Quantity and quality: how do task trackers develop in a competitive environment
History knows more than a dozen task managers who seek to capture the minds and win the hearts of users. However, the latter have enough arguments “for” and “against” to motivate the developers of such services for further exploits. Moreover, someone lacks the current task managers, and as you know, demand creates supply.
The peculiarities of this niche are such that free task managers can easily compete with paid products, large corporations with small teams of enthusiasts.
If a new task manager becomes popular, it has every chance to receive quality feedback from users, as well as to get into special ratings of task managers. However, the correlation between the position of the product in the rating and user opinions is not always traced.
')
Microsoft is launching a new service - Planner . He will become a direct competitor of the popular task-manager Trello. Comparing the appearance and operation of the two services, one can find a lot in common.
Planner
Trello
Planner uses the concept of “boards” (boards), each of which is designed for a separate project. Inside the "boards" are "cards" (cards), which may have a date of execution, attached files, categories and discussions. "Cards" can be organized in columns "baskets" (buckets), which you can assign the desired color and priority.
The main difference between Planner and its competitors was the integration with other Microsoft products. For example, discussions in the service will be available in Outlook, and files from Word, Excel and PowerPoint can be quickly attached to the "cards". Microsoft promises to add Planner to the application packages of all Office 365 users in the “coming weeks.”
Trello is a web-based collaboration service that can help you organize and manage projects using maps.
The main advantage of Trello is the viewing of several simultaneously running projects and their status at the moment. To work with a group of developers or other artists working on projects with deadlines or goals, this system can give you an idea of the progress of projects.
In Trello, the emphasis is on packs of cards. Each pack shows the status of any project. For example, if you select a team to work, then in the first column there will be cards with a summary, in the second - the candidates themselves for the interview, in the third there may be meetings, in the fourth - past events and meetings, and in the fifth - the results, as immediate candidates
Over the past year, Trello gained the support of German, French, Portuguese. New versions of Trello Business Class and Trello Enterprise, as well as an Android application have been released. Changed alerts and tagging system, which is used for filtering.
In addition, the service has the ability to create bookmarks and drag and drop addresses to create cards from Pinterest, Amazon, Airbnb, as well as from a computer.
In 2015, some other task managers were also finalized.
In Asana, the high-profile event over the past year was the redesign of the service. The main changes affected the navigation bars, colors and logo. Began to look different information about projects and tasks, and the folder with the incoming.
New ways of conducting conversations have appeared and there are more possibilities for using animation.
A new version of JIRA has been released , in which the welcome guide, sidebar and project template have changed, as well as the possibility of disaster recovery.
On November 3, 2015, Basecamp released a new version of the Basecamp 3 product, and so quickly that it did not have time to integrate with popular services. Now you can create an unlimited number of projects, archive dialogs and customize the frequency of sending messages from Basecamp to mail to rest in the evenings and weekends.
In addition, color solutions appeared to facilitate file filtering, file search by key, new text editor, the ability to download several files with an archive. Now the system, instead of sending messages to all devices, determines which of them the client is currently using. Also improved the procedure for creating project templates.
The support service that Basecamp can be proud of, fortunately, has not changed. According to a Basecamp survey, 93 people out of 100 consider it wonderful.
Redmine developers for the year released several new versions of the product. The main updates relate to filtering when searching for documents, import, delineation of user authority and language localization.
“Bitrix24” for the year experienced a slight redesign of the site and got a new functionality. Thus, new CRM forms and file sharing appeared, the speed and volume of disk space increased, support for Portuguese and Chinese appeared.
Over the past year , Megaplan experienced a complete redesign. From the technical capabilities, integration with mail, counting the value of currency transactions and autoscripts that increase customer loyalty have appeared. For example, if the client has a birthday, Megaplan will remind you to send a greeting.
