What systems do you use to plan projects, manage workflow and track time against jobs?

[Guy Earnshaw]

I work in software development. Recently I have been doing some work, relating to project management and time tracking.

I'm looking to gain a greater understanding of what systems (be it software, cloud, excel, or even paper based) others use to; plan projects, manage workflow and track time.

What do system(s) do you use?

 

[The Byre]

Everybody else here uses Excel. I tend to rough it out on paper and then put that into an ordinary graphics programme so other can understand what the hell I am rabbiting on about. InDesign, Corel Draw or anything else that just lets me draw neat little blocks and lines of dependency (e.g. foundations first, then the walls!) and usually on a grid, representing days, weeks, etc.

I'm sure someone out there has produced something as simple as InDesign, but with project management functionality. Whatever it is, it has to be able to bang out a wall-chart that makes sense to anybody looking at it and is dead easy to alter as things progress (i.e. go wrong!)

 

[Jon Neale]

I've built a couple of systems for project/time management but both bespoke (one for a production environment and one for office (whilst @ 2 different companies)). I had a look around and there wasnt really anything generic enough for their specific requirements.

 

[Guy Earnshaw]

I have been looking around and there are some really good cloud-based options out there, that work as full end-to-end systems from quotes and planning to management and time-tracking. They all look really affordable too, some of these systems look like they would cost £100,000+ to have made as a bespoke system.

 

[Cameron Ziafat]

Aha.io, JIRA Agile and Harvest make the core of our project & time management stack. We also use trello for odd jobs like writing blog posts etc.
You guys aren't seriously using excel are you? I'd lose my mind!

 

[garyk]

trello

 

[fisicx]

An A6 notebook and some coloured pens.

Portable, batteries never run out, doesn't need an internet connection, graphic and annotation support and you can play games with it (mainly battleships).

 

[OldWelshGuy]

trello and http://trackingtime.co/ are great easy to use and powerful enough to get the information oyu need.

 

[MOIC]

8ft x 4 ft whiteboard.

Primitive perhaps, but it's in your face, gets updated easily and can see what's next to do!

 

[Scoped Solutions]

Hi Guy, about 80% of businesses who come to us for bespoke software are currently using spreadsheets, often combined with a whiteboard. Sometimes they cobble together bits of apps here and there to deal with different parts of the business. It seems to work for people when the business is small but it becomes tiresome and error prone when a business increases in size and information needs to be shared.

At that point businesses either go down the route of trying to find the cheapest (or free) software that will do some of what they need to do, or will invest in something bespoke to do 100% of what they need to do - all depends on the value they put on their data and how much money they have to play with. Most of our clients pay between £5k and £15k for a bespoke solution, and then there are others who fall off their chair if you mention a figure bigger than £50 - but then spend £2k on a boardroom table - go figure

 

[webstoreinnovations-com]

We use Jira Agile with Confluence.