Staction represents absolutely innovational tool for team collaboration and project management. This very unusual tool is designed with the communication in mind. Staction is an extremely simple and fast way for team members to keep each other up to date on the work that they are doing. As the developers emphasize, this solution is absolutely different and should be compared with standard ones (such as Basecamp and etc.). No doubt some users will love this tool because it allows them to work together and communicate while working; still for others this solution may just not work for several reasons.

Here is the first screenshot – Home page:

The most important thing is the communication panel located in the middle. It’s used to communicate and create projects and tasks (using tags). Created projects and tasks automatically appear in the second panel – the sidebar.

The next screenshot presents a Detailed View of Home page:

In fact this screenshot was made just to provide you a better view of two panels, which represent the only things you are going to work with. As you can see the sidebar has a search box and a timer for tracking time you spend on fulfilling the tasks.

Main characteristic features:

• Simplicity and intuitiveness
• Time tracking
• SSL encryption
• Opportunity to generate summary pages
• Tag-based organization system and etc.

Pros and cons:

+ extremely easy communication
+ pretty attractive interface
+ easy-to-use
+ auto-completer for the meta box

- no descriptions for tasks
- no separate panel for files
- no calendar
- no subtasks

Customer support service

We didn’t get the response at all.

Project Mark: 3+

Wrike

Wrike is an easy-to-use and intuitive business management solution that makes your project planning and management quicker and easier. It offers a new approach of collaboration based on email communication. Wrike has quite an unusual folder structure, which is very flexible and allow managers to coordinate every tiny detail of their projects. Its dynamic timeline provides users a real-time, clear picture of multiple projects. It’s a pretty complete tool, but some users may not like the way it works.

For now let’s take a lot at Dashboard page:

Dashboard consists just of project activity – the list of current and overdue tasks. Moreover you can see if there are some comments on tasks.

Here is the screenshot of Project with Tasks page:

This page is very informative and has everything you need: descriptions for projects and tasks, status of tasks, the amount of comments, the opportunity to request status update, editing tasks and etc.

The last screenshot to check is Discussion of a Task:

Here you can just check existing and add new comments with rich formatting options. Moreover there is opportunity to edit and delete comments.

Main characteristic features:

• Very simple and easy-to-use tool
• Folder structure for projects and tasks
• Different prices for managers, collaborators and viewers
• Windows Mobile sync
• Outlook sync and etc.

Pros and cons:

+ very intuitive hierarchical folder structure of the interface
+ ability to add as many subfolders as you want
+ comments on projects and tasks
+ descriptions for projects and tasks
+ rich text formatting
+ priority for tasks
+ Gantt chart
+ detailed reports

- no separate panel for discussions (in fact there is no need in it)
- no Calendar

Customer support service

Though we got a response, it took customer support several days to answer.

Project Mark: 4+

Related posts:

1. Back to Online Project Management Tools: Part 3
2. Back to Online Project Management Tools: Part 2
3. Back to Online Project Management Tools: Part 1

Pelotonics represents an online service that is used to securely manage communications, organize files, and assign and track tasks. There is no excessive functionality you don’t need, so you can deal with only those things that are truly important. In addition to that it has really simple and easy-to-use interface, still it doesn’t mean that there aren’t any drawbacks. Of course, there are some, but we will talk about them a little bit later. For now let’s check the screenshots.

Here is the screenshot of Dashboard:

This page being divided into three sections (what’s coming up, what’s late and what’s new) provides all the information in an easy and understandable way.

Next screenshot displays Tasks Page:

Probably the only thing missing here is the opportunity to add and, as a consequence, to check the description of a task. In other respects there are many useful features: task priority, opportunity to add comments and check the current amount of comments, task time tracking, task filtering and etc.

And Messages Page:

Of course, it looks pretty ordinary, but at the same time allows editing and deleting comments, and has rich text formatting options.

Main characteristic features:

• Opportunity to schedule free 30 minutes phone consultation
• Six different packages, including a free one
• SSL 128bit encryption
• Very intuitive and easy-to-use interface
• Great list of current customers and etc.

Pros and cons:

+ pretty intuitive interface
+ commenting on tasks
+ rich text formatting
+ customizable Calendar panel
+ separate panel for communication
+ separate panel for files
+ task priority
+ opportunity to create task lists

- no subtasks
- no description for tasks (just for projects; still you can describe the task in the first comment)
- no detailed reports
- no way to comment on projects

Customer support service

We got very fast response – within 24 hours.

