If you noticed, activeCollab recently changed their website – and the whole product!!

If you are a long time user of activeCollab, the new activeCollab (code named “Feather”) looks extremely slick. It’s got flat and clean design. It feels “new age”.

“Feather” is quite snappy too. Pages load fast. Everything feels nice.

You’d want to upgrade to it immediately.

But wait… Is Feather ready for prime time? Are you ready for it?

activeCollab Feather is a project and task management solution built afresh. A lot of core concepts are same (just like any other project management system).. But a lot has changed – both under the hood and in the app.

So if you depend on activeCollab for your day to day work, and have many people using it, I suggest you take a step back before upgrading. Especially if you are hosting activeCollab on your own servers.

Here are somethings self hosted activeCollab customers must grasp fully before considering Feather.

Some features have changed (or don’t exist anymore)…

• To make things simpler, activeCollab team dropped many features from Feather. And they are not coming back. So if you relied on these features from previous versions, you’d face difficulties.
• For example: There is no way to manage user roles or create new roles and access control. There are only three roles – Owner, Member, Customer.
• There are small terminology changes too – Milestones are now called Task Lists. But that shouldn’t be too difficult to get used to.
• Still, all the core features are intact – and polished further. So for basic “getting things done” you shouldn’t have a problem.
• But one must test and evaluate their own needs before switching…

Third Party modules won’t work

• Third Party Modules don’t work with Feather. There is no way to install additional modules within activeCollab anymore.. Even if you use Self Hosted version of Feather.
• The only “integration” and “extension” possibility is via HTTP REST API. Which means extensions have to be “external” apps. Much like any other SaaS web site. They can not integrate with activeCollab UI.
• So if you rely on any functionality provided by a third party module (or if you have developed your own customizations) – you will have to let go of that before you can move to Feather. OR you stay with activeCollab 4 (or 3 or 2 – whatever you may be using).
• Even the API has changed. So if you use any apps that integrate with activeCollab via API, they’d need to update as well.

You’re sharing a lot more data with activeCollab now…

Everything related to emails (incoming and outgoing) and search is now handled via a service called “Heartbeat”. This is a service activeCollab hosts themselves. So even if you use the self hosted version your data is going to activeCollab servers.

Yes, there is an “enterprise” option – where you can host the “Heartbeat” service on your own servers. But it’s still “coming soon”…

Try it first

• Overall, activeCollab Feather is still a work in progress. A lot of things work, but try it first before upgrading.
• We recommend you try out the online 30 days demo first. Familiarize yourself with the changes. Then evaluate if you want to upgrade.
• If you want to upgrade, setup a staging environment, migrate your data, and fully test everything beforehand.
• Your data is critical. So make sure you have backups. And that you get everything you need.

Also, make sure you read and understand activeCollab’s own “Upgrading to new activeCollab” guide…

What will happen to Apps Magnet activeCollab modules?

We understand a lot of you rely on our activeCollab modules for your businesses. And while we want to bring all the features we added to activeCollab with our extensions, it’s simply not going to be possible because of the new architecture.

We are considering building web based services that talk to activeCollab via its API and add features.

But we need to know what you’d like us to do! So leave a comment and tell us if:

1. Would you like us to help you migrate to Feather?
2. Would you like us to continue supporting activeCollab 3 and 4 installations?
3. What modules / features would you like us to build for activeCollab Feather?

Awaiting your feedback!

Thanks!

It was this day, six years ago, when we launched our first activeCollab product – Reports module.

Today, we are completing six memorable years participating in activeCollab community.

We’ve seen lot of change – activeCollab 2, the rise of extensions, activeCollab 3, 4, the crash in business, marketplace changes and much more.

And now, bells are ringing for activeCollab Feather. We believe Feather will be a major step forward for activeCollab and are getting ready for it.

But what’s most important today, is you! We thank you for being with us. Your continued support has allowed us to stay in business and deliver solutions to the activeCollab community.

We also thank activeCollab team – Ilija, Goran and everyone else – for building a platform we’ve loved all these years. All third party extension developers for their contribution – US Web, Active Labs, activeCollab Mod, Zingdev and everyone else. Kudos also to everyone who contributed to community forums!

Thank you once again, and we look forward to serving you further.

In gratitude,
Nirav & Malay

I completed 5 years with Apps Magnet on August 11, 2014. The journey so far has been absolutely awesome – the years passed so quickly, it’s hard to believe it’s been 5 years already!

The other day I was remembering “old” days, and was excited recollecting these five years of togetherness.

Today, I am taking this opportunity to share my journey with you. There are lot of personal details here that I’ve never shared, and I am not a gifted writer. At times this may sound too much “I”, but bear with me as I pour my heart out!

My “mantra” has been “Better Everyday” – this is something I learned in school and carry to the day.. (By the way, I and Nirav went to the same school albeit a few years apart!)

