Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with software and organization

Online tool for planning and visualizing project pipelines?

jruckman — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:26:23 -0800

Is there a web-based app that lets you plan project pipelines, and set up pipeline templates and associated tasks for common project types? I love the functionality of Daylite and Contactizer for Mac, but they don't live in the cloud, and their syncing is problematic or in the case of the latter, non-existent. For my small, sometimes remote team, this is a no-go.

But I love the pipeline visualizations and associated task templates they both offer. No other solutions, including Basecamp, Omnifocus, etc, offer this.

Here's an image of the pipeline view I'm talking about.

Suggestions for an online replica of this type of functionality? Any alternative suggestions?

What do I need to learn to write a Gmail Labs feature?

Matt Arnold — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 22:14:09 -0800

What do I need to learn to write a Gmail Labs feature? What programming languages and other technologies do I need to learn to write one of the experimental features for Gmail found in the Labs tab under Settings?

I currently know Python and some Java. In case it is necessary to your answer, here is what I want to develop:

The feature, named Herdcat, is intended to help me keep in touch to make sure I and my friends and associates have not forgotten the projects we're working on together. It uses Spaced Interval Repetition (SIR). I got the idea from flashcard software, in which SIR modifies the rate of how often to repeat a flashcard by recording the number of repeated failures or successes. In Herdcat, SIR determines how often to prompt me to nag someone, based on how seldom they reply in Gmail. Each collaborator's interval starts at a length of two weeks. Every week that a collaborator emails me, the interval until Herdcat reminds me to email that person increases in length by one day. Every week that person does not email me, the interval until Herdcat reminds me to email that person and remind them about our project decreases in length by one day. When the interval on one of my projects reaches zero, I get an alert that I should give up on that collaborator and their contact is removed from Herdcat.

Help me organize my time and projects by the hour.

metalheart — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 03:51:29 -0800

What time/project management software or sites might be able to help me view my week in hourly clumps and allow me to check off completed tasks or monitor their success? I've tried a number of GTD services, but none of them has been quite right, so I'm looking for suggestions. I've searched through Ask MeFi, but I've not really found anything like what I'm looking for, so here goes.

I really want to manage my time better. I already do pretty well on the whole, but I want to do better, so I can accomplish more. I already use Google Calendar for basic things, like house chores, but I've found it doesn't really cut it for me on other things--for whatever reason.

Pen and paper doesn't work for me, as I'm a very computer and mobile-oriented person. I've tried Todoist and liked its more textual system and idea of checking items off as you completed them, but it too fell short in the end. (It wasn't as intuitive as I'd have liked.) I tried Basecamp, but I hated the interface design and found it to be way too basic.

Currently, I'm trying out RescueTime for my computer time management, but I'd rather if it could do offline goal tracking and statistics as well...

It seems, overall, that I need a few features from each of these services, really, and I can't seem to find anything that fits that.

What I would like to find is some (preferably) web-based or desktop software that will work more on an hourly basis. What I mainly want to do is work a certain number of hours on various tasks, each week. I'm a student, and it's my summer holiday. I want to freelance several hours a week, work on art for a number of other hours, write, etc.

What time/project management software or sites might be able to help me view my week in hourly clumps and allow me to check off completed tasks or monitor their success?

P.S. - It'd be great if there were some sort of mobile alert thing for this as well, but it's not necessary. Would just be a nice to have.

Running to stand still - resource management in IT

ajp — Fri, 02 May 2008 07:57:46 -0800

Scheduling and work-request software for an IT team. Imagine a team of 6 programmers, within a large organisation. The organisation raises a variety of work-types for the programmers:

Project tasks
Project bugs
Work-requests (up to 10 days' work)
Bugs within live software
Other support tasks

These work-types are raised in a variety of ways:

Bug report within tracking software
Project bug within separate tracking software
Tasks in project plans
Change requests (any change to a test or production system)
Email
Phone call
In person

Already this is messy. It seems to be almost ungovernable for anyone trying to manage resource. Certain procedural changes need to be enforced (i.e. "don't phone direct, raise a bug with the Help Desk") but one major problem is keeping the workload of the programmers up-to-date, so people can request programming resource.

MS Project is too heavy for this. Each programmer may get through one to five or so tasks per day. A spreadsheet is okay, but cumbersome, and requires one person to keep it up to date. (Unless someone has a nifty template to share).

