

Ask HN: Help to get us feedback (v2) - tokarev

Hello HN,<p>We are working on a project management webapp called Route. We already asked you for feedback some time ago, but at that time only the most curious hackers gave Route a try, others were stopped by a tedious registration form. So we simply got rid of it. Also we introduced a nice walkthrough to show the basics of Route.<p>So, check it out and tell us what you think!<p>http://routehq.com
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jayrobin
So I've only been playing around for a few minutes and have decided I actually
quite like it for its simplicity.

However, I have a bit of feedback:

* I don't really like the tasks jumping to the bottom once I set them as complete * A strikethrough on complete tasks would be nicer than just dark grey font

* The backlog doesn't function as I'd expect. The number seems to refer to the total number of incomplete tasks across the whole project, but clicking it takes me to the index. I'd expect the backlog to be any tasks which haven't been assigned to a goal (sort of like the index is now), then a separate function to show all incomplete tasks across the index and goals

* After adding a milestone and selecting it, I have no idea how to get back to the normal project view with the goals and tasks I have already added, except going back to the workspace view then back into the project

* Oh, looks like I click Backlog to get back from a milestone. The backlog feature now makes a little more sense. Maybe it would be better to have the Backlog link close to or on the milestone bar?

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tokarev
Hi James, thanks for feedback! It is very helpful, since you've shown us that
we need to demonstrate the relation b/w tasks, goals, milestones and backlog
more clearly. The backlog holds tasks and goals which haven't been assigned to
a milestone. Each milestone has its own tasks and goals (but you can move them
to another milestone or the backlog if you need). In general, all the
interesting stuff happens in milestones, while the backlog holds tasks and
goals whose time has not come yet.

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brudgers
_"To use Route in Internet Explorer you need to Install Google Chrome Frame
Plugin"_

Practically speaking, the site is broken for a large segment of the Project
Manager population. This suggests a disconnect with your intended customer
base.

<edit> change "intended" to "potential."

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tokarev
Actually, the most popular browsers of our target audience are Google Chrome
(the lion's share), Safari and Firefox. Since supporting IE is such a pain, we
decided to go without it, at least for now.

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dgunn
Cool product tour. Is it custom built or did you use some kind of 'tour
library'? Hope that's not a dumb question. I could swear I've heard of such a
thing being developed before.

First issue is that clicking inside the tour pop-ups causes the tour to
advance to the next step. I know there is a 'next' button but at least on
chrome, clicking anywhere inside the tour pop-ups advances the tour with no
way to go back.

Will edit this if I find more to say.

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tokarev
Thanks for response! Actually this pop-up behavior is intentional, so that you
don't have to aim at the "next" button. The product tour is custom built -
nothing fancy, just CSS3 animation.

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dgunn
perhaps a back button would help. I just ended up missing part of the tour by
accident.

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orangethirty
What do you think separates route from trello? It seems like a similar
service, but with a flat UI and less features.

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tokarev
Route was designed with milestone-based workflow in mind. You create
milestones, you set due dates on them, you specify goals for each milestone -
at the end you get a nicely delineated route through the project plan. Trello
is a more general solution.

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orangethirty
OK, I get what you are going after. From your market research (and I'm curious
here), do people tend to work better with such deadline-driven approach? My
experience with Trello (and other PMs, is that they do not. But we are
operating in different markets). Also, who is this made for (who is your
market)?

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tokarev
Currently the focus of our attention is on small software companies, but we
believe that the milestone-based approach would be beneficial to projects in
any industry. Milestones bring visibility - the project route is explicitly
defined, everyone on the team sees where the project is headed. The other
advantage is flexibility - since the project is divided into smaller parts,
it's easier to spot problems as they arise.

Of course, this approach is not for all use cases. For example, it won't work
for very short projects - too much hassle setting up all those milestones.

~~~
orangethirty
Good points. I appreciate taking the time to explain further. I did not see
any trial plans in there, is there one available? I'd like to give it a try.

~~~
tokarev
Route is in the early preview stage, there are no plans yet. Just register and
you're set.

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tokarev
Clickable: <http://routehq.com>

