Launch of a collaborative software service targeted at the budget level and focus of the team.

Bill Seitz has launched TeamFlux, a hosted collaboration software service designed to focus on the problems (and budget) of today's agile teams.

August, 2003 -- Bill Seitz has launched TeamFlux, a hosted collaboration software service designed to focus on the problems (and budget) of today's agile teams.

Seitz says, "I've used many collaboration tools over the years, from Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange to eRooms and discussion forums. I've found wiki software to be the most productive environment for a team to in dump all of its ideas, issues, plans, commitments, and status notes, so they can be related to each other as time passes. Running in a browser, using simple rules to style text rather than HTML tags, and auto-linking related documents, all encourage the involvement of every team member."

Ward Cunningham created the initial wiki software, and launched the first public wiki website in 1995 as part of the "software patterns" movement. Seitz adds, "TeamFlux does a couple special things to wiki. First, it has some features that are more friendly to the new-or-occasional reader (like your boss): it expands the 'SmashedTogetherCapitalizedWords' that wiki uses to auto-link pages; and it uses square brackets around names for pages that haven't been created yet. Second, by offering a hosted solution, a team leader can get his group started immediately without creating work for the systems group (or paperwork for himself), and at a price where he can put it only his monthly expense report without too many complaints."

Many collaboration systems are packaged to be sold to an entire enterprise, with large license costs, customization costs, and setup times. These are often undertaken in an effort to impose a consistent process through an organization, regardless of the varying needs and preferences of the people doing the work.

Conversely, weblogging, which has become a new alternative, emphasizes the individual's voice. While this is effective for broadcasting raw ideas and status notes, it doesn't encourage resolution of the inconsistencies and ambuigities inherent in any initial plan. Many project management experts consider the coherence of the team to be the biggest factor in predicting a project's success. So tools that are flexible yet encourage an ongoing process of convergence have the potential to help teams do their best work.

New customers can read more about the service at http://www.teamflux.com and then sign up online. The cost is $30/quarter per person.

Contact: Bill Seitz, teamflux@fluxent.com