Do project management apps help productivity?

Quote from: dev_cw at Apr 07, 2008, 11:09 AM

Jay, good to hear someone else around here is old enough to know the DK.

DK was one of my faves for many years. I had cassettes instead of vinyl, except for In God We Trust, Inc. I got mp3s of it all a while back, and it will probably stay in my music rotation until I croak (I don’t play DK often anymore, but I’m always glad to hear it).

Come on guys,.... we are discussing project management here ...

Well, good music also helps productivity, no?

(although I lean towards classical; Vivaldi particularly)

Absolutely. No question that music can move thoughts forward and help make better decisions.

Although I have a few songs for a certain client that has unmentionable lyrics. ;-)

And I’ll have happy music when client catches a clue and pays.

OK, I have been trying to apply what I am learning in this process and have come to some conclusions that are helping me get this together.

1) I found that project management tools are good for the team collaboration (if you can get them to adhere to it), but for clients it is a bit complicated. I take my hat off to those that can get clients involved in this fashion, but with the standard PM tool it just got in the way. So I will use these in-house only. This was an important realization because I can focus on how I use the tool.

2) I discovered that there is a difference between PM tools and GTD tools, I mean you can use a PM tool as a GTD tool but when you mix projects with life in the same place it can get messy. I have adopted a personal GTD app to help me manage my own time and stuff and keep the PM tool strictly for work related stuff. The downside is having 2 apps, but it helps my focus to have a dedicated GTD helper.

3) I found some great desktop GTD applications that are great, my favorite being Things. But I like the idea of an online app for mobility. I’m using Remember the milk although I much prefer Things. I will see how this goes, an on-line app is really the way to go. I also like TaskFreak, it has a good simple interface but I am already using ProjectPier for PM so some of the features were redundant. I don’t mind having my personal GTD on a 3rd party app since there is nothing mission critical, just an organization of plans and ideas, so if they loose it something it wont break me. I can’t say the same for project management which I need to be on my server where I can back it up whenever I want and tweak it to fit my needs. I like RTM’s inbox feature where you can simply email a test in to the system.

I feel like I am getting somewhere with this, although it is not 100% defined yet I am pleased with the direction I am going. I am still a bit behind in getting up-to-date but once I do I should be able to keep it together.

Thanks all for the great input and for sharing a bit of your knowledge and methods.

As for the tunes, I don’t have a defined work music. I will listen to different things at different times and sometimes just leave the radio on. I DO like to have some music playing, since I work at home alone it breaks the silence (but sometimes the silence is soooo nice). What I listen to will range from jazz to classic rock to mood music to heavy rock to modern stuff (I don’t know what to call it). Occasionally I will go with classical but it tends to mellow me out to much. I find that upbeat stuff makes me more productive. Most of the time I listen to it low volume but every now and then I pump it up to 11 and go nuts.

Speaking of putting the volume on 11, the other day I saw SpinalTap again after many years and it is hilarious, I was in tears it is so funny. So much of it went over my head when I first was it.

Since this is about music in part and it’s inspiration qualities, on Jason’s recommendation I picked up the latest Raconteurs album. Insanely great.

Thanks all for the comments.

Music is very important to productivity. Listenting to music allows for better concentration when either habitual or instrumental. I tend to go for new electro jazz, drum & bass, electronica, new ambient and some simliar styles. Sure the Raconteurs is a great "band" (are they a band or Travelling Willbury’s JR.) Anyway music is powerful and can really lend to increased energy, increased brain function and overall higher productivity with lower negative stress reaction.

Keep feeding this one.

Good list for your new site Jay: "Music To Work By" with iTunes store referral links.

Indeed I also work 90% of the times with Music, as Jay says it boost productivity and help me keep my concentration

(Wow I checked the Raconteurs out @deezer.com they are indeed very nice I’ll check out the last album now )

Quote from: dev_cw at Apr 12, 2008, 08:44 AM

1) I found that project management tools are good for the team collaboration (if you can get them to adhere to it), but for clients it is a bit complicated. I take my hat off to those that can get clients involved in this fashion, but with the standard PM tool it just got in the way. So I will use these in-house only.

Sure, it’s no piece of cake having clients use PM tools, it takes a big initial effort to get them to use it but for me it’s very much worth it. I work way faster this way. I am definitely going to offer a 5 to 10% discount to clients who commit to using it, which will be discounted at the end of the project of course

This should seal the deal, money is still a good incentive...

Quote from: dev_cw

2) I discovered that there is a difference between PM tools and GTD tools, I mean you can use a PM tool as a GTD tool but when you mix projects with life in the same place it can get messy. I have adopted a personal GTD app to help me manage my own time and stuff and keep the PM tool strictly for work related stuff. The downside is having 2 apps, but it helps my focus to have a dedicated GTD helper.

Great input, yeah definetly don’t mix both good advice !

Quote from: dev_cw

3) I found some great desktop GTD applications that are great, my favorite being Things. But I like the idea of an online app for mobility. I’m using Remember the milk although I much prefer Things. I will see how this goes, an on-line app is really the way to go.

I am with you on this, and I really enjoy activeCollab’s iCal feed, since it allow for a nice integation with iCalendar on my desktop and soon with the iPhone (when oh when is the 3G iPhone going to be released ! Two months I heard ?) I’ll have it all handy on the go

Check out activeCollab’s iPhone template



More captures here : http://www.activecollab.com/forums/post/12416/#post12416

Quote from: dev_cw

Thanks all for the great input and for sharing a bit of your knowledge and methods.

This has been a very enlightening thread indeed
I have learned a lot too, thanks for starting this thread !

Quote from: sottwell at Mar 29, 2008, 07:02 AM

I just installed taskfreak. It is pretty simple, but I figured it’s a good place for me to begin (not to mention being free). I’m doing a few websites for a friend, and this way we can keep track of what’s going on and what needs to be done.

I think later on I’ll dig around and find a Mac app that will suit using bonjour. That way I can keep it on my own local machine. (did I say I’m paranoid? )

Thanks! Up until now I’ve been jotting down notes for things that I want to add to my projects using either notepad or just a @TODO in eclipse... which really is a terrible way of doing that because it’s difficult to track progress and get comments from the people you’re working with. Taskfreak seems perfect for what I need. I installed it last night and moved over all of my tasks from notepad/eclipse, so hopefully I’ll be able to keep track of everything much better now.