IntelliGantt for Google+

We've been touting our connectivity to Basecamp and Facebook in the last few blog posts, but this time it is Google and their 'Plus' social software in the spotlight. IntelliGantt for Google now uses Google Plus to both authenticate and connect with people in your circles. It's a little different than Facebook in that Google Plus uses loose connections (meaning I can add anyone to a social circle) whereas Facebook requires a strong connection (ie. both parties agree to connect). The end result is the same, however-- creating a resource pool is a snap. Let's see how it works.

We start with the ubiquitous login page. IntelliGantt will use Google Plus's single sign on technology so that this page may just be a flash if you are already logged in.

IntelliGantt requests information about your user profile and if it can create activities for you. You, of course, have the ability to grant or deny this request.

Once past the authentication you are in the familiar IntelliGantt interface which let's you create projects and tasks.

Here is where a bit of fun begins. Remember that Google Plus uses loose connections for filling circles of people. IntelliGantt will request all the folks that are visible from your circles, even the loosely connected ones. This means you will be able to assign just about anyone to your tasks. For example, let's add Guy Kawasaki (I happen to follow him) to our resource pool.

Since Guy is a people person, it only makes sense to assign him to the 'People' task.

You'll notice there is a 'Notify?' checkbox in this control. We're still working on how best to notify Google Plus users when they've been assigned a task. Stay tuned.

Finally, the project with its lone assignment. I hope Guy knows he has a due date coming up.

So which connection method is better, Facebook's or Google's? Like so many things the answer is 'it depends'. Facebook's tighter integration means two users are more likely to interact. However, Google's looser rules means you really can add anyone to your projects. The bottom line is you'll be able to use folks from these two rich systems to create a resource pool for your work.