I work for an engineering firm where we contract out a lot of the work, people work different shifts, have offices in different buildings or work at home etc. And…let’s just say we have some communication problems.
I just got the idea to set up a message board like this one, but private (only our employees would have log ins and one would need a login even to read the posts). I would have several forums, one for each major project plus a few more such as:
General Discussion - general work related discussion
The Water Cooler - nonwork related chit chat
Computer Advice - share your knowlege
Engineering - for discussion of projects that don’t have their own forums
I would register everyone under their real name, but I might allow anonymous posters (though I would still have to approve those so outsiders couldn’t get in) as long as no one abuses the privilege.
For the time being at least we’re going to pay to have the board hosted on the net rather than bothering oour already overworked IT people, and because this way we can easily acces it from home or on the road. We might even give logins to certain forums to selected customers, contractors etc
To get the ball rolling, we (my boss and I at least, and hopefully a few others) will start by answering emails (when possible) by posting a reply and mailing the recipient a link to the thread.
Ever try something like this in a corporate setting? Got any suggestions?