This has been a tremendous year for us here at Pelotonics. We would like to thank everyone for all of the support and good ideas for the application enhancements we have made over the year. Our Google Documents integration is released and proving invaluable to many businesses. We also upgraded our security protocols to the most stringent in the business, but still maintained a convenient and accessible application. A big thanks goes out to Gina Trapani and many of our customers for your guidance in this regard!

2009 was surely a turbulent year for almost all of our customers, but we made it through. We are looking positively toward the New Year for what it holds in the way of opportunity and expansion.

We would like to take this time to thank our current customers and wish you the best of success and prosperity in 2010.

Thanks and have a Happy New Year!

The Pelotonics Team

Tweet This Post

I just read the newest post from Gina Trapani on the Harvard Business blog. She makes a good point that sometimes it just makes sense to pick up the phone and deal with an issue directly. We are in the business of online project management software. As such, you might expect me to preach that everything should be tracked and maintained through the centralized trusted system for project work – Pelotonics.

There is tremendous utility and long-term efficiency that comes from the proper and frequent use of a system like Pelotonics, but sometimes there is no substitute for a face-to-face conversation or a phone call.

Email is asynchronous; that’s a positive and a negative. I am sure that all of you have been party to the never ending email string where everyone contributes just enough information on each response to push it forward to no conclusion. Some of these endless email strings can be cleared up and clarified in a quick five minute real-time interchange.

Let’s not forget technologies like Skype! The phone is great, but it is not reliable. Skype gives a tremendous view into the availability of coworkers and, if not abused, can provide instant access at appropriate times. It is still quasi asynchronous so it has the benefits of email and none of the draw backs of the phone. I am about to hold a call with a remote worker across the country via Skype. In my mind, this beats a phone call and email at the same time. We get the benefits of a phone conversation injected with file sharing, text-based information and video if we are feeling like it.

Gina’s points are well taken. It is amazing that we live in a world with such amazing technologies that allow us to increase the efficiency of communication. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to get on a Skype call with a team member of mine!

What do you use to communicate with team members?

Tweet This Post

According to the Sitelinks help page,

“At the moment, sitelinks are completely automated. We’re always working to improve our sitelinks algorithms, and we may incorporate webmaster input in the future.”

I thought that answer was ridiculous; and since I’m a programmer by trade, I realized if I reverse engineer top tiered websites that have sitelinks, I’ll find a pattern and do the same for Pelotonics. This is what I found…

THE FIRST OR SECOND THING ON YOUR WEBSITE, HAVE A <UL><LI> LIST OF THE TOP LEVEL LINKS FOR YOUR WEBSITE.

That’s what I did, and within 2 weeks, we had sitelinks! Take that Google for not hiring me 5 years ago! haha, just playing…

I think Google should at least give webmasters a best practices guide so the Google Bot can read your site better.

Tweet This Post

Last night I was up late adding in some cool Javascript accordion effects in Pelotonics on all of the expandable/collapsible menu bars throughout the application. And around 1am it hit me, I had the Gary Vaynerchuk DNA epiphany. I’ve always loved what I “do” at Pelotonics, though I realized I haven’t left my desk all day and it didn’t even matter, I was 100% happy that I’ve been working all day and making my product better for the users it helps everyday.

Before Pelotonics, I was a database specialist at one of the leading online colleges in the world, Rio Salado College. While in some cases it was a just another mindless job working for someone else, I really loved when I connected to a student and helped make their day better. And that love for a connection in helping someone still holds true at Pelotonics. I know the people that use Pelotonics and follow our philosophy on Group Productivity and Online Project Management are truly thankful for the tool that we’ve provided them.

“While everyone thinks I’m crazy for working 80-100 hours a week. I think they’re crazy sitting around watching mindless TV. I’m creating the future, and NOTHING will stop me.”

Tweet This Post

So, what do you do when that key employee and all of that knowledge walks out the door?

My friend was pouring through this former employee’s Outlook file to review emails and notes for key information that would give her an idea of exactly where he was at with each of her clients. She had to get her hands on this knowledge to avert a disaster. Unfortunately, searching through the silos of email and personal notes was a very difficult way to go, but it was the only option.

When groups work in a project-based system like Pelotonics, status, conversations, committments, and everything else related to those engagements become accessible pieces of knowledge for the group as a whole, not just one individual. Picking up where another team member left off is all the easier and predictable.

How exposed are you and your business to organizational knowledge walking out the door?

Tweet This Post

Here’s your chance to find out! Guy Kawasaki just tweeted out David Allen’s page on Alltop.com. It aggregates all of his interesting sites that he frequents on the Internet. There are some great sites here that you would expect; related to productivity and the pursuit thereof. There are also some sites that I would not have expected. I guess that the David is a big gardener!

Anyway, I thought that you might enjoy reading what David Allen is browsing during his “highly productive” web surfing sessions!

Enjoy..

Tweet This Post

I finally understand his obsession now. Robert Scoble has 49,205 “followers” as of this blog posting. There is no way that he can truly know all of those people and have meaningful interactions with them. I recently went to CES and heard him speak with Gary Vaynerchuck about blogging in tough times. I had met Robert at the Gnomedex 08 speaker’s dinner earlier in 2008 and I wanted to reconnect with him. My interaction with him at CES gave me a big glimpse into why he is so excited about Friend Feed.

