Eight Tools to Keep Your Team Connected

Editor's Note: This article was originally published in February, 2006, and was updated by Kevin Lo, a technology analyst at Techsoup Global, to reflect updated tools and resources.

eRider managers are faced with a unique challenge. Our job is to hire and manage consultants who provide technology assistance to nonprofits around the world. Yet because eRiders spend most of their time traveling to these nonprofits, we need to be able to manage their work from afar. This would be a tough job if we didn't have some useful tools to assist us.

Which is why, over the years, eRider managers have assembled a kit of eight free software products to help them manage members of a distributed work team -- even when members of that team are in different countries, different time zones, or speak different languages.

For me, this tool kit came in handy when CompuMentor (now known as TechSoup Global) invited me to work on a project with the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. CompuMentor and a team of eRiders. We were asked to provide technical assistance and training to help Mott grantees around the world comply with the list-checking requirements of the USA PATRIOT Act. This Act prevents the distribution of funds to people and organizations believed to be involved in terrorist activities.

Over a three-month period, I hired and managed 20 eRiders to support 83 organizations in 14 countries. I relied on my eRider tool kit to manage time, meetings, training, and hands-on work with clients -- and I did it all from my home office in Brooklyn, NY. Here are the tools that made it possible:

1. NPOGroups' Discussions List

During our project's initial setup phase, I used NPOGroups' International eRiders (InteRider) discussion list to find eRiders in Brazil and Portugal, where we had no coverage. A subscriber recommended the Brazilian list, where we found an eRiderfrom Portugal who was interested in working with us.

CompuMentor chose NPOGroups because they are nonprofit-friendly, don't display ads on their site, and offer great technical support. Moreover, the InteRider discussion list is the place to find eRiders from around the world. Set up after the first international eRider training sessions in Kosovo in November 2002, the list is now more than 250 subscribers strong. InteRider runs on NPOGroups' e-mail forum, and is powered by Electric Embers using the Sympa mailing list manager. The list has a moderator who guides the discussion and ensures that it stays on topic. Members can also receive posts via e-mail.

2. Online Training

After we assembled our eRider team, CompuMentor and NPower used Microsoft Office Live Meeting with moderated PowerPoint presentations to train the eRiders and the organizations they would be working with. This was essential to ensuring that the eRiders felt comfortable with the types of tasks the organizations might need them to perform.

In addition to our online trainings, CompuMentor created a Web page with links to the training materials, background on the project, information about the USA PATRIOT Act, and frequently asked questions, so that the eRiders would have something to refer to and download as needed when they were in the field.

To learn more about the process of setting up online training sessions, check out articles in the Training section of Techsoup.org.

3. Instant Messengers

During the project, eRiders and project managers regularly used one-to-one instant messaging ( IM) software to stay in touch while working in different locations.

An IM client is a program that allows instant text communication between two or more people through a network or on the Internet. Popular clients include ICQ, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, and AIM .

Not all IM clients are compatible, and the eRiders on our project were not asked use a specific one. To bridge our multiple systems, I used GAIM, now known as Pidgin , a special client that allowed me to log on to a variety of systems (such as ICQ and AIM) through one interface. For me, using one tool was much easier than having to launch multiple IM clients on my computer or asking everyone to use the same system. Meebo is a web site that allows you to do the same without a download, which makes it easy to use in a public computing environment. It also have localized user interfaces for different languages.

4. Internet Relay Chat

One eRider in Bulgaria, wanting more security than existing IM tools can provide, preferred to use Internet Relay Chat (IRC), which allows for more privacy than IM. IRC, another form of instant Internet communication, is designed mainly for group communication in discussion forums called channels, but also allows for one-to-one communication. While IRC lacks the slick interface of AIM and other IM tools, this sometimes-clunky, bare-bones tool gets the job done. An IRC popular among eRiders is MIRC.

5. Voice over IP

When we needed a personal touch, Voice over IP (also called VoIP, IP Telephony, and Internet telephony) came in handy and kept costs down. VoIP technology enables the routing of voice conversations over the Internet or any other IP network. With VoIP, eRiders could chat online with each other or with managers without incurring the expensive long-distance charges of regular phone calls. VoIP allows users to place calls to traditional landline phones, as well as to those with a VoIP account, a computer, and a microphone headset.

eRiders typically use the VoIP service Skype, but there are other services available. To learn about other VoIP tools, or about VoIP technology in general, read TechSoup's article Ditch Your Telephone for VoIP .

6. Internet Chat

In addition to our many one-on-one discussions, we set up several group discussions using free chat software. This allowed the eRiders to communicate with one another, and enabled me to answer the same set of basic questions for everyone quickly and easily. The chats also helped the eRiders to begin to rely on one another for technical assistance.

PHP My Chat was a site where any number of computer users can type in messages to each other (or "chat") in real time, creating an online conversation. The messages typically appear onscreen alongside the user's screen name.

7. Blogging

Because eRiders' time is billed by the hour, we needed a reliable way of tracking their work. We asked each eRider to set up a blog; each time they did work on the project -- sent an e-mail to a client, made a phone call, visited a site, tested a tool -- they created an entry logging both the work and their hours. The management team was dedicated to reading all the entries and following up on questions and concerns, and we encouraged eRiders to read each other's blogs and post comments to them, too.

A Blog (shortened from the term Web log, or Weblog) is a Web-based publication that consists primarily of periodic articles and postings published in reverse chronological order, so that the most recent entries appear at the top. Most early blogs were manually updated, but now free blogging tools and browser-based software automate the maintenance of such sites, making them accessible to a much larger population. Our project used an Open Source blogging portal developed by Interspace.

8. Time Zone Calculator

The final tool in our arsenal was the Time Zone Calculator, which allowed us to coordinate schedules when the team was spread across seven different time zones. The calculator ensured that everyone showed up on time to online trainings, chats, and IM sessions, no matter where they were in the world. This tool also forced the managers to be realistic when trying to schedule an eRider in Brazil in the same training session as an eRider in Georgia -- an 11 hour time difference. Google also has a time converter built-in; if you searched "local time in Kiev" it will give you a local time of Kiev, Ukraine, or any other location.

Without the eRider tool kit, it's hard to imagine how our distributed team could have stayed in touch and accomplished its goals. The great part about the kit was that none of the tools had to be customized for eRiders. Rather, they were free and easy to obtain. And when you're working with nonprofits all over the world, those are two big pluses.

Additional Resources

Learn more about cloud computing for your nonprofit or library on TechSoup's cloud page.