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Simple project management software needed

hamandcheese — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:35:10 -0800

Time-tracking project management software solution needed I am currently setting up a small business doing graphic design, web design, photography, writing/editing. I need some project management software to track my own hours on projects, based on client, project, task. Ideally, this would be a simple program that I can run (Mac OSX) in the background and simply add an hour here or there under certain tasks as I complete work.

I also work in collaboration with a web developer in a subcontract role. He does the hardcore coding and I do pretty much everything else. We’ve tried a couple options built in to the WordPress platform as plugins, but they aren’t great. I’d rather have something where we can look back at all past projects at once.

This web developer and I could really use a simple task-based tracking tool, so that I can assign tasks in long lists, and he can work down the list systematically, crossing things off. It would be perfect if there was also a simple ranking mechanism, so I could rate the priority of tasks (say on a scale of 1 through 3) We’ve been doing this by email, but it would be far better to have it all in one place, not in a ton of emails.
Some rudimentary client management features would be good to have as well, where I can keep track of correspondence, timelines, and who’s been invoiced, etc.

The perfect software would integrate all of these things, but still be low on feature bloat. Just a straightforward program that can do this stuff in an intuitive way. I’d be willing to pay for something that can do all this, but if there are some free downloadable programs, or even something web-based, that would be sweet. I have a lot of start-up costs at the moment, so maybe a temporary free solution, and something better I can buy later?

I’ve seen this, but it’s not all that specific. I'm also aware of Zoho projects, which seems like it might be a good fit, but it seems pretty expensive and I'd rather buy something outright than pay a yearly fee.

Thanks MeFi!

How can I remove myself emotionally in order to do a job?

hellojed — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:27:36 -0800

I am involved in a project that I personally find offensive. How can I remove myself emotionally in order to do the job? As a part of my degree, I am enrolled in a semester-long "capstone" class where teams (in this case, a class of 5 including myself) are tasked with building a computer game from the ground up. I need this class to graduate.

We had voted on ideas via email for most of the week, and had settled on what kind of genre game it would be. Due to a mix-up (on my part) I was 40 minutes late to todays class, where they had chosen the theme to this game.

You fly a ship down a toilet, with the aim of destroying whatever is clogging it. There are a lot of poop jokes in the early description of the gameplay elements.

I will probably be doing a lot of the art for this project. I informed one member of the group I have serious reservations about doing this, despite this I have pledged my support for working with the team.

I really want to say "This is a stupid fucking idea. I won't be able to show this project to anyone. I am embarrassed by the existence of this project. I don't want to be associated with this project if we make a 'Shit Themed' game."

One thought I had was requesting my name be removed from the credits, but I'm not prepared to make that decision until I'm further down the development process.

I do not think we can change this, being 2 weeks into the project. They are expecting me to produce some early concept art soon. Be that as it may, how can I / should I communicate with the team on my views on the project? How can I drop my reservations on the game's theme so that I may do the best job I can?

How do they manage a lot of little projects where you work?

andrewzipp — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:31:54 -0800

Graphic design department question: How do they manage a lot of little projects where you work? Where I work, we have "job tickets" that are printed out and spray-mounted onto big envelopes, and one person who's entire job is to run around with these. If a client needs something done, an account rep writes it down, then they go to her, she prints out a ticket, glues it to an envelope, stuffs the note inside, and then at some point in the next few days, carries to to a designer. Who then completes the project, and walks the envelope back to her desk.

The whole process seems archaic, and is prone to having her walking around from desk to desk looking for lost tickets. And it seems really poorly suited for very small jobs, that sometimes take two minutes to actually do, since a lot of time goes into running these tickets around.

I've seen web based project management software for managing big projects with teams of people, but I would have to think there is something out there where you could say "make the logo bigger on this by tomorrow" and add it to a designer's queue, and they could work through that list, just checking off jobs as they're done. Since this tends to be a lot of little projects going to a few individuals, rather than a group of individuals working as a team on one big project.

Ways to visualize web site outline?

jasondigitized — Fri, 23 Jul 2004 06:39:23 -0800

I have been assigned as Project Manager for a project to design our company website. In order to understand how it will be navigated and ensure that all the project stakeholders understand its high-level structure, we will need to create a sitemap / site outline. Can anyone recommend any software or methodology ( sticky-notes on a wall? ) for doing this? I have tried using Visio, and it just seems too cumbersome.