April 24, 2010

Putler can now track sales numbers, show you average sales and even a forecast for this month for your Paypal account. The balance trend chart is now replaced with daily sales trend – giving you more insightful overview of how well your business is doing.

We are very excited with this release as it is a step forward in our vision for Putler.
You can learn more about Putler from here, and we will keep working on improving Putler further!

April 20, 2010

This blog / site has been quiet for about a month now. And you may be wondering why. Let me explain.

• I had a family emergency. My dad was hospitalized for a week. He is back home now and recovering. But I was disturbed and could not focus. I was scared about his health. I am now sorted. I am no longer in panic mode!
• We have a lot of things going on. We are working on (long due) upgrades to Planning and Reports modules. We are putting last touches to a membership / subscription management system. We have a lot in the plans, but execution went slow for a few weeks.
• One team is working heavily on Putler. We made some core improvements to the system and have chalked out product strategy or the next 6 months. This took longer, but is looking much stronger now!
• There is lot of activity in our services company too, and that kept me busy.

Here’s the status of our work:

• Planning module: Basic support for print and filtering on Outline, printing Cards view. Still need to fine tune the UI and design of the printed pages.
• Reports module: Improvements to localization system started. Couple of bug fixes in the code.
• acGarage: Going smooth. Most systems are automated. We are planning to add support for more modules soon.
• PlannerX: Happy with the new version roll out, sorted out a few bugs over the last month.
• Membership System: We will be moving to a new subscription management system. We have annual renewals and our current service provider – e-Junkie – does not support this. We love e-Junkie, but had to bring something new to suit our needs. We have almost completed this work, and will roll it out gradually.
• Putler: Putler currently shows trend reports based on your Paypal account balance. We have updated it to show sales trends. We also figured someone else copied our ideas and created their own product, but we know we have a much better product. We also fine tuned our product strategy and have some big plans for coming months.

Overall, things have picked up again and you will be hearing a lot from us over the next few weeks!

Onward!

(Image courtesy Hoeke 05)

March 18, 2010

Incremental and consistent improvements can lead to great victories. That’s what I wrote on my personal blog moments ago. Here is a list of recent improvements we made to PlannerX.

Bookmarklet works in IE8

We announced PlannerX bookmarklet last week. The bookmarklet lets you open PlannerX right in your Basecamp page. This makes updating your plans super quick and easy. We had a small issue that prevented it from working in IE8 (thanks Stephanie for reporting it!). We fixed that and even added a visual guide about setting up the bookmarklet with IE8. Enjoy!

Login problems solved

Few customers mentioned they could not login to PlannerX despite making sure everything was setup correctly – username, password, URL, API access – everything. This was a puzzling problem, but we could solve it in minutes once we got access to the problematic account. It was actually our mistake. We forgot to handle dashes in Basecamp sub domains in a recent upgrade. It’s now fixed and working fine.

Easier login form

While we were on the login functionality, we also made a small usability improvement to the login form. You now don’t have to enter your full Basecamp URL. Just enter the initial company name / sub-domain part. .basecampq.com is added already. This will even make it easier for people to understand what they need to enter in that field! Here’s how the revised login form looks.

Bug with new task saving solved

I am glad not many customers noticed this 😉 We had a jarring bug that wouldn’t save a new task if both the milestone and todo list were also freshly created. It was another quick fix, but a significant one!

How do all these small improvements measure up?

Here’s what Ben Thomas, a PlannerX customer had to say:

WAHOO!

Fantastic response.
Thank you ever so much. Wonderful.
That is brilliant. Thank you.

Ben

Makes my day!

March 12, 2010

Good news! You no longer need to remember PlannerX website address and login to a separate page to use PlannerX. We created a bookmarklet so you can open PlannerX right within your Basecamp page. It’s as easy as clicking a button in your browser toolbar and saves you a lot of back and forth. It’s also safe and secure.

Here’s how it looks

Activate the bookmarklet from here

What are the advantages?

A lot of users found it inconvenient to open a new browser page and login to PlannerX. We felt that if we could integrate PlannerX within Basecamp, things will be a lot easier. While we were figuring out the best way to do this, Countdown guys released a bookmarklet that opens Countdown within Basecamp. We loved the idea and implemented it for PlannerX. We also revised our login process so that it works well with this system.

With the bookmarklet,

• You can now open PlannerX within Basecamp
• You don’t have to open another browser page for PlannerX
• PlannerX auto detects which project you are working on and loads that up
• If you select “Remember Me” on our login forms, you can go straight to PlannerX next time onward.

This is a significant improvement in usability for PlannerX.

