TeamworkPM’s Engine Room

PixelApes are based in Ireland and offer various services including print design, web design & development, and web hosting. Throughout the  seven years we have been in business we have come across some great productivity tools that enables us and our clients to communicate efficiently and work productively .

Prior to 2010 our core team of two worked from a single office space, and up to that time  our virtual toolbox had been relatively simple. This changed when our web developer, Alex Leonard, relocated to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Initially it was to be a ‘working holiday’ but he liked it out there so much that he stayed for two years.

Since then we’ve had multiple relocations, working between Cambodia and Ireland; Cambodia and South Africa; and, Northern Ireland and South Africa. Our current situation sees us split between Dublin, Ireland and Ballycastle, Northern Ireland.

As a result of these relocations and the new experience of distance-working, our virtual toolbox has had to adapt.

Our projects vary hugely; print design, web project consultation, simple brochure websites, bespoke web development, search engine optimisation, and more. Our clients are based all around the world too: Ireland, United Kingdom, Norway, Canada, United States, Cambodia, New Zealand; and include NGO’s, artists, small to medium enterprise, charities, e-commerce websites, and more.

Design and Development

Certain applications are a given when working on web and print. The Adobe CS suite is one of those. Illustrator is our primary tool, with InDesign being used for brochure print work, and occasional usage of Photoshop although we prefer using vectors where possible on our design work.

Graphics tablets have also become a necessity, with the Wacom Intuos range being the preferred option.

From a web development point of view, we’re currently rocking Aptana as our IDE, although still do miss StyleMaster for fine-grained CSS control which hasn’t been actively developed in a long time. SQLYog and MySQL Workbench co-exist as useful tools for database planning and management as they both have their strengths and weaknesses.

We’ve also been finding Diagram.ly useful for quick and easy sitemapping and increasingly indispensible is Balsamiq Mockups for wireframing.

Life in the cloud

With regard to distance-working, we’ve become much more dependent on cloud computing than before. SpiderOak has been mission-critical for us, ensuring complete file-synchronicity between multiple machines in multiple locations. Their service is well-priced and includes versioning and encryption. We really would struggle to stay on top of local file management without it. Even with SpiderOak, we still find quite a lot of use for Dropbox as a lot of clients already use it.

For invoicing, whilst we used to use the solid open-source BambooInvoice for several years, it ceased development and we migrated to Freshbooks which offers an extensive feature set and makes it easy for us to issue invoices & receipts and get a quick overview of what payments are outstanding.

For project management we use TeamworkPM. Our clients are always impressed by the functionality on offer and we’ve been absolutely delighted with the level of service offered by TeamworkPM. The TeamworkPM developers are insanely quick to respond to any support queries or feature requests. We can manage multiple projects in one location and easily stay on top of what tasks are assigned, who they’re assigned to and when they’re due for completion.  It’s also much easier to track communication within TeamWork than it is via email and for people not using Dropbox they can easily upload larger files without having to send them via email.

We’ve also been relying on Google Docs more and more, just for the simple collaborative power of it. Whilst it falls short on more complicated word document layouts, it’s invaluable in numerous cases, and also helps us keep track of our accounts.

Interestingly, a new development that looks like it may provide some benefits is Google Plus - namely the Hangouts feature. We’re currently working on a project where it’s very useful for us to have a Hangout with our client , as the three-member client team tend to be in different locations all the time. I think it could become a very useful tool for us.

Another aspect of our business is providing managed-hosting. We maintain a dedicated server which is well specified and resides in colocation space in Park West, however with our frequent re-locations and our server administrator being based in Cambodia, we’ve stopped maintaining a back-up server locally. This has moved to the cloud and we’re happily utilising Amazon Web Services for this. It gives us great flexibility and ensures low costs for our redundancy commitments.

Round Up

The last few years have been fascinating, and it’s been amazing to see how the digital office and workspace has enabled much greater flexibility in our working methods and given us the freedom to work in far flung locations across the world.

If you’ve ever thought that distance working and a digital office is not possible, we’d like to point out a small company whose software powers 15% of the top million websites in the world and has a workforce spread across over twenty countries. Who? Automattic, the company behind WordPress.

This is a guest post by PixelApes.

Having tried a number of different project management applications including Zoho and Basecamp, Colorado based graphic design firm Phases had been consistently disappointed with the lack of features and collaboration tools on offer. Dealing with small businesses, Phases were looking for an application that was easy to use allowing clients to take as much ownership of the projects as the company itself. In house web designer with Phases, Kandra Churchwell says they found exactly what they were looking for in Teamwork PM and since implementing it in the day to day running of the business, they have never looked back:

“We had tried many different applications, heck I think I tried them all, but they just didn’t scale well and didn’t offer the same mix of features, ease of use and great customer service you get with Teamwork.