The developers have updated the synchronization with "1C", added the rental of rooms and support for external calls and created a client base filters. Full-featured project cards and contact management have appeared in the mobile application. In alpha testing mode, an application for Windows Phone is presented.
Cloud task manager who justifies his slogan "Available everywhere and at any time."
It is supported by most devices, including desktop applications for Windows and Mac OS, mobile applications for devices on iOS, Android and Windows. The app is also available on iPad, Android tablet, Kindle Fire, Apple Watch and even a Chromebook.
The product was created in 2011 by German developers, and in 2015 purchased by Microsoft. In 2014, Wunderlist achieved a result of 10 million users, and in 2015 - 13 million.
Analytical agency TAGLINE has published a fresh rating of services for managing tasks used in Russian companies.
He led the ranking of specialized solutions for managing tasks "Bitrix24", which uses 51% of respondents. In second place is the Basecamp service, which is chosen by 27% of the respondents. The third most popular was Redmine with 25% of the vote.
Ratings of services for automating Task-tracking are held by TAGLINE for the fourth time. They are formed on the basis of a survey of 510+ digital agencies and productions with production and / or a client office in Russia (conducted from August 2014 to April 2016).
The dynamics is compared with data obtained by TAGLINE for the period from May 2013 to August 2014.
According to Yevgeny Lobanov, the executive director of AGIMA , it is not necessary to test task trackers in order to make a choice, since system developers give a detailed description of the functionality, and the interface and interaction mechanics can be viewed in the video:
Experts agree that project management systems are a prerequisite for the efficient allocation of staff time. Dmitry Provotorov, executive director of the company "Manufactory" , commented:
TAGLINE chief editor Alexey Ramensky notes:
Also, as experts in the market of task managers, the interviewed experts refer to the “relocation” of management systems to the cloud, simplifying the introduction of technology and expanding opportunities for integration.
“There are more and more very simple systems that are not burdened with complex functionality, settings and features of“ finishing ”. Such systems are suitable well for any one configuration of project management system and are also definitely not suitable for all others. Accordingly, they are being introduced very easily and elegantly, ”explains Nikita Mikheenkov, director of development at Nimax .
“The main task of the [task manager] is to always see the status of projects and not lose tasks in the mail or Skype. Since we are a web-studio, I needed the functionality tailored for specific requests, ” says Yevgeny Kudryavchenko, director of customer service at Vintage Web Production .
He identifies the necessary and optional set of functions that, in his opinion, task managers should possess.
Required functions:
• create projects and tasks within the project;
• assign tasks to specific people;
• give access to clients so that in large projects they see status and set tasks themselves;
• Gantt chart - with its help it is visually easier to understand which tasks are in work and which are beyond the scope;
• time accounting and the possibility of billing (at least internal).
Desirable:
• Russian and English interface;
• integration with Dropbox and Google Drive;
• the ability to lead wiki on the project
“We are sitting in the same office, so chat rooms, group videos and calls are not in priority. I’ll say right away that I didn’t even consider Redmine and dotProject due to the wretchedness and total lack of usability, ”he said.
Basecamp (2nd place in the TAGLINE ranking)
Asana (8th place in the TAGLINE ranking)
“Bitrix24” (1st place in the TAGLINE rating)
Worksection (9th place in the TAGLINE ranking)
Megaplan (5th place in the TAGLINE ranking)
"Previously used" Megaplan. We switched because it is not suitable for managing development, ” adds Artem Paul, Workle project manager .
Redmine (3rd place in the rating TAGLINE)
Nikolay Kostikov:
Maxim Leonov, Technical Director, KudaGo :
MS Project (7th place in the TAGLINE rating)
Sergey Babayev, Nekki Development Director:
JIRA (4th place in the TAGLINE ranking)
Deputy Director for IT of QIWI Group Alexey Arkhipov:
YouTrack (10th place in the TAGLINE ranking)
Ruslan Fazlyev, CEO of X-Cart and Ecwid :
Vasily Dyachenko:
If there is no unanimous opinion and each task manager has its drawbacks, then why not develop your own task manager for your company?
