Project/Task management for web development

I looked at lot of 'kits', and found the same as you, none did exactly what I wanted. So, I wrote my own ticket / tracking system. I figured, I'm a developer, I should probably develop for myself every once in a while.

Clients can log in and see their site in its current state, see the development notes, click a 'Make A Change' button at the bottom of any of their web-pages to make recommendations. If I'm working on it at they time they log in, they can even see the changes as they happen and chat with me.

You could do the same. Start simple and build exactly what you need right now. Then slowly upgrade it over time. Soon you'll have a perfect tool for your workflow, plus you don't have to worry about license, upgrades, bugs ( well, you will have to worry about bugs, but there's no wait for a fix ). Good luck!

Let us know what you decide, I'd be curious as to what is out there now.

 

I've got a couple of suggestions, from a longtime PM and Merlin/OmniGroup app user. First, check out the new app that Project Wizards put out a few months ago - I'm still getting the hang of it while I still have Merlin on my Mac. I have one free (no, really) and one not-cheap solution that my connects use. I would steer you away from Merlin and anything that Omni Group puts out - IMHO you need scheduling/management/tracking/nagware software, just like most of my connects. I'm self-driven and task/deadline-oriented and have kept everything from document revisions to bridge construction projects on point, but that never stops me from asking what others are using as you have.

The "free" option that several of my connects is using for "ticketing" and the whole bit that goes with it is the Open Source Service Management project solution (OTRS Free - http://www.otrs.com/software/). Frickin' powerful stuff, and it's been around for about 15 years and it's cross-platform (including Linux). I'm considering using that product for a new business venture I'm entering into.

The not-necessarily-cheap solution is Daylite, which has also been around for many years as a OS X solution and CRM product. This product is powerful and packaged for what you're looking for IMHO. I have a custom Merlin template set up to emulate what Daylite is but the manpower that went into it cost me more in my own time that I would have "saved" a bunch of time if I'd gone for a single-user Daylite solution. I'm leaning toward using Daylite for my new business venture - it's so integrated into the workflow that I'm anticipating and there are so many canned "templates" I can utilize. I may also be able to get my head around the new Merlin Project app, which has mindmapping built into it now.

 

Look into SPA ( single page apps ). You can build web applications that truly rival native apps speed, yet have the power of internet behind them. With just a little bit extra design effort and thought, the app can be setup to run offline ( without internet ) and sync up when available.

Now, I sound like a commercial. Best in class acceleration, crash protection and low emissions!

 

You can try Actio, available on the Mac App store. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/actio-app-for-action.-one/id994990008?mt=12
It is what I use for my App development.
The good stuff is that you can define multiple projects (and share them with others as files) and unlike many of the other task managers you can build your work-breakdown-structures as deep as you like.
It has fairly extensive filtering so you can filter by status, flag, or owner - allows you to focus on only the bits that are priority at any time.
DragNDrop allows you to reorder your tasks quite easily.
You can add multiple notes to each of your tasks - so its good to see how the development is coming on - or for storing code snippets etc.
It doesn't have a ticket tracking system or task completion %, but it does have a pretty good search facility across all fields, so you could easily add your ticket numbers into the text and then find them again.