Here's how we use TeamworkPM to help our projects go smoothly.

·       Adding a project is totally simple, and the customizable welcome email allows us to introduce our clients to the system in a very friendly and specific way, which is important to clients who don't have a lot of time, or the inclination, to learn a new software tool.

·       We use TeamworkPM from the very beginning of each new project, communicating internally about the prospecting and proposal process using tasks, the message center and the file uploading tools.

·       The privacy settings are great. We often go through several rounds of internal revisions on graphics files and word processing documents before we're ready to show them to the client. The privacy tools allow us to chat and share all of this stuff inside a "cone of silence," so we can discuss the project openly without fear of releasing anything before it's ready, or of our clients being inadvertently offended by our sometimes frank discussions.

·       The file-uploading tool is excellent. All the information you might need about a given file is available at a glance, and the version tracking is so simple, even our least tech savvy clients can easily tell what version of the file they're looking at, when it was uploaded, what category it's in, and who's been working on it. The new Dropbox integration has made file sharing even easier than it was before.

·       Did we already mention how great the Dropbox integration is? Several of our staff, team members, and clients were already using Dropbox for backup and cloud storage, so adding this feature was a no-brainer and has already simplified our process.

·       The time tracking feature helps us stay on top of the budget, even down to the task level, which keeps the stress level low for us and for our clients.

For Phases, ease of use and smooth communication between both company and clients made TeamworkPM stand out from other project management applications available:

“A powerful aspect of Teamwork is that it keeps all project communication, files, task lists, meetings, everything in one place where everyone working on the project can access it from their desktops or mobile devices. With team members working remotely, clients spread out over the country, and hundreds of files and messages that need to be tracked, stored and managed in a user friendly way, this is an invaluable benefit.”

As well as offering a wide range of features, the one aspect of Teamwork that stood out for Phases as a company was the speed at which the customer service department dealt with any issues:
“Teamwork PM has some of the best and most responsive customer service in the business in our opinion. We’ve requested features on more than one occasion that would make our workflow or communication processes more efficient and easier. Not only did we receive a quick response- in some cases the features we were interested in showed up in the production software just a few days later- now thats service!”, she added.

Denver Web designer Kandra Churchwell is a branding and graphic design guru at Phases Design Studio, the premier Colorado branding firm for emerging and established businesses seeking a unique blend business savvy, creative fire, and passionate customer service. Visit www.designfiles.net to view a selection of projects created and managed with TeamworkPM.

A few weeks ago I put out a request on our Facebook page to chat to a few design houses that use TeamworkPM so they could share their experience with you, about what they do, and how they use Teamwork.

One company that has found Teamwork Project Manager effective in the day to day running of the business is Paradigm Marketing and Creative, a boutique style agency based in Tennessee that assists clients with all their marketing needs. The sheer breadth of services offered by Paradigm include everything from branding, analysis, web and print design, and advertising to creative services such as 3d animation, videos and photography. President of Paradigm, Charles T. Gaushell explains why the company relies so heavily on an effective project management application:

“Because our services are so broad, our client base is also broad. Projects we’re involved with can include everything from completing an initial brand analysis to designing websites and brochures; from producing online PR to shooting a high definition video and rendering an extensive 3d floor plan to animating a 2,000 acre community. Using Teamwork enables everyone in the company to keep track of their tasks and assign tasks to coworkers.”
Now in its 20th year in business, Paradigm’s focus on creativity has assisted clients across seven countries and 43 states, and two years ago the company decided to get rid of their older time keeping program to focus solely on Teamwork to keep track of all tasks, a decision which Gaushell admits has made the day to day running of Paradigm much easier:
“We use Teamwork to remind ourselves of deadlines and milestones- we’re big Dropbox and ProofHQ users, so being able to link projects has been a critical update. Also having Teamwork accessible at home and on the road using our smart phones, tablets and computers saves time and effort. Teamwork guides us through our project reviews at our weekly meetings by giving us a snapshot  and roadmap for the given week. It’s also great for organizing and keeping assignments and projects accounted for and features such as Messages, Comments and Notebooks are used daily. Teamwork for us has made communication much smoother and easier since we can track every email, reply and text version,” he added.

If you too would like to share your TeamworkPM story with everyone here then please get in contact as we would love to hear from you.

One of the parts I love about my job is getting the chance to talk to all the different types of companies and organizations that use TeamworkPM. It gives us a great insight into how people use our system and it gives us the chance to hear both the bad and the good points about the software.

When we started out we never really gave much thought to users outside of company settings using TeamworkPM. As time goes on it's great to hear stories from people who have used TeamworkPM to arrange their weddings, parties, moving homes and even students using us to help organize their study groups. If only I had been that organized when I was in school ;-)

Recently we have started to get a lot of sporting organizations using TeamworkPM to help them run and keep on top of all the administration that goes into running a club.

