New Work and the Top Tools for Better Collaboration

There's no question that the past year has fundamentally contributed to how we will work in the future. The term New Work has, however, been playing a growing role even before the Corona pandemic. Entrepreneurs Christoph Magnussen and Michael Trautmann are excited about how tools and methods can change our work. They regularly converse with guest speakers about their thoughts, ideas and experiences regarding New Work in their podcast "On the Way to New Work". Particularly when it comes to digital collaboration and personal organization, the path to New Work also involves learning many interesting tools. The two experts told us about the tools they use in their daily work and what they particularly liked about them. But before we share these exciting insights with you, let's see what New Work is all about.

What is actually New Work?

Fundamentally, New Work is about breaking away from old working methods and structures to move towards a shift in the professional world. Social philosopher Frithjof Bergmann coined the term, where people are no longer seen as a means to an end but as free individuals who can realize themselves in their work. Work in the future should primarily align with individual values ​​and interests.

Nowadays, New Work represents various concepts. On the one hand, it can mean different work forms and models such as job sharing and rotations, or even working in co-working spaces and at shared desks. On the other hand, New Work also entails the digitization of collaboration through tools, social networks, and new technologies. New Work enables work from anywhere and blurs the spatial separation between private life and work. The New Work approach generally serves to find answers to questions we will ask ourselves about our work in the future.

What benefits does New Work bring?

Companies that pursue a New Work approach offer their employees a whole range of benefits. These include, for example, a better compatibility between family and work through decentralized work, thus eliminating long commutes for those who work from home. New Work can also offer employees more freedom, which can lead to the opportunity for self-development and more responsibility. Traditional hierarchies are also broken down, leading to more open and transparent communication structures.Apart from the benefits, there are also some criticisms. For example, New Work requires highly good coordination and organization for it to function effectively. Also, the lines between work and personal life can quickly blur, leading to an imbalance. The extent to which New Work is integrated into daily work is ultimately up to each company, and even individuals. While it is already an integral part of corporate culture for some, others are still on their way or are coming up with their own solutions and concepts.Here's how tools can support you on your way to New Work

New Work has many facets and ranges from fundamental work ethic to agile work and creative methods. If you are restructuring, exploring new ways of working, and trying out concepts, tools can support you greatly! Whether it's classic "video conferencing", communication and "collaboration tools", or useful office applications: the SaaS market has plenty to offer.

During the Corona pandemic, tools have shown their importance for digitization, decentralized work, and especially for team collaboration. Even beyond that, many tools will continue to be an integral part of our work lives. "Collaboration tools", in particular, are specialized in collaboration. You can find the tools on OMR Reviews along with real user reviews and experiences.

New Work favorites from Christoph Magnussen and Michael TrautmannThe two New Work experts Michael and Christoph told us in a video about the tools and products they can't do without in their everyday work. Christoph Magnussen is an entrepreneur, filmmaker, and keynote speaker. He is the founder and managing director of "Blackboat", an consulting firm that assists other companies in optimizing collaboration through new work methods and digital cloud tools. One of his absolute favorites for communication is WhatsApp.“You can switch between synchronous and asynchronous communication, and I use a lot of voice messages.”Known fact, you can use WhatsApp not only for text and voice messages but also for audio or video calls. One device that Christoph likes to use with video calls is Facebook Portal: a “webcam” with a built-in screen that follows you with every move, ensuring you are always well in sight.“This is the only device where you can make WhatsApp calls on a large screen.”

Communication and collaboration When it comes to video calls or conferences, Michael Trautmann, on the other hand, uses a different tool. The founder of companies such as thjnk and upsolut sports as well as co-founder of the coaching company "New Work Masterskills", where he helps his clients to develop further concerning new work, is a fan of "Zoom". He particularly likes the user guidance of the tool as well as the option to create breakout rooms. In the first weeks of the pandemic, Zoom also developed particularly strongly. Speaking of pandemic: Another "collaboration tool" on Christoph's list is "Slack". Here too, many features were added in recent months. Christoph believes that Slack is more than just a chat tool and can replace the daily chatter as we knew it before the pandemic with its versatile functions. He thinks the tool can also change our business behavior in the long term.

“After a week’s vacation, I’d rather look at Slack than e-mails. It feels much more natural for people to communicate over distances.”

