"People have access to current project information regardless of what time zone they're in." - Dan Klyn, Senior Interactive Producer, Q LTD
QLTD is a graphic design and marketing communications firm specializing in corporate identity, information design, and interactive media. With offices in Ann Arbor and Los Angeles, Q designs, writes, develops, and implements creative and tactical communications programs for a broad array of clients, particularly those in the technology, health care, education, arts and entertainment sectors.
Q's success depends on effective collaboration among geographically distributed multi-disciplinary teams, and building strong relationships with clients. The Socialtext Hosted Workspace helps Q achieve these goals.
QLTD was hired to create an interactive application for a structural engineering firm, which enabled clients and prospective clients to view and search a database of the client's past and present projects over the web. The application has a Flash front end, and an XML/Java back end.
Dan Klyn is a Senior Interactive Producer at Q. Klyn pulled together a geographically distributed project team, with management in Ann Arbor, Michigan, graphic design in Los Angeles, and web development specialists in the Bay Area and in Michigan.
The team used the Socialtext workspace to draft and review technical specifications and screen shots, answer questions and solve problems, with less lag time, fewer meetings and less time and money spend on travel. Says Klyn, "Rather than getting people together in real time, I've been trying to make sure that people post issues and document their work. People need to have access to current project information regardless of what time zone they're in."
Socialtext also helps the group have productive conference calls with visible follow-up. Team members would take notes during the meeting. When the meeting ended, there was a visible set of notes with follow-up steps. Prior to using Socialtext, a team member was assigned to take notes, and would eventually circulate notes by email.
The simplicity of the Socialtext workspace means that it is easy to use for team members with a range of technical sophistication. The less technical members of the team don't need to learn a vast dictionary of HTML tags and codes in order to participate.
Q used the Socialtext workspace to bringing the client into the project. The client would check in occasionally, monitor progress on the project, and make comments. Said Klyn, "Even though a customer might not use Socialtext as a full participant, it is helpful for them to look in. It gives them a good sense of progress on the project, and also improves their perception of us as a service provider -- they see that we are using the most recent, innovative tools.
Working with a distributed team, it was helpful to Q to have "one central place where everything was located." Since there were a number of independent consultants involved in the project, it was helpful to have the project space be in a neutral place, instead of being "owned" by the developers or the designers.
The hosted service enabled Q to focus on serving the client, rather than maintaining the project infrastructure. "We've never had to worry about uptime, installing upgrades or patches."
Using Socialtext's hosted service, Q LTD has been able to co-ordinate work among a distributed project team. This helps accelerate the project cycle, saving time and money on meetings and travel. Socialtext helps Q improve team communication and improve customer satisfaction, without investing time in infrastructure development.