TeamworkPM’s Engine Room

For the last few weeks I've been busy working on our first Desktop app for Teamwork to make logging time faster and easier.

Using the web app, you can only have one active timer running at any one time. This was by design. We wanted an easy to use tool within the app to help people measure the time spent they spent working on a task or project.

As Teamwork is used by a multitude of different businesses and teams, we wanted to also offer a more advanced, flexible and feature rich add-on using the API that could benefit from technologies not available to a web app. Features such as minimizing to the System Tray (on Windows) or the Dock (on Mac), auto-pause when the computer is idle (and resume when user is active again), multiple account support (for people jumping between Teamwork accounts), multiple timers etc

In the first version due to be released in late December or early January the following will be available:

- Multiple timers and fast switching between them
- Select your Teamwork projects
- Optionally choose a task from the current project
- Auto-Pause and Resume when the computer is idle. You can decide how long the threshold is in the settings.
- Always on top of all other windows setting
- Minimize App to tray or dock
- Automatic saving/loading of timers when app loads or quits
- Edit/Add/Delete timers
- Pause/Resume timers
- Log time to your Teamwork account

I built the app using AIR and Flex so this is going to be a cross-platform app for Windows, Mac and Linux.

The API must be enabled for your user account in Teamwork to be able to log time.

Future plans include the ability to update your Teamwork status from within the app. We have some changes to make first to the way Status messages work in the main web app and this Desktop version will compliment the planned changes nicely.

Dan.

This is a short video shot by the guys in Web 2.0 Ireland of Peter and Myself at the Enterprise Ireland demo booth in Le Web 2010

 

We have been busy working on some nice new feature for TeamworkPM over the last month and we have also been getting ready to head to Paris to the Le Web 2010 conference which is on the 8th and 9th of December. It's our first time heading to the event so we are really looking forward to getting over to it as well as getting the chance to hear some talk from some of the greats in the web space at the moment, and if we are lucky getting the chance to talk to a few as well.

For this event we got a few T-Shirts and tops made up from Zazzel as well as some stickers.  I have to say I'm well impressed at the quality of them and the speed at which they arrived. We did get a few extra ones so if anyone would like a white t-shirt or long sleeve white top with the fan image on it let us know and we would be happy to send out some to a few of you. I know they not super cool, but hey they are free so you can't complain ;-)

If your over at Le Web make sure you come over and say hello. Myself and Peter will be there and you can get hold of us by email or by twitter @samkidd and @petercoppinger. We are also part of the Enterprise Ireland booth which can be found on the Eiffel floor in booths E8+E9 so don't be shy and come over and introduce yourself. It's one thing we miss with running a web based business,  the chance to meet face to face with our customers so hopefully the event will be a good chance to meet up with a few of you.

Yesterday we increased file storage space on all our Business 1 through Enterprise plans.

• Business 1 plans now get 5GB (up from 4GB)
• Business 2 plans now get 20GB (up from 10GB)
• Corporate plans now get 32GB (up from 25GB)
• Enterprise plans now get 80GB (up from 50GB - a huge increase!)

This is our way of giving something back to our loyal customers. Thank you for your continued support, positive feedback and great suggestions. We hope you will enjoy your new storage space.

Not a customer? Come join us - we'd love to have you on board.

We it's been a very busy time here in TeamworkPM HQ over the last weeks as we have been working on some nice new features and improvments to the application which we hope to release over the next few months.

One feature we added recently to the web App was the ability to quickly switch between Teamwork accounts you had. Since we released that we have been working on adding this functionality into the iPhone App as well. Below is a short video I shot video this morning of the new switcher feature running on our developers iPhone.

Let us know you throughts on this new feature and other's you would like to see in iPhone App.

Over the weekend we rolled out a few new updates. One of which was the new feature called "Sites". The feature came about because we were receiving a lot of feedback from users that had more than one TeamworkPM account. They wanted a way to quickly switch between their different TWPM accounts without having to log in and out of accounts or to avoid using different browsers to switch between them.

Over coffee last week, while in our local coffee house where we do a lot of our brainstorming,  we came up with the idea of the Sites feature. The idea actually started as a bar running across the top of your account. What sounded like a good idea just didn't look right once it was on screen. So with a bit of tweeking Dan and Peter finally settled on what we have now. The nice subtle sites icon which is part of the top right menu.  We felt that this look and the way the switcher works kept a similar look and feel with other sections within Teamwork.

I have put together the short video below to show you how the new "Sites feature" works and how to go about setting it up for yourselves.

Again as with all our features, new and old, if you have any suggestions about them please drop us some feedback via the link at the bottom of your App.

 

A little over two weeks ago, Sam said in a post that we’d be bringing out lots of updates to the iPhone app and he wasn’t Kidding (that pun wasn’t intentional Sam honest! :)

The latest update has been approved by Apple and is already in the App Store. If you haven’t tried the iPhone app yet, go get it now. If you have the first version go check your updates as normal – we think you won’t be disappointed!

This release adds two new features to get you guys working faster.

Quick Add

First up we’ve changed the way you create tasks. If you’re anything like me you get your ideas in bursts. And nothing kills a good flow of ideas like having to Stop. And Wait. To Upload. Every. Single. Task. Individually. With this latest release of the app, you can enter as many tasks as you like and then upload them all in one go. No waiting around between ideas.

