DISCORD. (A.K.A. The Communication Platform You SHOULD Be Using)
Some of you may know about Discord already, but not enough people take advantage of its many functionalities.
I've never met a single person who likes group projects -- they can be very disorganized, people contradict one another due to miscommunication, email chains get backed up with extraneous information, and it's difficult to get everyone in the same place.
Yeah, they really suck.
Although this may sound like an infomercial, I can say with certainty that Discord is a godsend.
I was first introduced to Discord a couple of years ago when it was primarily an alternative for Skype where people could chat and game simultaneously. It was wonderful back then, but it's truly expanded into an irreplaceable tool for anyone who works on multiple group projects at once.
At its core, Discord exists to make communication more streamlined and clear. You can create Categories with different titles (Presentation, Paper, etc.), underneath which you can create Channels for chatting (Planning Stage, Resource Links, etc.). Everything remains there, can be edited and organized, and overall functions far better than email.
Oh, and the best part: the Voice Channels. It's possible to create and join an ongoing call to discuss portions of the project -- you can even video chat or screen share -- and that's just the surface of Discord. I run an International eSports Organization with over 100 members, all hosted on our Discord server where our members can chat, organize events, exchange information, and game in a cooperative environment.
Discord really isn't just for "Gamers" anymore; I've used it to organize an Online Writing Ideas Platform with over 16,000 followers, direct a theatrical performance, chat with my relatives in Chile, and more.
And no, this article is not sponsored -- I'm just a huge fan of this app, and I rarely see it being used even though it's incredibly easy to pick up and highly addicting for productive people with too much on their plate.
If you haven't downloaded it and made an account, do so right away for your next project, because I promise you that it will make everything ten times easier and make the whole group-project-process far less painful!