- 3 min read
Besides working on the tasks that need to be done, many of our users wanted to easily see what tasks are already done. We added this feature, so now you can get a full picture of your project plan. Completed tasks, as well as active ones, can be now displayed on a timeline.
We also added more distinctive visuals on a timeline view to help you quickly get a clear project picture. Completed tasks are grey now, active tasks are blue, and overdue tasks are red. 
Today, we offer a new, handy feature on Wrike’s Gantt chart. Now you can create a task on the timeline with one mouse gesture! Advanced Web technologies (AJAX) allowed us to implement this feature and improve your experience with Wrike. Adding tasks to the timeline became as easy as creating dependencies and rescheduling plans. How it works Switch to the “Timeline” tab. Choose the day when your task is planned to start, click on any empty line in the timeline, hold the mouse button and pull your mouse to the right. Once the task bar reaches the day when the task is planned to be finished, release the mouse button. A dialog window, where you can quickly enter the task name and assign the task, will appear. Enter the data and click on the “Create task” button. Then, if you want to add a task description, attachments, priority and other properties, move the mouse pointer over the task bar and click on the “Edit task” link in the pop-up tooltip. You can also find the task in the list mode and edit it there. See a video of this feature in action: As you see, it takes just a couple of seconds to add a task to the plan. It takes no effort to notify a person about the new task assignment because Wrike does it for you. It is very convenient to monitor tasks in Wrike with the help of instant e-mail notifications and a daily digest of changes. Viva la productivity!
Planning accurately, estimating task duration and keeping it close to reality – these aren’t easy things to do. And now imagine this is happening in a start-up where you do things that you have never done before (or even no one in the world has)! Today, Chris Rider, project manager at the fast-moving chemistry startup Terramera, shares how his team has enhanced its planning with the help of Wrike’s interactive timeline.Planning accurately, estimating task duration and keeping it close to reality – these aren’t easy things to do. And now imagine this is happening in a start-up where you do things that you have never done before (or even no one in the world has)! Today, Chris Rider, project manager at the fast-moving chemistry startup Terramera, shares how his team has enhanced its project planning with the help of Wrike’s interactive timeline. Customer’s background Terramera is a start-up committed to preserving Earth for the future generations. They develop safe, highly effective alternatives to traditional chemical pesticides, targeting the world’s most troublesome pests. Their product is absolutely harmless for the environment and humans. And we want to thank these guys for making Earth a better place for all of us! Terramera’s tip Chris Rider suggests not going into very detailed planning in advance. If you can’t precisely estimate the task duration, especially when it’s a brand new activity for the team, you may end up with delays and overlaps. Instead, he suggests splitting the project into stages, defining the goals for each of them and then setting due dates for the main tasks and milestones only. According to Terramera’s experience, this is a great starting point, and you can adjust the schedule when necessary. To make sure the major deadlines are intact, regardless of adjustments, you can create date constraints between project stages. This works great when you’re waiting for a client’s feedback. You can’t plan in advance if he or she suggests a couple of minor corrections, or even a radical makeover. In this case, a date constraint between the milestone and the dependent task on the timeline makes sure there’s enough time to deal with the situation. Even if your client gives you a dozen more ideas to improve the product, you’ll still have time to implement them. “As we start working on some stage of a project, we get a clearer picture of what needs to be done,” Chris says, “Then we keep making our schedule more detailed and accurate. This way, the deadlines become more realistic, since they are based on the actual circumstances and not on the outdated suggestions.” The team regularly creates smaller tasks and moves the existing ones on the timeline if they take more or less time than expected. Then Terramera’s team runs periodic meetings to discuss the schedule changes and keep everyone in the loop. The team also can easily track them, as well as monitor new tasks in the Activity Stream. Those of you who work in IT may notice that this workflow is similar to agile development methods. In this management concept, before developing the product, the team also splits the workload into iterations and then plans each iteration more thoroughly. Wrike’s flexibility works great for agile methods. Unlike the spreadsheets that Terramera previously used, project planning on the timeline provides all team members with an instant access to the up-to-date project picture. The system also sends them instant notifications if the tasks are rescheduled. With realistic deadlines, the team has become more organized and gets things done in time. According to Chris, such an approach makes his team more flexible and efficient in achieving their pre-set goals. If you want to learn more about Terramera’s story of overcoming start-up challenges in project management, watch our videocast with Chris Rider: “Before Wrike, we were often finding ourselves doing unexpected work at the last minute. Using Wrike, we have greatly improved our planning, which means that when the time comes for work to be due, the team has already done most of the work. This means we can now work much more proactively and effectively.” Chris Rider, project manager at Terramera
Have you already checked out the latest version of Wrike’s app on your smartphone? If not, then it’s high time to have a look at it ;-) There is an awesome, must-see update: the dynamic mobile Gantt chart is now available in beta. Have you already checked out the latest version of Wrike’s app on your smartphone? If not, then it’s high time to have a look at it ;-) There is an awesome, must-see update: the dynamic mobile Gantt chart is now available in beta. The new mobile Gantt chart enables you to quickly browse your project plans on the go and… adjust the plans with a tap! Just like in the web version, you can drag task bars to reschedule the tasks.Don’t waste a second and give it a try now! In case you don’t have Wrike's app on your smartphone yet, install it from the App Store or Google Play right now. It’s free for all Wrike users. P.S. By the way, now you can also set when you’d like to receive push notifications on your smartphone from Wrike’s app (go to Settings->Preferences->Notifications).
