Ask YC: Project management | Hacker News Reader

Ask YC: Project management

7 pointsrobmnl11 comments

I'd like to ask everyone, since I'm working on a project management app:

1) How does your perfect project management app look like?

and as a bonus

2) What are your grips with basecamp?

Thanks

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Perfect project management app = pen and sheet of paper or whiteboard with stickers.

Anything computer-based is too boring and not very helpful in real life. Project management is a process, not an app. It should be done by people, not computers, and it requires energy and discipline, not algorithms or bar charts.

Face the reality: http://talkback.zdnet.com/5208-9593-0.html?forumID=1&thr...

This may sound crazy but my suggestion for a project management app would be to include some funny or gameplay elements. How about a lottery inside project management app? ("Complete a milestone on time and get a chance to win a case of beer!"). Something to entertain and encourage poor souls who would be forced to use the app.

I'm pretty happy using a bug database for this. We're using FogBugz which is capable of remembering tasks, who they are assigned to and when we expect them to be finished.

Pen and paper + Tinderbox (http://eastgate.com/Tinderbox/).

I use Basecamp more as a structured way to communicate priorities and timeline. It's helpful as a central place around which people across time zones can orient themselves. Look at it as project-oriented blogging. It's not very helpful (or interesting) unless there are multiple people involved in the project.

For a game-oriented take on project management, check out David Seah's The Printable CEO Series (http://davidseah.com/blog/the-printable-ceo-series/).

Devshop (http://devshop.com) is helping us keep our project on task and understand where our distractions are coming from. If someone wants to unfreeze requirements they know it's their fault we're not going to meet the schedule.

Basecamp is basic. 37s develops simple apps for a mass market of simple needs. If you exceed the need for simple you have to find something else. Since your here you're probably not that simple. ;-)

moleskine: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moleskine

I've written a long response, http://cowoh.org/~craig/perfect_project_management_app.txt.

I created this at the company I worked at a while ago:

http://stufftodo.dedasys.com/

It's basically a fancy todo list with sharing between people. I decided to open source it after seeing that there wasn't a lot of interest, and moving on from that company (I developed it on my own, so I own the rights to it). It's probably not right for everyone, but I use it and like it as it's very simple and direct.

If you're on a Mac, try OmniPlan: http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omniplan/

Or Merlin: http://www.merlin2.net/

Both are superb & Merlin's a bit better.

We use OmniPlan (got a cheap license).

As for webapps.. haven't seen any good project management apps.

basecamp is already pretty intuitive and pretty good for average consumer usage. competing with them is going to require a lot of catch-up.

ive never seen my perfect project management app, but I use basecamp for the to-do lists. I think that my biggest problem is forgetting to use basecamp, because it is not engaging. Maybe you could make something that texts/emails you or calls you on a daily basis and lets you know the top 5 projetcs you have something due on? Or maybe make it more like a whiteboard in style.

Thanks everyone

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