Project Mark: 4

PlanHQ

PlanHQ is a project management and planning tool that allows you to turn your static document and spreadsheet into a dynamic and up-to-date overview of where you’re going and how you’re tracking. It gives you the opportunity to align and prioritize team work against company goals, and track progress towards achieving the goals. The most noticeable things about PlanHQ are its simplicity and really attractive interface; as for the functionality it might be better.

Here is the way Dashboard and Tasks look:

As you can see given page is extremely simple including just tasks and goals. Tasks (actions) are displayed with the priority and due date. To check the description of a task and other details you need to click on a task.

The next screenshot represents Goals with Comments:

In addition to the fact that this page is well organized it has some valuable features, such as: comments, actions (tasks), attachments, and description for a goal.

Main characteristic features:

• Nice-looking and easy-to-use interface
• Forecasts and budgets
• Opportunity to export data
• SSL encryption
• Opportunity to create private goals

Pros and cons:

+ very intuitive and nice-looking interface
+ the opportunity to create plans
+ priority for the tasks
+ description for tasks
+ detailed progress reports

- no text formatting options (tasks, comments)
- no comments for tasks (just for the project, i.e. goal), still there is a history for each task, which may replace it to some extent
- no separate panel for communication
- no separate panel for files
- no subtasks

Customer support service

We didn’t get the response at all.

Project Mark: 3+

Related posts:

1. Back to Online Project Management Tools: Part 4
2. Back to Online Project Management Tools: Part 2
3. Back to Online Project Management Tools: Part 1

DeskAway is an online project collaboration service that provides teams a central location to easily organize, manage and track their projects. It has really great functionality and very intuitive interface, ensuring thus a simpler and a more powerful way to collaborate and work smarter. In addition to that there are some really nice features which you can hardly encounter in any other online service of this kind, but we will talk about that a little bit later (check pros and cons).

Here is the first screenshot – Project Overview page:

Given page contains just the information you need (project description, latest activity, overdue tasks, milestones and issues) – nothing extra, but it’s more than enough for a project overview.

Another important page that is checked very often as well – Tasks Page:

Here you can do everything you need: expand and collapse tasks to check the description, reorder, add comments, edit, delete, check the priority, reassign and etc.). All tasks are grouped in task lists. To my mind there is nothing to add to this page – it’s really well organized.

Messages Page is also of great importance:

This page is as simple as possible – you can just create topics and add messages to it.

Main characteristic features:

• Opportunity to create own templates
• Issue tracking
• SSL 256bit encryption
• Five different packages including free on
• Opportunity to export all the data and etc.

Pros and cons:

+ descriptions for projects and tasks
+ ability to create task lists
+ separate panel for files in each project
+ separate panel for discussions in each project
+ Blog panel
+ commenting on tasks and files
+ detailed reports
+ Issues panel in projects
+ opportunity to create documents
+ opportunity to create own templates
+ adding tasks and replying to task comments via email

- no subtasks
- poor text formatting in tasks, comments and descriptions (using tags)
- no comments on projects (frankly speaking in this case it’s not a big deal)

Customer support service

The response was received in 2 days – pretty decent result.

Project Mark: 5-

Huddle

Huddle being very decent web-based project management solution gives you simple and secure online workspaces containing powerful project and collaboration tools. It has really nice interface with moveable widgets displaying all the activity across all your workspaces, so you can easily get an overview of what’s going on in your projects. Though it has extra features like Huddle meetings and conferencing, there some things to be added; still in general it produces the impression of a balanced and efficient tool.

The first screenshot we are going to check is Workspace Overview:

This page provides the most important information about your tasks and projects in general: latest activity (what’s new), upcoming tasks and late tasks. It’s a pretty standard view, but sufficient for the majority of users.

Next screenshot presents Task Overview with Comments:

As you can see, it’s very simple (I would even say too simple) – there is no detailed information about the task (just title, description, due date and attachment). However it’s very nice that you can comment on a task.

Finally we will check the screenshot of Discussions page:

Given page represents a simple forum allowing you to edit and delete comments.

Main characteristic features:

• Phone conferencing
• Personalized and multi-language support
• SSL encryption
• Five different packages, including free one
• Opportunity to create whiteboards and etc.

Pros and cons:

+ very easy-to-use tool
+ rich text formatting (except tasks and comments)
+ Discussions panel
+ commenting on tasks and files
+ opportunity to create a document online
+ meeting scheduling
+ descriptions for tasks and files

- no opportunity to create projects
- no subtasks
- no priority for tasks
- no reports

Customer support service

We didn’t get the response at all.

Project Mark: 4-

Related posts:

1. Back to Online Project Management Tools: Part 4
2. Back to Online Project Management Tools: Part 3
3. Back to Online Project Management Tools: Part 1