Looking for online productivity software recommendations

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fpsware

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Wannabe Geek

Topic # 152301 23-Sep-2014 08:40

Most of the time I'm organised, punctual and able to keep on top of all projects and tasks I have on the go. But lately I've found my current "system" is not working and I need a more efficent way to manage my workload.

I'm an I.S Support person working for a LARGE NZ company, I'm the sole support person in NZ and liase with our Australian support at least every other day. At any given time I could have 5-7 projects on that go at once, and (currently) as many as 25-30 active tasks at once. Some of those tasks are related to projects and some are independant stand-alone tasks that in their own right might be considered mini-projects.

My current means of managing this workload is Everynote, for the most part its been great and has fulfilled my needs. But more and more I'm finding myself looking for something bigger and better.

I'm not necessarily looking for a Project Management suit as I don't feel my 'projects' are large enough to warrent being handled in such a way. I'm more looking for a suit that will allow me to organise/group my tasks based on 'project', and also support my individual tasks in the same efficent way. I would need to be able to collate and group related materials (screenshots, word docs, excel docs) for each project or individual task.

The other requirement is that this be an online service, or at minimum sync all data online as I have a need to access this information between computers / locations. Also the ability to provide a shared link to guests giving them the ability to view information, and possibly also contribute.

Any and all suggestions would be welcome.

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Reply # 1134284 23-Sep-2014 08:44

Some of the service desk or fault ticket-type products may be able to do this, have you looked at the likes of Jira and Zendesk? Not exactly what you're after, perhaps, but will allow tickets/tasks, sub-tasks, time estimates, completion tracking etc.

Edit: Insert joke about Facebook/Geekzone/other online activity being the best online product for affecting productivity.

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fpsware

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 1134285 23-Sep-2014 08:47

Inphinity: Some of the service desk or fault ticket-type products may be able to do this, have you looked at the likes of Jira and Zendesk? Not exactly what you're after, perhaps, but will allow tickets/tasks, sub-tasks, time estimates, completion tracking etc.

Morning Inphinity, Thanks for your reply.

While I have not yet reviewed Jira or Zendesk I do not need a service desk or ticket-type of service as this is already implemented by the company.

I'll check out both of these and see if they can be configured to suite my purpose.

xpd

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Reply # 1134287 23-Sep-2014 08:50

Taskfreak would potentially be useful to you.... I'm going to start using it as I'm in a similar situation to yourself.

XPD / Gavin / DemiseNZ

Server : i3-3240 @ 3.40GHz 16GB RAM Win 10 Pro Workstation : i5-xxxx @ x.xxGHz 16GB RAM Win 10 pro Console : Xbox One

https://www.xpd.co.nz - Games, geeks, and more.

Geektastic

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Reply # 1134289 23-Sep-2014 08:50

I use 2Do which works well across Mac OS, iOS and Android. Not sure if that would be any use to you, but if it is, it's excellent.

Offers online sync using Dropbox as well as some other options too.

fpsware

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 1134292 23-Sep-2014 08:56

xpd: Taskfreak would potentially be useful to you.... I'm going to start using it as I'm in a similar situation to yourself.

Unfortunately Taskfreak is not an externally hosted service and, upon initial inspection, requires that you download and host the service yourself.

Due to our extreme security requirements this is not a possibility.

Gozer

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Reply # 1134293 23-Sep-2014 08:56

workflowmax and proworkflow do what you want.

most of the IT support / service desk software will do it,
but some of it can be quite difficult to setup and use if your outside of their core demographic.

fpsware

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 1134294 23-Sep-2014 08:57

Geektastic: I use 2Do which works well across Mac OS, iOS and Android. Not sure if that would be any use to you, but if it is, it's excellent.

Offers online sync using Dropbox as well as some other options too.

This looks nice! Shame it does not have a PC client available. :(

Given the sheer amount of typing and information I would be adding / reviewing on a daily basis working from an iPad/iPhone would not be ideal. If only they had a PC client.

Geektastic

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Reply # 1134304 23-Sep-2014 09:12

fpsware:
Geektastic: I use 2Do which works well across Mac OS, iOS and Android. Not sure if that would be any use to you, but if it is, it's excellent.

Offers online sync using Dropbox as well as some other options too.

