Mac360 Twitter TweetsSponsorship and Advertising on Mac360Forums Member LoginRegister for Mac360 ForumsFrequently Asked QuestionsYouTube Video WatchDashboard Widget WatchPolls & SurveysMac360 Power Search Options
RSS FeedThe Mac360 Article ArchiveThe Cheap MacWhat's New!Mac Tips & TricksMacintosh User ForumsMac360 Reviews

Merlin Makes Mac Magic Of Projects And Tasks.

MerlinHere’s the tale of two woes. The expensive solution for project management, vs. the inexpensive solution for managing a timeline.

It’s certainly not an apples to Apple comparison, and that’s the problem. Mac utilities span the spectrum.

In other words, different strokes for different folks. Matching a solution to the problem may be the most difficult task.

I say that because I’m always looking for a better solution, an easier way to accomplish a task, new management tools. What I found recently may surprise you.

The Mac has become fertile ground for attractive, easy-to-use, and affordable applications and utilities. To mess up the English language in a way that you’ll still understand, simply put—there are fewer crummy ones, more better ones.

My case in point is a new Mac utility called Temporis, from Bartas Technologies.

At a very basic level, project management is a timeline tool. It tracks objectives, milestones, tasks, dependencies, and more. Project management applications can be laborious to learn, difficult to implement, and require constant management and updating (depending on the complexity of the project).

Temporis is a timeline tool and as basic at project management as you can get.

The interface is simple, tools are easy to understand, and customization of time lines remarkably free of effort in a drag and drop way.

While most complex projects require a timeline, not all timeline tools require a complex project. If what you want is a graphical view of a date-base timeline for various events, or simple projects you’ll enjoy Temporis. It’s remarkably unassuming and a simple tool for simpler needs.

At the other end of the Mac scale is Merlin, which bills itself as project management with a bit of magic. That’s an assessment on which I will not disagree, except for one thing. It depends.

Matching your solution with your problem has become more challenging these days because Mac application developers have found more problems, and created more solutions.

Merlin is close to the ultimate project management solution, loaded with features, with a gentle learning curve, and sporting a pure Mac-like nature—the home to all the project and task buzz words you can think of; projects, tasks, phases, procedures, resources, dependencies, deadlines, checklists, and more.

At one end of the scale of solutions is Temporis which does timelines. Simple timelines. Attractive timelines. $25 can make you look like you know what’s going on when and where, even when you’re not really sure. I call that the PowerPoint Effect™.

Merlin’s $200 price tag takes you and your projects to a completely different level of understanding, tracking, detail, collaboration, and available information that’s tracked and ready for everyone. Merlin is a good Mac citizen and integrates with Microsoft’s Project, Excel, OmniOutliner—importing and exporting.

What I like about Temporis is the brutal simplicity of setting up a timeline. What I like about Merlin is the ability to set up a project with milestones, tasks, dependencies, resources, without being a project management genius, and without the resulting expense and complexity of a Microsoft solution.

If you’ve never used such a timeline tool, Temporis makes the start of your journey rather simple in true drag and drop fashion.

As you may suspect, Merlin lays no claim to such simplicity, yet, even those with nominal project experience, but who understand the basics of a timeline, projects, milestones, and tasks, will be able to implement such in Merlin on the first day of use.

We’ve reviewed many project management solutions that span the spectrum from ultra easy to superbly capable. If you’ve not ventured into such utilities but find a growing need to create detailed timelines on projects, and are required to manage milestones and tasks with dependences, then look closely at the new crop of tools for Mac users.

Do you manage projects on your Mac? What tool would you recommend for beginners? How about those with some experience? Share your knowledge with Mac360 readers in the Comments section below.

Read 1 Comments on this article. Or, Post your own Comment.

Classy Mac360 PhotoBy Jeffrey Mincey | I work as a PC System Administrator (Windows, Macs, Linux) for the state government in Atlanta, Georgia and have used Macs for more than 20 years. Most of it late at night.

• Email This Article  •  Follow Mac360 on Twitter
• Posted in the Encore Reviews Section

Off Topic Note: Help support Mac360. Order your copy of Mac OS X Snow Leopard from Mac360 through Amazon. Snow Leopard is $29 for the Single User Upgrade, and only $49 for the 5 User Family Pack Upgrade. For mini reviews of Mac software, check Ron’s NoodleMac site. Kate MacKenzie is back after a year of using Windows, and Ron has daily Mac musings on McSolo.

Mac360 posts daily Mac updates on Twitter, too. If you Twitter, give Alexis, Bambi, or Ron a tweet and follow Mac360 on Twitter to get daily Mac tips and tricks.

Diary
Journal or Diary. Your life is worth remembering beyond photographs.
Wed Nov 4 - Full Article »
Email
What? You don't use email stationary? Try these free templates.
Tue Nov 3 - Full Article »
Dock
Why not just add another Dock to make your Mac more efficient?
Mon Nov 2 - Full Article »
Snow Leopard
What's in the FORUMS?
Mac360 Link Farm