If you’re a UX designer…a lot of times, you’re stuck communicating between the programmers and the business folks (in the case of Scrum…the “Pigs” and the “Chickens”). In small teams, you may even be the one responsible for PM functions. So how do you get your team on the same page while not having to invest too much time learning and maintaining Project Management Bloatware (ahem…MS Project, et al.)?
I don’t know about you, but I subscribe to the ’simple is better’ approach to project management (read “Getting Real” for web development inspiration). If it takes a PHD, or some sort of certification, to even understand your project management software, chances are your team will not adopt it. Project management software is supposed to help a team increase productivity. If the learning curve is too steep or it’s too tedious to use…it might even be counter-productive.
Here’s a list of tools to help manage projects and increase team productivity. In this list, there are just 2 main criteria I had: 1) It has to be accessible online so that all team members can have any-where access via web browser. 2) It needs to be easy to use.
5 Great Project Management Web Applications
1. Lighthouse - It’s mainly made for issue tracking, but we use it to easily manage development and task assignment. Simple interface, easy to learn.
2. Basecamp - Often called a glorified to-do list…but what more do you really need? A shared space for your team to track to-do’s. Brilliant.
3. Mingle - A self-hosted Scrum management software. I’ve requested a product demo twice and never got a call back…so haven’t seen it first hand. But, Zed Shaw (of Rails renown), who bashed almost everything about ThoughtWorks, actually liked this piece of software…so it might be worth looking into.
4. Assembla - Built with Scrum users in mind. Integrates with Git, SVN, etc!
5. MyQuire - This is targeted to any projects: software development, wedding planning, event planning, and pretty much anything requiring project coordination. Best part…it’s free!
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:37 am
Another great project management web application is Intervals. Though not as ’simple’ as the apps in your list, it does offer more comprehensive project management features for designers and developers who need time tracking and task management.
July 28th, 2008 at 4:39 am
You could also check out our newly released site, http://www.biznesport.com. We have tried to make Biznesport easy-to-use, but still a powerful and professional tool.
August 8th, 2008 at 8:46 am
..just came across your site and read all your posts..thanks for the handy information. been useful to me so far.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:15 am
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