I'm a news junkie, and a history junkie, too. I also like doing a little forecasting here and there from time to time, and this is one of those times.
For all you startup people out there, Collaboration is the word.
There are several trends shaping up right now which will play out over the next several years in the U.S. which will alter how we work. They are:
- Much increased oil prices, thanks largely to the Arab uprising (tightening supply) and massive economic growth in China and India (increasing demand).
- Outstripped demand for Software Engineers.
- Data Security. Acutally, the desire by the Chinese Government to steal every piece of amazing technology out there.
As much as I think that everyone on a Dev team ought to be in the same room together working on their software, these trends will tend to push against this optimal solution. It's time to think hard about how to achieve those milestones, and drive the revenue those venture investors want, while not having your team all cramped into a small, cheap office.
As someone who has been searching for a good, yet inexpensive collaboration solution lately, I have to say, whatever the right solution is does not appear to be out there yet. If I am wrong, will someone PLEASE chime in and tell me so I can stop looking for it!?
Katherine, check out Google Apps. Their business edition ($50 per year), has some really strong collaboration tools.
Posted by: Katherine Sears | February 24, 2011 at 09:09 AM