The day job

A little while ago I started a little company called Lightworks Software to provide a service and practical tools to help teams, businesses and organisations enlist the full potential of their people.  I am utterly convinced that with a few simple, timeless principles we can make working together a joy, and extraordinary success as right and natural as breathing.  The idea of applying some of the ideas discussed in this weblog to transform the way we work together has become totally compelling to me.

We primarily use following technologies:

1. Weblogs
Weblogs are a great way to connect with people, open up conversations and build trust - but we think we're only just scratching the surface here.  Not only are they a great way of showcasing your business and building a community but they are also brilliant for bringing your people together - getting everyone working together on the same page, sharing experiences, learning as you go and, (working on the principle that people only support their own creations) enabling everyone to share in the building of your team or business.

We can help you get the most out of this technology, work with you to design & build your weblogs and support you in implementing them within your organisation.

2. Lightworks Workspaces
Lightworks Workspaces is Virtual Office software that enables dispersed teams to actually work together securely, in real time, across organisational boundaries. Colleagues, clients or partners can share files, interact and manage projects as if they were in the same physical location.  It helps you to -

A. Connect everyone and remove the barriers to effective collaboration
Corporate networks were designed to lock outsiders out.  Web based solutions let us to work outside the network but tie us to a web site and an internet connection.  Lightworks workspaces is built on Groove peer to peer networking technology which requires neither a server nor a web site and enables you to work securely from anywhere (if you are working offline everything is automatically synchronised with your other workspace members when you next go online).  It provides easy to use tools for co-editing documents, communication (speech, messaging & discussion threads), holding virtual meetings or presentations, project management, file sharing etc, so your teams can work together effectively without having to meet.

B. Build trust and closer working relationships.
Most of the best practices, tools and systems used in business and project management are geared towards helping us to manage tasks well but ignore the cause and instigator of action, -  the network of requests, questions, issues, proposals and commitments that are an integral part of our conversations.  It's how we manage these that leads to trust being built (or destroyed) and things getting done (or not).  Lightworks Workspaces lets us manage this creative process of dialogue and provides a platform for effective collaboration and trust building amongst dispersed teams. 

This brochure gives more information on Lightworks Workspaces. Workspaces_overview.pdf

3. Custom Applications
For small businesses or organisational departments we can build cost-effective custom applications built on Microsoft Access or SQL server (and optionally using Data Access internet pages to extend their use beyond your corporate network to remote clients, colleagues or partners).  We can help you rethink your business processes to engage your people and release the full potential of your teams to work the way you would like to work and then build the applications to facilitate this.

How we work
We start by talking together to explore and discover how the new collaborative ideas, technologies and tools can be applied in your particular context or business to give outstanding results for minimum cost.  This enables us to put together a mix of service and tools that matches your goals and working style. 

We enjoy meeting and working face to face and so, for the time being at least, most of our work is within the UK where we are based.  With overseas clients we use Lightworks Workspaces to help us interact and collaborate with your people as if we were in the same building.

Please contact me by email or Skype (there's a Skype button at the bottom of the right hand sidebar) if you would like more information or would like us to talk to us.