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Best PIM for project management?
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Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:52 AM
Dr Andus wrote:
>I’m leaning toward constructing my own system
>out of several software, with the following process flow and tools.
Your system sounds quite complete, but personally I would be worried about the replication of information from one tool to the other, i.e. the time required and the possible errors. As far as I understand there are no common formats to use for syncing or import/export, correct?
From my experience with project management software, they are good for the overall planning, but not ideal when it comes to day-to-day execution of 4th- or 5th-level tasks. By contrast, task managers / to-do lists are good at dealing with that level of detail, but not at providing an overview.
The professional market seems to adopt with this approach, as mind map programs, which are ideal for overview, can usually export/link to project management applications (conveniently enough, only if you have MS Project installed), and/or have their own project management features included.
Similarly, task managers / to-do lists usually sync with Microsoft Outlook and Google Calendar. This is the case of Achieve Planner and GQueues respectively.
I note the above for reference mostly, in order to highlight potential synergies for others interested in combining such elements.
Posted by Dr Andus
Apr 24, 2012 at 02:11 PM
Alexander Deliyannis wrote:
>Your system sounds quite
>complete, but personally I would be worried about the replication of information
>from one tool to the other, i.e. the time required and the possible errors. As far as I
>understand there are no common formats to use for syncing or import/export,
>correct?
I wasn’t too concerned about duplication or errors because not all tools would be used all the time. They would have been sequential mostly, as iThoughts (the mind map) and MLO would have been used in the design stage, to come up with the structure and content of the project. RP would have become the main tool where monitoring and adjustments would take place, and Google Cal for planning and monitoring the execution on a daily basis. I might have used MLO here and there do develop any new sub-project elements that come up during the project, then entered into RP.
However, last night I finally managed to download Mindsystems Amode V2 and I was just blown away: it can do all of the above! While I also really liked Achieve Planner and RationalPlan, the former lacks a Gantt chart, while the latter lacks a calendar, and for me both of those are essential.
I’m just so impressed with Amode. I see that there have been discussions about it here, with some criticism. Perhaps it’s not a top choice for a complete PIM solution. However, to me at its core it is primarily a very accomplished personal project management (PPM) software, not an outliner or personal database (although it can also do those tasks to some extent). If Amode were marketed as PPM, perhaps I would have been compelled to try them out sooner. But they say they are “a complete Information Management System” and “end to end information handler,” which is a hard act to pull off in a tough marketplace.
Entering tasks is slightly slower in Amode then in MLO perhaps, but having a WBS tree integrated with Gantt and a calendar saves a lot of treble entry. And I might even use the built-in concept mapper, though again it seemed a bit behind VUE or CMapTools in terms of ease of entry and manipulation.
The killer feature for me is the ability to add a task in the calendar, which can then be slotted under a tree item as a new sub-task, so that it shows up automatically both in the Tree and the Gantt! I’ve never seen that anywhere else and that just allows for a very granular approach for project planning and saves a lot of time with treble entry and exporting and importing. I think the integration between the various visualisations (Tree, Gantt, Calendar, Skeleton, Briefcase) is incredibly well thought out.
@Derek: Thank you so much for recommending Amode! I’m a very happy bunny!
Is there anyone out here who has used Amode in the long run for project management or anything else? I’m just wondering if there are any issues that emerge during long-term use (good or bad).
BTW, here is a working download link (as the main one doesn’t seem to work at the moment):
https://www.mindsystems.com.au/support/index.php?tab=1
Posted by Dr Andus
Apr 24, 2012 at 02:38 PM
Actually there are some similarities between Amode and ConnectedText, as Amode “projects” behave like CT “projects” in that they live in tabs and “topics” can be linked to other “topics” also across “projects.” Amode is actually a bit more advanced in that it can display several projects with topics side-by-side in “Project Stacks” in the Briefcase view. Although probably there wouldn’t be much point doing this in CT, where you might have 7000 topics in a single project. However, CT has the Navigator for viewing a set of linked topics in a flat pane, while in Amode linked topics can only be viewed hierarchically in the Tree or in the Gantt or as a list in the Relationships pane.
Posted by Dr Andus
Apr 26, 2012 at 08:49 PM
Speaking of “biting the dust” (http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/3956/0/another-one-bites-the-dust), Mindsystems’ website has just gone off air. I’ve only just sent them an email yesterday, asking whether they have any plans for developing Amode any further, and today their website (http://www.mindsystems.com.au/) says “Account Suspended.” Was that something I said? :)
I really do hope this is nothing serious though, considering how excited I got about Amode (somewhat belatedly)...
Posted by tradercclee
Apr 27, 2012 at 04:25 AM
http://www.mindsystems.com.au/ seems to be back online.