I'm really into leadership, team dynamics, goal setting, personal development, and all that other 'soft factor' managerial stuff. I'm an advisor for a fraternity up at the University of Maryland, which is an extension of my earlier involvement back in my undergraduate days. One of the primary reasons I stick around is so I can do all those geeky activities at retreats. I'm not sure why, but I've always been into soft factors, and really love passing on the lessons of leadership to others (or alternatively, when someone passes them on to me ;)
Thats a big reason why I chose my masters degree (one day I'll find time to finish) to be centered on knowledge management (with a side focus on usability, but thats neither here nor there). I see a huge lack of software geared towards managing soft factors. Engineers, naturally I guess, may not have the social skills to see the potential applications.
Anyway, reading techcrunch this morning, I saw they had a write up on a site called Mecanbe. It appears to be more centered around personal development, but there is mention of a team aspect to it. Planning, charting and monitoring team performance is something that may turn out to be their money maker. Much of teamwork is simply getting (and staying) on the same page -- fighting for the same cause. That's where goal setting exercises come in handy. As more and more of our teams become virtual, the idea that we can take these activities online seems appealing, but simple chat room sessions just can't cut it.