Ideally, software that could help this situation would:

(a) Present a graphical illustration of the available resource -- i.e. a list of who is working on what. Preferably with red/amber/green colours and that sort of stuff.
(b) Have a web-based GUI.
(c) Allow people with relevant permissions to request resource (although not named individuals) and provide details on work required.
(d) Provide some simple workflow, allowing certain individuals to accept or reject work requests.
(d) Do nothing else -- email, forums, calendars, blah blah blah, totally not needed. Maybe it could generate fancy reports, that might be nice.

I'm sure something like this exists, but I haven't found it yet.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Best ebook library management tool?

thedaniel — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:37:24 -0800

What is the best ebook library management software you mefites can recommend? I've googled about a bit and found some things that didn't look too promising or were not available on either of my platforms of choice. What I'd like is a total library management solution, similar to what iTunes or Amarok does for music. I have a Linux workstation as well as a Mac, so I would like suggestions for non-Windows tools only, unless the tool is so superior that it's worth the hassle getting it working with Wine or somesuch.

Help me pimp my AT&T 8525

DetonatedManiac — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 09:09:14 -0800

Dear Hive Mind: Please help me find the best "must have" Mobile Windows 5.0 apps for my AT&T 8525, specifically software focused on Productivity / Organization. Tell me what software you could not live without on your Win Mobile 5.0 device... Software you have used, have found of high quality and would strongly recommend to others.

I am going to work in sales and while I have a number of Desktop Web CRM ideas (like Highrise HQ) I really want some productivity apps that can leverage my integrated phone/data/pda platform in the 8525. I am also disorganized by nature, so I need a quality general organizational app too.

As far as "fun stuff": I am not much into music or multimedia, but if there are some good free/inexpensive apps I'll take a look. Same for games, not so much because I am not interested but because if I have games on my 8525 I am afraid I won't get anything done.

Other Wish List Items:
-A good news feeder (specifically covering Business and Politics)
-Dictionary/Thesaurus/Reference
-Nifty "wow" gizmos

I'd prefer NON subscription / recurring service charge apps, but if its only a few bucks a month and it is REALLY worth it I suppose that is OK.

Software to make my digital brain platform portable?

braintoast — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 06:37:13 -0800

Anyone know of any cross-platform information organizer software? I work on both a Windows XP machine and a Macbook running osX both by choice and necessity. I really like Yojimbo and DevonThink but they're both mac only. I'd really like something that has a version for both platforms allowing me to at least sync things up in both places (if not share a common data source).

Yes, it needs to be local software. No I don't want to use a wiki for this. :)

I know someone here knows if it exists...there's plenty of chatter about this sort of thing:

Are there any cheap DEVONthink alternatives?
Code Snippets Management Software

Help me keep track of the time I spend writing

agent99 — Wed, 02 May 2007 12:13:53 -0800

Is there a Mac application that can help me keep track of hours, dates, and time I spend writing? I'm facing a giant writing project in the next six months or so and I want to keep track of how many hours I'm working and when. So, at the end of it all, I want to be able to look at a bunch of data and see that I worked for 35 hours on chapter 1, mostly between 11 pm and 2 am, or that the entire project took me 700 hours of writing.

Ideally it would be some kind of small widget where you just press "start" and "stop" every time you work.

I've checked out a few web apps, like toggl (too simple), harvest (not free), and tick (not enough detail)--are there others that do what I want them to, or am I missing features on the ones above that already do what I want them to?

Desired qualities:

1. Free (ideally)
2. Mac compatible
3. Has a widget interface of some kind (not essential)
4. Keeps track of the amount of time AND the time of day and dates
5. Data is downloadable into csv format
6. Web app is OK but must be able to record time while I'm not connected to the internet (and then upload later).

Does such a thing exist?

Software to track project/client information?

iguanapolitico — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 16:42:41 -0800

What kind of software can I use to keep track of information on each client and/or project that I'm working on? I do all my work on a computer. But I carry around this three-ring binder that contains all of the information/notes that I need for all of my projects and clients. I start with one sheet for each client (a form that I designed using Excel) and all of these client sheets are filed in the binder alphabetically (complete with A-Z tabs). I staple on additional sheets for each client as necessary.

I also use these little color-coded tags for flagging clients that have active projects, or that I provide web hosting for, or that I have a question about, etc.

It's some stellar organization and it has worked for years, but boy does it seem stone-age. Plus, what if this binder is washed away in a flash flood? (I really, really don't lose things, ever, but the flash flood thing is always a possibility.)

