Web-apps to the rescue

At the end of my first week in the office, my Assignment Leader asked me to put together a pitch to present to his boss, just to make sure that she was up to speed with what I will and will not be doing during my first rotation. Seeing as how this rotation is all about process improvement, a flowchart was a must...but how was I going to draw this chart if I don’t have Visio?

This situation was the exact same one that many other IMLP’s at bootcamp found themselves in while working on the final case study. The solution? Well a web-based application of course! Andrew Starr (a first-rotation GE Corporate IMLP) suggested this web-app called Gliffy, which in essence is a slightly watered down version of Visio on a browser. Similar to other charting applications, it features a set of templates with pre-defined commonly used shapes. But Gliffy goes one step further and adds versioning to every file you save, making it really easy to revert to an older version of your diagrams if you ever need to.

Sadly enough Gliffy is only free for the first 30 days, then you have to pay to use this service. But during 30-day trial you have access to all of its features – so it’s perfect for when you’re in a diagramming pinch!

Here are a few other (free) web application that may come in handy:

• The Big Picture: simple yet beautiful task/project management application.
• Aviary: not a single app, but a suite of image editing software – basically Photoshop on the web
• Groove Shark: similar to Pandora, but you build your own play list in place of the application suggestions.

Geek 2.0 is Chic

Geek 2.0 > Geek 1.0

We're all aware of the common stereotypes of "geekdom," as personified in the photo on the left.

As a techy, I prefer "Geek 2.0," similar to how I prefer Web 2.0 applications over Web 1.0 technologies, as some things improve over time (cheese & technology included).

Collaborative technologies (social networking, blogs, microblogging) are most known as our external friends like Facebook and Twitter, but there is a corporate "flavor" of these fun technologies that can also be harnessed to assist in driving up our productivity during the work day.

Known as Enterprise 2.0 (or Enterprise Social Software), the integration of Web 2.0 techniques within an organization helps to deliver a rich user experience, simplified global collaboration and knowledge management.

Take GE Docs for example, which was featured on the blog a few months back- it's a great example of Enterprise 2.0 technology.

And GE is no different- and as IMLPs we often get to have a role in integrating these new technologies and ideas into both our projects and overall strategic plans for the business. It was just yesterday when I learned about cool business-specific applications that are being developed for our blackberries!