Let me give you a little background. I am from Palanpur, a hot small northern town in the state of Gujarat, India. Palanpur is famous for its diamond merchants, rich heritage and now also Pranav Mistry (of SixthSense / Samsung Galaxy Gear fame). After my studies in Palanpur and later my engineering degree, I came to Mumbai in 2009 for a job. I was young and naive, and quite clueless about the “software industry”.

My first job lasted for two days. In my hometown I once dashed on my bicycle from one end of town to the other in under 15 minutes, and in Mumbai, it’d take me 1.5 hours to get to my workplace and equal (if not more) time to get back home.

I’d met Nirav before taking up the job.. He’s married to a not-so-distant cousin of mine! And I’d done my internship with his company when they had an office in Ahmedabad. When I met him in Mumbai, he showed me the kind of work he was doing on activeCollab. He showed me the Reports module for activeCollab, and I was impressed.

So when he checked back to see how my job was going and if I could join Apps Magnet, I immediately quit the “arduous travel job” and picked up moonlighting with him instead!

Early days…

Yes, those were the early days of Apps Magnet. Nirav took care of the existing web development services business during day, and we paired up at his home during nights to work on activeCollab products. During the days, I studied activeCollab, carried out my assignments, and it was the 3-4 hours in night we brainstormed, evaluated opportunities, and discuss what products we could create to solve real problems.

acGarage – my first main product!

acGarage – Automatic update of activeCollab – was the first product on which we worked and I still remember, we released it at 5 AM after working overnight ironing out bugs and making tweaks. It was a thrilling experience that started a series of new adventures!

We built many products after that – Tickets Plus, Time Reports Plus, Assignments Plus, Communications module, Confidential Items… Every product was an opportunity to learn, a chance to contribute to the community, and to get satisfaction of building something that helped people.

All in all, I worked on 45 activeCollab products, 4 WordPress plugins, 2 Magento extensions and 50+ customization projects.

I remember that I was scared of touching a client’s server; or even responding to a query. I was always “behind the scenes”: did research, fixed issues, wrote code.. And Nirav generally took care of client interaction. I overcome that fear and started taking small steps. I started replying to questions, then started working on client customizations or fixes and then handling most of day to day work now.

Over these five years, I must have interacted with nearly 130 customers personally. Probably 1000+ on support tickets. And honestly, I’ve been blessed to work with some great people.

People like Brad & Tracy from Geodelic, Grif from Blackstone Media, Nathan Sudds from activeLabs, Maxim Mathew, Federico Soto, Abdul Karmach and many others have been phenomenal.. Each client interaction has taught me something!

In Bangalore during a conference + leisure trip

Learnings went beyond technology though. I’ve learned a lot about product development, business… I’ve expanded in all areas of life.. (Ok, I’ve even put on weight, but let’s skip that bit for now!)

When I started, I was shy and timid. Today, I am free to share. I’d give a lot of credit for this to Landmark Education too though. This non-linear education really helped a lot. I did the complete curriculum – Forum, Advanced Course, Self Expression and Leadership Program, and even Being Extra Ordinary Seminar… It’s always given me a push forward.

Especially with teams. It was only me and Nirav in Apps Magnet initially. Then a small team of 4 people. But with Store Apps and Putler teams together, we were 15 people and all that I learned in books, seminars and observing others became extremely valuable. I took on all new things as opportunities – leading sprint meetings, taking tech sessions for the team, solving problems for others… And it’s been greatly fulfilling…

Diwali celebrations in office

Together, we’ve celebrated Diwali, Christmas, birthdays, outings, many special days, and not to forget the so many “Fun Fridays“. (A Fun Friday is an evening of fun and games – competitive at most times, extremely enjoyable, and at times we give a hard time to the coordinator, but always memorable!)

Boys with Bands – on friendship day

Team outing to Imagica amusement park

There were obviously “not-fun” times. The toughest times for me were when we were transitioning to activeCollab 3. We were porting all our activeCollab 2 products to activeCollab 3. That involved a lot of work since we have a large portfolio of products. New activeCollab versions were coming out frequently, and there were a ton of compatibility issues. Customers would complain if a new release broke their activeCollab. Our days went fixing problems, learning new tricks, supporting clients, and then also working on migration. It took almost a year for things to stabilize and gave us all a hard time!

If I look at the positives, there is always an opportunity to learn in tough times.

Our joint activeCollab 3 Bootcamp Webinar with Nathan Sudds, Guy Cortesi, Willem Nieuwboer was very well received. Customers also embraced our migrated products and thankfully activeCollab 4 was not a major shift from activeCollab 3! We even automated a lot of processes and worked on better planning our release cycles. We put up compatibility charts, stayed in communication with the community and kept working hard.

