Project Management

[ChadHerring]

What systems do you use for Project Management, Project Scheduling, & Project Progress Tracking?

I'm interested in finding out what you all use and what you have found that works while managing a growing web development department.

Thanks for your input!

[webiff]

Well i must say that before starting any web project, DO IT PAPER WORK. like

Web Theme,
Target Audience,
Layout Structure
Designing
Programming
Testing Phase
Web Launching
in the last

Web Promotion

we have implemented the same steps in creating Web Portal known as http://www.apnahyderabad.com

Regards
ApnaHyderabad.com Team

[netman4ttm]

We use Version Cue from Adobe. This was not a researched choice but one made by the fact that everything we use revolves around PageMaker and we got a great deal on GoLive CS which includes Version Cue. It works well for us.

We use Lotus Notes for schedule and the rest. Works well.

[valk97_goose]

We use Microsoft Office Project, have been using it for so long now it's hard to change.

Trouble is I sometimes feel that managing Project is more work than managing The Project. But all the hard work pays off in the end, as more often than not we get the project in on time or at least know when we will not and can take appropriate action.

Bruce
Engadine Web Services
http://www.engadineweb.com.au

[cooper]

I am also interested in some sort of project management software to make my job a little more predictable in terms of shifting work flows. I have only looked into MS Project briefly and I just discovered PHProjekt (http://www.phprojekt.com/).
Has anyone here used or is currently using PHProjekt?

A friend of mine works for a company that produced this little web-based project/task management tool: http://www.taskmeister.com/
The price seems very reasonable in comparison to MS Project and they maintain/update the codebase. They also seem to cater to web development firms: http://www.taskmeister.com/webdev.htm

By the way, this is not a plug. I have no direct affiliation with this company.

[vandda]

We've been using a new web-based project management tool called Inspire. It's made by a company called epicsoft, and so far, we've been pretty satisfied with how it's helped us along. We have a lot of clients in remote locations and this is saved us a ton of time and money in communication costs.

Their website is at http://www.epicsoft.net

[netman4ttm]

I have to agree with Bruce. In the beginning Version Cue seemed to get in the way and managing a schedule was just another hemroid to deal with. And diagraming a web site was just a hassle. We knew what we wanted to do and just did it. However, as time went on and we got famaliar with the scheduling tasks, we realized that instead of getting in the way these programs actually made our lives easier. We use web programming internally, to run the business and it has become a lot easier to deal with programs when you know the database is in place, the sales interface is ready, the printing system works.
I don't think there is a project manager that is much better or worse than any other. I think it is just a matter of picking one and using it for a while.