Activate the bookmarklet from here

What is a bookmarklet?

A bookmarklet is a small JavaScript that lets you quickly perform an action. They are typically stored in browser’s favorites / bookmark / links bar. Just like you open your favorite website by clicking on it in your Favorites bar, you load PlannerX within Basecamp by clicking its name in your Favorites bar. You can read more about bookmarklets in this Wikipedia article.

Credits

Our bookmarklet was inspired from the Countdown bookmarklet. And was coded by Malay Ladu.

Activate the bookmarklet from here

March 9, 2010

The superb folks at A51 – makers of activeCollab web collaboration and project management software – reviewed our Reports module for activeCollab. An extension to activeCollab that lets you track key performance indicators of projects, people and companies. activeCollab team says:

Reports Module is one of the most successful activeCollab related products developed outside A51.

That’s right. Hundreds of customers use Reports module and they all find it invaluable. Here’s a comment we got a few hours ago:

I use both your Reports and Planning modules. LOVE them both.
– Monica

We eat our own dogfood. We use our products daily and listen to our customers. Frankly, we developed Reports module for our own use. When we couldn’t imagine living without it, we released it as a product.

Sometimes you download software and you just can’t believe how bad it is, or how hard it is to accomplish the very simple tasks that the software tries to accomplish. Chances are, it’s because the developers of the software don’t use it.
– Joel Spolski on Eating your own Dogfood

Thankfully, our software does not fall in this category.

The Story Behind Reports Module

It’s been over a year we launched the Reports module. We were using activeCollab for managing projects and needed a better reporting system. We wanted to track velocity of projects (rate at which they are completing), iteration charts (kind of work done each week) and insights into most active and longest open items. We also wanted to track what items needed attention and were risky / dependent on others.

We started generating these reports using SQL queries on activeCollab database. We created a few MySQL views, ran a set of queries and exported a CSV file at the end.

One day, I resolved to make this look prettier and put together a dashboard with charts and lists populated from these queries. I polished it over the next few days and put it up on our activeCollab setup. The reaction was “WOW!” We kept it going for a while, but Reports module was destined for something bigger.

Software Services vs Products Dilemma

If you are a software services company, you write a lot of code. You build tools that save you time. Most of these tools have great value, but only for you. At times, you dream of generalizing these tools and releasing them for greater good. But often they end up as internal side projects. Sometimes you release them, but can’t give them enough attention since you already have other paid projects waiting.

I’ve been through this experience two dozen times. In last 12 years at Magnet, I’ve initiated about 22 products. Most died. Some were released as open source. Some became popular. Some took life of their own. None gave us revenue we could sustain. Paid consulting projects kept running the company and product ideas remained only a wish.

I was not going to repeat that mistake this time.

If you do it, do it for good

When I decided to release Reports module to public, I was clear it had to be a long-term product, a paid product and something that I will pay enough attention to. No more side projects. I wanted something that will become a business in its own.

Over the last year, Reports module has evolved. Nine releases in a year, many bug fixes, enhancements and a major overhaul, Reports module has come a long way. We have also seen sales grow after our initial launch, slow down, and then pick up once again after the major 1.6 version launch. We have incorporated a lot of user feedback (we feel privileged to have participating customers!)

Today, Reports module gives us insights. It helps us track project progress, how the team is doing and even the overall system usage. There are enormous improvements in the “prettiness” too!

We have our wish list open though, and there are improvements we are planning for this year.

activeCollab team did a comprehensive review of the module – features, usefulness and its working. At the end, they said:

Reports module can be a very useful and handy tool, especially if you’re working with clients and great number of people. Everything is accessible easily, available at one place, and simple to set up.

Everything is accessible, available and simple! – that sums up our principles for developing software. We use them on all our software and are glad activeCollab team recognized them clearly. (I hope they finds Reports module useful for tracking their projects as well!)

I want to end this post with a summary of I think contributed to our little success with Reports module (and our other products).

Success Factors

• Unexplored, super niche market: Reports module was the first commercial module for activeCollab. First reporting tool of its kind. activeCollab has a small, but participating and forward thinking customer base. This really worked.
• Accessible, available, simple: Our focus is always on keeping only what’s important and making it easily accessible. Things that would take you hours to do, we want you to do them in minutes. We want everything simple and easy to understand. We spend more time thinking about simplifying our products, than in writing code! Everything from our products to demo videos is designed with our users in mind.
• Community participation: We made it simple to give feedback. We’ve had some great feedback from customers and we improve our products with that. Participating on activeCollab forums helped establish credibility as well.
• Long term vision, self-interest and passion: I founded Apps Magnet to be a sustainable long-term business that makes money by making people more productive. I am passionate about programming, productivity and making a difference. Apps Magnet is an expression of my passion. We make products that we want, we build them with passion, and are happy to find enough customers who share this passion.