And I also started learning WordPress and development outside activeCollab world! The main reason for this was the hackathons we organized though. I took on creating “Hack Battles” in the organization and in little over a year, we’ve done 5 successful Hack Battles. We’ve worked on 25+ products during these hack battles, and over 10 from these have already made it to public. Our new ventures like Icegram, Klawoo, Putler connectors and new Store Apps products were all born in these hacking competitions!

Hacking hard during 1st Hack Battle a year ago

Winning a prize in Hack Battle

Another battle that I conquered is getting married! (Ok, not exactly a battle, and if I were to believe others, a marriage becomes a battle after few years, but it’s just been a year to my marriage!) I married Mittal last year and we’ve had a beautiful year!

Wedding pic, with Mittal

Just last month, I and Nirav ran a 10 kilometer race together. Completing 10k within the cut-off limit for a marathon was a major victory, because the only practice I had was 3 days of light running during previous week – where I did more walking then running. Completing 10k taught me the importance of perseverance. And I’m now pushing colleagues to run with me!

After a 10k run with Nirav

In retrospect, these five years gave me lots of opportunities, challenges and breakthroughs. We learnt together, we laughed together and we toiled together.

I am thankful to Nirav for his continuous support and leadership. To my family for their stand and love. To my colleagues who are always supportive and have created a great culture to produce breakthrough results. To my friends who contributed to my overall development and partied with me!

And I am thankful to all customers who put their faith in us, worked with my limitations and showered their compliments.

I continue walking towards “better everyday”.

With love & respect,
Malay Ladu

Better Everyday!

Wanted to clarify since I made a typo and wrote “not compatible” instead of “now compatible” in our last email to customers! Sorry about any confusion I may have caused!

You can download the latest versions using Apps Magnet Auto Updater module in your activeCollab installation or from our My Account area.

For example, we think we’re selling a project management product. But some people really use our tool and pay us every month to manage their clients. The projects were always fine—it’s the clients that are a challenge!

As product developers / business owners, we are stuck with our own view point on why people buy our products / services. Interviewing your customers on their reasons for making the purchase can reveal insights that can turn customers into fans and sky rocket your sales!

Consider this milkshake case study:

A fast-food restaurant chain wanted to improve its milkshake sales. The company started by segmenting its market both by product (milkshakes) and by demographics. Next, the marketing department asked people who fit the demographic to list the characteristics of an ideal milkshake (thick, thin, chunky, smooth, fruity, chocolaty, etc.). The would-be customers answered as honestly as they could, and the company responded to the feedback. But alas, milkshake sales did not improve.

The company then enlisted the help of one of Christensen’s fellow researchers, who approached the situation by trying to deduce the “job” that customers were “hiring” a milkshake to do. First, he spent a full day in one of the chain’s restaurants, carefully documenting who was buying milkshakes, when they bought them, and whether they drank them on the premises. He discovered that 40 percent of the milkshakes were purchased first thing in the morning, by commuters who ordered them to go.

The next morning, he returned to the restaurant and interviewed customers who left with milkshake in hand, asking them what job they had hired the milkshake to do.

“Most of them, it turned out, bought [the milkshake] to do a similar job,” he writes. “They faced a long, boring commute and needed something to keep that extra hand busy and to make the commute more interesting. They weren’t yet hungry, but knew that they’d be hungry by 10 a.m.; they wanted to consume something now that would stave off hunger until noon. And they faced constraints: They were in a hurry, they were wearing work clothes, and they had (at most) one free hand.”

The milkshake was hired in lieu of a bagel or doughnut because it was relatively tidy and appetite-quenching, and because trying to suck a thick liquid through a thin straw gave customers something to do with their boring commute. Understanding the job to be done, the company could then respond by creating a morning milkshake that was even thicker (to last through a long commute) and more interesting (with chunks of fruit) than its predecessor.

The chain could also respond to a separate job that customers needed milkshakes to do: serve as a special treat for young children—without making the parents wait a half hour as the children tried to work the milkshake through a straw. In that case, a different, thinner milkshake was in order.

Next Action

Take a moment and re-think why people buy what you sell. Go ahead and talk to two customers.

Next Hops

• Clay Christensen’s Milkshake Marketing article on HBS
• Resource on Jobs to be done framework

Five years ago we started with our reporting module for activeCollab – the first premium extension for activeCollab. Then came planning module and a whole many others!

And we are celebrating!

From Feb 12 to Feb 28, we will have a new offer or giveaway everyday. Each offer will be valid for two days.

Visit our homepage every day for a new offer!

Thank you!

