Flickr Photo: Snow_girlI feel it's cliche to say that Fall is in the air, but it definitely is. I feel it on my morning bike commute: the chill, dodging children on their way to school, and the generally increased sense of hustle and bustle that continues into the work day.  The Affinity Groups were no exception this past week, with lots of advice coming in and big announcements being made. 

Take a read through these highlights, then go sign up for the NTEN Discuss email list (or one of the many other Affinity Groups that might suit you).

Michelle Murrain shared the exciting news that NOSI (the Nonprofit Open Source Initiative) has officially become a project of Aspiration. This work will involve maintaining the NOSI Primer, enhancing the Social Source Commons, and continuing Penguin Days across the country and around the world. (We sure love those peguins and are glad to know they're safe).

A few days ago, Mary Henton, Director of Integrated Media Initiatives, National Middle School Association, asked if anyone used any of the free wikis to assist in project management and if anybody had recommendations. Many a response came rolling in.

Peter Campbell, IT Director, Earthjustice, advised that, "Wikis can be used for project management, and might be a good choice if everyone is comfortable with the tool and you have a shared methodology for updating, task management, etc.  I've found them to be great for simple tasks, such as keeping track of computers that have been upgraded.  But for more serious, long-term project management, I would look at an online tool like Basecamp , or any of the wide number of project management tools out there that will let you tie your schedule, resources, and dependencies together, and integrate them more directly with your email/ personal calendars.  Wiki's are very free-form, which means that there are a lot of things you can do with them, but they suffer a bit at storing tabular data,such as calendars and task lists, and they lack features that a tool designed fror project management will provide."

Sonny Cloward, Business Systems Analyst, Rainforest Alliance, suggested checking out Central Desktop "if you have time dependent tasks. It takes some configuring... but I find it much more useful then Basecamp for non-Agile Development Projects."

Ari mentioned Zoho, which "offers a whole suite of project management and Community of Practice tools, including wiki, an MS Office replacement suite (including their version of a schedule/resource tracking tool replacement for MS Project). If you have simpler projects, Basecamp is worth using because it is simple and easy to use. If you need more, it seems worth checking out Zoho."

Michelle Murrain advised that a "tool in no way can replace (or ameliorate) bad project management (by human beings.) I've been involved in *very* complex projects where the project management was just a wiki and a mailing list, and it was very well managed because the project manager was ace. I've been involved in other projects using Basecamp, and the project basically didn't have management because the human piece was missing - basecamp didn't really help. She warns, don't rely too much on the tool, or necessarily expect a better tool to provide better project management."

Gavin Clabaugh agrees and adds, "'it's a poor carpenter that blames his tools.' I personally *hate* most project management tools.  I find the best tool a simple calendar. That, along with actually having the time it takes to do the project ... The tools never seem to actually give me more time."

For more thought provoking discussion and words of wisdom, join an Affinity Group today!