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PlanDone Unveils Project Management, Collaboration Tool

9/17/2008

Earlier this month at the DEMOfall conference, PlanDone announced the release of its project collaboration software of the same name. The software targets teams at small-medium sized businesses that need to plan and manage projects to completion with certainty.

So, what is PlanDone? According to the company's fact sheet it is a "disruptive and revolutionary" product that is transforming project planning. Some mighty powerful words, and I wondered what they meant by "disruptive," so I asked. According to Founder and CEO, AJ Wacaser, PlanDone is disruptive because, "We are blowing the model of project management out and turning it on its head."

How so, I asked? PlanDone follows a decentralized model focusing on the action steps where the real work gets done and ensuring that the highest priority work gets done in the optimal order to meet deadlines. Wacaser said, "Each day I go into work I have to decide -- what am I going to work on first today? PlanDone helps you answer that question."

Anyone who has ever worked on a project team knows two things for certain: 1) Most people tend to work on the tasks they enjoy most first whether or not that could potentially delay others and 2) A lot of delegating and sharing goes on between members that is never captured at the project planning level and it impacts everyone.

PlanDone helps teams skip the procrastination model and allows each team member to know the Top 10 things they need to work on and their order of priority. By following this model, project leaders can estimate with accuracy and certainty knowing the actions that must be taken, by whom, and in what order in order to get to the deadline on time. Take a look at the MyTop10 screen:

The software builds a visual representation of the project and its progress using a priority ranking system. Based on the rate at which you're really working, it is able to give you a realistic picture of what is truly happening within the work team. All that sharing and delegating that goes on organically can now be captured quickly and easily within the software by delegating work from your list of tasks. This allows you to balance the human element with the system so these activities get captured and accounted for easily. In this way the plan becomes more of a snapshot of what is really happening versus an uncertain guess based on a planning process that is not integrated with the actual work taking place.

PlanDone focuses heavily on completing projects and uses the collaboration element to make that happen. For the individual, besides the MyTop10, you have MyTimeline and MyTasks that act as your individual project dashboard.

MyTimeline is a visual representation of individual project deadlines based on the rate of action step completion versus estimates or ranges. Take a look at MyTimeline:

MyTasks is like a project inbox that shows personal progress on individual and shared tasks. Here's a visual of MyTasks:

Using the open-source wiki technology, PlanDone provides projects with a whiteboard that can be shared internally or externally (extranet) via invitation. The wiki provides a common place for documentation and editing including rollback and comparison with time, date, and user stamp so team members can see what changes were made when and by whom.

A project specific Chat/IM client allows immediate discussion between team members and the content of the chat session can be easily saved into the project documentation or individual tasks.

Each project has a staff area that allows for tracking of personal goals, organizational goals, and time off which can be integrated within the project data.

There's nothing centralized about projects in today's work environment so PlanDone is accessible on mobile devices (iPhone, Blackberry, Palm, etc.). SMS alert features are currently in beta.

The Technology

PlanDone is a hosted, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) web application that uses many Web 2.0 features such as instant messaging, priority ranking, and wikis. It was developed as an open-source wiki, Moin Moin, written in Python and run on MySQL with Apache and Linux.

The application uses 256 bit SSL encryption and firewall systems for security. The data are hosted at Sonic.net which provides multiple layers of fail safe power and temperature control with biometric and key card access. All servers are monitored with video surveillance as well.

Pricing and Availability

PlanDone is available now and pricing begins at $25 per month per user. Maintenance and support is priced based on the number of users and live telephone support is available. Training and on-site consultation is also offered. More details on pricing can be found at http://www.plandone.com/pricing.

About PlanDone

PlanDone is a Web 2.0 project planning collaboration software company that helps small-medium sized businesses manage their projects effectively. PlanDone provides all-inclusive collaboration services to easily share and manage tasks, action steps, and communication. Founded in 2006, the company is privately-held and headquartered in Petaluma, California.

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