Ask HN: How do you deal with so many project management systems? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with so many project management systems?

#21

Post by kawera » Mon, Apr 25, 2016, 5:57 PM UTC

turaw wrote: post #5

fixie wrote: post #3

We actually ran into the exact same problem while juggling multiple projects and ended up creating Taco - https://tacoapp.com . Taco aggregates your Basecamp, Trello, Asana and 35+ other services into a single screen so you can prioritize your day across multiple services. Works especially well with a new tab Chrome extension. Haven't found the best way to consolidate applications for real time services. Although, I'…

I don't use it, but have you tried out Sameroom [1] for real-time chat? They seem pleasant enough. No idea what to do for video chat, though. [1]: https://sameroom.io

A similar one but as a native client app: http://meetfranz.com/

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with so many project management systems?

#22

Post by tudorw » Mon, Apr 25, 2016, 6:02 PM UTC

fixie wrote: post #17

buro9 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This, a million times over. I went looking... it's not on the site, not in the knowledge base, not on the blog. There is absolutely no pricing information. Does Taco not charge anyone? If you do charge, give me a ballpark, a range even... it doesn't matter so long as you give it. Am I signing up for something without that info? Er... no.

Taco is free for now, but we expect and hope to charge $5-$10/month at some point - cheap enough be a fantastic value for anyone who uses it even occasionally, but also not a free service that you rightly don't want. We're still figuring out when we should flip the switch but in the meantime, you are right, we need to do a better job of explaining possible future pricing.

So the plan is to generate an initial spike in demand from a group of people marginally interested in something they can get for free, then alienate your core users, who would have been happy to pay from the outset, by introducing a fee, but only once the service is sufficiently overburdened supporting free users ? Well they say any plan is better than no plan... but....

Turn this upside down now, think about 100 users paying $50 a month for something they depend on, I bill $100/hr, if you can save me an hour a month I'm winning, once you have $5000 a month every month think about the next 100, keep going, sounds like your product has a use, don't make the free mistake, it's been highlighted here many times, good luck!

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with so many project management systems?

#23

Post by fixie » Mon, Apr 25, 2016, 6:33 PM UTC

vladnyc wrote: post #16

fixie wrote: post #3

We actually ran into the exact same problem while juggling multiple projects and ended up creating Taco - https://tacoapp.com . Taco aggregates your Basecamp, Trello, Asana and 35+ other services into a single screen so you can prioritize your day across multiple services. Works especially well with a new tab Chrome extension. Haven't found the best way to consolidate applications for real time services. Although, I'…

Any plans to add redbooth.com?

We'll gladly consider adding Redbooth. Shoot us an email at support@tacoapp.com. We'd love to hear how you are using it.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with so many project management systems?

#24

Post by stephengillie » Mon, Apr 25, 2016, 6:59 PM UTC

wwkeyboard wrote: post #20

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #2

Don't treat your customers' project management systems as your own organization tools. Instead, treat them as deliverables and manage your own organization elsewhere.

I've found the same applies to corporate organization tools. I manage my tasks separately with "update JIRA" being one of those tasks.

I hope you at least leave notes about what you do. Few things are more infuriating than seeing a complex task assigned to someone, and the next entry is "Solved." and the ticket closed. Great that the problem was solved, but the corporate organization tool exists to make solution information more available to others with the same problem.

In a way, ticket systems are another type of documentation, along with man pages and KB articles and persistent chat (like Slack).

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with so many project management systems?

#25

Post by dabeeeenster » Mon, Apr 25, 2016, 7:02 PM UTC

fixie wrote: post #14

dabeeeenster wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just some feedback - it drives me nuts when services aren't clear what their pricing is. If it's free, fine. If it's paid, fine. If it's free now but you plan on charging later for premium features, fine. But IMO you have to be upfront about it. There's nothing on the homepage, no pricing page, nothing. It makes me nervous to sign up without this information.

You're absolutely right. Right now, there is none, which sucks. As Aral Balkan says well and as I'm sure you know, free is a lie [1]. People should pay for services that they use, and services which get used should be paid. We'll get there. But to answer questions about pricing, it's free until we are comfortable enough to charge. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldhHkVjLe7A

Put that on your homepage then!

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with so many project management systems?

#26

Post by cauterized » Mon, Apr 25, 2016, 7:15 PM UTC

fixie wrote: post #3

We actually ran into the exact same problem while juggling multiple projects and ended up creating Taco - https://tacoapp.com . Taco aggregates your Basecamp, Trello, Asana and 35+ other services into a single screen so you can prioritize your day across multiple services. Works especially well with a new tab Chrome extension. Haven't found the best way to consolidate applications for real time services. Although, I'…

Hmmmm.... I'd be much more likely to take the time to sign up to use this thing if there were a handful of screenshots showing what it's like to use.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with so many project management systems?

#27

Post by dpcan » Mon, Apr 25, 2016, 7:19 PM UTC

fixie wrote: post #3

We actually ran into the exact same problem while juggling multiple projects and ended up creating Taco - https://tacoapp.com . Taco aggregates your Basecamp, Trello, Asana and 35+ other services into a single screen so you can prioritize your day across multiple services. Works especially well with a new tab Chrome extension. Haven't found the best way to consolidate applications for real time services. Although, I'…

Taco looks pretty slick, I'm definitely checking that out, thank you!

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with so many project management systems?

#28

Post by dpcan » Mon, Apr 25, 2016, 7:20 PM UTC

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #2

Don't treat your customers' project management systems as your own organization tools. Instead, treat them as deliverables and manage your own organization elsewhere.

Good point. I do use Trello for all my internal stuff, then checklists inside my cards for each project. But then I find I forget to update my checklists in my Clients' project management tools :( I guess that's just a personal problem I need to figure out though.

EDIT 2: Updated the wrong comment.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with so many project management systems?

#29

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 25, 2016, 7:25 PM UTC

tudorw wrote: post #22

fixie wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taco is free for now, but we expect and hope to charge $5-$10/month at some point - cheap enough be a fantastic value for anyone who uses it even occasionally, but also not a free service that you rightly don't want. We're still figuring out when we should flip the switch but in the meantime, you are right, we need to do a better job of explaining possible future pricing.

So the plan is to generate an initial spike in demand from a group of people marginally interested in something they can get for free, then alienate your core users, who would have been happy to pay from the outset, by introducing a fee, but only once the service is sufficiently overburdened supporting free users ? Well they say any plan is better than no plan... but.... Turn this upside down now, think about 100 use…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with so many project management systems?

#30

Post by collyw » Mon, Apr 25, 2016, 7:27 PM UTC

Google Docs was honestly the best system I have used to date. Skim the others. Put the important stuff from them in a Google doc. Important stuff at the top (everything else will naturally fall into less important). Highlight extra things as you see the need. No farting about having to learn yet another system that doesn't quite meet your needs.

(Might be worth adding that all the companies I have worked at for the last few years were under resourced).