Need to improve your productivity and team managment at work? Join my trip through desktop applications and apps for mobile devices and Google Chrome.
Today i want to propose you something different from tutorials or interviews. Many of view are dealing everyday with team work, deadlines and huge list of to-do’s and if you aren’t good enough to manage the amount of information that you collect after every meeting or completed task you might end up slowing down the workflow or worst miss a deal or lose an important client.
And if you were wondering what we use at WCB, we use Trello and TeamworkPM on a daily basis and Wunderlist/Wunderkit on a personal level.
So here we go with the list!
Vyew
Way beyond a simple conferencing tool. Just think of it as virtual conferencing room where you can share in real-time images, videos, files and use the whiteboard and drawing tools to give more power to meetings and anyone that is allowed to join can contribute in the same way. All the tasks and operations are tracked, updated and saved in your own private room.
Website: http://vyew.com/s/
Trello
Trello helps to organize all your projects into boards so that you can easily see what has done, what’s is underwork and what’s next on the list.
The interface is extremely easy to browse and everything you need is on the screen, crystal clear.
Website: https://trello.com/
Chrome Web Store: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/trello/dmdidbedhnbabookbkpkgomahnocimke?hl=en
Teambox
Teambox main feature and difference between other tak managments apps for Chrome is its design.
Infact what you’ll see it’s an activity stream that somehow reminds the one that you’re used to on Facebook and this allows you to have your own private social network.
Also important (from a customer point of view) the support team is extremely active, according to some users that experienced an issue.
Website: http://teambox.com/
Chrome Web Store: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bgecckpiojpahjlndlofcljgacdfkifk/reviews
5pm – Project Managment
5PM it’s another online collaboration tool that features a really interface as everything is available in one screen only and a really nice GANTT that helps to keep track of every change (Gantt chart is a type of bar chart, developed by Henry Gantt, that illustrates a project schedule).
The Spider Scribe plug-in also helps to create mindmaps which are vital when working in a team.
Website: http://www.5pmweb.com/
Chrome Web Store: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/trello/dmdidbedhnbabookbkpkgomahnocimke?hl=en
Wunderkit
LATEST NEWS: Wunderkit was supposed to be a commercial tool but the developers decided to set it as free for all. And isn’t over here..
Wunderkit it’s a multiplatform/mobile tool to organize all your life’s projects and yes,it’s the big brother of the wonderful Wunderlist.
While this last one is mainly oriented to keep track of personal to-do’s, the Kit edition is the one that features a beautiful interface, team managment at its best with a social network flavour for updates and “likes!”. But isn’t over here: there’s a dashboard to keep track of team progress, a task organizer, tools for brainstorming sessions.
And coming up soon “Files”, the feature that will permit users to host/save their files and that will be available in 2 versions (Free / Pro for $4.99), according to the desidered amount of space.
Website: http://www.wunderkit.com
Clinked
Clinked let you firstly create a team where you can invite your friends or collegues to join,
so that online pages can be created, files can be uploaded, events can be created, tasks can be assigned,
discussions can be host and finally members permissions can be managed.
All these are managed from the group homepage. Very easy to use and with a pleasant interface.
Website: http://clinked.com/
Chrome Web Store: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/koaelampkdajbahbmbelbdlcljapdkdf
Conceptboard
As the name suggests, this more whiteboard oriented than the usual design/structure a project managment tool can have.
You can upload document, scribble in your browser and all the discussion are held in one single place.
I personally think it can be used as an additional tool where to hold brianstorming session to receive instant feedback
before tracking down all the steps on a separate project managment tool.
Website: http://conceptboard.com/
Chrome Web Store: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jnacnlekfaehkfdbkohnhpmdagnfaeio
Moovia
Here’s another tool that also features a Social Network environment, in the same way it happens with Teambox (which i’ve mentioned before) and it’s Agile Methodologies based
It runs in the cloud so safety is assured and all activities are managed through a clean white/green interface where text is the main thing that you see, compared to Concept Board which is purely visual.
I personally like that only the avatars choosen by the team members are visible as it makes easy to spot words and subjects between the text.
GoogleDocs integration is indeed available other than a nice elegant GANTT chart.
Website: https://www.moovia.com/
Chrome Web Store: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gebnkjabhcjbigecofkbpfdfncckddkk
Hojoki
Hojoki is the newsfeed for your productivity apps: Integrate Google Docs, Dropbox and others into one activity stream and collaborate with team members. You can integrate your favorite apps and online tools such as Twitter, DeLicious, Dropbox, Google Docs & Calendar,etc.
Same as happens with Teamwork & Moovia, you can keep track of what’s goin’ on through a newsfeed social media style. Infact you can set status msg & leave comments.
Website: http://hojoki.com/
Freedcamp
Features SCRUMM Methodology, individual tasks assignment so that users can assigns tasks based on priority or by deadline.
The discussions are organized in a very clean interface that’s setup up like in a forum with threaded entries and beside that, a Meebo chat bar which supports the major IM protocols so that there’s no need to run separate softwares to interact with other team members.
Website: http://freedcamp.com/
Chrome Web Store: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/oemdijbekcdkakdccfnlpmblhndaalcj
Ace Project
Ace Project helps to keep track of your team activities through project management (GANTT chats, calendar, to-do’s, etc.), document management (sharing and locking files for example), timesheet management, expenses management, HR management (resources allocation, security and access rights,etc) and more.
The basic package lets you create 5 users, 5 projects, 50 tasks and gives you 250mb of space.
There’s also an intranet package if you prefer to install it on your server and host all the files and informations shared and manage the whole thing on your own.
Website: http://www.aceproject.com/
Chrome Web Store: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bnilfhgoncpjoccagknfhhepbocjpmkm
Planbox – Agile Project Management Tool
Based on SCRUMM Methodology same as Freedcamp, Planbox allows you to structure your projects through 4 levels of hyerarchy:
Initiative, Project, Item, Task (this last one allows you to invite stakeholders and clients to a project).
So for example, the Initiative level lets you control permissions while the Project level lets you add members and set them as workers or observers. Items are what those involves in a project are working at.
The interface is detailed and gives your control on all the aspect, including time estimated and time logging and you can filter out all informations you don’t need. Not to mention that it integrates with Zendesk, SnapEngage, SVN etc..
Website: http://www.planbox.com/
TeamworkPM
TeamworkPM is a really nice project/task management tool which helps you to work faster & access to it basically anywhere as it’s available also as iOS app.
You can create your own team, set-up roadmapsand keep updated your members in real-time as emails are sent out as soon as a milestone is reached or if there’s an update or a new step added to the project.
Another major thing is the integration with services such as Box, Dropbox, Freshbooks, GDocs and more.
Few users of this app that are worth to be mentioned: Hallmark, ElectronicArts and Lacie
Website: http://www.teamworkpm.net/
Web Design Course
If you’re interested in learning more about responsive web design then you can do so at Web Courses Bangkok, we use all the latest software from Adobe such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Dreamweaver and now Adobe Shadow! Use any contact form on our site and we will get back to you.
