First, I want to thank all of the folks who have signed up with Projecturf so far. These first few weeks have been great and we've certainly had some excited customers signing up, using Projecturf, and talking with us.
I also want to thank those who have taken some time to provide feedback via our Forum or over email. We love the fact that our users are passionate enough about Projecturf to not only suggest enhancements, but help us figure out how to best implement them so they fit your needs.
Without getting into great detail, I want to let you all know that there is a major release coming very soon. We have taken some of the feedback we've gotten from current customers and have incorporated the ones we have heard multiple times. We have also added a couple of additional features ourselves (from our very long to-do list). While I cannot tell you exactly when the new release is coming (and while we have a policy not to share what is coming), I can tell you that you should expect to see some major additions to Projecturf within the next few weeks. Of course, all of those with an existing account will get a message. You may check this blog and our website to get a rundown of exactly what the release entails.
I hope so far that our customers can see that quick responses, openness to customer ideas/input, and continual improvements is something that is very important to our company. We realize that you are the ones that use the product on a daily basis (actually, we do too, of course, but nonetheless), so it is very important to us that you have a voice. We hope to constantly have open dialogue with customers about our product and we hope to continually improve so that Projecturf remains the best Project Management tool on the market.
In addition, I also wanted to quickly mention that we have a better tutorial / tour coming. For those who want to see how to best use Projecturf, stay tuned (check the main website www.projecturf.com).
In short, there's a lot on the horizon. I think this next update will address a lot of the feedback we've received so far. Thank you to all our customers and we appreciate the feedback on how to make Projecturf a better project manager!
For purposes of this short article, I am going to talk about why it's important to have a project management tool if you are in the web development or design industry specifically. As the owner of an interactive design and development agency, I speak from experience when I say that a project management system is one of the most critical tools of our trade. Without it, we'd spend the majority of our time disseminating information from clients to designers to developers and everyone in between. But with a good project management application, a large part of that process is streamlined. By assigning teams to projects and giving clients access, whatever is going on can be tracked, read, and commented on by any member of the team.
Let me provide an example. Our agency, Rareview Interactive, is working on a new website for a client called ACME Industries. When the client comes on board, we immediately create the project in Projecturf. We add everyone on the client team and on our team as project contacts. This gives everyone access to the project online and also ensures they get notified anytime one of the project team members does something. So Andrew, our designer, has some comps for the client to review. Rather than sending them via email where they can get lost, sent to junk mail, are blocked because they are too big, etc.; he simply uploads them to the design section of Projecturf. Then every member of the team gets a short email notification that a new design was posted by Andrew. The client can login, check it out, make comments, approve it, rate it, and more. Let's say ACME wants the overall color scheme to be blue instead of red. They write a discussion comment and that is automatically emailed to everyone on the team. Even if you're not on the design side, you can easily keep up-to-speed without having to constantly ask other team members where the project stands. This is just one simple example, as Projecturf has many sections to manage the entire project.
There are a variety of benefits to a project management system. Everything related to the project is stored in one central location, that's always accessible with any Internet connection. Everyone stays informed throughout the process. Files can be stored and organized. Tasks can be created for individuals. Milestones can be managed. You can find anything relating to that project in snap by simply searching for it; and much more.
Of course this isn't only important to those of us in this industry. Almost all industries manage projects. These tools can help government agencies, schools, and businesses alike. It's been critical to managing our projects and I know it can be essential to helping you better manage yours.