I recently had the chance to talk to Dan Griffin who is president of the Yamba football club in Australia, about how they use TeamworkPM.

This is what Dan had to say, "The Yamba Football Club has used the teamwork for over two years. The club was in need of a management resource that could improve communication and management of our club and Teamwork provided.

Any small organization is time poor, this is amplified when volunteers run the organization.

For this reason TeamworkPM become central to the functioning of our club. Communication is no longer a two way process, it is now a recorded discussion. Club documents are uploaded to the site, ensuring that that all members can access the central storage space. The notebooks are used for the development of the club. Milestones have been established to enable yearly reminders for committee members taking up new roles.

A central portal for all club information is essential for the organizations succession planning. More generally the introduction of TeamworkPM has helped the club to run smoother and more professionally. This is in evidence recent recognition throughout our association."

Keep up the good work!

Dan Griffin

President 
Yamba F.C.

Buffalo Fundraising Consultants  provide personal, flexible and transparent fundraising solutions for the not-for-profit sector. Our areas of expertise include feasibility studies, telethon audits and a wide variety of telephone fundraising services. We work closely with our clients to tailor the services we offer to the individual client and work in partnership with them to produce the best results.

TeamworkPM has been invaluable in assisting us organise our workload, as well as helping us work together with our clients towards their goals. With TeamworkPM we are able to manage our projects online, breaking them down into manageable tasks. This not only enables both us and the client to ensure we are on track, and plan the upcoming workload appropriately, but also allows us to do this remotely when away from the office. With many clients and projects running concurrently it also allows the company directors to keep a close eye on the company’s performance.

In the past, the company used paper based methods for project management, but this does not compare to the ease of using TeamworkPM. With the paper based system it was difficult to keep our clients up-to-date with progress and inflexible when needing to change dates. The paper system was also less environmentally friendly.

Before finding TeamworkPM the company trialled several other alternatives, none of which offered the quality of service and ease of use that TeamworkPM offers.

TeamworkPM are a pleasure to work with and we look forward to all the exciting new features the Teamwork guys are working on.

James Hairsnape
Campaign Manager 

Buffalo Fundraising Consultants Ltd
4 Oakfield Court
Oakfield Road
Bristol
BS8 2BD
United Kindom

When we started to build TeamworkPM we built it primarily to scratch our own itch. As the product progressed and we added features that helped us, we used to think of how proud we'd be knowing that our software would be out in the real world helping other companies manage their projects.

I don’t think any of us here thought that our system would actually be used help to make some peoples lives better in the world or to give those who need a hand in life a better chance.

We received the email below from Mark Pluimer in Mission of Mercy letting us know that TeamworkPM has been of huge benefit to them. It was a great email to get and we're delighted that our work makes their great work easier.
 

This is the email I received last week from Mark:

Mission of Mercy is a child development organization with 40,000 children in 17 countries.  As a child sponsorship organization, we’re small, but we play a vital role in the lives of the children.  It is not uncommon to have several members of our team traveling out of country at the same time.  We have been searching for a solution to the endless cycle of emails and attachments, and after testing several platforms, made the decision to go with TeamworkPM.  We are thrilled with the decision.  One of the first projects was a communications piece that was under a tight deadline.  The revisions were able to be posted on TeamworkPM with each team member being able to add comments.  The final revision was signed off on by our Marketing Director, who was in Kenya, and I gave final approval on my iPad from India!
 
We started out with just a handful of projects.  By the end of the first month, we were at 25 and growing, as each of our leaders is finding it useful for projects within their departments.  It is already helping us become more efficient and effective in our communication.  As President, I can now review projects underway, ask or answer questions, grant approvals or reorder priorities regardless of my location.  I’ve added discussion projects for our Executive team, with files, notebooks and resources online.  This gives everyone a chance to review pertinent discussions and related information, as well as to make discussion comments prior to any meeting.  We’re much better prepared for decision-making in our meetings.
 

You staff has been very responsive to our questions, and you even updated a couple features at the request of our MIS staff.  You can’t ask for more than that.  With a mixed environment of PCs, Macs, iPhones and iPads, it has been a great benefit for our organization.  We are looking at working with some of our national leaders in different countries through TeamworkPM, as well.  Ultimately, though, whenever we can work more effectively, it benefits the children we serve.  Thank you for the role you play in our organization.
 
Because One Child Matters,

Mark Pluimer
President
Mission of Mercy15475 Gleneagle Drive
Colorado Springs, 

CO 80921
www.missionofmercy.org

Contact us:

If you have an interesting story how you, your company or your orginisation use TeamworkPM just let us know 

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.