Slack and Skype are the standard tools that SPARKL use to communicate, collaborate and share stuff. We use other conference software to talk - Spark and Webex from Cisco, sometimes (god forbid) Google Hangouts. But for face-to-electronic-face meetings, Skype is the way to go.

This is only because Skype is basically the best of the lot. Hangouts has a spotty connection and positively eats processor cycles. Facetime only allows for 1-on-1 chats. And that’s not even counting the terrible - no, awful - enterprise tools we use in corporate meetings.

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There’s always an edgy moment just before having a meeting like this. You’re stuck waiting for the software to load and wondering if it’s even going to work. And then comes the inevitable crashing of the program, the faux-cheery e-mail to your colleague (“Let’s try again in a few minutes!”) and then the feeling of wanting to set your computer on fire.

It’s very rare to have a meeting with someone for the first time without a good 10 or even 15 minutes at the start working out how to operate the collaboration tool.

One Platform, One Conversation

There’s nothing that works together as a single platform, either: it’s really frustrating to have 5 different conversations going on across 5 different apps (or more, if you’re also on Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram). By not being able to pick a single place to gather as a group, we miss out on being productive as a company.

Each tool requires setting up a new account and trusting a new company with your payment info. Another sign-in to remember. Another password to forget.

It’s another example of the age-old problem: nothing works together!

Photo courtesy of phonecruncher.com