Sharing projects with a co-worker
I am a newbie, and I have searched the manual, forums and tech support, but haven't found an answer to my specific question. Please excuse me if I missed something, and just point me there if I did.
A co-worker and I are beginning to use LB to organize both our own lives and our "shared" life, that is, the several multi-step, multi-dependency projects we are working on together.
We thought we would be able to use LB exchange files to both work on the same projects and have it keep track of the things I have to do and the things she has to do and their status. But it doesn't seem to work that way, so I need to tap into the collective wisdom for a work-around to get what we need.
We set up a second-level task, call it "WorkTogether" and all our projects and their sub-tasks are below WorkTogether. Some of the projects have multiple steps, that happen in sequence (set to "complete subtasks in order") and some of these subtasks are for her to do and some are for me to do. I expected that we could use exchange files to keep track of this -- every morning she'd send me an exchange file, which I would incorporate into my LB file and it would tell me what she had accomplished, so I could work on the things that were now in my court, and every evening I'd give her an exchange file and she would see what I had accomplished.
I had expected that LB would pattern-match on the name of the tasks and if they were exactly the same (in the same place in the hierarchy), they would update from the exchange file any changes to the status or schedule, etc. (if there were changes to the names of the task, of course, I expected LB to present me with a new task).
But it seems that LB doesn't recognize that two tasks are the same and creates all new task when I import an exchange file. And the documentation says "Exchange files do not include the checkmarks next to completed tasks".
Does anybody know how to use LB to coordinate tasks between two people who need to know what the other person is working on and has finished?
Thanks, Bonnie
Still struggling with this - sharing an iCal calendar won't work
My co-worker and I are both Mac people so we thought maybe we could synch these tasks to a iCal calendar that we could share. It also looked promising as the basis of a work-around, but then we discovered that only the person who Publishes can change the calendar (not the person who subscribes). So we would still need some other mechanism to let both of us update the status of our tasks.
We think other calendars we have access to but that don't synch to LB, like Lotus Notes, can synch with iCal. So if we share a calendar on LotusNotes, and then synch it to our individual iCals and then synch that to LB we might be able to share. But this seems like a very convoluted, high-maintenance, inefficient way to work.
I sure hope somebody else has solved this problem and shares their solution. Sharing things that don't work would also help, so I don't go down any more rabbit-holes.
Thanks, Bonnie
Did you both start with the same WorkTogether?
I was picturing what you described. Did you start with one WorkTogether then pass it back and forth? Or did you each have your own WorkTogether and merge one with the other on each exchange?
I would think it would work if you started with one WorkTogether. I believe LB attach certain code or tag to each unique task --- that's how LB keeps track of them. That's why even if it's the exact same task name, yours will not replace or update your coworker's (because the unique tags are different).
But if you create a WorkTogether then send that to your coworker. Your coworker makes changes then send back to you. Her changes should show up when you access your LB. Basically, if you are tracking the same task, only one of you should add it to the outline. She can edit and update the task and the changes should be visible to you.
Well, at least, I think it should :)
I have a similar set-up and worked fine when I needed it but I also sync with my Treo and uses EPIM so who knows where the syncing takes place!
We really want something we can both change in parallel
We did start with one WorkTogether, but it quickly included tasks she thought of and tasks that I thought of.
Perhaps I am not understanding what you are suggesting. We work in parallel and need to be able to make our own changes and see what the other person has done in almost real time. We tend to use GoogleDocs as a way to work together because there is no overhead associated with sharing -- we can both be changing it and we can see what the other person is doing in almost real time. But of course Google Docs doesn't do all the great stuff LB does for to-do lists!
If we have to enforce a "lock" on the LB file, we'll get quite messed up keeping track of the things we are doing. For example, I'm sure if she has the lock for a whole day, I'll forget what I have done during that time period because I won't be able to check it off in my copy of the LB file. Alternatively, if we have to email the file back and forth every time we check off a 5-minute task, that will add a lot of overhead. I know I thought originally that sending them back and forth might work, but now that I've used it for 10 days I see that I am adding things and checking things off several times and hour, and I don't think taking turns is a practical idea anymore.
Thoughts? Other experiences?
Thanks for the help!
Bonnie
3rd party solution?
Hi Bonnie,
I think the sync via iCal is probably the best way to go. You could investigate using BusySync, or BusyCal if you want the bells and whistles, as it allows you to share iCal calendars across a network with joint editing privileges. BusyCal and BusySync will also sync with Google Calendars if you want online access (events only - Google doesn't yet allow syncing of tasks).
I confess that I haven't done this myself as I have no colleagues to sync with & my partner uses Windows (bless her). However I do use BusySync to sync my calendars with Google and it works flawlessly.
Note: I don't normally mention 3rd party products, but it seems that BusySync is a nice complement to LifeBalance, especially in this instance. I hope this is OK with the Llamas...
http://www.busymac.com/busysync/index.html