It goes a little further than that though – we’ve worked hard on getting out of your way. So when you start adding a task the keyboard will be there waiting for you – no tap required. To enter multiple tasks just keep on typing. There’s no need to hit an edit button just to delete or re-arrange. And when you’re ready, you can tap on the Drop-Down-Triangle-Dohickey to apply details like ‘Due Date’ and ‘Who’s Responsible’, across all of the new tasks in just one step. Finally, to change details of just one task? Just tap that task and edit as normal.

We already have a few more refinements lined up for this screen, but we think you’ll find adding multiple tasks a much more enjoyable experience.

Today

The second feature is here by popular demand. As well as ‘Pending’ and ‘Overdue’ there’s now a ‘Today’ view. It shows all of the tasks that are due today – without the clutter of the 7-day ‘Due Soon’ ( We actually have big plans for a novel overhaul of Today/DueSoon/Overdue – but we’ll keep that under wraps for a bit longer :)

There’s plenty of other smaller changes and bug fixes which I’ll tag on end of this post, but this is more or less how we see it going – regular updates with one or two main features and a host of smaller changes. Hopefully this way will ensure that your feedback and suggestions will have a direct impact on the development process.

And that ends my very first blog post to be found anywhere on the interwebs.

Mike

Other Features

• Use a custom date picker for the quick add…
• Add a Due Today action on the home screen
• A-Z bar on projects : Not a biggie but would be an awesome help
• case insensitive project index
• Only show index for starred projects if there’s a whole bundle of them.
• Show beveled activity spinner while updating milestones
• link on settings screen to api key instructions
• Add a “Today” button to date chooser in milestone editor
• Pre-set the date chooser to the date of the task
• Completed Milestones text should be green
• Disable “Update” button while updating milestones
• Pre-set the date chooser to the date of the milestone

Bug Fixes

• Edit Task: Person is not remembered so when you save it sets to
• some comments cut off the last line of the message
• Mark task as complete in “All Milestones” refresh bug
• Due Soon table needs to be refresh on next load if something has changed
• Over due table needs to be refreshed on next load if something has changed
• Remove bookmarks from dashboard when changing account
• File Comment in Activity log has no icon
• Add Task : Choose person : Throws a 400 error
• projects title doesn’t take into account the index bar

I came across this video because of another video which is making it's way around th net at the moment called, PEOPLE ARE AWESOME. In this video it shows a guy running across water. I know some people are awesome but I thought that might just be stretching it a bit. So I did a search for walking on water and found the video about a new sport called "Liquid Mountaineering" The video below is them demonstrating the new extreme sport.

Right so after watching that video and a few other videos of people trying their best to run on water with no success, I did a bit more searching round and found the video called "Making of Hi Tec Liquid Mountainerring" After two weeks  of worldwide buzz, Hi Tec decided to come clean and reveal that they were behind the 'Liquid Mountaineering' viral video.

It's a great example of just how creative you can be these day in business when you have the power of social media and the internet.

Periodically check out the Harvard Business Review to sharpen my business thinking and got caught up in an article from Rosabeth Moss Kanter’ post on “Five Tips for Leading Campaigns for Change” the blog post It mentioned the importance of story telling and testimonials, and it struck me that this is something we haven’t really done much of here at TeamworkPM. I’m often on the phone to users or talking to  them via email about the ways in which they use the system and how it’s helped them out in their businesses.
 
One of my challenges here at TeamworkPM is to help people understand how the ways in which they can use our technology to make their work life simpler, or to help stream line certain areas of their business.  I’m always looking for better ways to get these point across.
 
So I have decided to listen to Rosabeths advice and let some of our client’s stories speak for themselves.  I think by sharing how other companies use TeamworkPM on a day-to-day basis– that it will make it easier for you to envision ways that the software could potentially help your teams collaborate and gain efficiencies by working together online.

Walls is a construction company based here in Ireland that uses TeamworkPM.  Like a lot of our clients, they began by testing the system out on a small project.  When I spoke to John Boylan in Walls I asked him what they used TWPM for. " We use TeamworkPM to collaborate with Design Teams and Sub-contractor in the management of all the Construction Issue drawings and specifications on various projects. Historically we would have distributed the information by post or email. This was extremely time consuming and difficult to track. With TeamworkPM we can use a central location to store all the files and then give people access to the files in a controlled manner.  This not only saves time, it enhances efficiency which in turn is contributing to a reduction in our overhead costs."
 
The system worked very well for their initial test project and they have now rolled the system out for one of their large construction projects. Walls are using TeamworkPM for the management of a new 15 million euro project. The main area in which Walls use the system is the file upload capabilities’ Project members can upload the plans for each area of the project online, which then notifies all the people involved. Each group can then view the plans or if they wish download and print the plans out.
Each user, depending on permissions, then has the ability to upload a new version of the plan as well having the ability to add comments to each file to communicate their views to all the parties involved in the project.

This feature alone been a major advantage for the company as it;
·      saves them the cost of printing out large construction plans.
·      saves the time and cost of couriering the printed plans to all the people working on this project.
·      speeds up the approval process of the plans can be accessed online 24/7
·      improves the communication process. As soon as a new file/plan/document is uploaded the entire team is automatically notified by email and everyone has instant    access to the same files.
 
On a project of this size, you can imagine that the time and money spent (printing, couriering, and waiting for approvals from multiple parties) when accumulated over time, this would be a substantial cost.  The efficiency TeamworkPM provides helps Walls to focus on the bigger problems they have to deal with when working on a project of this size.