Comments on: GoPlan Takes on 37Signals

By: Basecamp user and don't like it

Basecamp user and don't like it — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 06:05:36 +0000

I use Base camp and do not like it… nor do I like anything out here yet. I would love to find that tool that really gives the developer some control.

By: Adam Michela

Adam Michela — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 17:05:18 +0000

Scratch that, I found their privacy policy: https://goplan.org/help/privacy

Nonetheless, it still doesn’t address some of the core privacy concerns. But at least they’re trying. :thumbsup:

By: Adam Michela

Adam Michela — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 17:00:48 +0000

I like it alot. I’d love to use it, but, like Basecamp… it’s lacking a privacy policy.

It’s difficult to store secret details on a hosted web application not knowing who might be looking at it. Do developers/administrators have the view private information? Of course they always could, but it’d be nice if one of these companies could at least give their word they wouldn’t.

That aside, GoPlan looks like a winner. Write a privacy policy so I can begin using it, please!

By: Velioncho

Velioncho — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 23:18:23 +0000

Space? I am surprised this is actually considered as space. I dont see any out of the box idea. Only handful of folks are using these most of them leave after the initial honeymoon is over. That is the reality.

By: Andy Kant

Andy Kant — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 22:51:34 +0000

I stopped using Basecamp because it didn’t fulfill my needs (primarily no bug tracking and no nested task lists). I was going to just develop my own version but Goplan looks like it does most of the things that Basecamp is missing so I’ll check it out.

By: jamie martin

jamie martin — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 22:04:07 +0000

i love the zoho suite of programs, they work very well and don’t cost me a penny.

By: Jared White

Jared White — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 21:28:21 +0000

I’ve been playing around with Goplan, and I’m extremely impressed. I’ve toyed with Basecamp for years — even tried writing my own PHP-based competitor a few years back when Basecamp was still new and shiny — and nothing’s ever really worked for me.

Somehow, Goplan’s pretty much nailed it (whatever “it” is). I like it. I think I’ll hand over my cash pretty soon here.

By: Dead 3.0

Dead 3.0 — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 21:16:02 +0000

SAAS heats up: GoPlan and Highrise launch…

The small business SAAS space is starting to heat up quickly. This morning, WeBreakStuff launched GoPlan, a direct competitor to Basecamp by 37 Signals. Right on the heels of GoPlan comes the announcement at Signal vs. Noise that 37 Signals is launchin…

By: Dead 3.0

Dead 3.0 — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 21:14:41 +0000

A couple people have mentioned that this space is getting crowded. I’d tend to disagree. “Crowded” means there are non-trivial barriers to entry and companies like WeBreakStuff and 37 Signals haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of small business SAAS. They’re making some solid applications, but they’re not exploiting their first mover advantages, leaving room for new entrants to grab market share. More at my blog http://foroobar.wordpress.com/.....se-launch/

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 20:40:37 +0000

I haven’t tried the product (wish there was something I could watch without signing up) but I love that, from the screenshots I saw, that they’re at least attempting to integrate a ticketing system (although it looks rudimentary). Fixing bugs is part of my work too, why would I need two systems (ex. Basecamp and Trac) to manage them? So- kudos.

I’d love to learn more about your file management. A timestamped/version-controlled document repository is a must have for any small business. Again, being able to use the same system for that would be great.

By: Krish

Krish — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 20:38:23 +0000

We were originally using basecamp, but then moved to unfuddle (www.unfuddle.com) because we wanted a bit more project depth than basecamp and it also appears GoPlan offered - comprehensive bug tracking and source control hooks that turned our project repository into an completely valuable place for everyone to communicate development, project management, communication and milestones. It just made no sense to use Basecamp and then another Source Control system AND THEN a good bug tracker when we felt they all should really live together.

By: I'll sleep when you're dead

I'll sleep when you're dead — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 19:06:47 +0000

Fred, nice work -

Gave it a try and since you said feedback is imporant, here’s some observations from playing with goplan for 5 minutes:

1. Inline edit is available for task category names, but not task names
2. Task/subtask checkbox logic (if all subtasks appear completed, the parent task should, etc) doesn’t work for me
3. On “Tasks” page, ajax calls to modify completion status are slow to the point that if I check/uncheck a few times, the app sometimes drops me off in a wrong status. I realize speed is a side effect of being techcrunched, but still - probably need something a little more transactional
4. Can’t change order of subtasks
5. Input validation errors are not communicated - took me some time to figure out that task wasn’t being created because I haven’t picked a category
6. Minor css inconsistencies - I don’t see it saying “Beta” anywhere ))

Suggestion - it would be cool to be able to enter hours along side due-dates; I can’t be the only one who’s constantly being asked to provide level of effort estimations.