Thank you for reading! I wish you a passionate and productive day today!

(dancing balls image from Flickr)

March 6, 2010

We launched PlannerX v2.0 today. This release adds estimates, start dates and due dates with all project plan items – Milestones, Todo lists and Todos. Gantt charts work much more reliably now and we have included numerous other functionality, performance and usability enhancements. This is the biggest upgrade after our initial launch about a year ago.

The new version helps you plan your Basecamp projects even faster. Here are some highlights.

Smart Estimates

Finally you can add estimates for your milestones, todo lists and todo items. Estimates total up automatically, and show up in an easy to understand format. Some examples of estimate’s smartness:

• 2 becomes 2h
• 8 becomes 1d
• 5d becomes 1w
• 160h becomes 1m
• 170h becomes 1m 1d 2h
• Adding estimate for Todo updates estimate for Todo list and Milestone too
• Totaling up updates parent’s estimate only if parent’s current estimate is lower than sum of children
• And there is even an estimate slider in Card view and Batch Update
• You can configure estimate conversion calculations from your account settings

We don’t compare Estimates with Actual Time yet. That’s reserved for another release!

Start and Due Dates

Basecamp added Due Dates to todo items a while ago (this was the most demanded feature from Basecamp!) PlannerX allows you to add due dates for Todo lists and Start dates for all items. We listened you and have added a date picker. At the same time, we have made it easier to enter dates with auto completion. Enter “6” in a date field in Outline view, and it will automatically convert it to “3/6/10″ (6th March, assuming you are using MM/DD/YY format – configurable from your account settings). We believe you will love it!

Intelligent Batch Update

So far, you could update the assignee name using Batch Update. You can now update estimates and dates as well. Here are some cases on how Batch Update can come in handy.

• You have done your initial estimation. But now need to pad them before submitting to management. Just select all items you want to update, click on Batch Update (or Ctrl + . on keyboard). Then Add 25% to Estimates. PlannerX will automatically do all the calculations.
• Someone left your team and you now need to reassign her tasks to a new hire. Select appropriate items and select the new hire’s name from the Assignee drop down Batch Update.
• Your project is delayed. It’s running about two weeks late and you need to update all start / due dates. This would be a nightmare, but with PlannerX, you can just select these items, go to Batch Update. And add 2 weeks to start and due dates. Save back and you are done!
• Completed a lot of items? Select them all and complete them in one go with Batch Update!

We expect Batch Update will save you a lot of time. It’s especially useful on dynamic (read delayed, troubled, messy – or just about any) projects.

Everything Saved back to your Basecamp

We store estimates, start dates and due dates (for Todo lists) with item names in Basecamp. This way you and all other people on your project can see them. You can edit estimates and dates in Basecamp too, and they will be imported to PlannerX. You could even use any other tool to update / manage this information. This is the best compromise between usefulness and readability. We hope you like it.

Gantt Charts that work

We know you love our Gantt charts. We have made them more reliable now. Many customers complained Gantt charts were not working. We have revamped the whole logic and they work much better now. You can even print big charts spanning multiple pages now! They are not editable (we are not sure if we want to add that complexity yet), but super useful even in the current state.

Same Efficiency, and even better

PlannerX is known for its efficiency. Especially how it allows you to manage your project plan quickly. We have retained all those bits and added some more. You can continue using keyboard to navigate and create new items. We have improved keyboard navigation and even added a “text import” feature that lets you type in a plan just as you would in Notepad. PlannerX will automatically convert it to Milestones, Todo lists and Todo items. We have also solved some annoyances (like “Remember Me” not always working) to make your experience more enjoyable.

More coming soon

There are numerous enhancements and bug fixes in this release. But apart from that, it is a significant upgrade to our core. This release also brings PlannerX almost on par with our Planning Module for activeCollab.We will release few more upgrades over the next few weeks. Here are two items on our list:

• A bookmarklet that lets you open PlannerX right in your Basecamp project – so no need to come to PlannerX site
• Better printing support for Outline and Card views

We plan to continue improving PlannerX and look forward to your feedback.

Thank you!

Nirav Mehta for the Apps Magnet Team

February 28, 2010

On February 12, 2010, Apps Magnet completed its first year of operations. We launched the Reports module for activeCollab just a year ago – but it seems like long time!

So what have we achieved in the last year? Here are some numbers.

