Wrike is a fast and simple Web tool for managing small and midsize enterprises. It allows managers to save time on coordinating employees, controlling contractors and getting clients involved. Managers can build plans together; team members update tasks online, and stakeholders keep track of progress. Wrike has the very functions needed for agile project management and can be used even by beginners in this sphere. It lets you manage your projects via e-mail.
Project management features. The application allows you to manage an unlimited number of projects. Wrike offers you a simple default structure for your project organization. The folders for keeping your tasks and projects have already been created for you. However, it’s possible to change this structure and build your own. Wrike allows you to organize project steps logically by creating hierarchies of tasks. Additionally, you can enhance the visibility of your projects by uniting similar tasks into groups by different criteria: by product, process, goals, etc. This can be very convenient if you need to reorganize plans quickly when your business situation changes. You can also categorize tasks and projects in many ways, if your projects, tasks, teams or processes overlap. This makes the tool a suitable solution for teams with multiple projects. | Make Wrike a part of your 7 habits |
The killer feature of the application is its integration with e-mail. It’s possible to track tasks that you send to your colleagues in Wrike. You send an e-mail to one of your team members, put a project name and a due date for it in the subject line and add Wrike’s e-mail address to the “CC” field. The task is then put into Wrike as assigned to the e-mail recipient with the due date and the task description. You can attach files to such an e-mail; they will also be attached to the task in Wrike. The assignee is allowed to change the task’s due date, description or status. This means you will be free from updating plans by yourself.
You can follow the progress of the task in two ways: you can see online notifications when you are working in your personal Web-space, or you can just check your inbox. The system sends you immediate notifications of any changes made to the task. The notification function is built-in, so you don’t miss important project deadlines. The tool sends you and the responsible parties e-mail reminders about your overdue tasks.
Wrike lets you get a complete overview of your project plans with its “timeline” feature. You can quickly adjust your plans to changed business conditions with a drag and drop feature. The timeline is basically a simplified Gantt chart, which is not overloaded with complex settings. The timeline lets you see what has to be done on the project and who is responsible for each task.
Collaboration features.
Wrike offers a fresh approach to collaboration, which helps you overcome possible bureaucracy. Anyone involved in a project can create tasks, share them with others or delegate them. The application lets you efficiently collaborate with your employees, team members, clients and partners on different projects, regardless of their location. Teams that spend little time in the office and geographically distributed teams might like Wrike because it’s easy to access the tool from their personal computers, BlackBerries or PDA phones.
Wrike allows you to integrate your e-mails into your projects as tasks. If you add Wrike’s unified address to the “CC” field when you send or reply to a client’s e-mail, it’s added as a task in Wrike and is shared with both of you. This lets the client be informed of the task progress. He will get e-mail notifications if the task details are changed. So you can quickly get your stakeholders involved into the collaboration process with no superfluous communications. It’s remarkable that, when you share the task with partners and clients, they get free Wrike subscriptions. So clients and other stakeholders can login to their personal workspaces to update their requirements, create tasks and assign new tasks. Neither of you has to pay for it. This can be of high importance for start-ups, small firms and midsize businesses.
At the same time, if you want to keep something private and restricted only to yourself, simply don’t share it with anyone. Each task within the project has its own history page displaying all revisions over the project course. It’s also possible to find out who changed the task and when he did it. In case you’re not satisfied with any particular revision, the document can always be reverted to any of the previous versions.
Usability/training.
It’s very easy to use Wrike because you don’t have to learn anything new. You already know how to write e-mails, so it won’t be a problem for you to create tasks and projects. The interface is great. It’s simple and clear. A new user learns to navigate in Wrike with his intuition. As soon as you set up your account you get into your personal Web-space. Here you’ll find the ready-made “getting started” tips, which will be very helpful for organizing your work. It’s also very convenient to have them at your workspace, so that you can consult them at any time, with no need to question the support team. You don’t need any training to start using the tool. Wrike suits teams that can’t afford to spend working hours on training their personnel.
Pricing.
Wrike is software as a service, so you pay as you go. The basic fee is $3.99 per user per month, all professional subscribers get 30-day FREE trial.
Installation/upgrade.
Wrike is a hosted service, so no installation is required. The only tool you need to use Wrike is your internet browser. You get all the upgrades automatically with their release, and you don’t have to pay for them. You can sign up here.
Help/support.
There are tips for using Wrike at the Help page. You can write to support@team.wrike.com for support. Wrike’s team will look deep into your question, and you’ll get an exhaustive answer. Users seem to love Wrike team’s responsiveness. One user said, "The service from Wrike has been fantastic. In the early stages, I wrote a number of enhancement requests. Each of those messages was taken with seriousness. Wrike’s team was continuously, promptly and courteously responding on each of the issues.” You’ll find this emotional quote and many others from here.