By: phil tadros

phil tadros — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 18:54:57 +0000

they should let you export your info, i know with basecamp i couldn’t and they said they were offering that in the future.. yada yada

but love basecamp smartcats:)

By: Mike Seery

Mike Seery — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 18:39:09 +0000

It’s oh so tedious when you say these things are like a “lightweight” Microsoft Project. They are nowhere near being lightweight.

Project allows nested tasks, easy re-assignment of tasks, updating of timescales and recalculation of project duration based on a number of factors.

None of these task management systems (which is all they are) allow one to manage a serious project.

The clue to their ambition is in the hints that they give (”for example if you’re planning a wedding”…..).

Please get real with your hyperbole

By: mathew

mathew — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 18:29:53 +0000

What I want is something open source that’s *not* in PHP…

By: Sridhar Vembu

Sridhar Vembu — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 17:52:32 +0000

@Brandon why not “GoPlan takes on Zoho Projects” - come on, do you realize what a great thing that would be for Zoho? “GoPlan takes on 37Signals” makes 37Signals the leader to take on - a characterization I would agree with about online project management, by the way, though our own Zoho Projects is coming along very nicely.

This is the first time someone has complained that the absence of Zoho in a news item is an example of bias towards Zoho

By: Fred Oliveira

Fred Oliveira — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 17:13:37 +0000

25) That’s because I used to be a Techcrunch editor - and I didn’t logout before posting my comments, which was unfortunate. My apologies for that. I tried to fix that but unfortunately Wordpress doesn’t allow previous highlighted comments to be “unflagged”.

27) We’re already done developing a small tool to import projects from competing solutions (and we also allow going back if you’re unhappy about our product). We’ll release that tool very soon.

31) That has been fixed pre-launch, so the behavior you are describing is actually from last week. If instead you’ve signed up only today do let us know, because that’s probably a javascript problem - is it on on your machine?

By: DanD

DanD — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 16:17:09 +0000

GoPlan looks nice, but go ahead and sign up. I kept bumping into a wide variety of very basic issues with the interface. For example, trying to set up a project I added a name, description, etc. Then selected all the features for the project (calendars, notes, etc). Apparently, with a free account, all of these are not available. It doesn’t say so up front. It just throws a form error on submit and then clears the form of all the data you just entered. Thanks but no thanks.

By: Martin Bittner

Martin Bittner — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 16:14:11 +0000

Eric, who wrote at March 20th, 2007 at 7:09 am, I’d like you to contact me about your SMB project management.

I think it would profit both of us!

Contact me at martin [at] martinbittner.com

Thanks

By: Jamie Stephens

Jamie Stephens — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 15:37:23 +0000

I’ve been checking out GoPlan off and on for the last couple of months. They have been consistent on rolling out good, usable features and I like the way their design has evolved since they initially started posting about the project. I have used Basecamp with the rest of the world for some time, but I am considering making the switch to GoPlan for two reasons. First, bug tracking is infinitely useful as a developer/consultant. Second, the interface provides a more enjoyable experience for me. My guess is that as they build their user base and are able to focus even more resources on this product, then we should expect even better things. Best of luck to these guys.

By: Don Wilson

Don Wilson — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 15:32:28 +0000

It looks _exactly_ like basecamp. Yawn.

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 15:26:49 +0000

Fred - Any plans to support importing project data?

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 15:09:03 +0000

The SMB project management market is up for grabs and there’s no real market leader in sight.

My experience is that consumer task management tools are irrelevant for managing real-life business projects that may contain hundreds of tasks, dependencies and more. Initial enthusiasm wears off rather quickly and you find yourself back to MS Project, Excel, email and the white board.

I’ve been looking for a SaaS project management application for quite some time now, an application that would allow our team to have the power of MS project with web 2.0 ease of use and collaboration.
We evaluated several tools like eProject, @Task, SmartSheet and even tried out Google Spreadsheets for a while. None of these tools was what we’re looking for.

A friend had mentioned his company joined a design partner program by Clarizen and that responses were quite positive. From what I understand, they’re service combines project-like power features with strong collaboration and nifty UI.

This niche is hot and many upstarts are trying to grab their share. I wonder whether Microsoft, Google or maybe even Cisco are planning to enter this market, too.

By: www.directhealthseach.com

www.directhealthseach.com — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 15:03:16 +0000

How is Fred Oliveira’s comments coming out green ? I thought that was reserved for real TechCrunch editors ?

I found myself scanning the comments for the green ones, because I like to see what was important enough to warrant a response from TechCrunch.

I don’t really want to see what was important enough to get a response from the company/site being reviewed !

By: Brandon

Brandon — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 14:38:26 +0000

TechCrunch (and the TechCrunch audience) has never liked 37signals or their products because 37signals doesn’t play the Web 2.0 game or kiss TechCrunch’s ass. TechCrunch takes money from Zoho and doesn’t compare other products to Zoho. Why not say “Go Plan takes on Zoho Projects?” Oh, because Zoho is a TechCrunch advertiser. Zoho bows to TechCrunch, 37signals doesn’t. It’s so obvious.