Project management software review: Teamlab

Having been in the web development game for 15 years, I have a wide network of talented professionals with whom I collaborate to get stuff done. Some of these contacts live in London, and others are spread all over the globe.

I tried a great many collaboration solutions before using TeamLab, both hosted solutions and open source software that I would painstakingly install and maintain on my own web servers. I quickly realised that maintaining my own project management tools was a mug’s game—any productivity gained was cancelled out by the effort involved in maintaining and upgrading the tools. Any little issue would mean half the day wasted.

TeamLab has the advantage of being like open-source, free software, but it is hosted which means I don’t have to worry about backups and maintenance. The TeamLab techies do a great job in keeping everything ticking over, I have never noticed any downtime, scheduled or otherwise.

The main benefit of TeamLab? Well it has to be said – the price. There are other worthy competitors to TeamLab but at prices of up to $100 per month to subscribe, they can be prohibitive. As a small, UK-based independent web developer, if I can use a free tool it means I can offer a more competitive service to my clients.

But just because it is free does not mean it is low quality: the user interface is simple and straightforward, and the selection of collaboration tools is incredible. I love being able to set milestones on the calendar and assign tasks against them. My team can then enter time against their assigned tasks and that allows me to keep on top of the budget.

Upon the whole, TeamLab keeps me organised. It allows me to grow my business by taking on more website design and development projects. I can communicate with my global team effectively. Even though I am based in London, I can direct web projects for clients all over the world.

As for cons, Teamlab need to set mobile alerts to keep track offline. But the price beats it all.

For more information on Teamlab, see www.teamlab.com.