TAGLINE researchers asked the experts a question:
What are the pros and cons of using your project management system to control the time spent by experts?
Maxim Ten , Redmadrobot :
- Plus its system - it is created relevant to specific processes.
Konstantin Kolomeets, ex- “Yandex”:
- There is only one advantage in using your own project management system: the system of your own development will allow you to take into account some feature that developers of boxed solutions do not care about. For example, you need to store a lot of data in the system, or integrate with another of your own information system, or support IE6.
But a lot of cons.
First, the cost. Almost always, a third-party project management system will cost the company less than developing an analog, albeit greatly curtailed in functionality.
Secondly, the speed of development. Over the years, companies involved in project management systems have been analyzing feedback and product introduction experience in organizations. This experience can not be obtained in a shorter period of time, even if you assemble a large team.
Third, quality. Products existing on the market have been developed over the years and over the years have been honed.
Olga Kulikova, Articul :
- One big plus - your system can be perfectly customized for your business processes. One big disadvantage is that the system requires support and development, and for this it is necessary to spend resources, and therefore money. The cost of a commercial product is always lower than its system.
Maxim Malyshev, Notamedia :
- If the system is good, it can develop as a separate line of business. You can flexibly sharpen your business processes.
Everyone is looking for something different. Of course, a suitable solution out of the box would be a salvation for most. For example, for fans of integration of “everything with everything” and fans of one brand, Microsoft developed Planner. In such a situation, the competition between task managers ceases to be fair: many Microsoft fans will "condemn" to their favorite.
In addition, the target audience of task managers is stratified in accordance with the areas of business: software development, design studios, advertising agencies, and so on.
Who is missing the existing task managers? At least, those who create new ones. Apparently, the field of project management automation has not exhausted itself, and soon someone will make another breakthrough.
PS In the meantime, 25% of digital companies surveyed by TAGLINE, track the execution of tasks in Microsoft Excel.
The peculiarities of this niche are such that free task managers can easily compete with paid products, large corporations with small teams of enthusiasts.
If a new task manager becomes popular, it has every chance to receive quality feedback from users, as well as to get into special ratings of task managers. However, the correlation between the position of the product in the rating and user opinions is not always traced.
')
Microsoft is launching a new service - Planner . He will become a direct competitor of the popular task-manager Trello. Comparing the appearance and operation of the two services, one can find a lot in common.
Planner
Trello
Planner uses the concept of “boards” (boards), each of which is designed for a separate project. Inside the "boards" are "cards" (cards), which may have a date of execution, attached files, categories and discussions. "Cards" can be organized in columns "baskets" (buckets), which you can assign the desired color and priority.
The main difference between Planner and its competitors was the integration with other Microsoft products. For example, discussions in the service will be available in Outlook, and files from Word, Excel and PowerPoint can be quickly attached to the "cards". Microsoft promises to add Planner to the application packages of all Office 365 users in the “coming weeks.”
Trello
Trello is a web-based collaboration service that can help you organize and manage projects using maps.
The main advantage of Trello is the viewing of several simultaneously running projects and their status at the moment. To work with a group of developers or other artists working on projects with deadlines or goals, this system can give you an idea of the progress of projects.
In Trello, the emphasis is on packs of cards. Each pack shows the status of any project. For example, if you select a team to work, then in the first column there will be cards with a summary, in the second - the candidates themselves for the interview, in the third there may be meetings, in the fourth - past events and meetings, and in the fifth - the results, as immediate candidates
Over the past year, Trello gained the support of German, French, Portuguese. New versions of Trello Business Class and Trello Enterprise, as well as an Android application have been released. Changed alerts and tagging system, which is used for filtering.
In addition, the service has the ability to create bookmarks and drag and drop addresses to create cards from Pinterest, Amazon, Airbnb, as well as from a computer.
