No Kahuna

A few weeks ago I mentioned that we were looking for a new way track our tasks. After checking out a few different applications and web applications, I think we have a solution.

The problem we have is that, whilst the bulk of the work is scheduled against a project plan, there are a myriad of smaller tasks and documentation changes that we need to track. These come in through various channels, our Support team, our ‘Core’ team (who maintain the latest stream of the product), and through our team inbox.

Previously we mirrored the development teams approach and used index cards and a BIG whiteboard but it wasn’t really working for us for a variety of reasons. So I spent a couple of days downloading task tracking applications, and hunting for a web-based application that might meet our needs.

There are many out there and the first thing I realised is that most of the are aimed at the project management set and are very date driven. Most of the tasks we wanted to track aren’t heavily date driven, and so are picked up as and when the team has a some spare time in the project plan.

One of the first applications I found was TeamWorkPM which seemed to fit our needs and then some. However it was still quite over-spec’d for what we had in mind so when I stumbled over No Kahuna it was soon apparent that I’d found a good match.

Importantly, No Kahuna is a task tracking application. Dates do not feature. You simply create a project, add project members, then start creating tasks. You can assign a task to a specific project member (or take it for yourself) and when it’s done, it’s marked as completed.

You can add comments to tasks, which is useful when some tasks may sit in the list for a while so you can build out a level of information for when they are finally actioned.

All very simple, it worked well enough in our short trial that I’m happy to shell out $7 a month to get a private project (not visible to the public). If you are looking for an online, lightweight task tracker, check out No Kahuna.

Comments

  1. “I’m happy to shell out $7 a month to get a private project (not visible to the public)”

    Meaning that if you registered with the site, you could browse non-private projects (i.e. belonging to those who didn’t shell out)?

  2. Yeah that’s right. Such is there business model, there is no real reason for us to pay to be honest, nothing in there that is too sensitive, I’m just being cautious

  3. Well, I like the idea of having “open” projects; I see potential benefits analogous to doing other things openly. Paying for the service perhaps better ensures that the service sticks around.

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