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What Does Everyone Use For Task/Project Tracking?
JerBear0 writes "I work as the sole IT employee at a company of about 50 people. I handle programming, support, pretty much anything that is IT related, or even that plugs in. As seems to be true with many small companies, the priorities seem to shift quite frequently. As a result, I've always got multiple programming (both new systems and improvements/changes to existing systems), integration, research, maintenance tasks/projects on my To Do list, in varying stages of completion. At any given time, I need to be able to jump back to one of these items and pick up where I left off. I am currently using Outlook Tasks, and then end up referencing my notebook and email for those dates to figure out exactly where I left off. It works, but not well. If it's been a while, I'll end up losing an hour or two just tracking everything down. I looked at using MS Project / OpenProj, but they want an individual file for each project, and I want at least the project/task list all on one screen. Essentially what I'd want would be a Task List on steroids, allowing for hierarchical subtasks, attachments, and prioritization. Ideally it would be a desktop app, but a locally-hostable web app would be okay. In some of these projects I may want to include proprietary information, which I really don't want floating out in the cloud outside of my control. I know I'm not alone in this problem, so what do you guys (gals) use to address this?"
I use redmine, see http://www.redmine.org/
A combination of Bugzilla and Wiki. Wiki keeps track of backlog. Bugzilla keeps track of tasks.
http://www.clockingit.com/ Might be worth a look. Keeps track of stuff you need to do, and will let you keep track of time spent doing it as well. Definitely a help if you're looking to prove you need help some day. And yes, you can install a copy of it on a local server.
Heck, might be a good tool for others in your office, for that matter - this isn't a problem you're alone in having in your company.
"Actually, I enjoyed this in the same vague, horrible way I enjoyed the A-Team" P. Opus
We've upgraded to soft clay tablets and pointy sticks from hand painting on cave walls. There was a great debate on the merits of the permanence of the new technology until Ugh pointed out that the clay tablets harden if you leave them on the fire and that you can also take them with you when moving to the summer caves.
Nice big whiteboard w/ several color markers. Grid it out into colums/rows if needed using blue painters masking tape.
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
I use WebCollab, great tool and fits the description of a "task list on steroids" and its open source! What is nice about WebCollab is that you have one object, a task, and a task can have multiple tasks in a hierarchical organization or can be by itself. http://webcollab.sourceforge.net/
But I always wash my hands afterwards.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Are you an emacs user? If so, then I definitely recommend org-mode: http://orgmode.org/
It's notes mixed with todos on steroids (which themselves are on steroids). There's nothing it can't do. Check it out.
There's a Google tech video about it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJTwQvgfgMM
-Enfors-
I agree with keeping it old-school-- or at least it's good to avoid making things more complicated and technological than they need to be.
If you're trying to do something very complex and specific, there are probably good tools out there for you. Other people here are talking about tools that manage trouble tickets and stuff, and if you need that, great. Try some out, see what works. However, don't undervalue the old pen and paper. If you're going to use a computer, don't be afraid to type some lines into a text editor and save the text file, relying on simple directory structures and file names to keep things organized. As a techie, it may disappoint you to resort to such simple approaches, but the simple things still work.
I may be stating the obvious that everyone here already knows, but you might want to read Getting Things Done if you haven't already. The GTD fad may be overblown, but there's some good advise in there for making task lists.
But generally, my advice would be to not even try to devise a technical solution that will "keep you organized". Either you're organized or you aren't. If you add a complex technical solution on top of your disorganization, you'll probably end up dealing with your technical solution in a disorganized manner and it won't work. Get organized, then figure out a system that will help you skip over some of the more tedious steps of your workflow. Also, don't try to put all your information into a single task list. Keep the task list simple enough that you can glance at it and see if there's anything you can check off. If you need more information on a given task, keep a resource file somewhere else and store all the details there.
But regardless of this advice, you have to find a system that works for you. There's no "proper" way of handling these things that will work perfectly for everyone.
Trac is a Bugzilla, Wiki, and then some - plus it has thousands of plugins. Also easy to administer and manage. Great tool, I use it for many projects.
I think it's been fairly well established that African swallows are no better at carrying coconuts. It's a question of mass ratios. That said, there have been recent discoveries in OCT protocols (octopus coconut transport) that you may be interested in.
Down with the career politician! SUPPORT TERM LIMITS
There was a similar comment posted, but it lacked explanations and has not been modded up yet, so let me go into more details.
Your current task management solution does not work so well, and you are looking for a tool that, you hope, will automagically make everything work for you. Let me tell you from experience: this won't happen. You may get a small boost at first, when using a new shinny "todo list on steroids", but it does not come from the tool: it just comes from your increased motivation. And when the novelty wears off, you will find yourself facing the same problems as before, blame the tool again and start looking for a new one. Rinse, repeat...
So, rather than looking for a technical solution to your problem, you first need to find a better task management method. And as a previous poster wrote:
1) Read the book "Getting Things Done" (GTD) by David Allen.
2) There is no 2). The GTD method works very well with just pen and paper, and you can probably implement it with the tools you are currently using.
Once you are familiar with the GTD method, you may start looking for some GTD specific tool. In that case, I suggest OmniFocus. I reviewed many such tools, but I think OmniFocus is the one that is truest to the method. In particular, it is very important to be able to easily turn a task into a project when you process your inbox. And OmniFocus makes it the easiest: you just drag and drop the task to the project sidebar. All other software make you click extra buttons, input the project title again, and this extra clutter just gets in the way of a smooth inbox processing. OmniFocus is also an iPhone application, that can sync with its desktop counter-part, so you can have access to your GTD system anywhere. Only issue: the desktop version is unfortunately Mac only.
I code, therefore I am.
What do you do to stop the octopi from stealing the coconuts to live in?
Kick 'em in the tentacles!
Smivs on the intertubes!