Collaboration - Whiteboard

Collaboration is very important. However, being able to work together isn't always that easy. Especially when physical distance is an issue.

Fortunately, Skype is reliable and good for already many years. The past two years we did a lot of work using  Google Drive.
However, there is room for some other things. A whitboard I find more than useful.

For me a couple of things have become really important in working together on a distance:

• Real-time
• Full collaboration
• Fast
• Reliable
• Simple

Nothing is as horrible as ping-ponging documents to different people and having to synchronize these again. Nine out of ten you'll get the same comma that was placed wrongly. Checking in and out of documents ...a disaster. Fortunately with the coming of Google Drive this is a thing of the past. Even 'Save', you know when you 'forgot' it and something happened? Thing of the past.

However, for a long time on my wish list was an online whiteboard suitable for real-time full collaboarion. T really believe RealTimeBoard is one that ticks all the boxes.

It contains all the basics you expect from a whiteboard. But, it also offers literaly a visual Workspace to do things.

For instance you can add documents to the whiteboard. Like when you created a good mindmap together, you can place documents and continue to work from the mindmap. Great integration with Google drive. But also PDFs, pictures and movies. Or a SCRUM or ...whatever you can think of.

It gets better. It also allows to create 'areas' that act like a slide in a presntation. By no means a Prezi, but actually even more interestingly. Your RealTimeBoard is a Workspace with clusters. Clusters on which you worked in the past, now, or some time in the future. And to update an outsider you can use the slideshow. Or, see it like a presentation in the making with all kinds of elements that will or will not be used or serve as background information.

Almost like areal whiteboard. Being fysically together with a real whiteboard I believe is still nicer. However, some of the extra functionality this thing offers, is really good.