Zoho Projects Keeps Teams Focused And In Touch
Online office suite Zoho enters the project management realm with a few attention-getting features. One is import support for Microsoft Project files, and another is a consolidate, real-time view of what’s going on with, and between, project members.
Tasks, milestones, documents, meeting coordinators and report generation are all there, as one would hope for in any project management package. But being an online suite, Zoho’s Projects 2.0 provides a “Project Stream” that shows a condensed view of all the latest project activity, group chat rooms and forums for back-and-forth discussions, wikis and live document collaboration, and a tabbed interface that seems pretty navigable for anyone.
All in all, it expands on Zoho’s strengths and further separates the suite from its Google Docs competition. Here’s Zoho Projects 2.0 in video action:
Zoho Projects requires a sign-up to use, and states that it’s free for unlimited numbers of users.
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
@qrius: Exactly! I haven't tried out ZoHo Projects yet, but didn't see in the video any way to automate conditional alerting...being able to "push" project info. to your team is paramount.
@MIchael Garmahis: No dotProject or Ganttproject?
Having company data with an outside service is against policy for many of us.
TheFu
One key thing to remember is that you can have the greatest project mgmt tool, but it all boils down to people updating their own stuff in a detailed and timely way.
That's the hardest part. garbage in, garbage out.
qrius
@undefined: That's because the "coffee shop" you think you're in is actually the article on Zoho Projects :)
@BrettKS: Orrrr, perhaps baristas with whom TVarmy must deal would be able to streamline and enhance their craft by using the Zoho Project Management thingajig!
@TVarmy: It won't - a completely different thing.
tosz25
@SloYerRoll: Likewise here! I personally don't see much use for most of the new "social" features - more of a distraction than help. It almost as if they said "everyone's doing it and we will too!". The pure PM features are awesome though - we have 80 ongoing projects with our staff located in over 10 countries and Zoho Projects is saving our butt!
tosz25
I just posted on my blog Top 20 Project Management tools Have a look, Zoho Projects is also included. Despite unlimited users there's a big drawback: only one free project is allowed.
Wow, does that interface ever look like basecamp.
Hmmmm... Wouldn't want 'company information' on an 'outside site'. I'll stick with OneNote for now. Does most of what is needed and secure here...
cgarduc
@TVarmy: ??? Wrong article?
@craig198: I'm in the Northeast, and I find myself having to explain half the drinks I want to the baristas at the coffee shops. (Double machiatto. Yeah, that's two shots of espresso, with a bit of milk foam on top. No, there's no caramel. No, you don't fill it to the brim with steamed milk. Uh, thanks anyway.) They should get the graphic for themselves. I'm not trying to be rude, I just figure if it's on the menu and they have names for these things, they might as well know how to make them, or just simply list the English equivalent (Two shots with foam) or give it a cute, memorable name.
TVarmy
I wonder how it will stack up to Google Docs + Google Wave. Speaking of which, is anyone on Lifehacker on Google Wave without NDAs? I'd like to see a preview (or invite giveaway, in my wildest dreams), and it looks like it would be up this site's alley.
TVarmy
@750: lawl
SloYerRoll
I've used ZOHO for quite a while now. There are a few shortcomings but no online PM software can cover EVERY type of project. It's just not viable.
2.0 has made allot of improvements to the back end and it seems like the AJAX has been debugged allot more in this release. There were some nightmare bugs in 1.x release that made ZOHO a PITA. But most of the features I see are minor tweaks over an already well established PM software solution (this isn't a bad thing, just an observation)
I'd recommend giving ZOHO a try to anyone to give it a shot. It may or may not be a good fit. Depends on too many variables.
"The social way to get things done." ??..??
What was their marketing team thinking when they released that, lolers. I have no desire to socially network with people on my project. I care about milestones etc. I don't care what someone works on at any time as long as deadlines are met. This seems more like a micro "managering" tool than anything.
SloYerRoll
does that say, what am i working on "night" now?