Microsoft To Do replaces the former Wunderlist task management tool.
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Project Insight
Score 4.0 out of 10
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Project Insight is a web-based project and portfolio management software. Project teams can access, edit and update their projects information anytime, anywhere, with any supported browser, tablet and mobile device. Features for experienced project managers include: MS Project import/export, intelligent scheduling, resource allocation, Outlook integration, document management, approvals, time/expense tracking, issue management, 100s of dashboards and advanced permissions.
It's such a simple and effective tool! If you need an app to safely store your To-do's and make sure you stay on top of things, this is it. You can divide tasks lists into folders (like "home" and "business"), share the lists with co-workers, set notifications, even mark items as a priority. It's great for smaller, day-to-day tasks but if you need something to manage a bigger project or a team, you should look into more robust project management tools. Although this is a great app, it cannot replace tools like TeamWork, Basecamp etc. But they work great together
My rating would vary depending on the types of projects that need to be managed. Since I am in software, I don't think it was an excellent fit to manage software projects unless they are small projects with only a few tasks. On the other hand, if you are needing to manage a wide range of departments that are working on a single project with many moving pieces, then I would think that PI might be a better fit. Think of it as a jack of all trades, but master of none.
Wunderlist is what you need for your to do lists. It's really simple to use.
Allows you to set due date to your lists, share them with your team and/or create a folder to divide and organize all your list set
Also, Wunderlist is compatible with all platform and devices. So you can always be updated on your list or work on them from wherever you are and with all the devices you have.
The actual user interface and the way to navigate around the app is very intuitive and easy to learn/use which would make me give it a high ranking, but the syncing issues drop down my rating because there are times where you add an item to the list and then it just disappears. Then when you add it again the sync will happen and now you have duplicates. The other negative with the usability is adding extra information to an item, such as files or comments or assignments. You can do it but it's difficult to tell which items have this information from the main screen. You have to click on them individually.
I have not had an issue where I needed to reach out to Wunderlist, but I know their contact and online chat is easy to access and feel confident that they would be helpful. My only worry is Wunderlist is becoming Microsoft to-do in May 2020, and I believe the app will become worse after that.
I found Project Insight somewhat opaque overall. I thought the training was sparse and answers to questions few and far in between. There was a lot of power there for the dedicated user/administrator. For me, who was a casual user and administrator, I found support lacking. I didn't administer Project Insight much, just some work on integrations with other tools.
Wunderlist is the cleanest of all these products, and also the most functional. It performs exactly like you would expect a to-do app to work, and you can make it as simple or as complex as you want. Trello boards were too much for my employees to comprehend and they could never get the hang of it. Microsoft TO-DO is just a stripped down remake of Wunderlist and will be a while before it catches up (if it ever does). Todoist is the most similar to me, and it was mostly an aesthetic choice that made me choose Wunderlist.
When I got to the company where I used Project Insight, we had our own custom tool that fit the tasks that it was designed for but wouldn't grow with the company unless resources were put onto expanding capabilities. We needed something more.
We replaced that tool with Redmine. It worked well and was easy to use, but it looked pretty dated when we got it, and since we didn't have many resources for managing, it looked dated after a few years without receiving upgrades. It was a decent tool for small teams that were focused on similar tasks. Redmine was much more straightforward than Project Insight and felt more reliable since we never had an issue with our internal servers. On the other hand, Redmine felt dated and didn't fit as many of the tasks that were needed. Redmine's price was right if you installed it locally and was probably still cheaper if you used their SAAS version.
Jira, on the other hand, felt like an excellent tool for software teams. Jira had a great project and task management and felt right for a software team. Jira also had useful integrations, even with Project Insight. Jira seemed pretty unreliable, worse than Project Insight. Our team would have preferred Jira, but I think it didn't work for other teams.
Productivity Increase - Knowing exactly what I need to do and when makes sure that I am on the right track, working on the right project and task at the right time, and not missing anything (or wasting my time on tasks that don't move the needle).
I'm delivering and following through on projects (big and small) without worrying about if I'm missing anything. This has helped specifically in product releases. One task I used to be late on every year was holiday greeting card releases in May. No one is ever ready to design holiday cards in April, so I wasn't even thinking about it. However, retail shops are buying their holiday products in the summer. I would always remember September as the weather started to change, which would lead me to miss out on the bulk of retail shop sales. With Microsoft To-Do, I mapped out the entire project, starting with designing 3 Hanukkah cards, to 3 Christmas cards, to printing them, photographing them, listing them, and marketing them. All with deadlines attached. Every detail was planned out in a doable way. For two years in a row, I did not miss out on this release and my sales have increased 300% year-over-year in part because of my release planning in Microsoft To-Do.
Do you know those tasks that pop up in meetings that you write down somewhere and then sometimes just completely forget? No? Just me? Either way, I used to have them scattered in notepads, sticky notes, and notebooks, and a lot would be lost in the wind. With Microsoft To-Do, I take all of those to-dos gathered during the day and add them to my to-do list with a deadline at the end of my work day. Now, I never miss anything.