In 2015, some other task managers were also finalized.
Asana
In Asana, the high-profile event over the past year was the redesign of the service. The main changes affected the navigation bars, colors and logo. Began to look different information about projects and tasks, and the folder with the incoming.
New ways of conducting conversations have appeared and there are more possibilities for using animation.
Jira
A new version of JIRA has been released , in which the welcome guide, sidebar and project template have changed, as well as the possibility of disaster recovery.
Basecamp
On November 3, 2015, Basecamp released a new version of the Basecamp 3 product, and so quickly that it did not have time to integrate with popular services. Now you can create an unlimited number of projects, archive dialogs and customize the frequency of sending messages from Basecamp to mail to rest in the evenings and weekends.
In addition, color solutions appeared to facilitate file filtering, file search by key, new text editor, the ability to download several files with an archive. Now the system, instead of sending messages to all devices, determines which of them the client is currently using. Also improved the procedure for creating project templates.
The support service that Basecamp can be proud of, fortunately, has not changed. According to a Basecamp survey, 93 people out of 100 consider it wonderful.
Redmine
Redmine developers for the year released several new versions of the product. The main updates relate to filtering when searching for documents, import, delineation of user authority and language localization.
"Bitrix24"
“Bitrix24” for the year experienced a slight redesign of the site and got a new functionality. Thus, new CRM forms and file sharing appeared, the speed and volume of disk space increased, support for Portuguese and Chinese appeared.
"Megaplan"
Over the past year , Megaplan experienced a complete redesign. From the technical capabilities, integration with mail, counting the value of currency transactions and autoscripts that increase customer loyalty have appeared. For example, if the client has a birthday, Megaplan will remind you to send a greeting.
The developers have updated the synchronization with "1C", added the rental of rooms and support for external calls and created a client base filters. Full-featured project cards and contact management have appeared in the mobile application. In alpha testing mode, an application for Windows Phone is presented.
Wunderlist
Cloud task manager who justifies his slogan "Available everywhere and at any time."
It is supported by most devices, including desktop applications for Windows and Mac OS, mobile applications for devices on iOS, Android and Windows. The app is also available on iPad, Android tablet, Kindle Fire, Apple Watch and even a Chromebook.
The product was created in 2011 by German developers, and in 2015 purchased by Microsoft. In 2014, Wunderlist achieved a result of 10 million users, and in 2015 - 13 million.
Task Manager Rating
Analytical agency TAGLINE has published a fresh rating of services for managing tasks used in Russian companies.
He led the ranking of specialized solutions for managing tasks "Bitrix24", which uses 51% of respondents. In second place is the Basecamp service, which is chosen by 27% of the respondents. The third most popular was Redmine with 25% of the vote.
Ratings of services for automating Task-tracking are held by TAGLINE for the fourth time. They are formed on the basis of a survey of 510+ digital agencies and productions with production and / or a client office in Russia (conducted from August 2014 to April 2016).
The dynamics is compared with data obtained by TAGLINE for the period from May 2013 to August 2014.
Expert opinions
According to Yevgeny Lobanov, the executive director of AGIMA , it is not necessary to test task trackers in order to make a choice, since system developers give a detailed description of the functionality, and the interface and interaction mechanics can be viewed in the video:
“If the project is technically complex, then you need to look towards project management systems, which include a bug tracker and other opportunities for developers. If the task is to optimize and simplify the communication and the process of organizing work on projects that do not require a large and complex development, then a simpler system will suffice. ”
Experts agree that project management systems are a prerequisite for the efficient allocation of staff time. Dmitry Provotorov, executive director of the company "Manufactory" , commented:
“In most cases, formalized production processes and project management systems sharpened for them facilitate the training of new employees and their integration into projects, help developers to keep focus, and managers to visualize the situation. On small projects with a implementation period of up to 2 weeks, you can do without a project management system. ”
TAGLINE chief editor Alexey Ramensky notes:
“The main trend is the beginning of a conscious approach of companies to system task management, where the task manager is used not as a temporary“ rattle ”, but as a conceptual platform, whose logic is reflected in the company's processes.”
