For the past 3.5 years our company has been managing our projects with a web-based software called Creative Manager Pro. It’s worked out very well for us, although it was a HUGE adjustment when we made that initial switch. I’m at a point where I know the ins & outs of the program so well I barely have to think as I navigate from one screen to another. I’ve grown quite comfortable in my little CMPro world, and for some people I’m probably a little too much of an advocate for the product. This afternoon I spent 30 minutes talking to several people from another agency about the software and answering all of their questions — maybe I am a bit of a freak.
Yesterday the CMPro people loaded their brand new, upgraded, all flash version of their program onto our servers. I’m still a little unsure about the name but I’m having a lot of fun playing with my new Workamajig (yeah, that’s the name). They’ve managed to take what I consider a great project management tool for the creative industry and make it better. And in the process they’ve made it sort of fun.
The basics of the program remain but what they’ve added is pretty cool. Without going into a bunch of detail they’ve created a flexible palette that users can customize into their own work space. Multiple widgets have been designed for placement on the dashboard. These widgets can be added, deleted, moved, resized, and modified in a variety of ways. You can even make the widgets disappear leaving a clean desktop that is covered in whatever canvas you prefer. OK, I’m going to stop now before you think I’m a total freak.
In a couple of weeks we get to roll it out to the entire company. My task will be to convince everyone else it’s gonna be fun. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Wait for me!!
We just received our cue to switch over last week. I was met with jeers and groans. Any advice to make it fun?
Angie — Our two biggest helps in making it fun have been taking it slow, giving people month or more to make the switch — while live in both worlds. Secondly to provide some training that showed the fun parts. That mostly means showing them how they can customize the tool for them — namely the desktop, the widgets, etc.
It’s not been without its challenges but we emphasized that we weren’t changing systems because at the heart it’s the same thing they’re used to using. Hope you have fun somewhere along the way. Let me know how it goes for you guys.
We are in the planning stages for our initial implementation – have been nervous because we haven’t been able to talk to anyone who is using the system w/the new GUI. Overall, does it work? Do you love it? Hate it? Help me before I sign the contract!