Integrating Missionally

When I was working in the IT industry, one of my responsibilities was to manage the various projects we were working. We had software projects, hardware projects, web projects, and maintenance projects that I had to keep track of. In those days, the best we had was Microsoft Project. That worked pretty well but did not function well in a distributed environment.

As a pastor, I have found myself doing some of the same kinds of project management tasks. It is just that we don’t necessarily call them “projects”. They are called ministries, mission trips, retreats or some other ministry-sounding name. Yet so much of the processes and tasks of project management are appropriate for so many of our church ministries, trips and events.

If you are going to be efficient with those, why not consider implementing some project management software. And since your church, like mine, has a lot of lay involvement, why not put it out on the web so it can be used by everyone?

Collabtive is open source project management software. It is a PHP based (which means it can be run on almost any computer) project management system. Collabtive allows you to manage projects ministries by setting up different tasks and assigning them to different users. The progress of these tasks can then be tracked using the easy interface of the application. The administrator can add multiple users to the application and each user can access the interface through his/her browser. There’s no limit to the number of users that can work simultaneously on Collabtive. Although it doesn’t provide advanced features such as Gantt charts, it does provide for a very simple and efficient mechanism to keep track of your projects.

In order to use Collabtive, you need to have PHP support on your system(s). I mentioned last week how to put WAMP on your internal windows network server. However, if you want to make it available to those outside your internal network, find a good web host that runs LAMP and for $3.99/month or so, everyone has access to this powerful tool.

The software will come as a zip file. Extract the zip file, and place it in the appropriate place on the server. Then you just need to point your browser to the install.php file to launch the installer. Once installed, you are greeted with the following login screen.

Once you login with your credentials, you are greeted by what the Collabtive team call your Desktop. The Desktop shows you a list of all current projects, a tasklist, as well as a calendar showing your tasks and milestones.

Clicking on a project name takes you to the project page. This page is also called the Project Dashboard. The Project Dashboard consists of a calendar specific to a particular project. It also consists of a Timetracker that can be used to track the amount of time that you have spent working on the project. There is also an Activity Log, which contains a step-by-step listing of all the activities pertaining to the project.

This page also contains a number of icons at the top, which allow you to visit your Milestones page, review your Tasklists, access the Messaging system, as well as access the file storage for a particular project. There is also a User tab, which shows a list of all the users currently using the Collabtive system for a project.

The tasklist allows you to create tasks, which may be critical to the project. Each task can have an associated due-date and can be assigned to one or multiple users. These tasks, once completed, can simply be “finished” by clicking on the tick-mark next to them.

The Milestones can be looked upon as distinct phases in the project timeline. Each milestone may have a number of tasks associated with it. As and when tasks are finished, a status bar for the project under consideration keeps increasing on your Desktop.

The right hand side pane across all pages provides a search bar, a simple text-based calendar, and a list of users who are currently online. The search bar searches across tasks, milestones, as well as entire projects. Also, each user can fill out his/her profile page so that different team members have ways and means to contact one another.

Collabtive provides for a very elegant project management system. While it is not as power-packed as its commercial counterparts, it provides more than a decent feature set to keep track of all the tasks and milestones associated to your project, or um…ministry!

Popularity: 4% [?]

We live in the world of information overload. We have so much coming at us that we struggle to keep up. There are meetings, emails, phone calls, tasks, goals, books, blogs and social media to explore. So many of us are addicted to the internet and to emails – we cannot imagine living without their immediacy. I fall into that trap far more than I admit.

One of the blogs I read often is called Zen Habits. The blog is serviced by Leo Babauta. Zen Habits is one of the top 100 blogs on the internet, and covers everything from achieving goals, productivity, being organized, GTD, motivation, eliminating debt, saving, getting a flat stomach, eating healthy, simplifying, living frugal, parenting, happiness, and successfully implementing good habits.

Leo has written a book called Power of Less, The: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential…in Business and in Life. The Power of Less demonstrates how to streamline your life by identifying the essential and eliminating the unnecessary – freeing you from everyday clutter and allowing you to focus on accomplishing the goals that can change your life for the better.

The Power of Less will show you how to:

• Break any goal down into manageable tasks
• Focus on only a few tasks at a time
• Create new and productive habits
• Hone your focus
• Increase your efficiency

By setting limits for yourself and making the most of the resources you already have, you’ll finally be able work less, work smarter, and focus on living the life that you deserve.

I want to highly recommend this book to you. As a pastor, a book publisher, a writer, and a sometimes tech guy, I have quite a bit of stuff on my plate. This book helps you create focus, achieve goals, and accomplish tasks. It also gives very practical advice in areas such as nutrition, decluttering your office and email, and slowing down your life.

I really do want to teach someday, and I file books away mentally that I would use in certain classes. This small, easy to read book would be required reading for an intro practical ministry class. It’s small but potent. I think you will enjoy it and learn from it.

Thanks Leo for a great-“Less” book.

Popularity: 8% [?]

My Assistant Erin

Last December, I looked at getting a virtual assistant. I had read about this in Tim Ferris’ book The Four Hour Workweek. I have written about Erin and the wonderful work she has done for me before.

As my publishing company, Missional Press, began to grow, I spent a good bit of time working with Erin on how the process works and she has become invaluable to me in that role. In fact, I’m probably going to make her the first point of contact in the future.

And here’s why. Last week we had someone contact us through our website about possibly publishing with us. I was busy last week, so I just forwarded the email to Erin and asked her to take care of it. No other instructions. On Friday, she forwarded me the response she got back from the author, and I happened to look at the email she originally sent to him. It was wonderful!

I had this moment where I realized that if I wanted to, I could release the day to day operations to her and just sell people on publishing with us. And I’ve been working on some big things!  Then I could pastor and write and do the other things I need to do. The more I think about it, the more I’m inclined to do this.

Erin, I just want to say thanks for helping in such a great way. I really appreciate all your work and for caring about my company and life so much.

Popularity: 8% [?]

I saw this from a lifehack post entitled How to stifle your creativity in 10 easy steps and I thought, “hmm…I’m seeing this from folks in my denomination and from those in denominational leadership.” So I’m posting a few relevant ones for you. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 10% [?]

I’m working hard on my writing.  It’s not yet showing up on this blog, but I’ve got two new books underway and then my doctoral dissertation that I will be starting in the summer.  So I’ve looking around blogs that focus on writing and one I like is called Write to Done.

I ran across this post this morning and thought it was excellent.  The details of each of the 9 points are found in the original post, so check it out.  Enjoy!

Write one thing today, and write it well. Here’s how.

1. Simplifying your writing.

2. Create a clear goal.

3. Set your goal the night before.

4. Focus on something important.

5. Block out time.

6. Pour all your energy into it.

7. Be proud of the job you’ve done.

8. Take time to review this accomplishment.

9. Prepare for tomorrow.

Popularity: 9% [?]