Silence04
08-08-2008, 11:04 PM
For the past 2 weeks i've been downloading various Project Management software, trying to scout out the best for my department's needs.
I've always been a pen and paper guy... when the bosses come to me with projects, i'd jot them down on a small list, then would run and tell everyone else what i needed them to do for the day/week. Which has always worked great for us, until we are really backed up and I (acting as the art director and senior designer) would put scheduling on the back burner. Which can quickly turn into chaos.
After researching what feels like hundreds of project management software trials, i've realized that they are all either too simple, too complicated or too expensive for us.
I was about to give up, but then i figured i've give iCal a shot (Mac OS X's Calendar App). It took a little bit of learning on how to add to-do list items properly and assign labels, but other than that the interface is completely intuitive. I couldn't believe everything i needed was sitting under my nose the entire time! We purchased the app BusySync for $25 for each license to go along with iCal (which allows you to sync iCal across LAN). Now i can schedule jobs for specific people, set alarms and notifiers, track past, current & future jobs. And it only takes about 10 minutes a day for upkeep!
So if you are currently looking for a good project manager, that is user friendly and doesn't require a full time position to manage, check out iCal and you may be as enthused as I am about it!
P.S. i know this may sound like i'm spamming iCal, but it's free and sitting in most of your's applications folder being unused. :)
I've always been a pen and paper guy... when the bosses come to me with projects, i'd jot them down on a small list, then would run and tell everyone else what i needed them to do for the day/week. Which has always worked great for us, until we are really backed up and I (acting as the art director and senior designer) would put scheduling on the back burner. Which can quickly turn into chaos.
After researching what feels like hundreds of project management software trials, i've realized that they are all either too simple, too complicated or too expensive for us.
I was about to give up, but then i figured i've give iCal a shot (Mac OS X's Calendar App). It took a little bit of learning on how to add to-do list items properly and assign labels, but other than that the interface is completely intuitive. I couldn't believe everything i needed was sitting under my nose the entire time! We purchased the app BusySync for $25 for each license to go along with iCal (which allows you to sync iCal across LAN). Now i can schedule jobs for specific people, set alarms and notifiers, track past, current & future jobs. And it only takes about 10 minutes a day for upkeep!
So if you are currently looking for a good project manager, that is user friendly and doesn't require a full time position to manage, check out iCal and you may be as enthused as I am about it!
P.S. i know this may sound like i'm spamming iCal, but it's free and sitting in most of your's applications folder being unused. :)