Real Tools for Virtual Teams

Since few things get done on project teams without meetings, Done.com allows users to schedule meetings, and it notifies participants when there is a request to reschedule if someone isn't available, or when someone accepts an invitation to join you.

Done.com's reliance on email is a simple solution to the thorny problem of managing project teams. There's just one problem. As far as we could see, there was no way to control who could assign what task to whom. Anyone who is a member of a team can assign a task to any other member. Moreover, although you can see all of the tasks that you have assigned to someone or that someone has assigned to you, there's no way to see tasks assigned by others unless they "cc" you. We'll send an email to the folks at Done.com, and assign them the task of offering a feature in response to that shortcoming.

HotOffice: (www.hotoffice.com)
Utility: * * *
Usability: * * * 1/2
Cost: Advertising-supported version, free; ad-free version, $12.95 per month, per user, up to 20 users.

HotOffice is the Web service that Ray Gaither and his team use to hold online meetings. Funny thing, though: Online conferencing may be its least impressive feature. HotOffice's most impressive feature is its ability to manage documents. It allows users to upload documents to a personal file, to a folder dedicated to a project or a department, or to the company. It also offers some amazing ways to control who has access to which documents. Users can also check out documents, which then makes them unavailable to other users in HotOffice, so that no more than one member can modify a document at the same time.

HotOffice has a second strength: It integrates the workspaces of individuals with a shared work area -- without compromising privacy. For example, users can post shared or private appointments on a calendar. Even though an event is not public, when users view the group calendar, it will indicate that a person is unavailable.

One downside to HotOffice: Your computer must be constantly connected to the Net, since the service lacks offline capability.

MagicalDesk: (www.magicaldesk.com);
iMagicalDesk: (www.imagicaldesk.com)
Utility: * *
Usability: * * *
Cost: Free, with feature-and-capability upgrades that range in price from $5 to $10 each.

Finally, a Web service that understands that Macintosh users are team players too. Unfortunately, the site's version for Macintosh computers, iMagicalDesk, is the least sophisticated of all the services that we investigated. Although it offers most of the tools (mail, calendar, task list, address book, file sharing) that are found on other sites, those tools just aren't as robust as what you'll find elsewhere.

And the features that do exist don't always work as advertised. For example, iMagicalDesk lets you configure email settings to check external POP3 accounts. I configured mine to retrieve mail sent to my "fastcompany.com" account and to bring it to my iMagicalDesk inbox. But when I didn't receive any mail and couldn't find a "check mail" button (it must be magic), I decided to go ahead and check my Fast Company account from a desktop email program. It turns out that I had seven new messages, none of which I was able to retrieve through "magical" mail.

Although iMagicalDesk isn't a great solution for power users, it is a fun, simple solution for organizing personal events or group tasks -- especially those you share with family or friends. Besides, you have to give this site credit for offering a Mac-compatible service -- and for keeping with the iMac spirit. You can change your log-in screen to match your favorite iMac color (I mean "flavor"). As a fervent Mac addict myself, that's certainly a winning feature to me and the rest of us on the Mac team.

Gina Imperato (gimperato@fastcompany.com) is a Fast Company associate editor based in San Francisco. She's a team player.