So I'm thinking of keeping track of all this stuff with a computer. Are there software programs that handle this sort of thing that are customizable? So I can customize all the information I need to store, such as client name, contact information, FTP information, billing dates/info, dates and notes on project progress, etc, etc? So I can flag or color code clients that are active, or that need attention, etc? So I can sort by different criteria? Do I just need to break down and create my own database, or do you have recommendations for existing software? And ... software that is both Mac- and PC-compatible? (My laptop is a Mac, desktop is a PC.)

(Or, is this something that I can manage with Excel, without creating/drawing a form by hand for each client? I'm really not up on Office-type products past basic word processing.)

It shouldn't be web-based because I might need to use it on a laptop somewhere without internet access.

(But is this something that would be do-able with Excel, that I could import into Google Spreadsheets so I could access the info remotely? I wouldn't need a tutorial on that, but if the answer is "yes," I could go figure it out.)

I really like using the binder. I like to be able to grab a pencil and jot down a note without having to fire up an application. And I like to keep as few apps open as possible. But now I'm beginning to worry about safety. This information should be backed up. I back up my computer regularly, and make fun of people who don't do the same, after all. Sheesh.

I feel that this is a supremely stupid question, but that the right answer will be based on a consensus of recommendations, or will be just too hard for me to go through with. (I just don't see myself building my own database any time soon; I can't even make the time to get my client login section operational on my own web site.)

Organizing software in an enterprise

daHIFI — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 06:08:33 -0800

Any good tips on managing approved software applications within an enterprise? We're trying to keep track of the applications that we use at my job, approved software, recommended software &c. We currently have 13,000 workstations and over 8,000 unique software applications installed. Our Websense proxy blocks people from downloading any .exe, .zip &c. and we have a group that handles the download requests. In the past I have maintained a list of approved and rejected apps on an internal wiki but it's becoming too cumbersome to keep track of it.

One of the guys came across Primasoft's software organizer which has given me the idea that we really need a database to keep track of this stuff. I'd like to use a PHP/SQL site for easy access, but this would be my first attempt at trying to program something from scratch. Before I start coding I wanted to ask if anyone knew of an existing implementation that I could use.

Barcode my life!

JonnyRotten — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 05:38:29 -0800

Some time ago I saw a program for the Mac that you could scan barcodes of various things and it would maintain your collection of them. I can't seem to find my bookmark for that and my googling is failing me. I would actually like to know if there was a windows version of it out yet, or a similar product for windows. It would be nice if one program could handle multiple collections of things (books, comics, video games, etc) and handle the lending of them as well.

How is your small software team organized?

medpt — Mon, 01 May 2006 20:12:39 -0800

I'm interested in how small software development teams (under 10 people) organize themselves. What are the titles and roles of the people on the team? Who reports to whom? Do you like the way you're organized, or was the structure forced on you, and you'd set things up differently if you could?

Easy list making program needed.

CunningLinguist — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 06:53:00 -0800

Easy list-making software? I'm looking for a program that will let me generate a simple packing list that I can reuse every time I travel. When I had a handheld, I had this great program that let me make a master list, then create a new list of things I needed to do or buy or pack from that, and then cross off what I had done or bought or packed. For example, I had a paint list with all the colors I ever used and could make a paint shopping list, picking the ones I needed to get, then crossing them off as I acquired them. The master list was always there to make a new list from.
Now that I'm handheld-less, I was wondering if you know of such a program for my desktop. All I want to be able to do is have a master packing list of all the things I could conceivably bring anywhere, be able to make a new trip list from the master, and then cross stuff off as it goes into the bag. This is the only way I've found to avoid the oh-shit-I-forgot-to-bring-shoes thing.

Graphical volume cataloger?

everichon — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 09:56:34 -0800

I like what VisualCD does (makes a browseable catalog of a given disk), but it is bonking on files bigger than 2GB. This is a deal breaker for my needs. Anybody know a more robust alternative for Win32, that does the same thing?

New Organizational Software?

Independent Scholarship — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 20:08:23 -0800

There is so much new organizational software available and I haven't kept up. I'm talking outliners, notes organizers, etc. I am currently using TexNotes Pro, have seen OneNote, Basecamp/Backpack and at one time used KeyNote. One program I know is popular, but I don't care for is Evernote. With that in mind, any suggestions of similar software that is new on the scene?

Getting Things Done on a Macintosh

jdroth — Fri, 20 May 2005 08:43:42 -0800

Having recently finished Getting Things Done (and after following 43 Folders for some time), I'm inspired to organize my life. I've gathered supplies and plan to organize my physical life this weekend. My on-line life (based on a Mac) needs help, though. How do you stay organized on your Mac? Do you use iCal? (It still seems so buggy to me.) What e-mail program do you use? Is Microsoft's Entourage all that? I know about Quicksilver, but can you recommend other little apps to keep my digital life organized and worry free? (Tips on physical GTD organization are welcome, too.)

