aC forum: User Poll: How do you manage projects with aC?

Post #3 by willemn

willemn — Fri, 14 May 2010 14:22:04 CDT

I would agree with CM's comments. We have currently around 700 projects running in AC and 10 departments that are all using it different, IT ticket submission, Creative Development, Production, Software Development, Sales etc.

In some cases no milestones are needed, so we just set a far out date and use it to categorize tickets, in most cases where we have milestones, we assign tasks through pages, tickets or checklists under them.

We rarely (if ever) assign milestones as tasks to people, since we almost always have true (multiple) tasks under a milestone and the milestone is a date range only for accomplishing those tasks.

Post #2 by Critical Mass

Critical Mass — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:00:40 CDT

Hey Len,
We have aC working in over 300 projects right now for interactive work. We have projects all over the gamut of creative delivery. What I can suggest is that the nicest thing about aC is that you can change how each project needs to be structured.

Some projects need phases as milestones, others require deliverables as the milestones. The real power is how the milestones gather tickets, discussions, files and checklists all together to keep it all organized.

This could be where templates come in. In setting up templates for your different types of projects you could then standardize your setup. There's a pretty decent video at:

http://vimeo.com/7639312

Post #1 by Len Marshall

Len Marshall — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 16:22:42 CDT

I've been reading through many of the aC forums for a while, learning all that I can about the management system. In the past I've used everything from pen and paper to different open-source project management systems. aC seems to be the best overall so far.

One thing that I'm really curious about is the different ways people are using aC for their various projects and clients. So I'm putting out this informal poll to ask "How do you manage projects with aC?"

Do you set Milestones by date, by elements, by stages of the creative process? How do you relate tickets and tasks to your milestones? Do you allow clients to set and control tickets? How much time do you spend managing your project management?

I'll begin with my own brief description:

I try to set milestones according to my creative process:
1. Predesign - gathering and collecting
2. Design - initial mock-ups and design conceptuals
3. Development - the revision stage
4. Implementation - export for print, web or manufacturing

Each milestone has any number of tickets which describe the required activity to that part of the process: Source stock photos, collect client supplied material, etc. Sometimes I find adding tasks to tickets redundant, but that is because I use "Chronicle" for timetracking, and it feeds into the Tickets section.

I allow clients to access milestones and tickets, and create files and discussions. Unless it's a web project, there are no pages or repositories used in projects.

Sometimes I wonder if I should change the milestone method into project elements (eg: 1. Brochure, 2. Business Card, etc) The due dates often get moved around, depending on how fast my clients keep up with the project time line. I don't usually assign clients to tasks.

So, how do you all use aC? Maybe we will all learn some great time management tips. I know I could use it!