Also, as experts in the market of task managers, the interviewed experts refer to the “relocation” of management systems to the cloud, simplifying the introduction of technology and expanding opportunities for integration.
“There are more and more very simple systems that are not burdened with complex functionality, settings and features of“ finishing ”. Such systems are suitable well for any one configuration of project management system and are also definitely not suitable for all others. Accordingly, they are being introduced very easily and elegantly, ”explains Nikita Mikheenkov, director of development at Nimax .
“The main task of the [task manager] is to always see the status of projects and not lose tasks in the mail or Skype. Since we are a web-studio, I needed the functionality tailored for specific requests, ” says Yevgeny Kudryavchenko, director of customer service at Vintage Web Production .
He identifies the necessary and optional set of functions that, in his opinion, task managers should possess.
Required functions:
• create projects and tasks within the project;
• assign tasks to specific people;
• give access to clients so that in large projects they see status and set tasks themselves;
• Gantt chart - with its help it is visually easier to understand which tasks are in work and which are beyond the scope;
• time accounting and the possibility of billing (at least internal).
Desirable:
• Russian and English interface;
• integration with Dropbox and Google Drive;
• the ability to lead wiki on the project
“We are sitting in the same office, so chat rooms, group videos and calls are not in priority. I’ll say right away that I didn’t even consider Redmine and dotProject due to the wretchedness and total lack of usability, ”he said.
Evgeny Kudryavchenko and other experts expressed their opinion on several more products:
Basecamp (2nd place in the TAGLINE ranking)
Design and UX-service at the height, everything is clear and pleasant to work. There is a work with clients, convenient calendar, easy to create wiki. An important plus is that you can set up group reports in the mail so as not to clutter the box with a separate notification about each action.
Minus - there are no tasks, but only to-do lists and discussions that everyone sees, and only to-do can be assigned to a person. There is still no time keeping and accounts module, and, which is important to me, Gantt charts.
I think this is a great solution for small businesses, and also beautiful. But at the web studio, where 20 people can participate in the project, such a task manager will quickly turn into a dump.
Asana (8th place in the TAGLINE ranking)
It works fast, the interface is compact. There are a lot of hot keys, which can significantly speed up the work, if you remember them, of course. Tasks are created as extended to-do, which is also not bad. But it’s hard to keep track of a large number of projects — in order to find tasks, you need to open each project and view it. In addition, there is no client access and time tracking.
The functionality is very simple and more like the advanced Wunderlist. I think this solution is ideal for companies that have a million small tasks, for example, for event agencies.
“Bitrix24” (1st place in the TAGLINE rating)
Reasonable cost, great functionality, internal marketplace expands the possibilities. But she has a very bulky design, a lot of excess, and the service often works slowly. The system itself is good, I recommend trying small companies or large, but not IT.
Worksection (9th place in the TAGLINE ranking)
You open the system and everything is clear at once, the interface is simple and logical. There is a time record and the possibility of billing. Very handy Gantt chart. Easy to create client access. It is convenient to manage tasks - to make the visibility for all or to share only the elect. In addition, you can connect your FTP and store there all the layouts and designs. Immediately obvious, the service was made intelligent web studio for web studios.
Of the minuses - integration with Google Drive only, but not with Dropbox and other services. And there is no wiki, but you can take notes through Google Docs, for example.
Megaplan (5th place in the TAGLINE ranking)
Outdated, a lot of unnecessary functionality. But very convenient mailing.
"Previously used" Megaplan. We switched because it is not suitable for managing development, ” adds Artem Paul, Workle project manager .
Redmine (3rd place in the rating TAGLINE)
Nikolay Kostikov:
Redmine for development is simply gorgeous and free. I especially like the ability to close tickets with commits in git, or link a commit with a ticket, so that in the history of commits you can immediately see which ticket it belongs to.
