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

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

#1

Post by steven_braham »

I recently transitioned to freelancing and things are going relatively well. However, some of my clients keep sending short emails with simple questions and requests. For me, it is really hard to keep track of all these requests.

I was thinking of buying a ticket system where customers can just log in and raise support questions. That way I will have a nice one-way overview of all incoming questions. Furthermore, I'm looking for a kanban based task system to keep track of all work.

I was thinking of Jira, because it's relatively cheap and when I used to work for an employee, we also used Jira to keep track of tasks, so I'm quite comfortable and experienced with using it. Furthermore, I keep all git repos of client projects stored in BitBucket. Jira has good integration with Bitbucket and allows commits to auto close tickets and this makes it easier to keep track of all the work I did for a particular project. However, I don't really work with release cycles and tights sprints (yet? I'm still figuring out what workflows work best for me), so I think that Jira may be overkill.

Does anyone else use a formal ticket system for client questions? What other viable alternatives exist?

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

#4

Post by kirubakaran »

My prediction is that they'll not want to learn a new process that you put in place, which would most likely seem arbitrary to them. Since they're paying for the work, they'll expect you to just handle it. And hopefully you're charging them enough for this so that you can do this without resentment. By the way, are these ongoing projects or are you doing post-delivery support?

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

#5

Post by seanwilson »

Isn't your inbox with tagging enough to give you an overview and when they're just simple questions you can quickly answer?

Aside from that, Trello is quite lightweight. You can forward emails to it which get turned into cards. It can be difficult to get clients to move to your preferred system though if they find e.g. phoning or emails more convenient for them.

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

#6

Post by steven_braham »

kirubakaran wrote: post #4

My prediction is that they'll not want to learn a new process that you put in place, which would most likely seem arbitrary to them. Since they're paying for the work, they'll expect you to just handle it. And hopefully you're charging them enough for this so that you can do this without resentment. By the way, are these ongoing projects or are you doing post-delivery support?

It's a mix.

For example, I have taken over the Wordpress hosting and management of several existing websites. They pay me a fixed fee and from time to time I adjust some things for them.

And there also ongoing projects in development where people leave feedback.

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

#7

Post by steven_braham »

Thanks everyone for the responses. It seems that forcing clients to use a particular ticket system is not a good idea.

I have now created a free account at Hubspot. Hubspot keeps track of all e-mails and calls I make to people and I can automatically add notes and tasks to each form of communication.

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

#8

Post by cm2012 »

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?

Yes, but people hate doing it.

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

#10

Post by twobyfour »

I suggest using a ticket system to track your work for your own organizational purposes, and something like Trello or Basecamp to give your clients visibility into progress.

Then if you have some clients who are interested in learning a new process, they can submit new requests via Trello or Basecamp, but the rest don't have to.

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