| I freelance for a number of companies (both one-off and recurring clients) and I can't find an issue/bug tracker and PM tool that works when switching between multiple projects. Ideally simple enough that the client can file feature requests, discussions can happen and they can provide feedback, yet comprehensive enough that I can prioritise items, tie VCS commits to them etc. Basecamp isn't any good for technical projects (or structured enough); I've trialled Planscope with a price-conscious client and it worked well (but isn't a bug tracker as the Author says). Lighthouseapp, PivotalTracker, both good but neither encompass the whole project lifecycle that a freelancer has to deal with. Because we don't need a bug tracker like an in-house development team, or a project estimation tool like a sales team, or a client management system like an account manager, or a project maangement system like... you get my point. We need them all. I've also decided after 10 years freelancing the tool needs a Gantt-esque view, so clients can visually appreciate the impact of delaying the project at a certain point by X days, or adding a new feature. It won't be an accurate time-chart in reality, but they need to see the impact of changes to realise it's not worth making them. With the number of tools out there I'm convinced something must match. What am I using? Google Spreadsheets with a large client (relatively successful, save for the discussions... ouch); Another client insists on long email threads (got to find something better). And I'm doing less work and managing more overhead the whole time, with no clear system to tell me what's Important/Urgent across all my clients. To those of you who have solved this already: Please tell me how! |
I've actually been working on what I think are going to be some nice changes that will make juggling multiple projects a LOT easier. My development background had me working on one big project at a time, but I'm learning that a lot of people self-juggle a lot of projects at once.
One of the perks of an all-in-one time tracking + task list tool is that I've been silently collecting data on: how accurate are estimates? how many hours a week does this person work? how many projects are being worked on in a given time span?
And next on my plate will be to actually use this data to make predictions based off of data that will help you see a lot of what you're talking about.