Statistics

• 9 products, plus some defunct and some under development!
• 850+ customers
• 55% customers purchased more than one product
• 300+ topics on our GetSatisfaction support forums, 340+ customers participating
• 2 main focus areas – activeCollab and Basecamp
• 28 product updates
• 2 People Team, both with day jobs (yes!)

I also did a revenue contribution breakdown. Planning module is our best selling product. activeCollab business gives us more than 80% revenues. But both our Planning tools – Planning module for activeCollab and PlannerX for Basecamp together claim 77% of the business. That is what gave us the success – solving one problem really well.

Thank you for your love and support. We couldn’t make it without you – our customers.

The year was eventful and I have many stories to tell. Like why we closed down our iPhone unit, why we are building only extensions and not full products, how I goofed up in one version of Planning module, and how my itch to know daily sales led to creation of Putler. Let me know if you would like to hear some!

Onward..

:Nirav

February 10, 2010

Putler – our Paypal monitoring, notification, reporting and planning tool is progressing well. Today, we released the Alpha 2.2 version. You can now see “month to date” balance change and “daily average” change in balance.

Both these additions help you monitor daily and monthly performance of your business. Month to date change in balance tells you how much money you made (or spent) from the start of this month. The daily average will tell you average change in balance. Daily average is very useful, it even helps you gauge a day’s performance (from the Balance Trend chart) against “benchmark” average. So if your average is $300, but you did only $100 on a day, you know something was not quite right.

We also added “Automatic Updates” in version 2.1. So if you have 2.1, it will check for this update automatically and ask if you want to install it. If you are using a version below 2.1, we recommend you download Putler again and install it to take advantage of the latest updates.

This release completes our initial “wish list” of features. All reports and calculations are currently based on the account balance. We are now working on creating reports from transaction details – so that they reflect actual sales. Putler’s next versions will tell you about your daily sales, which products are selling more and who are your top customers – among others.

Thank you for trying Putler, and we look forward to your feedback.

February 5, 2010

Guido Jansen of Realvine blogged about how they use activeCollab for managing their Magento development projects. The post is in Dutch. (English translation here – thanks to Google!)

Guido mentions that since activeCollab is web based, it is much easier to get all parties involved together. Communication is smoother and customers can participate in the development process.

They also use our Planning and Reports modules for activeCollab and said:

Reports we use internally for all projects and looking around to see how many hours the various components in a project cost and whether it matches the data in the planning module.

With this understanding we can better estimate for new projects, see where any bottlenecks, thus increasing our efficiency.

I am glad our products help increase efficiency and better track your projects Guido!

Thanks for sharing your story.

How are you using activeCollab / our products?

February 1, 2010

If your business accepts payments via Paypal, chances are you login to the Paypal website a few times in the day to check your balance. You would even keep an eye on email alerts of new sales and feel happy when you close the day with good sales.

The Entrepreneur’s Urge

I can tell you for myself that I am on the edge of my seat when we launch a new product. I am biting my nails when we push “Send” on a newsletter with a special offer. I am curious to find out how much money I made while I was sleeping, and check my Paypal balance the moment I start my computer.

You may be a web entrepreneur , a microISV, a startup or an expert offering online courses. The urge to see how well you are selling is common to all. You may be looking forward to the first sale of your newly launched product or want to track your monthly performance against your targets.

The Problem

Logging in Paypal takes time. And if you keep it idle the session also times out quickly. Now this is good for Paypal, but bad for us. All we want to do is check the Paypal balance and find out what products are selling. We want some quick bits of information and get back to our work. The process of logging in and viewing details eats up time. And biggest, it distracts you!

The Solution: Putler

Now surely, you can write-up some small script that will check your Paypal balance. You could host it on your internal server and keep hitting it when you feel like satisfying your natural urge to check your Paypal balance! But why to make things complicated (and spend time understanding and building those scripts) when you can have someone give it to you on a platter?

Welcome Putler!

Putler shows your Paypal balance on your desktop, notifies you of balance updates, lets you set a target, shows today’s transactions and tells you how well are you doing against the target. It’s a simple and effective tool to watch your Paypal account right from your computer.

Just give your Paypal API information to Putler and he will start monitoring your Paypal balance. He will gently notify you when the balance changes. He even draws a nice chart of your daily balances along with a target you may have set.

This gives you a never before visibility on targets vs performance for your Paypal business account.

Apps Magnet Launches Putler Alpha. Get it now for free!

We are releasing a public Alpha of Putler today. Get it free, monitor your Paypal account, achieve business goals, and give us feedback!

Download Putler for free now!

We are starting with only the basic features, but will make Putler smarter and stronger as he grows! Do send in your ideas and suggestions on how we can make him better!

Thank you!