Project Management Tools..

[rhett7660]

Hello..

I am curious what tools others use to help them manage projects at work or their businesses.

- Is it Mac or Windows based programs or both?
- If it is a Windows based environment do you mix any Mac tools in for your own use?
- Do you work with teams?
- Do these teams need access to files that are on Mac and/or a Windows Box? i.e. utilizing a mixed environment and have you had any issues or obstacles you have had to over come?
- Aside from project management tools such as MS Project, what other tools do you use to help you stay organized and on track?

I forgot to add. Do you use any handheld devices such at the iPhone, iPad, Android device? If so what programs/apps are you using to keep on track with items for your project or team project?

Any suggestions for books or websites to visit that can help someone who learning about project management?

[MarkKenny]

We use our own tool to manage projects, HippoHub (www.hipposolutions.com/hippo-hub.aspx). It is web based so you use a web browser to access it (it does not matter if you are Mac or PC). We try to keep everything in there.

I would recommend a couple of sites to learn about project management:
http://www.project-management-podcast.com/
http://pmstudent.com/
http://herdingcats.typepad.com/my_weblog/

[rhett7660]

Originally Posted by MarkKenny

We use our own tool to manage projects, HippoHub (www.hipposolutions.com/hippo-hub.aspx). It is web based so you use a web browser to access it (it does not matter if you are Mac or PC). We try to keep everything in there.

I would recommend a couple of sites to learn about project management:
http://www.project-management-podcast.com/
http://pmstudent.com/
http://herdingcats.typepad.com/my_weblog/

I like the fact it is web based!

And thank you very much for the links. Looking at the podcasts now!

[Milena]

Indeed, web-based software makes your life much easier as you can access your data even if you are out of the office. And it works equally well both for Mac users and PC users. Web-based solutions are also great for online collaboration if your team is geographically spread, because all the project updates can be tracked and discussed in real time.
I know it because I’m a manager of such a distributed team. It is spread across several states, so it has been quite a challenge to keep them all on the same page without an online app.
We use Wrike (www.wrike.com) to manage our projects and we love it. It is easy-to-use, has great interface and has all the necessary features for me as a team leader (task management, timelines, time-tracking, etc) and for my team (online discussions, to-do emails, email notifications about task changes)
Here is how we use Wrike for document management: once a file has been uploaded to the system, other team members can view, discuss and edit it online.
As for mobile devices, I think the majority of web-based apps offer mobile versions. I use Wrike for IPhone quite extensively when I’m out of the office and it’s quite good.
Aside from Wrike I also use Google Calendar www.google.com/calendar a free time-management tool by Google.
Here is quite a good list of 10 PM blogs http://bit.ly/PfhVd0 . Also I’d advise you to look through “Project management”, “Collaboration” and “Productivity” sections on Quora (www.quora.com), there are tons of useful information.
I hope you find my answer useful.

[rhett7660]

Originally Posted by Milena

Indeed, web-based software makes your life much easier as you can access your data even if you are out of the office. And it works equally well both for Mac users and PC users. Web-based solutions are also great for online collaboration if your team is geographically spread, because all the project updates can be tracked and discussed in real time.
I know it because I’m a manager of such a distributed team. It is spread across several states, so it has been quite a challenge to keep them all on the same page without an online app.
We use Wrike (www.wrike.com) to manage our projects and we love it. It is easy-to-use, has great interface and has all the necessary features for me as a team leader (task management, timelines, time-tracking, etc) and for my team (online discussions, to-do emails, email notifications about task changes)
Here is how we use Wrike for document management: once a file has been uploaded to the system, other team members can view, discuss and edit it online.
As for mobile devices, I think the majority of web-based apps offer mobile versions. I use Wrike for IPhone quite extensively when I’m out of the office and it’s quite good.
Aside from Wrike I also use Google Calendar www.google.com/calendar a free time-management tool by Google.
Here is quite a good list of 10 PM blogs http://bit.ly/PfhVd0 . Also I’d advise you to look through “Project management”, “Collaboration” and “Productivity” sections on Quora (www.quora.com), there are tons of useful information.
I hope you find my answer useful.

