Why hello. You may remember me from such blog posts as: Moving, Loss of Computer, and Reminiscing on the Past, and Project Management Programs and YOU! Part 1, The Questions. Well, I'm back for Part 2 of the series, Project Management Programs and YOU!
Where we last left our hero (which is you lovely folks), we discussed what questions you should be asking yourself and your team when choosing the perfect PM Software to use.
For me personally, I started my search by taking a number of ones that I already had used (Asana, Trello, Basecamp) and seeing what I liked/didn't like about these in particular.
Where we last left our hero (which is you lovely folks), we discussed what questions you should be asking yourself and your team when choosing the perfect PM Software to use.
For me personally, I started my search by taking a number of ones that I already had used (Asana, Trello, Basecamp) and seeing what I liked/didn't like about these in particular.
Here's my issues for the ones that I have already used:
- Asana
- Asana is one of the most widely used program currently for attempting to have your team work quickly and efficiently, without sending tons of e-mails. They have a pretty nice layout for developers to view, and an awesome "followers" system to help people stay informed about tasks that they need to be aware of. In addition, you can create a number of sub-tasks for each, as well as sub-sub-tasks if you really need it.
- At the time, there wasn't a good way to track time, nor how much time was left in something like a milestone.
- They now have a Calendar view, as well as Instagantt
- Trello
- Trello is a bulletin based program, which is pretty darn amazing to just see what has been done, what needs to be done, and what's currently in progress. It's very easy to add new tasks, comment on each one, and move them from one status to another.
- Trello is great for a small team working on a specific task that has little to no end date. But as soon as you add more people, it becomes very confusing as to what needs to be done when. Great program, just not good for a large team.
- Basecamp
- Basecamp is pretty similar to Asana, in that it's pretty easy to create tasks, add files onto each one, and track the to-do lists of each project.
- I personally thought the layout was a bit more confusing than all of the other software programs that we had used. It felt way more clunky than something like Asana or Trello. And again, with more people, the tasking got more confusing.
- SharePoint
- Sharepoint is a Microsoft built program that has been in use for years by a lot of large scale companies to store files, build lists, track tasks, and create separate sites for each project. It's great for task management, and easy to build Excel documents from all of the lists or tasks.
- Sharepoint is great for a strict company that has a very waterfall method, since it's mostly built with lists. I personally love that aspect, but teams generally hate it, and it's VERY clunky.
With that knowledge in mind, I knew that something that would be good for me would be a good melding of both Asana and SharePoint. I went to a website that I had heard about which linked a good number of other software choices, http://project-management.com/ .
This website holds a lot of knowledge, not only for software, but general information about managing a team and how best to schedule teams. I would recommend taking some time to go through a bit of it, but there's a lot. I also don't think that a lot of it is relevant for a gaming company, but it's good to know anyway.
In any case, this website led me to a new program that I have personally begun to enjoy, called Teamwork PM. It has a lot of the aspects of Asana, but the dashboard of Sharepoint.
It has a pretty efficient way to input tasks, assign tasks, and view all of the tasks that each developer has assigned to them. In regards to Project Management, it's easy to get a quick view of all the various projects and the overall schedule, as well as create a gantt chart to track what the status everything is. You can also create sub-tasks like Asana, add dependencies for each tasks, and track your milestones on the calendar. I haven't yet gotten the chance to use it, but right now I think it's pretty awesome!
The important thing is that whichever you choose, make sure that it has all of the pieces that will allow your team to do the best job they possibly can, and you can take care of your job as well.
Folks, that's all for today. I'll probably add a Part 3, but i'll come back to this conversation later.
What do you think about these programs?
-ACN
This website holds a lot of knowledge, not only for software, but general information about managing a team and how best to schedule teams. I would recommend taking some time to go through a bit of it, but there's a lot. I also don't think that a lot of it is relevant for a gaming company, but it's good to know anyway.
In any case, this website led me to a new program that I have personally begun to enjoy, called Teamwork PM. It has a lot of the aspects of Asana, but the dashboard of Sharepoint.
It has a pretty efficient way to input tasks, assign tasks, and view all of the tasks that each developer has assigned to them. In regards to Project Management, it's easy to get a quick view of all the various projects and the overall schedule, as well as create a gantt chart to track what the status everything is. You can also create sub-tasks like Asana, add dependencies for each tasks, and track your milestones on the calendar. I haven't yet gotten the chance to use it, but right now I think it's pretty awesome!
The important thing is that whichever you choose, make sure that it has all of the pieces that will allow your team to do the best job they possibly can, and you can take care of your job as well.
Folks, that's all for today. I'll probably add a Part 3, but i'll come back to this conversation later.
What do you think about these programs?
-ACN
A coworker and I recently implemented Asana in our office and it has been an absolute lifesaver, I can't recommend that program enough. I was using Gantter before, which is alright but nothing compared to Asana, especially with Instagantt.
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