There are a lot worse places than San Francisco to be stuck in during mid-January…  Like Chicago.  I could really learn to love living in mid-50 degree temperatures during what is typically the coldest part of the year in my part of the country.  Besides, it has been pretty exciting to be where the latest and most exciting technology is being unveiled by one of the most exciting companies.  I, of course, am speaking of MacWorld.  Now that Mr. Jobs has given me the biggest reason to consider finally making the jump from a long string of Windows PCs to the Mac OS with the new incredibly thin and lightweight MacBook Air, I decided to investigate at MacWorld what Project Management applications are available for the Mac.  I investigated three programs that really stuck out for me at the show.

Fastrack Schedule 9

Software Development Company AEC showed Fastrack Schedule 9, which I found to be my PM software pick of the show.  Fastrack is a mid-priced project scheduling application that focuses on simplicity and schedule clarity.  Fastrack is all about saving time with simplification, which is almost turned into a mantra with functionality-naming like ”Quickstart”, “Faststeps”, “ExpressDate”, “ExpressTime”, and “QuickRange”.  While maybe with fewer of the bells and whistles of latest version of Microsoft Project, which is getting long in the tooth for the Mac, Fastrack delivers on its promises and provides a very clean and easily usable interface.  Its main capabilities include creating Gantt chart timelines, Resource baselines, and task management via its calendar functionality.  It also imports files in native Microsoft Project format. 

Project X

Project X is project management software for the Mac OS that gives you three different views to create a project - a Network Diagram view, a spreadsheet-style Outline view, and a Gantt chart view.  Also, the program focuses on integrating Mail, Address Book, iCal, and iCal server to team collaboration.  It also has AppleScript support to help to automate your work.  You can also publish your project as a webpage to make it available to your team members. Rollover buttons, menus, and controls become available when the cursor is placed over a task for editing.  This allows a less cluttered workspace.  You can embed Quicktime files, pictures, and sound files into task information.  Project X also appears to produce nice reports to impress the boss.

Merlin

ProjectWizards has created a program called Merlin, also for the Mac, which allows you to easily create projects from either pre-formatted templates or on your own.  Merlin also allows you to collaborate either over a local area network or over the internet.  Within the Merlin Library you can store activities, contact info, documents, and Microsoft Entourage content for easy retrieval.  Merlin also allows project managers track the efficiency of resources by tracking who’s doing what and when.  Merlin provides two-way communication with applications including MS Project, Excel, and NovaMind.If you happened to be at MacWorld this week or have used any of these programs, leave us a comment and share your thoughts! Get the pm411.org Project Management Podcast delivered by email for free!  - Your email address and personal information are confidential and will never be sold or rented.