Wrike – My Project Management Tool of Choice

Wrike.com is an awesome, awesome project management tool.  Blogging to pass on the love.

Why is it awesome?  Because it is light, makes no assumptions about my workflow, and is simple and intuitive.  Consists of tasks, arranged in folders (one-to-many), with dependencies (Gantt charts), integrated with email allowing for easy discussions and notifications, and time tracking to boot.  Currently, I use Wrike at JoMI along with FairSetup (my other project) allowing everyone on the team to, once a week, quickly review our activity and self-report on accomplishments/time allocation, which leads to short-cycle calibration within the team.

So far, Wrike has been particularly good at helping with the following:

• workflow management – when I have a multi-step workflow, easy to track progress
• prioritization – when people get overloaded, I am able to prioritize their (and my) attention
• memory – things no longer get lost
• rapport – making sure that we are all on the same page. This last one deserves more attention…

 

Tool: SQLBackupAndFTP

OK, sometimes a tools comes around that is so easy to use that you kinda wonder why anyone would do it otherwise.

To do backups on SQL Server, highly recommend: http://sqlbackupandftp.com/

Moving over to BitBucket – Quick HowTo

Moved my repos over to BitBucket – unlimited repos for up to 5 users for free.  Love GitHub, but this post converted me.  To save noobs (like self) time in moving over:

1.  Import your GitHub repo using the BitBucket Import function

2.  Go to your directory see where you are connected:

git remote -v

3.  Switch over to the new repo (StackOverflow):

git remote set-url origin git@bitbucket.org:USERNAME/REPO

And you are done.

PlaceKitty… so brilliant…

www.placekitty.com..  So brilliant…

Recent SW Project: WhatChangedMyLife.com

This weekend I implemented WhatChangedMyLife during the Boston Startup Weekend. As usual, not much sleep, but very educational.  This is what I learned:

Moby Dick Project/Future of Media/Rapid Brainstorming

Last Friday I was flown out by the Knight Foundation (big thanks) to the Moby Dick Project at Stanford, a working session about future of media organized by Ben Huh.  Ben basically got a bunch of people in the room and told us something along the lines of “Brainstorm on problems with news consumption and come up with solutions”.  All this happened in about a total of 4 hours of work.  Some things that I’ve learned:

Tool: PassPack–password management

I recently hired a network guy to help out with our internet woes at JoVE and he recommended www.passpack.com.  So far very nice.  Adding it to my toolbox.

Tool: Soluto–optimize your PC

Just installed http://www.soluto.com/ – a tool that helps optimize performance of your PC.  So far I really like it.  Would recommend.

Sites to Help Setting Up an Online Business to Sell Stuff

I recently met a guy who was interested in setting up an online business to sell a product and needed help setting up shop.  I decided to put him in touch with a friend of mine who can help him set up shop.  As part of my recommendation, I suggested use of the following services: