Pattern: Keep It Simple

Summary	Using a wide range of Web 2.0 services and tools can lead to confusion and loss of inertia. Define the services you want first and then choose appropriate tools.
Status	alpha	Confidence	2
details...		Group	Planet team

Problem

There is now a range of free Web2.0 tools freely available that offer a range of micro- to macro- functionalities e.g. Twitter to ELGG. Trying to choose the most productive and usable combination of tools is often confusing as many of the tools overlap in their functionality.

Context

Building a suite of social services and tools for collaborative or community based activities.

Solution

Decide on what services you need for the task/s in hand and then review the tools that are available to provide that service. This imposes clear structure and compartmentalisation for each tool deployed and a clear sense of purpose against which the effectiveness of the tool can be judged. A further layer of separation can be added by marking certain tools as core and others as peripheral. This is particularly useful where members of a community may already be using their own tools, for example a blog. Peripheral tools can be hooked into core platforms using aggregation techniques. An example would be: Service: Group communication Purpose: Internal project management Tool: GoogleGroups

Service: Social networking Purpose: Community building Tool: ELGG

Service: Micro-blogging Purpose: Dynamic project updates for the community Tool: Twitter

Service: Group blogging Purpose: Presentation front-end for the project Tool: Wordpress

Related Patterns

list other patterns related to this one, under categories such as component, assisting, conflicting, uses this, etc.

Notes, Links and References

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Licensing

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