After the presentation I got in the long line of people to talk with him. When my turn came to talk with him, I was very brief. I said the obligatory “you’re great” lines that go with the situation and he reacted as expected. At this point, I was just another follower. I then gave him a teaser about how we are integrating Pelotonics with Google Docs and how that will be a great new feature. (spent maybe 15 seconds on it) His facial expression changed. He was now really engaged in the discussion. It was at this point that I changed from a “Follower” to a “Friend”. His eyes lit up and he started telling me about how he thinks that integrations like these are where the market is going, etc.

It was at this moment that it hit me.

Robert has a huge number of followers, but at the end of the day, who cares? He wants friends! Friends are people that you can engage in a meaningful discussion with, share ideas, and generally enjoy the time spent together. That’s really what Robert is after and Twitter is frankly too noisy to facilitate that interaction. Twitter conversations are like being at a very loud bar. Some of the conversation is missed and misinterpreted due to the ambient noise all around. Frankly, it’s tough to hear!

Friend Feed on the other hand is like sitting down to a dinner with people you enjoy in a quiet setting where you can truly talk and exchange ideas. Now that’s an experience. After getting this glimpse, I started participating in Robert’s Friend Feed conversations…they are truly different and engaging; a place where you can stop being a follower and start becoming a friend! Thanks for this lesson Robert; I finally “get it”. Someday soon I am sure that we will both find the time to sit down and talk about the innovations we are working on at Pelotonics…as friends, not as followers. I am looking forward to it. 

Another example: Lance Armstrong

Lance is over in Australia for a big race. He just sent this picture out with the comment, “Walking out the door”. Look at the picture, this is something that I would have never had the opportunity to see or experience before as an avid cycling fan. I had the chance to comment back to this picture and let him know that my 09′ is going to be all that better because he is back in the game. Lance doesn’t just want followers, anyone can get those. He wants friends and can now connect with many more of them now that he’s Tweeting. (Follow him if you are not…he’s a Tweeting junkie and it’s fun to hear about when he’s getting drug tested, training, or just relaxing.)

Are you a Friend or a Follower?

Scoble and Lance have it right…get friends, not followers. The more followers you have, the more cluttered the conversation becomes. Scoble has turned to Friend Feed to filter that conversation and does an amazing job of it. If you just follow on Twitter, you are missing a huge back-conversation that is happening on Friend Feed. Join the conversation! It’s a new experience.

Tweet This Post

We need your help! We are integrating our Pelotonics application with Google Docs. It turns out that Google needs to do a modification on their end to enable us to do a full integration. They take feature requests like ours and then perform the ones that are “voted” up the priority list. This is accomplished by “starring” the item that you think should be moved up in priority. I need as many people as possible to star our issue to help us raise the priority as fast as possible. That’s why I am sending you this email! You are a trusted friend and someone that I can ask this favor of. 

So, here’s the deal. If you can help, I need you to: 

1.       Go to this link: http://code.google.com/p/gdata-issues/issues/detail?id=984

2.       Sign in with your Google ID. (gmail) If you don’t have one, please get a gmail account! You will like it…

3.       Then click the star next to the title “Issue 984: Give Doc…” 

I have created a screen cast of the exact process you will need to follow: http://screencast.com/t/9r2FjNn8 

We hate to ask this of you but we really need your help to pull this off. Thanks so much in advance for helping us with this! 

Team Pelotonics

Tweet This Post

I was able to attend the special session put on by Robert Scoble and Gary Vaynerchuck this friday at CES. They focused on how we can be successful in troubled times. This is great content from two of the greatest bloggers/content creators in the world today. They did a question and answer format so it was quite fun. They covered a number of different subjects and questions. I edited the videos topically to be more accessible for everyone. Feel free to post these videos elsewhere with credit to Pelotonics. Enjoy!

Screw the tools, you need to know how to make money.

Who’s in the social media game?

How do you get discovered?

Balancing work and life

The Tipping Point

Gary Vaynerchuck’s TV experience

Do you respond to everyone?

Do you have to master Google?

Shine the spotlight on others… not yourself

What does it take to build a brand?

What’s the difference between Facebook and Friendfeed?

Do big brands get it?

How to monetize content

This is business!

Making money with a blog

This is where the real money gets made!

Tweet This Post

As a company, we decided that if we were to be successful, it would be in concert with our user base. After all, they are the ones using our application in the “real world”. Why not have them involved in meaningful discussions of where our product is going and how we are to get there?

We have been streaming live from our office for about two months now and the results have been amazing! Come join us. We engage in discussions with current users and people new to our company as well. These connections have already resulted in the release of 19 new features and changes to our product. Each change that comes about is thoroughly discussed on our end to make sure that it maintains simplicity and does not complicate the solution for our “standard” users. I am very pleased with the simplicity we have maintained and how our product is progressing.

Please accept this big “Thank You” to all of our users. Without you we could not accomplish the goals we have set for our company and our users.

Let’s conquer Infoenza together and make a difference in the workforce in general. Times are tough right now and the need for a solution like ours has never been more clear.

To all of our customers and future users, you know where to find us. We are available any time to discuss new ideas, solve existing problems, and otherwise get to know you!

Take care out there! Come and see us sometime.

Troy

Tweet This Post