The Best Self-management Tools for Your Organization – Part 2

4. Talkspirit

Talkspirit is an all-in-one collaboration and communication tool that can help you share information with the right people at the right time (whether it be synchronous or asynchronous), and make teamwork more efficient.

Key features:

• chatting and video conferencing
• online collaborative suite that allows you to store, share and co-edits documents
• content library for documenting processes, policies, user guides and FAQs
• newsfeed and home page organized by audience
• possibility to create different channels to share information and collaborate with team members
• shared calendar that allows you to plan meetings and book the resources your need
• user directory that helps you identify each member’s role, skills and expertise

‍Strengths:

• all-in one collaborative platform that’s quite easy to use and deploy
• features that are constantly evolving (soon it will merge with Holaspirit, so you can experience the benefits of both self-management tools on one platform)
• allows you to share different types of content (videos, images, text posts, polls, check-lists) with a specific audience, and see who’s viewed which information
• great tool for engaging employees and creating a sense of community
• platform hosted in the European Union and ISO 27001 certified

Weaknesses:

• limited organization chart feature (it only allows you to create a hierarchical chart)
• no specific features for practicing self-management frameworks such as holacracy, sociocracy or teal

Pricing: starting at €5/user/month for up to 100 users (and upon request for larger organizations). Free trial available here.

5. Notion

Notion is a collaborative workspace that allows you to centralize knowledge, manage projects, take notes and create interactive presentations. It also integrates an AI assistant that can help you brainstorm, write and find information faster.

Key features:

• beautiful wiki pages to document all your knowledge, processes and guidelines
• project management feature with kanban and timeline views
• creation and co-edition of different types of documents: meeting notes, business plans, pitch decks, performance reviews, user persona, etc.
• OKR tracker templates

Strengths:

• many documentation templates available to help you save time
• AI add-on that can help you create content (project proposal, Q&A, meeting summary, etc.) and autofill tables
• integration with many other collaboration tools, such as Slack, Asana, Trello and Zoom

Weaknesses: 

• no organization chart feature to design your organization’s structure
• no feature for managing a decision process
• no meeting template adapted to self-management frameworks (you will need to create your own)
• no integrated communication features (such as chatting and video conferencing)

‍Pricing: starting at $8/user/month for small groups. Free plan available with limited features.

6. Nestr

Nestr is a collaboration platform that helps self-managing organizations gain clarity on who does what, as well as communicate and collaborate together to achieve their purpose. Like other self-management tools, it can help you achieve greater agility and alignment within your organization.

Key features:

• organization chart that allows you to create circles and roles, and define responsibilities and accountabilities for each role
• creation of workspaces to facilitate collaboration between different roles and circles
• project management feature with kanban boards that helps you track what’s done and what needs to be done
• personal to-do lists
• instant chat messenger

Strengths:

• great tool for organizations that need both governance and collaboration features
• integrated text feed within each workspace that allows everyone to post comments
• AI assistant that can help you create a starting structure based on your website

Weaknesses:

• no video conferencing or chat room features (the messaging app only allows 1:1 conversations)
• no feature for running efficient meeting
• no specific documentation feature for capturing processes and policies
• limited project management feature (it’s not possible to create tasks and subtasks within a card, or to add metrics to achieve)
• no feature for defining and tracking OKRs

Pricing: starting at $4/user/month for start-ups, communities and DAOs. Free plan available with limited features, but only for personal use.

7. AgyleOS

AgyleOS is a people and culture platform that helps you build and visualize your organization, manage employees’ skills and drive engagement. This self-management tool is particularly useful for HR managers who need to map the skills and key performance indicators associated with each role.

Key features:

• interactive organizational chart to visualize your organization’s structure and teams
• skill matrix and skill gap tool to effectively manage your employee’s skills
• 360-degree feedback surveys
• goals feature that allows you to track team performance over specific periods of time
• kudo wall to acknowledge your individual and collective achievements

Strengths:

• AI-powered skill gap analysis that provides recommendations for bridging skill gaps
• detailed mapping of hard and soft skills required for each role, that can facilitate recruiting and onboarding of new talent
• customized dashboards that allows you to visualize your team’s key metrics and skills
• survey templates for collecting employee feedback

Weaknesses: 

• tool mostly adapted to organizations that want to practice the agile methodology, and not so much to those who want to practice holacracy, sociocracy or teal
• the organization chart can only be built using flow charts (and not circles, like in other self-management tools)
• no project management or documentation features
• no feature for tracking the time spent in a role

Pricing: available upon request

8. Lucidchart 

Lucidchart is an intelligent diagramming solution that helps organizations diagram their people, processes and systems, and create a more visual workspace. The application’s diagrams can be used to map processes and workflows, create dynamic org charts and improve data visualization.

Key features:

• creation and co-edition of diagrams, from the most simple to the most complex ones
• creation of process maps to improve and scale processes within your organization
• feature for making your own organization chart, and overlay it with metrics from your HR systems
• diagram templates for different types of uses (brainstorming, reporting, creating strategies, planning projects and OKRs, etc.)

Strengths:

• user-friendly platform that helps you visualize and understand complex data
• comprehensive diagramming feature, with many customization options
• integration with many collaboration tools such as Google Workspace, Atlassian, Microsoft Office and Slack

Weaknesses:

• creating your own diagrams can take some time and training if you’re not used to this type of software
• no pre-made templates adapted to self-managing organizations (no tactical and self-governance meeting templates, no org chart template for structuring your organization into circles, etc.)
• tool not adapted for organization that want to document processes and manage projects without using diagrams

‍Pricing: starting at €9/user/month for a team usage. Free plan available with limited features.

9. Miro

Miro is a visual collaborative workspace that helps teams collaborate together, build clear processes and workflows and manage their project. It’s a great tool for self-managed teams that want to aggregate their resources in one place, and visualize the big picture.

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‍Key features:

• whiteboards and mind maps to help you brainstorm and express your ideas in a variety of ways (drawings, diagrams, text, images…)
• creation of process maps and technical diagrams to document your best practices and workflows, and communicate it to your team
• creation of retrospectives to help you understand what worked, what didn’t worked, and what you can improve to get better
• wireframe templates for quickly building website pages and product screens
• creation of timelines and kanban boards for project management

‍Strengths:

• good tool for creative activities and workflow visualization
• quite easy to use and to implement
• many customizable templates for meetings, brainstorming, process mapping, project management and OKR planning
• specific templates for agile teams

‍Weaknesses:

• no templates for organizations that want to practice holacracy, sociocracy or teal (no tactical and self-governance meeting templates, no org chart template for structuring your organization into circles, etc.)
• it may take time to learn about all the different features
• it can lead to scattered information (as your project’s data is spread across different boards)
• it’s not adapted for organization that seek to capitalize knowledge, manage complex projects and/or clarify roles and responsibilities

‍Pricing: starting at $8/user/month. Free plan available with limited boards and features.

This is Part 2 of a 3-part article. This part covers collaboration and documentation tools, and data visualization tools.

Part 1 here covers all-in-one tools.

Part 3 is here, covering project management and OKR tools, and meeting management tools.

Featured Image by Mimzy from Pixabay