Maxim Leonov, Technical Director, KudaGo :
Previously used Redmine. They refused because the task manager was not sufficiently indicative and had an overloaded interface.
MS Project (7th place in the TAGLINE rating)
Sergey Babayev, Nekki Development Director:
I used MS Project (in a large project, the development of which took years and years), but I consider it unnecessarily monstrous and useful when planning large marches. In my opinion, he is killing planning flexibility. Although you can get used to everything - I just don’t understand why.
JIRA (4th place in the TAGLINE ranking)
Deputy Director for IT of QIWI Group Alexey Arkhipov:
Despite the fact that JIRA is a bug tracker by default, we use the system for project management, including for continuous design. This software is written in Java, and we do not need additional resources to refine it.
Today, JIRA and Confluence are used by about a thousand QIWI employees. The JIRA interface is convenient for central planning and monitoring tasks, calculating time, SLA and KPI, synchronizing the actions of several project teams. Through JIRA, not only interaction within QIWI, but also communication with contractors has been established.
It is also worth noting the wide possibilities of this software for automating routine tasks of supporting users, such as granting access rights, working with mailboxes and back office resources, thanks to which we save time and more effectively solve current tasks.
YouTrack (10th place in the TAGLINE ranking)
Ruslan Fazlyev, CEO of X-Cart and Ecwid :
Developers use YouTrack , which was chosen due to the simplicity and orientation to text search in the selection of tickets, which allowed the use of one text control and tags instead of a dozen drop-down menus.
Vasily Dyachenko:
If we are talking about an IT company, then first of all there should be happiness for product developers. And if an IT-company creates a serious cool multi-faceted product, and not just some saytiks sawing, then YouTrack is definitely.
Alternative to alternatives
If there is no unanimous opinion and each task manager has its drawbacks, then why not develop your own task manager for your company?
TAGLINE researchers asked the experts a question:
What are the pros and cons of using your project management system to control the time spent by experts?
Maxim Ten , Redmadrobot :
- Plus its system - it is created relevant to specific processes.
Konstantin Kolomeets, ex- “Yandex”:
- There is only one advantage in using your own project management system: the system of your own development will allow you to take into account some feature that developers of boxed solutions do not care about. For example, you need to store a lot of data in the system, or integrate with another of your own information system, or support IE6.
But a lot of cons.
First, the cost. Almost always, a third-party project management system will cost the company less than developing an analog, albeit greatly curtailed in functionality.
Secondly, the speed of development. Over the years, companies involved in project management systems have been analyzing feedback and product introduction experience in organizations. This experience can not be obtained in a shorter period of time, even if you assemble a large team.
Third, quality. Products existing on the market have been developed over the years and over the years have been honed.
Olga Kulikova, Articul :
- One big plus - your system can be perfectly customized for your business processes. One big disadvantage is that the system requires support and development, and for this it is necessary to spend resources, and therefore money. The cost of a commercial product is always lower than its system.
Maxim Malyshev, Notamedia :
- If the system is good, it can develop as a separate line of business. You can flexibly sharpen your business processes.
Perspectives
Everyone is looking for something different. Of course, a suitable solution out of the box would be a salvation for most. For example, for fans of integration of “everything with everything” and fans of one brand, Microsoft developed Planner. In such a situation, the competition between task managers ceases to be fair: many Microsoft fans will "condemn" to their favorite.
In addition, the target audience of task managers is stratified in accordance with the areas of business: software development, design studios, advertising agencies, and so on.
Who is missing the existing task managers? At least, those who create new ones. Apparently, the field of project management automation has not exhausted itself, and soon someone will make another breakthrough.
PS In the meantime, 25% of digital companies surveyed by TAGLINE, track the execution of tasks in Microsoft Excel.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/302914/
All Articles