Some people think that working with a team across nearly as many time zones as it has members would be a detriment to that teams productivity. That perhaps having a more centrist approach to work and development is the crucial ingredient to success. Here at MidVentures, we say, bull.

Having a team that is not in the same physical location does not mean a single negative thing, aside from that you will need to work a bit harder to stay in sync. Not that everyone here is away, we are still centered in Chicago, but we span several continents and many US states. We love the integrated cycle of work and development that this allows us.

You can Skype a meeting, and then when you wake up, someone in development has uploaded the latest code for testing. Give that a run through, and then let the design guy know about the needed changes, but before the programmers wake up, of course. This method is beyond powerful, allowing us to build things harder, faster, better, and stronger.

So here is to distributed teams, and all the great tools that make them work.

Grab a pen and mark your calendars, this December 19th is going to bring you the latest MidVentures rooftop terrace party!  We have not finalized the schedule at this point, but MidVentures will be annoucing a few new products, and most of the new MidVentures staff will be on hand to meet the MidVentures community. Be there or be behind, MidVentures is pulling out all the stops for this one.

Here are the details:

Where:

63 East Lake Street, Rooftop Terrace

When: December 19th. 7 pm – Midnight.

As usual, the dress will be strictly ‘Web Casual.’ 

If you have a question or confusion, feel free to fire me an email at Alex@MidVentures.com, and I will take care of you.

As a quick public service announcement, MidVentures has recently started using Twitter! You can find us over at Twitter.com/MidVentures. For those who are less action inclined, we have included a Twitter widget (Twidget, in Brian´s words) on our sidebar. You can find it about 75 pixels to the left from your eyes right now. We are here to save you time and clicks.

We are going to be using it as a communication tool to the public, and mostly to our MidVentures community of friends and fellow entrepreneurs. We will be continuing to use our list-hosts, so those of you who are afraid of microblogging will not be left behind.

However, if you are interested in what we are up to, where we are headed out to (come with!), and what our latest projects are, follow us on Twitter. We are on a you follow us, we follow you policy. See you on Twitterific!

Here at MidVentures, we appreciate things that make our lives easier. Especially things that make work easier. Why work harder than you have to? Not that we mind work, (really, we love it), but anything that cuts out steps is something we are going to use.

Enter our new wiki.

We are a bit late jumping on the wiki train, but jump we did, and how happy we are. A wiki is a wildly simple concept: a website that anyone can edit. But at the basis of every great idea is a simple premise with myriad applications. A wiki is just that.

We use it for everything: project management, standards sheets, contact lists, anything. New uses crop up every day; it’s turning into our central information storage solutuion. Makes you begin to double check your backup solutions.

Our advice? Get a wiki, both PBWiki and TikiWiki are great for any business. Once you intsall it, it will take a few days to become populated with content and users, but trust us, it’s worth it. 

—

Follow us on Twitter: Twitter.com/MidVentures