Google vs. MicrosoftWhen it comes to office applications, Christoph is a big fan of the entire "Google Workspace" world. A function that particularly impresses him is the search function. With just one keyword that should contain an image or file, you can instantly find what you are looking for.“Search combined with the cloud world – that’s insane in collaborations! That makes teams super fast.”

Michael has also been in the Google world for a long time. Through his work at New Work Masterskills, he has now taken a step into the "Microsoft universe". Even though he was initially skeptical, he finds the integrations of the surrounding modules are very well solved and is impressed by the openness to other interfaces.

“The user guidance of the cloud is a tick sleeker than Google.”

From Design Thinking to Getting Things Done

For creative collaboration and project work, Michael likes to use the "collaboration tool" “Miro”. Especially creative workshops can be graphically better represented in the tool. From displaying pictures, flows, and texts over multi-day workshops to entire Design Thinking rooms, a lot is possible in Miro. The video function is also a big advantage for Michael.

In terms of individual work, the Omnifocus tool is on Michael's favorite list. Here he can apply the “Getting Things Done” method, which he acquired last year, optimally. This involves better portioning tasks and particularly formulating them as results.“Omnifocus has the advantage that you can both set up projects and contexts. This has improved my productivity by light years!”To find out which New Work tools top the list for Michael and Christoph and what they also like about the mentioned tools, check out this video they recorded in Michael's New Work loft:Further collaboration tools on OMR ReviewsOther "collaboration tools" for better collaboration are available on OMR Reviews to find and compare. We have listed over 15 collaboration softwares where you can work together, organize yourself and get creative. So check out and compare the tools using authentic and verified user reviews.

ConfluenceStackfieldJira Service ManagementhumbeeConceptboard

Loom

Collaboard

desklyDropbox BusinessLucidspark

„Die Suche in Verbindung mit der Cloud-Welt – das ist irre in Kollaborationen! Das macht Teams einfach richtig schnell.“

Michael ist ebenfalls seit langem in der Google Welt zu Hause. Über seine Arbeit bei New Work Masterskills hat er nun jedoch einen Schritt in das Microsoft-Universum gewagt. Auch wenn er zunächst skeptisch war, findet er die Integrationen der umstehenden Module sehr sauber gelöst und ist begeistert von der Offenheit für andere Schnittstellen.

„Die Bedienerführung der Cloud ist ’n Tick eleganter als bei Google.“

Von Design Thinking bis Getting Things Done

Bei kreativer Zusammenarbeit und Projektarbeiten, greift Michael gerne auf das Collaboration-Tool Miro zurück. Gerade kreative Workshops können in dem Tool grafisch besser dargestellt werden. Von der Darstellung von Bildern, Flows und Texten über mehrtägige Workshops bis hin zu ganzen Design-Thinking-Räumen, ist in Miro vieles möglich. Auch die Videofunktion ist für Michael ein großer Vorteil.

Wenn es um die individuelle Arbeit geht, ist das Tool Omnifocus ein großer Favorit auf Michaels Liste. Hier kann er die sogenannte „Getting Things Done“-Methode, die er sich im letzten Jahr angeeignet, hat optimal anwenden. Dabei geht es darum, sich Aufgaben besser zu portionieren und vor allem als Ergebnisse zu formulieren.

„Omnifocus hat den Vorteil, dass man sowohl Projekte, als auch Kontexte anlegen kann. Das hat meine Produktivität um Lichtjahre verbessert!“

Welche New Work Tools bei Michael und Christoph ganz oben auf der Liste stehen und was ihnen außerdem an den erwähnten Tools gefällt, seht ihr in diesem Video, welches die beiden in Michaels New-Work-Loft aufgenommen haben:

Weitere Collaboration-Tools auf OMR Reviews

Weitere Collaboration-Tools für eine bessere Zusammenarbeit könnt Ihr ab jetzt auf OMR Reviews finden und vergleichen. Insgesamt haben wir dort über 15 Collaboration-Softwares gelistet, mit denen Ihr gemeinsam arbeiten, Euch organisieren und kreativ werden könnt. Also schaut vorbei und vergleicht die Tools mithilfe der authentischen und verifizierten Nutzerbewertungen:

• Confluence
• Stackfield
• Jira Service Management
• humbee
• Conceptboard
• Loom
• Collaboard
• deskly
• Dropbox Business
• Lucidspark