Yesterday was the launch of latest offering in web-based productivity software solutions, Producteev Two. The system takes all of your (and, if applicable, you team’s) tasks and puts them into one place where they can managed and tracked accordingly. I’ve had some time to play around with the beta release of the product and am quite impressed with the look, feel and ease of use of this pretty powerful tool. Oh, and you can do pretty much everything without even going to their website.
Get out of your inbox
The primary goal of email is to be used as a means of communication, not as a place to manage your day from. You end up getting bogged down, lose track or just forget what needs to be done and when. Producteev Two allows you to forward emails that come your way to the system via an email address that sends it right to your system. You can tag the email with due dates, etc. in order to make sure it goes to the right place in your system as well. Just send it and it’s there. Plus, Producteev Two will send you an email to remind you about your task and then send you an email when the task is done (especially helpful if you’ve assigned the task to a team member).
Let’s not stop at email
The pretty amazing thing about Producteev Two is that while most of us use email as a communication tool, you can send tasks using any of your communication tools. Services GTalk, SMS, IM and even Twitter and Facebook can be used to send and receive tasks – meaning you don’t have to change you communication habits to get stuff done. There’s also a Gmail Gadget that lets you manipulate your tasks right in Gmail…and yes, even iGoogle works with Producteev Two. Very impressive. All of these tools are interconnected as well and your preferences can be set in the web application.
Would you like to play a game?
A unique aspect to Producteev Two is the Producteev Academy. Users can earn badges and compete for top ranking in categories such as “Most Hot Tasks Completed” which adds an element to this service that I’ve not seen anywhere else. It may serve teams well who need to brush up on their skills or simply competitive in nature – or it could be just turned off. A nice add-on that sets the Producteev Two apart from its competitors.
In addition, there are reports that let you know where things stand on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Much like a digest it will let you keep tabs on how things are progressing. A useful tool that may or may not be part of how you use the system.
Free your inbox…for free
Producteev Two is free for up to 3 individuals and the pricing structure beyond that is fair and balanced. You get a few added features with the paid service, but as mentioned yesterday, the product is fully functional no matter which way you go. Not stopping there, the team released their free iPhone app as well yesterday which works much like the web service. It has push notification and works even when you’re offline. It also syncs in the background so you can keep doing your thing while it is doing its thing. There’s more on the horizon, such as a Mac desktop client.
Screencast Producteev Two from Producteev.com on Vimeo.
Final thoughts
Producteev Two has a clean interface, robust management system and enough versatility to be utilized by individuals and teams alike. While some of the features are only available to paying subscribers (i.e. filters), the system is more than enough for most freelancers or partnerships to handle. It pricing structure – especially the free accessibility for most users – is what will help this service out in what is a very crowded space.
In a marketplace that has some pretty impressive systems already in play (Nozbe, Action Method), Producteev Two sits right up there among the top performers in this category.