I think moderators should have the ability to cast a normal, non binding close and open vote like they were a normal user (while of course retaining their ability to cast a binding vote where necessary).
This can be used in "grey areas" where a moderator can choose to give his or her opinion, bu...
@Lilienthal You asked me to ping you in chat, so here's the ping! I've been using Trello for a while for my personal life, but I recently also tested out meistertask as well as Producteev.
Trello is great for idea planning, but for actually working on things it doesn't seem great. Meistertask is beautiful and nice to look at, but lacks come core functionality like a calendar view showing all due dates for all tasks, which happens to be pretty important in project management. I like Producteev the most, as it's compact, and extremely functional while also being fluid to use.
I'm about to pitch to my other boss (not the one mentioned in the question) to adopt Producteev for our workflow in our university lab, employing 10-12 students per semester. We all have short shifts, usually 1-5 hours so we lose track of things quite easily :P
But if you have any other suggestions, I will definitely try them out tonight before I go into work tomorrow! None of these tools are really designed around software project management, which is what I detailed in my question yesterday. However, several people in that company are working on non-software related projects, so I feel a task management tool would be a better overall fit.
@ChrisCirefice imho, you need a bit of a sales pitch. If I were you, I would recreate some or whole of the existing Excel sheets into one of those tools (using a demo version if need be), and then show that to my boss.
Seeing is believing.
"Boss, there's this great tool we could use" doesn't always work because "What if it doesn't work? Then you would have wasted several weeks." That concern is not entirely unjustified. Too often a tool looks great on the outside, but once you start using it, problems start to show up .... or at least, your boss could think so, and that is not entirely wrong.
@MaskedMan I definitely agree. I spent a few hours last night setting up a workflow for what generally happens in my university lab semester to semester so that I can show my boss. I work on several projects at the company I mentioned in my question yesterday, so I could simply migrate a single one -
then use the tool for a week on my own, and demo it then. I don't think my boss is opposed to adopting a full-featured tool; the last time I asked was kind of a 3-second elevator pitch for at least using Trello, but I had nothing to show him so it was all just words at that point :)
Yes, so it comes down to "don't tell me, show me". You understand why those tools are better, your boss doesn't necessarily do so, or even if he does, he doesn't consider it important enough to replace an existing system. That is the gap you need to bridge here.
I have been in the "boss" position for a short while now, so I can tell you a bit how things look from the other side. There are subordinates who keep bringing up such nice ideas all the time, but it is impossible for me to implement all of them. If I allowed the team to keep changing what they do every time someone has a brainwave, there will be chaos and nothing will ever get done. Stability is as important, if not more so, than changes.
Often people don't think through the implication of their ideas, but with my greater experience, I can see farther than they do, and can give them feedback on what they need to consider for the idea to be considered for implementation. If they just do that groundwork on their own, it is easier for me to stand by the idea.
Hi @ChrisCirefice. I wanted to recommend targetprocess to you as the tool I personally use. I gave up on Trello within minutes when I realized how limited it was. I haven't heard of the tools you've tried though.
From what I can tell, their free version now supports unlimited users but is limited to having 1000 entities across all boards.
For a small team this shouldn't be an impediment, especially if you only use it as a very basic kanban/scrum board to track milestones/deliverables/issues. Old projects or items can be permanently deleted should you reach the limit.
Their customisation seems quite well-developed compared to other tool I tried when I was looking for one, and I've since gotten my manager to adopt it; I was in a similar situation as you. :)
Anyway, I'd recommend just starting it up, creating a workflow/view with only features that are basically fancy post-its and adding lanes for some team members. At its core you can use that as a digital version of a the typical paper post-it walls dev teams often put up.
You can make it as complex and time-consuming as you want but you can dumb it down a lot for your manager if you're worried he'd reject complex stuff out of hand.
Frankly, while small teams are still no excuse for Excel-based project planning, they really don't need to adopt full scrum/kanban imo.
I'm a recent graduate and have been looking for my first full time job for 8 months.
I have little work experience which has been the main roadblock in my job search.
I recently got accepted into an IT Consultant company and have gotten an offer through this company that requires a 2 year co...
There exist these predatory companies that allegedly train you, then lock you into a long contract where you have to pay huge fines. Is there some way to put a warning on this site about these companies? I know it doesn't qualify as a question, but still it might be useful information to pass on
Is a PIP nothing more than an evidence gathering exercise, and thus an exercise in futility attempting to meet the goals, or are there specific strategies that one can employ to survive, and/or even come back from one to prosper at one's company?
What can one do to survive a PIP?
(I'm not under...
None of the companies that do that will have a good record on Glassdoor, though the most unethical also require employees to write good reviews, so you need to use the site properly to find the critical ones.
@RichardU I made an edit to your question to clarify what PIP meant. Consider dropping a link on it explaining what a PIP is if you can find a decent one. Wikipedia is surprisingly useless for it and most of what I find are overly promotional articles.
Oh, and I wrapped your disclaimer in superscript, but go ahead and revert that if you don't like the formatting.
I'm a recent graduate and have been looking for my first full time job for 8 months.
I have little work experience which has been the main roadblock in my job search.
I recently got accepted into an IT Consultant company and have gotten an offer through this company that requires a 2 year co...
Is a PIP nothing more than an evidence gathering exercise, and thus an exercise in futility attempting to meet the goals, or are there specific strategies that one can employ to survive, and/or even come back from one to prosper at one's company?
What can one do to survive a PIP?
(I'm not under...
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