For both my own business and for reviews here on WWD, I look at a lot of Project Management applications. The pitches I get tend to be similar, all promising something different, a new way of looking at things, etc..
The reality is, even though they might each have their own strengths and weaknesses, they really do start to look and work the same. And then I took a look at Staction.
It really is different.
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I’ve been taking a lot of demos for project management solutions and while some are well-suited for the Web worker who is looking to get a handle on multiple projects, clients and virtual team members (like Basecamp), others are geared more toward the enterprise and aren’t even priced with a smaller team in mind (like GroupSwim).
Another SaaS project management system is Clarizen, and their raison d’etre is to “embrace the team” in the virtual work process. Clarizen seems to be the direct answer to the problem of a mid-level project manager hoarding control over the Microsoft Project files and not involving team members directly in more aspects of project management. Clarizen allows different levels of engagement – from the novice who only feels comfortable participating via email to the advanced users who log into the system and interact with all of the system’s tools.
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Collaboration is always a challenge for any team, but when that team is virtual, cloud collaboration presents its own set of organizational and tracking problems. GroupSwim is looking to step into the slot between e-mail correspondence and full-featured robust project management systems ala Basecamp. According to the company, GroupSwim is not for the management of a project but for the collaborative exchanges during the creation of deliverables.
While one of the company’s tag lines is “social collaboration for the enterprise,” I always look at software and apps from the standpoint of the lone Web worker who puts together various virtual teams for projects. Can GroupSwim be useful to distributed Web workers?
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Although I haven’t kept a close eye on Elance, my impression has been that it was a basic job “bid” site for freelancer programmers. The site description summarizes their main focus as “outsourcing to freelance programmers, web and logo designers, copywriters, illustrators and consultants.” People with the jobs are the employers or “buyers” and the Web workers with the skills are the “providers” on Elance.
Since launching in 1999, the company has worked to expand their offerings, integrating some features to create more than just a job site and more of a work tool. What interested me beyond the job marketplace is Elance’s concept of a Remote Work System with the goal of creating a remote workspace for freelance workers to provide them with additional incentive to continue using the site after the job match has been made. The features are meant to help service providers manage a part of their work through Elance and give buyer and service provider more ways to connect and transact business.
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In my ongoing and seemingly never-ending pursuit to find the perfect Project Management solution, I recently put the smartsheet service through its paces to see how it would fit the bill.
Billing itself as an Online Project Collaboration tool, it features a familiar spreadsheet-like interface as its data presentation method, which should make a lot of folks feel right at home.
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I’ve been using Web-based project management tools both as fodder for blog posts but, more importantly, to explore how they might positively impact my Web work. I’ve been using Basecamp the longest and pay about $24/month for a slightly upgraded service. After a small learning hump, most of my virtual team members are on board and some of my clients are working with it.
I also started using Deskaway’s free level of service for a new client project as I wrote about in May, and after a little over a month using it, my team and I are abandoning it because it just hasn’t been intuitive enough for us. So I recently learned about Joint Contact through a series of serendipitous events and decide to try it out. Next thing you know, I’m getting a demo from the company’s founder and having a great discussion about usability issues and incorporating social media tools into project management tools, namely Twitter.
What? Twitter incorporated into Joint Contact? What does that mean exactly?
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While 37signals recently added the oft requested ability to allow Basecamp users to reply to messages and comment notifications by email, a new add-on service called Mailmanagr takes that one step further by allowing you to create new project items as well.
Create and assign custom email addresses to any area of your project and then forward messages, to-do items and milestones directly into your project without logging in. It’s very useful for forwarding emails you receive outside of Basecamp into the system or for making quick entries from your mobile.
If you have implemented Basecamp in your organization and are still seeing significant external email discussions, Mailmanagr can help get these items into the system for tracking. If your folks are really that resistant to logging in though, you may want to consider if you have made the right choice to accommodate the work style of our clients and co-workers.
Mailmanagr uses the Basecamp API to faciliate all of this so it does require you to provide your login details. Take a tour to see if Mailmanagr is for you before signing up for your free account.
Web Workers love to share their productivity secrets, and we can be quite evangelical about the tools that we use to manage our business. The folks over at 37signals have launched a new affiliate program for their Basecamp, Backpack and Highrise services that might be particularly appealing for someone who is already likely to be referring or recommending their services.
Unlike their previous program which gave you a one time credit applied to your account, this new plan pays you cash. You can get a one time bonus of 50% of sign up costs and then recurring revenues of 5% of future payments from people you refer. Lots of programs give you a sign up bonus but the recurring payment is a nice option and could really add up to significant sums.
They provide the standard links and graphics to help you promote and you can check your earnings in real time. Payments are made when you reach a $100 balance and are distributed through PayPal only. It is limited to the U.S. only for now. If you are already recommending their services, you can now get a couple of dollars in your pocket for your efforts.
Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