Project Management Software

frufry — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 11:06:50 -0800

Our small web development company is looking into project management software. I've been looking around, but can't seem to find something that really suits our needs. After doing a ask.mefi search I found that someone else had already posted almost exactly the same question, and in the answers a few people had suggested Basecamp.
I'd already been looking into basecamp, and it's pretty good, but just doesn't quite do all that we want.

So, here are some of the features we're looking for:
Extended features on tasks such as due date, percentage completed, and a priority rating of at least 0 - 10.
Multi-project and -client support (of course).
Multi-user support for assigning things to one or more different people.
Task and message categorization via tagging or labeling or whatever you want to call it, so things can be applied to a variety of categories.
A To-do page that uses several of the properties like priority and due date to determine what needs the most attention.

I'm increasingly getting the feeling that we're going to end up having to build this ourselves, but I'd really like to avoid that. Does anyone have any suggestions?

How have you organized your personal wiki?

isotope — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 07:24:29 -0800

If you're using a wiki for personal note-taking and keeping organized, how have you organized it? I want to set up a wiki that will run locally on my computer for keeping track of my projects and mananging all the bits of information that usually end up on a post-it note or on a notepad.

My problem is, even though part of the beauty of a wiki is the lack of structure, that I feel lost just looking at a blank slate. I'm looking for some ideas on how to initally set up my wiki.

As for which wiki to use, I'm still deciding. There are so many to choose from! If there is one in particular that makes it easy to enforce a structure around the content, I would be interested in hearing about it....

Wedding Planning Software

Jairus — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 19:23:32 -0800

Is there any good Wedding planning software or web services out there? I'm looking for something like Business Plan Pro or Basecamp, but for weddings.

What's the best novel writing software for Mac OS X?

sugarfish — Thu, 24 Feb 2005 18:36:25 -0800

What's the best novel writing software for Mac OS X? I'm slogging through a manuscript right now and I realize that I need something to help me organize this thing. I've got ADD and I'm trying to organize my whole life, but I really, really need it here -- I don't know that I could finish it without some structure. I need something to help me with outlines, character sketches, etc. Scribbling in my Moleskine just isn't working out.

I'm seeking a Delicious Library clone for Windows.

bkdelong — Tue, 11 Jan 2005 05:19:03 -0800

OrganizeFilter: Seeking a Delicious Library clone for Windows. [MI] I am incredibly jealous of those with access to Delicious Library. If I could switch to Mac in a second, I would....but I am reliant on my work laptop for everything I do.

I have an extensive collection of books I'd like to catagorize and set up for loaning. I'd also like to include my DVD/VHS and CDs.

I keep Amazon.com updated with all of this info but I really like the visual style of Delicious Library....otherwise some pretty neat-but-easy Excel spreadsheets or databases would be great.

Mail Duplicates

bonaldi — Fri, 17 Sep 2004 22:03:26 -0800

Tidying my email: Over the years I've developed hundreds of different folders for messages. They're currently all in Mail.app's MBOX format. I want to sort them into one big gmail-style archive folder, and get rid of the many, many duplicates.

Is there any way to automate searching for the duplicates?

Looking for software that organizes ideas, thoughts, notes, etc. in a relational, graphical way

grefo — Sat, 13 Mar 2004 11:37:36 -0800

I am looking for a piece of software that organizes ideas, thoughts, notes, etc. in a relational, graphical sort of way. And for the life of me I can't remember, or think of, what that kind of program is called. (It's Saturday, and creative thinking has turned to mush, thanks to Looney Tunes!)

Simple to-do software wanted

tomorama — Mon, 05 Jan 2004 15:39:00 -0800

I'm looking for a very simple to-do list that will sit on my desktop. I've searched Google, but a lot of the results that come up are integrated with calendars and other functions I don't have use for. The ones I did download seem suspicious and attempt to contact their home networks; I don't want anybody spying on me. Does anyone use something like this, where I can simply type a linear list of things I have to get done, and have it floating on my dekstop?

Is there a program that will present all of the fonts present on a system?

Grod — Sat, 03 Jan 2004 15:06:43 -0800

Fonts. They're driving me nuts. Does anyone know of a simple program to generate a specimen book from all fonts present on a system, installed or not. True type, open type, type 1, etc. The problem is, I have my fonts organzied well enough, but I frequently forget what the ones I don't often use look like.