Tim Skaggs dot net | blog » management http://timskaggs.net/blog Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:27:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Proposable, the web app that will make project managers giddy | Bloomington, IN http://timskaggs.net/blog/2010/02/proposable-web-app-project-managers-gitty-bloomington/ http://timskaggs.net/blog/2010/02/proposable-web-app-project-managers-gitty-bloomington/#comments Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:38:08 +0000 Tim Skaggs http://timskaggs.net/blog/?p=287 Proposable logoNeed a proposal completed and sent? I would suggest using Proposable. This app does it all (or most) and isn’t overrun by features. Proposable allows you to create proposals, save pages in a library, archive proposals, email your proposal and get great feedback about the proposal from the client. A ‘comment’ feature is added to the submitted proposal for the client to give near realtime feedback. A submitted comment is then attached to the proposal in chat design and then the author is notified via email about the comment. The WYSIWYG editor is excellent and looks very similar to fckeditor but simpler.

Proposable logo 2

I tested the app by copying and pasting a test proposal from Microsoft Word into the WYSIWYG editor and it formatted perfectly. I had to upload the images into the image placeholders and that was about it. I couldn’t find a feature to add a header or footer, but I’m sure that is coming soon. The simplicity of using this web app is outstanding.

Oh, did I mention that there is an analytics feature to measure the times the proposal was viewed, the total time , first view date, last view date, and a pie chart showing the sections clicked or viewed. The analytics are crazy cool! I’ve been in the business with proposals and it’s a pain to wait for a client to notify me that they viewed the proposal. Deep down I know the client looked at it but they are just too busy to let me know. Now, I’ll know that a client viewed it and much more… I feel sneaky.

Proposable pie chart

Proposable is an excellent application developed by Sproutbox and the brainchild of James Kappen.

Let me know what you think of Proposable!

**All logos are property of Proposable
]]> http://timskaggs.net/blog/2010/02/proposable-web-app-project-managers-gitty-bloomington/feed/ 0 Collabtive | Collaborate and Project Manage | Open Source http://timskaggs.net/blog/2010/01/collabtive-collaborate-project-manage-open-source/ http://timskaggs.net/blog/2010/01/collabtive-collaborate-project-manage-open-source/#comments Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:27:01 +0000 Tim Skaggs http://timskaggs.net/blog/?p=193 Collabtive - Open Source LogoI’m a huge supporter of Open Source programs. Especially, if these programs have a great community backing to help troubleshoot and keep enhancing the program. A few open source programs that you might have heard of are Wordpress, Joomla, and Linux. Wordpress and Joomla are CMS platforms that can be installed on just about any Linux based server. Linux is the operating system that can run a personal computer or a giant server farm. There is a lot a power to be harnessed with open source programs. One of my favorite is called Collabtive.

Collabtive is an open source project manager that can be placed on your server. This project manager allows you to create projects, timelines, schedules, add/remove teammates, and adds a progress bar. Teammates can message each other about the project they are assigned and also upload files to the database. Installing is easy with Linux and MySQL and starting is a matter of creating an Admin account.

Here is the complete list taken from the site (http://collabtive.o-dyn.de/about.php):

Core functionality

  • Unlimited projects, milestones, tasklists, and tasks
  • Unlimited members with user profiles
  • Role-based permission management
  • Messaging and instant messaging
  • File management
  • Timetracking

Reporting and notifications

  • Timetracker reports, activity logs and messages in PDF format
  • Export user profiles as vCard
  • RSS feeds for messages and tasks
  • Synchronization of calendars via iCal task export
  • Excel files from activity logs and timetracker reports
  • E-mail notifications

Other

  • Search, tags
  • Basecamp import
  • Fully themeable
  • Available in more than 25 languages
  • Full UTF8 support

Collabtive - Open Source

Let me know what you think of this program! I love it and makes project management easy.

]]> http://timskaggs.net/blog/2010/01/collabtive-collaborate-project-manage-open-source/feed/ 3 Keep your files with you with Dropbox http://timskaggs.net/blog/2009/12/keep-your-files-with-you-with-dropbox/ http://timskaggs.net/blog/2009/12/keep-your-files-with-you-with-dropbox/#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:08:21 +0000 Tim Skaggs http://timskaggs.net/blog/?p=41 dropboxI’ve given you tips on how to manage your social media and video conference, but it’s  time to focus on your files and documents. As a working professional you will probably travel from time-to-time, and from time-to-time you will forget a document or a file… we’ve all done it, don’t worry. Now, I’m going to give you a tip on what to do to make sure you can get to your files and folders.

The solution I’ve found most accommodating is called Dropbox. This web application works beautifully when you need a program or file. All you have to do is upload the files you want to access later, into your personal Dropbox. You can keep the Dropbox private or share it! You’re probably wondering if you’ll have to go to your browser and click upload for every file. Well, no but only if you download the very small application. This application syncs with your computer and now you can drag and drop the files into the virtual folder that the Dropbox desktop application creates.

Now the magic happens! So, you go to a meeting and didn’t bring the laptop, but instead of not presenting all the information to the client or partner you can now swing by a printing store, library, or friends house and login to your Dropbox account and download and print the documents you forgot. Say you don’t have time to do that, we you can use their iPhone App to access the files or the client’s computer. It’s that easy.

I use Dropbox religiously and probably won’t stop. Check out the website for more info: http://www.dropbox.com

]]> http://timskaggs.net/blog/2009/12/keep-your-files-with-you-with-dropbox/feed/ 1 Harnessing you’re connections through the power of Gist. http://timskaggs.net/blog/2009/12/harnessing-you%e2%80%99re-connections-through-the-power-of-gist/ http://timskaggs.net/blog/2009/12/harnessing-you%e2%80%99re-connections-through-the-power-of-gist/#comments Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:00:46 +0000 Tim Skaggs http://timskaggs.net/blog/?p=10 Gist LogoIf you haven’t heard of a Gist.© you are missing out! This web application will give you a lot of power to manage all your social networks and emails under one roof. Gist offers a one page view to manage your Blog feeds, your Twitter feed, News feeds, and emails that can be separated by contact and type.

You’re probably asking, why would I want that mess in one feed? Well there are a few reasons to wanting everything in plain site. One reason is that you can quickly skim your feed for relevant information, you can divide it to individual feeds and you can sub divide the feeds to contacts. This will allow you to read emails, blogs and tweets from one single contact! Awesome, Right? The other reason is that the Gist. platform will let you quickly look through the attachments and links that were sent to you via email, twitter or blog. Instead of searching for the email that you think the attachment is in, you can just search the attachments from the feed and “boom” you go it!

In short you can manage your feeds and emails easily and quickly.

I highly recommend this web application, but I do warn that it is in Beta. The term “Beta” in weblingo means that it may have a lot of errors or its just not 100% complete. The company is just looking for feedback.

Try it here: http://gist.com

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