in Newport RI, you can still join the fun on Twitter! Use hash tag #TUG2010 to follow updates from Newport or ask questions. You can also follow folk attending TUG 2010 Newport with the TUG2010-Newport list

Jon Udell to give closing keynote and join TUG 2010 Newport Observable Workshop

Jon Udell - author, information architect, software developer and new media innovator - will give a closing keynote for the 2010 Traction User Group conference in Newport RI on 13 Oct 2010, bookending Jim McGee's opening keynote on Observable Work. Jon's 1999 book, Practical Internet Groupware, helped lay the foundation for what we now call social software. Udell was formerly a software developer at Lotus, BYTE Magazine’s executive editor and Web maven, and an independent consultant. He is now a writer and producer for Microsoft as well as a hands on organizer of the elmcity project, see Jon's blog and bio page.

Fixing Enterprise Search

September 4, 2010 · Blog1521 · Posted by Greg Lloyd

A few days ago the Enterprise 2.0 Blog published Venkatesh Rao's excellent post The Real Reasons Enterprise Search is Broken. When he hears ironic jokes comparing search on the public Web versus internal enterprise search, Venkatesh notes: "People move on because they seem to think that this is incompetence at work. Search is soo 1.0 right? It's been solved and we're just fumbling the execution, right?" He says: "I have reached a radical conclusion: broken search is the problem, but fixing search is not the solution. Search breaks behind the firewall for social, not technical reasons... Let's start with the blindingly obvious, and then draw some weird conclusions." I think they are perceptive conclusions based on sound analysis, and agree with most, but come at the problem from a different angle.

1 Sept 2010 | KMWorld names Traction TeamPage a Trend-Setting Product of 2010

KMWorld recognizes Traction® Software's continued leadership in the Enterprise 2.0 market, naming Traction® TeamPage a KMWorld Trend-Setting Product of 2010. KMWorld Editor in Chief Hugh McKellar says: "This year, more than 600 products were assessed by our judging panel which consists of editorial colleagues, analysts, system integrators, vendors themselves (sometimes even competitive ones), line-of-business managers and users. The products selected all demonstrate clearly identifiable technology breakthroughs that serve the vendors’ full spectrum of constituencies, especially their customers." » Read the September 1, 2010 KMWorld Trend-Setting Products of 2010 announcement.

30 Aug 2010 | Borlaug Global Rust Initiative: Forrester Groundswell Award Nomination

The Borlaug Global Rust Initiative is a great example of Enterprise 2.0 technology used to support global collaboration aimed at finding and implementing a solution to a complex and urgent problem - as originally envisioned by hypertext pioneer Douglas Engelbart. How urgent? "90 percent of the world's wheat has little or no protection against Ug99 wheat rust. This plant disease could quickly spread and annihilate a crop that provides a third of the world's calories." The Borlaug Global Rust Initiative was formed to reduce the world's vulnerability to wheat rust diseases through a first-ever international collaboration in wheat research. We're happy the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative case has been nominated for Forrester's 2010 GroundSwell award. Please read the Groundswell page on The Borlaug Global Rust Initiative's Knowledge Bank - and add your own rating, comment and review for the BGRI case and others.