Cool Tool - Wrike for Project Management
For years now i’ve managed my ‘to-dos’ within my Outlook inbox… basically the emails I keep in my inbox are the things I need to do, plus I use the handy tasks feature that was updated with Outlook 2007.
This system has worked fine for me for many years, however some new client work that I took on recently has required that I keep track of many more projects for many different clients. Outlook just wasn’t cutting it anymore, I needed to find something new. I’ve tried some of the other online project management systems out there (Basecamp, Smartsheets) but found that they became almost more work to remember to update than if I just used good ole Outlook. Great systems, just not the answer for me.
My colleague Lori Benns introduced me to Wrike, and there is one thing that immediately tickled my fancy about their system. You can send tasks from your inbox to your Wrike account just by cc’ing the wrike email address (that they provide when you sign up). So love this! Instead of requiring that I a) login to my account b) type in my task instead I can just a) send the email to the wrike email addess and it is automatically added to my list of to-dos. You can also categorize into folders (ie: client names, projects, etc) and include due dates by putting this information [inside square brackets] in the email subject line. Easy peasy.
I’m a fan of keeping things simple, and this system marries what im already doing in my inbox with the function of keeping myself organized and on task with a traditional project management system. I give Wrike two thumbs up and a snap, there is a free 30-day trial so check it out.
Tags: project management software, project management system, project management tools
June 30th, 2008 at 2:01 am
Tina,
Thank you very much for your good words about our product. We’re glad to know that our work helps people to become more productive.
I’d also like you to know that Wrike team is now working on implementing several very important new features. One of them - task dependences –will help you and our other customers to make scheduling even more efficient.
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:44 am
Good article - and surely, emailing tasks works for some people since (as you pointed out) you do not need to login to the account. Though, I have seen that clients sometimes forget the syntax and it becomes one more thing to remember! Hence, we use DeskAway (www.deskaway.com) for all our client and internal projects. We feel its got the right blend of simplicity and feature-richness.