Cloud Computing News

Cloudipedia’s Spring 2013 SaaS Tech Review focuses on the changing face of project management. In recent years, project teams have changed dramatically, yet project management tools have remained the same. The cloud is changing that. New SaaS tools are emerging for Project Managers to track activities and information from anywhere, anytime.

In May 2013, we interviewed Maxim Geraskin, founder of Triniforce, the company which develops Project Kaiser – software for managing issues and projects. We asked Maxim why Triniforce came up with yet another project management software, how do they live with cloud computing and what he’d learned while developing his company.

=== So, why Project Kaiser? 

Maxim: We started this project few years ago, and our target was ambitious and quite simple – to create the best ever issue tracking and project management software. What was the purpose of doing this? There are few reasons. First, in our opinion, the already existing solutions needed a certain improvement in order to fit our own needs, or were too expensive. Then, we had a strong feeling that we are able to create the best software within reasonable period of time.

=== Are you satisfied with results?

Maxim: Well, it might be better, and I believe there is still a room for improvement. We have a stable and mature solution which is being constantly improved. Though a few important functions are still missing, we are working on it, and every month we are getting closer to our target.

=== Is there anything which you would change in your project?

Maxim: Yes, indeed. I think that every major commercial product should have a plugins’ system, and its’ stable core should be easily extended if needed (and the customer will need that for sure). The easier way to extend your software – the closer you are to the victory. That’s what I would have improved a bit in our software if I started from the very beginning.

=== I know that Project Kaiser uses GWT framework, can you say a few words about it?

Maxim: Well, when GWT had appeared, it was quite perfect and hardly had a decent alternative. But now I think that the new projects should rather stick to the technologies like JQuery. GWT offers a complex development methodology to developers of large scale projects, which sounds quite reasonable from some point of view. Also, GWT compiles Java to JavaScript, thus allowing to implement complex modern web GUI using quite strong OOP approach. So we have all the benefits of the OOP world. It’s possible to use developer’s Java skills, but also there are some obvious drawbacks, like long compilation time. My opinion is that “complex project” (speaking about GUI) is a quite contradictory term. GUI should be as simple as possible, “major project” means complex functionality. After all, complex functionality have to be decomposed into simple parts, each simple part should have a simple GUI. So, if you have stable core which you can extend by small pieces of functional packages, there is no need to use heavy development technologies. Instead of it we provide an opportinuty for quick development of a simple plugin which implements missing function and stick it to your system.

I think GWT is great for the system core, but plugins should be developed using JavaScript frameworks which have evolved fantastically during the past few years.

=== How do you bring ideas to life?

Maxim: Ideas often come suddenly, as a part of “insight” process, but normally each idea has a solid base in our background. Sometimes idea may come from a user of our software. After discussing the ideas and testing it out with my friends, colleagues and wife, I can feel if the idea will live or not. If I like the idea, I have to fight hard for it, the challenge begins at that point. The most important for me is to keep a balance between being focused on a new idea and continue to support all issues I’ve already implemented.

=== Can you share few tips and tricks for increasing productivity?

Maxim: It does not matter what your current productivity is, main point is to increase it all the time, even if you make only minor improvements. Try to jump over your own head a little bit. Even in order to remain where you are one has to run, otherwise one will fall down. That’s the “master” rule – if you follow it, you find and apply other tips and tricks soon.

=== What do you think about SaaS model?

Maxim: This is a very popular model for modern development and for mature projects, it’s smart to use it. Besides obvious benefits of this model, there is also very useful “try it first” function. Imagine that a potential customer comes to your site and reads some advertising materials which show all benefits of your product. If the product is a solely “desktop”, then the customer downloads it first, then install it and only then he can try. These actions can be very time consuming, and at this point you may loose the customer. SaaS solved this problem, user can start testing in a few clicks.

Still I think there is plenty of room for a traditional, desktop model, so we take the best from both options.

=== What can you say about your competitors?

Maxim: They obviously do exist. There’s plenty of competitors out there and it’s a good sign, it means that there are many products at the market, and it helps us to stay in shape in order to have a competitive product. Sometimes customers come to us from our competitors. May be some of our customers come to our competitors from us, but I don’t know about such cases.

http://www.projectkaiser.com

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