Hi Matthew,
Thanks very much for your comments - they help a lot. As a quick response:
Matthew Arkin wrote:
Way too much text, I have no idea what the project is trying to do
before I get bored of reading. I don't get to the "Our Model Is
Simple:" until 14 paragraphs into the page.
I look at the graphics and I get confused, too much going on.
What differentiates you from some of the other project
management/collaboration tools out there like Google Apps, Office 365,
Basecamp, etc? I see the graphic that shows a notebook and my mind
immediately goes to Microsoft OneNote and sharing notebooks via Skydrive.
Yeah... I've been having a real problem getting the message across
simply, and I've focused more on the problem than the solution. Tell me
if this helps at all:
I see three differentiators:
1. Simplicity. The essence of project management is keeping people on
the same page - the same way that a script holds actors together, or
sheet music holds an orchestra together. The core notion is to extend
this to a networked environment - everyone has their own copy of a plan
(which can be as simple as a list of action items) - and those copies
are linked to each other. "Scribble" on your copy, and it propagates to
other copies - Q&A, status updates, changes, ... - the same way that
actors can huddle, and jot notes on their scripts.
2. Distributed & P2P: Local copies, linked by a peer-to-peer protocol.
In some sense, I see this as pretty close to linked spreadsheets, that
actually work across the net, using open formats and protocols. Write a
spreadsheet, email copies, updates propagate. (An awful lot of project
management ends up being done on spreadsheets, used essentially as
checklists.)
3. Open everything, running on existing platforms. HTML & JavaScript in
a browser. Email for distribution, either RSS/Atom or XMPP to link
document copies.
The problem really comes down to this: It's really easy to send out an
email containing a list of action items. But... very quickly one has an
inbox full of lots of followups - each update, question, etc. is another
message - things get confused very quickly. With this model, the first
message goes out by email, but the message is "smart" and addressable -
replies can be applied automatically. (Like tracking changes in a Word
document, rather than receiving a bunch of emails that say "change line
3, on page 5, to read .......").
There is also the issue that software products are the least funded
group on Kickstarter, physical products do much better for a variety
of reasons.
I'm hoping to be an exception - sort of like "light table" -
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ibdknox/light-table - I figure if
someone can raise money for a new IDE....
Thanks!
Miles
--
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is. .... Yogi Berra
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