A Tale of Two Hockey Teams

I am a Hockey Dad. My two sons, who go by the names Theo and Zach in the blogosphere, play competitive hockey in the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL). With some sports leagues you are sent a schedule at the beginning of the season and you are good to go. Not so with the GTHL. The schedule is only published about 2 weeks into the future. And there is no such thing as a home rink where you would play half your games, we  play all over Toronto and its suburbs. Oh, and games may be rescheduled, practices moved, exhibition games and tournaments added etc.

Net-net, scheduling  is dynamic and complex. Effective communication amongst coaches and parents is critical. This a tale of two hockey teams, and how they communicate to make sure their players make it to the rink on time.

Theo's team uses email for 100% of team communication. I receive about 3 emails a week from the team manager on schedule updates and other team business such as payments, discussion on tournament participation, fundraising etc. I am asked to confirm attendance also by email.  Emails are also exchanged between parents as we coordinate car pools, play days and exchange contact info. To keep track I religiously enter events into my calendar and parents contact info into my contacts. Invariably both I and other parents have missed an update and turned up at the rink at the wrong time at least once. Its a lot of work for the manager, the coaches and all the parents, but it gets the job done.

Zach's team uses a Social Media tool called TeamSnap to manage all team business. A schedule is maintained, parents mark attendance for games and practices, each player has a profile with all their contact info, payments are managed, photos are securely shared and I could name another hundred great capabilities. Killer features include an RSS feed, Outlook calendar synchronization and an iPhone app. It is simple for the manager, coaches and parents to stay on top of the schedule and team business.

So which communication solution would you prefer if you were the manager or a parent? Now if you collaborate on a dynamic and complex project in the workplace would you still choose email as your primary communication channel over social media collaboration tools?

Driving to New York? Don't forget to take the train.

New York City is my long distance lover. Every opportunity I have to visit her I exploit. From Toronto (where I live), the optimum way to travel to New York is by plane. However opportunities to travel do not always line up with seat sales. Add in a wife and kids, and suddenly a 4 day New York trip can max out the credit card before the first cab has been hailed.

My kids travel well in the car so driving is viable. However parking in Manhattan is expensive and there is always the risk of being caught in a major traffic backup after a long trip. 
On our last trip we drove to Poughkeepsie, parked the car, and took the MTA Metro North commuter train to Grand Central Station. From there we rolled our luggage down Lexington Avenue to the wonderful  Affinia Shelburne Hotel.

Everything about this option was excellent. Parking in Poughkeepsie was $5/day and free on weekends. The MTA tickets were reasonable and almost free for the kids. It is a beautiful train trip down the Hudson River, passing by historic West Point Academy, and arriving at the splendid Grand Central Station. 

We will never drive into Manhattan again.

Commuter trains sprawl out from Manhattan into New York State and New Jersey. So if you are traveling by car to Manhattan, consider parking your car at a station and taking a commuter train into the city. You can save time, money and lots of stress.