Wrike is "the rookie assistant" that evolved fast into a powerful task management and collaboration tool for our team.
Updated August 20, 2015
Wrike is "the rookie assistant" that evolved fast into a powerful task management and collaboration tool for our team.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
Professional
Overall Satisfaction with Wrike
I chose Wrike as my primary collaboration, task assignment, time tracking and deadlines keeper tool mainly because managing several design teams - each of them working simultaneous on multiple projects - was driving me crazy at the time. The tools that we used before were only MS Outlook, Excel and Project. Each project was assigned to a group e-mail, and tons of messages piled up in Outlook folders very quickly making it more difficult every day. It was easy to forget to add in CC the e-mail address for the group and often enough information was slipping through our fingers.
Pros
- With Wrike, compared with other apps you get unlimited number of projects to manage, and great flexibility to adapt the app to your needs by using the folder structure
- Very nice user interface, lots of features available right from the Workspace, yet simple enough and with online support- a nice Wiki and lots of Video Tutorials
- I found the Outlook Add-in app very useful to use in the transition process (still using e-mail ... but only for general tasks involving people ouside my team); not good enough in older versions, but was continuously improving over the year - with a responsive customer support also.
- Adding a task to multiple folders does not create copies, it's the same task in another context; it can function like a tag so you can have different perspectives...
- Time tracker with automatic pause/ stop when you start working to another task; helped me to estimate future task duration for similar or related projects
- I use a lot the Workload view - it gives you an aerial overview of teammate's calendar and simply by drag & drop you can handle conflicts and reassign tasks to someone else if somebody gets flooded with requests. Dragging start or end dates in the Workload view is also a breeze.
- Powerful search engine; search for folders or all content
Cons
- Wrike is very flexible and with such flexibility some trouble may come along. For example, with the folder structure, you can easily move a task or an entire folder to a wrong folder by mistake (with drag and drop). Not always you have the possibility to undo such a mistake. Example no.2: tagging is very useful, yet confusing sometimes. If you use more than a few tags for a task, not all tags will show (or "have room" in the task header).
- You can create project templates (sample tasks with a given schedule exported into a file) but you will find them difficult to design and apply. There's a new implemented copy function which seems to be more useful.
- I would like to see some useful functions like advanced folder sharing and more customization into the cheaper professional subscription.
- In the first place I used to consider Wrike as a rookie team assistant (for much less money in a month :D)- for accounting assigned people and time spent on projects.
- After no more than three months we noticed real progress toward our initial goal: less delayed tasks and more control in due dates estimates ( which pleased the stakeholders).
Using Wrike
12 - The majority of them are design engineers in the Design Department of our company. They are in charge with system specification for new security projects as well as with user and maintenance documentation and technical drawings that goes along with each new developed system. We use the software tool also with some external users - which are involved also in the designing process (subcontractors).
Wrike Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Change management was minimal - The bigger the team involved, the better outcomes. Obviously, it's a collaboration tool!
A short action plan and some sort of templates are required for the start, in order to guide users in their first week or month. But nothing too tight because flexibility it's one of the greatest thing about Wrike data structures.
A short action plan and some sort of templates are required for the start, in order to guide users in their first week or month. But nothing too tight because flexibility it's one of the greatest thing about Wrike data structures.
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