- People naturally want to use digital tools to support their group activities.
- They typically use a collection of several different apps.
- The result is clunky, limited support for just a few aspects of the group activity.
- With Groupsheets, you can offer the same digital support much more conveniently within a single app.
- It's also easy to provide new forms of support that would otherwise be impractical.
- Benefits: More effective and satisfying participation and nearly effortless use of the digital support.
Examples of Group Activities
and Typically Used Tools
Class or Family Reunions
How can we get everyone together and create rewarding experiences?
Email, a social media site, photo and video sharing sites, ...
Group Travel Planning
What should we do on our vacation?
Spreadsheets, chatbots, email, a messaging app, ...
Choirs and choruses
How can we make sure everyone can prepare for concerts effectively and in an enjoyable way?
The group's website, a messaging app, email, a video sharing site, ...
Stage productions
How can we make sure everyone knows exactly what they need to do in rehearsals and performances?
A file sharing site, a messaging app, email, printed spreadsheets, a physical bulletin board, ...
Typical Problems With Existing Methods
and How Groupsheets Solve Them
Poor Support for Collaboration
I don't know if I can update this document now, because maybe someone else is updating it at the same time.
All group members can contribute at the same time, and they immediately see each other's contributions.
No Integration of Generative AI
Generative AI could save us a lot of time. But we'd need to use separate apps to generate the texts or images and then paste the results manually into our shared documents.
We can quickly ask a chatbot or an image generator to insert relevant content directly into the groupsheet, with an indication of how it was generated.
Content Not Available on All Devices
I can't look at the schedule of activities now, since it's stored as a spreadsheet on my laptop at home.
All of the group contributions are availble in the same way on my smartphone, tablet, or laptop.
Content in Multiple Apps
Switching among several apps prevents me from getting an overview of the relevant content.
Everything we need is at our fingertips in our groupsheets project.
Unsuitable Representations
I can’t fit my contribution naturally into the messaging app that we're using for this type of contribution.
Each of our (configured) templates fit its content “like a glove”, making it easy to enter and organize the content.
Too Much Irrelevant Content
90% of this stuff has no relevance to me! How can I focus on what’s important?
The groupsheet helps us to quickly filter out everything that’s not relevant to what we’re doing right now.
Need for Skills and Tools
I don't have the time or skills to create a sophisticated website, a YouTube channel, or whatever.
We’ll just choose the relevant groupsheet templates, adapt them to our needs, and fill in the content.
Problems With Updating the Content
We need to update things like schedules regularly; but that 's inconvenient for those who have already stored (or printed) and made notes on the latest version.
Group members can make private notes in any groupsheet, and these notes will remain available even when the groupsheet is updated.
Availability of Groupsheets
Groupsheets have been deployed in a wide range of scenarios since 2018, in direct collaboration with the groups that use them.
Each group uses a groupsheet project, which comprises a number of related groupsheets.
The user interface (menus, etc.) is available in English and German. The contributions entered by group members can be in any language.
To discuss what groupsheets can do for you, please request a discussion via the Contact page.