Ask HN: Freelancers do you use a ticket system for clients? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Freelancers do you use a ticket system for clients?

#11

Post by twobyfour » Fri, Sep 01, 2017, 12:31 PM UTC

steven_braham wrote: post #3

borplk wrote: post #2

I'd advise against doing that. Perhaps use it for yourself but don't bring the client into it.

Could you please explain that further? Isn't it standard practice at a lot of companies that you raise a support ticket instead?

That's a very "enterprisey" interaction. Most people and companies that hire freelancers instead of large agencies do so because they want less bureaucracy and more direct access and personal communication. They want to know that their request is being received and taken care of instead of going into some faceless potential black hole of a system.

Re: Ask HN: Freelancers do you use a ticket system for clients?

#12

Post by saluki » Mon, Sep 04, 2017, 6:06 PM UTC

if you use gmail, checkout boomerang for gmail.

If a request is simple I usually complete it or reply saying I'll follow up with your tomorrow or complete it by Monday.

With boomerang you can have the email return to email at a specific time. It's nice because clients can still email you and you can have them return to your inbox when you need to take action.

You can setup custom times for things to return beyond what the default ones are. So I have a M, T, W, Th, F 7am setup so I can have work/tasks I need to work on return on the morning I need to reply or start them.

Trello is good too, I use it as well. Sounds like you're looking for a way to manage your email.

I also use the chrome snoozed tabs add on, you can do the same things with a tab, even an open email. So I use that to close my email for 2 hours at a time to minimize checking it too often/feeling overwhelmed.

A ticket system sounds like overkill, and I can't see my clients using it, vs. just emailing me.

A ticket is more for a SaaS or other application.

Re: Ask HN: Freelancers do you use a ticket system for clients?

#13

Post by nniroclax » Tue, Sep 05, 2017, 4:54 PM UTC

Check out http://jarhq.com. It is request management software built specifically for this problem. Clients can email in requests and it automatically tracks them, plus clients can see their status in a client dashboard and you can keep track of files, emails, etc. It's super simple and low-profile.