This looks nice! Shame it does not have a PC client available. :(

Given the sheer amount of typing and information I would be adding / reviewing on a daily basis working from an iPad/iPhone would not be ideal. If only they had a PC client.

If only everyone would see the light and stop using Windows is what I think you meant to say...! ;-)

You could buy a Macbook Air....2Do runs on Mac OSX.

fpsware

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 1134307 23-Sep-2014 09:17

Geektastic:
fpsware:
Geektastic: I use 2Do which works well across Mac OS, iOS and Android. Not sure if that would be any use to you, but if it is, it's excellent.

Offers online sync using Dropbox as well as some other options too.

This looks nice! Shame it does not have a PC client available. :(

Given the sheer amount of typing and information I would be adding / reviewing on a daily basis working from an iPad/iPhone would not be ideal. If only they had a PC client.

If only everyone would see the light and stop using Windows is what I think you meant to say...! ;-)

You could buy a Macbook Air....2Do runs on Mac OSX.

Sadly my company is insistent on using Windows Servers and desktop, the nerve of some people.

While I do have a MacBook Air at home, I need this app / service to run regardless of the computer I'm working on.

xpd

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Reply # 1134309 23-Sep-2014 09:19

fpsware:
xpd: Taskfreak would potentially be useful to you.... I'm going to start using it as I'm in a similar situation to yourself.

Unfortunately Taskfreak is not an externally hosted service and, upon initial inspection, requires that you download and host the service yourself.

Due to our extreme security requirements this is not a possibility.

You want something hosted externally but due to security cant host it yourself... personally Id rather host stuff myself, then noone else to blame if the security does fail.

XPD / Gavin / DemiseNZ

Server : i3-3240 @ 3.40GHz 16GB RAM Win 10 Pro Workstation : i5-xxxx @ x.xxGHz 16GB RAM Win 10 pro Console : Xbox One

https://www.xpd.co.nz - Games, geeks, and more.

Geektastic

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Reply # 1134312 23-Sep-2014 09:28

fpsware:
Geektastic:
fpsware:
Geektastic: I use 2Do which works well across Mac OS, iOS and Android. Not sure if that would be any use to you, but if it is, it's excellent.

Offers online sync using Dropbox as well as some other options too.

This looks nice! Shame it does not have a PC client available. :(

Given the sheer amount of typing and information I would be adding / reviewing on a daily basis working from an iPad/iPhone would not be ideal. If only they had a PC client.

If only everyone would see the light and stop using Windows is what I think you meant to say...! ;-)

You could buy a Macbook Air....2Do runs on Mac OSX.

Sadly my company is insistent on using Windows Servers and desktop, the nerve of some people.

While I do have a MacBook Air at home, I need this app / service to run regardless of the computer I'm working on.

I think forcing you to work with Windows constitutes unreasonable behaviour - take them to the Tribunal!

How about Producteev?

I also use Basecamp for work stuff I want to share around with other advisors, contractors etc.

Amosnz

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Reply # 1134315 23-Sep-2014 09:33

We use Wrike but primarily for tracking tasks within projects not the document storage side. Works well for what we need.

mdf

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Reply # 1134386 23-Sep-2014 10:40

One person supports this post

I have a deep and enduring love for Trello. It refers to itself as a digital whiteboard, but you can set it up whatever way works for you. It's all online so you just need a (modern) browser, and certainly has a nice Android client. I'm sure there must be iOS ones as well. I work for myself, but give clients access to certain boards so they can see the particular status of activities within a project.

fpsware

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 1134466 23-Sep-2014 11:38

mdf: I have a deep and enduring love for Trello. It refers to itself as a digital whiteboard, but you can set it up whatever way works for you. It's all online so you just need a (modern) browser, and certainly has a nice Android client. I'm sure there must be iOS ones as well. I work for myself, but give clients access to certain boards so they can see the particular status of activities within a project.

I use Trello for personal use, and have done so for over a year now. I considered using it for work but it does not meet my requirements.

fpsware

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 1134616 23-Sep-2014 15:04

After reviewing all the afore mentioned apps / sites / services I've settled on using Wrike.

Reasoning behind my choice (in no order)
* Clean, tidy and looks good.
* Not overly complicated with features I won't use.
* The companion iPhone / iPad app is user friendly and functional.
* Cost effective.
* Configurable / Customisable.

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