Every great development shop, master crafts maker, mad scientist lab, etc. has certain products or tools that are indispensible to their daily work. While software programs may not be as exciting to use as lathes or electric conducting tesla coils, Arcweb has several essential tools for developing great products for our clients Today we focus on…
Project Management Tools!
- Google Apps – While using Google Apps certainly isn’t unique to Arcweb; this is exactly why we use it. Many of our clients have a Google account so it is a snap to connect with them online. Gmail, and Google Drive (the software formerly known as Google Docs) is so popular because it works. Google Drive, and particularly their desktop tool is the easiest and least complicated way to share documents, spreadsheets, and other project information. Quick uploads, sharable information and a variety of document formats makes this a vital tool. In the digital business age accessibility is key, and Google Apps is the easiest way to allow access across companies and platforms, and bonus: it’s mobile friendly.
- Pivotal Tracker – Arcweb’s project manager needs a clear way to track, manage and monitor a project’s progress. With Pivotal Tracker, a sprint planning tool, each individual task of a project is broken into its own “Customer Story” that can be given a time estimate and assigned to a team member, among a host of other options. Pivotal even color-codes the different stages a Customer Story will go through from its first entry through completion. The only drawback is that the program is not a bug tracker. While you can enter tasks as bugs, it is not as adept to monitor this process. All in all Pivotal Tracker is a great agile tool for complicated multi step projects.
- Toggl – Even though Arcweb is a small company, we are usually working on more than one project at a time. In order to make sure we keep everything running smoothly, we use Toggl to manage our time sheets and track hours for each individual project. Toggl also has a nifty desktop app, which makes it easy to start and stop a timer and log hours without having to log into the web portal. Additionally, Toggl offers a mobile interface; designed for the designer on the go! The Arcweb administrators can see how many hours have been logged per team member, and run daily reports in order to ensure projects are staying on target. At Arcweb we use Toggl to send weekly resource reports to all of our clients so everyone is on the same page.
Look for our recurring Tools we <3 series for other tips and tricks from the Arcweb team!