Socialcast unveils lightweight PM tool

Socialcast has unveiled the beta of Strides, its first big release since VMware acquired it, reports Read Write.

Connecting everyone on an internal social network is not enough - everyone has to actually use the network for their work activities. And Strides is bringing a lightweight Web 2.0 form of project management, layering it on top of the social networking tool.

Strides lets people create tasks, invite participants, share files, monitor progress, and do all the other things one might expect from a project management service, says Gigaom.

Users can see who else is online and working with a particular project at any given time. They can also exchange comments in real-time and can filter by a variety of different characteristics.

According to Information Week, although organisations already use the Socialcast enterprise social network for informal project management and tracking, Strides is designed to do it more elegantly with a focused product.

“We decided to rethink 'what does it actually mean to get activity done during the workday?' and how to improve working with teams. We're taking some of what software teams have learned about lean methodology and Agile development, and bringing those concepts to the rest of the workplace,” says Socialcast's Tim Young.

In Strides, each project team has its own mini social network, but there is also a broader organisational view of activities.