How can I better manage my work ?

Mar 20, 2014

Hey there,

I and my team take up designing and content work of a lot many clients and offer them freelancing services. Initially we did not face much issue, as our team size was small. But now as our clients have grown, so has our team, managing work and collaborating with each other has become really tough.

I wanted to know easy to use, simple and useful project management tools, that would be of great help to me and my team. If the tool has a free trial, there would be nothing like that. As it would give us enough time to try and finalize on the plan we wish to buy.

Much Thanks

Alice

11 Replies

Atmika Edward

10 years ago03/20/14 at 7:04 am (UTC)

Alice Dane said:

Hey there,

I and my team take up designing and content work of a lot many clients and offer them freelancing services. Initially we did not face much issue, as our team size was small. But now as our clients have grown, so has our team, managing work and collaborating with each other has become really tough.

I wanted to know easy to use, simple and useful project management tools, that would be of great help to me and my team. If the tool has a free trial, there would be nothing like that. As it would give us enough time to try and finalize on the plan we wish to buy.

Much Thanks

Alice

Hi Alice,

In my experience, I haven't been able to find something that truly worked out to track time and manage projects. But, recently I found a great tool from Replicon. It is a cloud-based software that provides project, job costing, time and attendance features in one system.

They also offer other modules including time-off scheduling, custom reporting, iPhone timesheet, time clock integration with quickbooks, etc. They are providing a free trial option so you can test it before making a purchase. So give a try and see whether it fits you. Here's the link for your reference - http://www.replicon.com/olp/online-time-recording-software.aspx

Thanks!

Eric Nalian

10 years ago03/20/14 at 12:30 pm (UTC)

Hey Alice,

Check out ClockingIt - it is a free web-based tool. My team uses that, and it works great.

-Eric

Steve Flowers

10 years ago03/20/14 at 2:31 pm (UTC)

Project management tools work really well if everyone uses them consistently. A few folks really like Basecamp. ActiveCollab is similar. Started out as an open source alternative. Good for tasks and QA tickets. Priced OK. They offer a free trial.

Suraj Karakulath

10 years ago03/20/14 at 11:17 pm (UTC)

I use Trello when I work with my team - check it out https://trello.com/

It's based on the kanban style of project management. But from what i understand, it's best suited for small teams (although I have seen boards involving huge teams with 30-40 members)

Some examples are :

https://trello.com/b/2cYFlbQO/exercises

https://trello.com/b/jJcQr8mH/write-for-smarthistory-at-khan-academy

https://trello.com/b/nC8QJJoZ/trello-development (THEIR OWN BOARD !)

Joshua Roberts

10 years ago03/21/14 at 2:13 am (UTC)

Not a project management tool but it may help you to collaborate as a team a little easier since you've talked about your expansion.

StormBoard

Jennifer Mark

10 years ago03/24/14 at 2:40 am (UTC)

I would recommend you to have a look onto the task management software from Replicon which we too have been using. Literally the same case was there with our team as well when I was working as a freelancer and used to manage the tasks and work sequentially with lots of errors and hassle. And then with the recommendation of one of my friend we started using the cloud based task management software that well manage the tasks and keeps track of it in a effective fashion. Check out the link to the same - http://www.replicon.com/olp/task-management-software.aspx

John Denner

10 years ago03/24/14 at 12:27 pm (UTC)

It sounds like maybe you don't need a full project management solution but a way to share files (such as tracking sheets) in a way that all have access to them and nobody is working on "team" files independently.

If that is the case then cloud storage solutions and/or office apps might help you maintain control over files and make sure everyone is working from the same page.

I'm not fully abreast of what all the PM solutions can do but it's always a bummer when everyone can "see" that you are on step 7 revision B on some gannt chart or other list, but 2 out of the 10 members have step 7 revision A and the error isn't caught until 92 man hours have been wasted.

Just food for thought.

Alice Dane
Author

10 years ago04/11/14 at 1:15 am (UTC)

Eric Nalian said:

Hey Alice,

Check out ClockingIt - it is a free web-based tool. My team uses that, and it works great.

-Eric

Thanks Eric,

Would surely give it a try !

Alice Dane
Author

10 years ago04/11/14 at 1:17 am (UTC)

Joshua Roberts said:

Not a project management tool but it may help you to collaborate as a team a little easier since you've talked about your expansion.

StormBoard

Yup, looks good. Would try my hands on it.

Alice Dane
Author

10 years ago04/11/14 at 1:20 am (UTC)

John Denner said:

It sounds like maybe you don't need a full project management solution but a way to share files (such as tracking sheets) in a way that all have access to them and nobody is working on "team" files independently.

If that is the case then cloud storage solutions and/or office apps might help you maintain control over files and make sure everyone is working from the same page.

I'm not fully abreast of what all the PM solutions can do but it's always a bummer when everyone can "see" that you are on step 7 revision B on some gannt chart or other list, but 2 out of the 10 members have step 7 revision A and the error isn't caught until 92 man hours have been wasted.

Just food for thought.

Hey John,

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. You indeed have got my point right. I am considering some of the tools mentioned here and having a look at other project management tools too, so that I get a fair idea as to what would work in our case.