Thank you very very much! Yes you and the other posters posts have been extremely helpful.

Thanks again.

[aldeng]

Or you could try our tool, http://propstoyou.com. We take a different approach. PropsToYou is about giving you credit for everything you do and awarding you fun badges for doing great work or helping out your teammates. At my company, we looked at all the tools out there and decided we wanted to make one about the people, not just the tasks. We've had a lot of fun with it on internal projects and just released it to the public. And it's free, to boot!

[bapesta]

Originally Posted by rhett7660

Hello..

I am curious what tools others use to help them manage projects at work or their businesses.

- Is it Mac or Windows based programs or both? Windows
- If it is a Windows based environment do you mix any Mac tools in for your own use?Mixed
- Do you work with teams?multiple
- Do these teams need access to files that are on Mac and/or a Windows Box? i.e. utilizing a mixed environment and have you had any issues or obstacles you have had to over come?Dropbox is very good but we use SharePoint due to security restrictions
- Aside from project management tools such as MS Project, what other tools do you use to help you stay organized and on track?Exchange. Having everyone on the same domain helped us having a standardised and scalable architecture for our PMO

I forgot to add. Do you use any handheld devices such at the iPhone, iPad, Android device? If so what programs/apps are you using to keep on track with items for your project or team project?

Any suggestions for books or websites to visit that can help someone who learning about project management?

When it comes to project management, MS Project is only one tool that handles scheduling/costing and resourcing. However it is very good when you need to look at your resource allocation over multiple projects. Just don't use resource leveling in MS Project! it doesn't really work!

My own preference is to use SharePoint and Project Server. It is such a overweight system but after trying so many different kinds, it still is one of the most completely solutions.

Another alternative is to use Confluence/JIRA but still haven't managed to incorporate a decent scheduling/gantt chart plugin into the Altassian ecosystem.

If your projects are not too complex, then I would suggest to look into a basecamp/dropbox/github ecosystem that works well.

[rhett7660]

Originally Posted by bapesta

When it comes to project management, MS Project is only one tool that handles scheduling/costing and resourcing. However it is very good when you need to look at your resource allocation over multiple projects. Just don't use resource leveling in MS Project! it doesn't really work!

My own preference is to use SharePoint and Project Server. It is such a overweight system but after trying so many different kinds, it still is one of the most completely solutions.

Another alternative is to use Confluence/JIRA but still haven't managed to incorporate a decent scheduling/gantt chart plugin into the Altassian ecosystem.

If your projects are not too complex, then I would suggest to look into a basecamp/dropbox/github ecosystem that works well.

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I would love to look at the basecamp/dropbob solutions however the company I work for does not allow dropbox access.

Very familiar with MS Project. However I wanted to see what other people are using to keep track of all the different aspects of a project. I know there isn't really one product to do it all so I was wondering what others are using.

I am getting ready to start a rather large project that will have groups of people contributing information and deadlines.

[eguanga11]

There is this one tool that I can guarantee you can BEST ORGANIZE your online market. here's the link to the tour page of that tool: http://www.projectmanager.com/projec...t-software.php

Try it out bro. Impatient to share to you ideas to master it.

[ChesterReed]

Managing large projects especially from different locations is very tiring and stressful job. Project management software is really an aid for this problem and project managers could able to save a lot if they will going to use it.

[rhett7660]

Originally Posted by marialewis520

Web based software makes working process really easy to handle number of projects at the same time so,There are lots of software going which you can easily find by searching online.Microsoft project management system is the best one to solve problems that you have described friend.

I have googled and I have asked others, but I was looking for what others have actually used.

I was also looking to see if anybody has used tools in a mixed environment i.e. Mac/Windows along with mobile devices.

Trust me I have seen lots and lots of tools after googling! LOL