Five years is a big achievement in today’s fast paced technology world! We’ve had a lot of ups and downs in the journey so far, and we are experiencing a deep sense of gratitude for you today…

• Thanks to our awesome customers for supporting us… Buying our products, sending feedback and appreciations, recommending them, talking about them on activeCollab forums, sharing your ideas for new products, sponsoring development of new modules, standing by while we solve issues and most importantly, for your faith!
• Thanks to activeCollab for creating a kickass collaboration system that’s an amazing platform to extend… For letting us poke around and create modules, for listing them on the site, for handling support questions from our customers, for validating our ideas and tolerating with us
• Thanks to Nathan Sudds, Guy Cortesi, Stas Kuzma, Fei Yan, Leon Poole and all other third party developers for solving customer problems, innovating, supporting community members and for their untiring passion to improve.
• Thanks to Malay for your absolute leadership and commitment towards Apps Magnet and our customers, to Sandhya, Ravi and Nishit, and everyone else on the team who’s made it their own company and worked day and night, have accepted my critic, surpassed all challenges and always given their best.
• Thanks to Nikita, my wife, Sanya, my daughter and my parents for supporting me throughout, for letting me work on this dream, even when I was supposed to be with them. You are truly my source!
• Thanks to everyone who’s met along the way, emailed us, talked to us, inspired us, criticised us, asked for a refund, spread the word…. You have all contributed to our lives immensely.

Thank you!

The result of that thinking and a few iterations is available to all. Here’s a summary of what we have changed and why…

BEFORE: Project Reports – Velocity, Burn Down, Hours and more

AFTER: Revamped Project Reports

1. Key Performance Indicators

We moved Key Performance Indicators to left and highlighted velocity and hours. We felt those are the two most important numbers to track. The project progress indicator was switched to a simpler bar and we added a clear label for the forecasted completion date. Next milestone is played down, but available for anyone who wants to see what’s coming next (this is especially useful in individual projects)

2. Burn Down Chart

The most important thing about a burn down chart is the slope at which it is going down – indicating the velocity at which the project is moving and giving you an estimate of when the project is likely to complete. Earlier it took the full width of the screen. It is now smaller, but still conveys all important information.

3. Hours Chart

Hours chart shows weekly tracked hours, total estimated hours and total tracked hours till date. We trimmed this chart too – and even made the columns slimmer! Hovering your mouse over any circle reveals more information.

4. Tasks Progress

This is a new block we added to project reports. In activeCollab 2 days, we showed tasks in different categories, but workflow labels provide a more accurate representation of task status. Custom workflow labels and their colors will be the same across the system.

5. Most Active & Open

The list of most actively worked upon tasks was not given priority earlier. It is now right in front center. This list tells you which work is keeping your team occupied currently.

6. Longest Overdue

The other important list is tasks that are overdue for a long time. These are items that either need some love to complete them, or an edit that removes the due date on them!

7. Project Status Overview

The project status overview block comes only for collections of projects – for instance when you’re viewing report for “All Projects” or projects for a particular company. This was earlier a new tab in its own but we’ve merged it with project reports. The list is easy to read – shows overall progress, project name, leader name, percentage completion, number of tasks done and total tasks, total hours tracked – and optionally the next milestone in this project.

System Stats

Not visible in this screenshot are quick stats about the system – total projects, users, files, their size etc. This block was only in companies tab earlier, and is now moved to project reports, below the tasks progress block.

Do you think these changes make reports more usable?

Do you like these changes? Do they make it easier to get a sense of how well your projects are doing? What would you like us to improve further?

Post a comment and let us know!

Recommended Upgrade Method

• Login to My Account and download the latest version of Apps Magnet Auto Updater.
• Upgrade your activeCollab to 4.1.4. You will start getting errors from custom modules.
• Deactivate all custom modules that are not compatible with aC 4.1.4 (either Apps Magnet or other third party developers)
• Install and activate the new Apps Magnet Auto Updater.
• Download 4.1.4 compatible updates of Apps Magnet modules using Auto Updater.
• If your access to upgrades has expired, you can renew access from My Account.
• Once latest versions are installed, you can activate modules you want to use.
• Test and verify that things are working as they should!
• If you notice a problem, let us know.
• If you are using modules from other developers, download and update them as well.

And some great discounts!! We are giving 30% off store wide till 4th December 2013 – use coupon flat30festive during checkout.

Mizen (rhymes with vision), is code name for a new module we are building. In fact, I wanted to build something like it three years ago. We even built a few prototypes in 2010, 2011 and 2012, but nothing came out to public.

This time, we’re removing all the complex “features” and keeping it to the most useful essentials.

Watch the video preview below, and let us know your comments…

Mizen will essentially:

• Automatically pick up assignment filters and show you results in a cleaner, simpler, faster interface
• Quickly complete, comment on or add time to your tasks
• Be available globally – from a link in left most, main menu in activeCollab
• Integrate well with activeCollab, yet offer something that greatly increases productivity

That’s the vision we are building Mizen with!

What would you like it to do? Should it be a new module, or should we bundle it in Planning module? Or Tasks Plus? Anything else you feel we should include in it? Remove from it?

Let us know! Thanks!