Workama-what?! An Introduction to the New Workamajig Platinum

In an odd way, I like to consider the Flash version of Workamajig my helpful but awkward child who has a hard time making friends. It’s always been difficult for Workamajig to make a great first impression.

If you have any experience using this project management program, you might have an idea of what I’m talking about. Everyone thinks it’s lame before they get to know it because it’s so easy to immediately dismiss; the given name couldn’t be more ridiculous, the user interface looks very Windows 98, the program is not very intuitive or easy to navigate and, on top of all that, it’s constantly asking for a negative response with those dreaded reminders to complete something. We’ve all cursed the program for such behavior (stay tuned for a blog on that later), but today I’d like to focus on our positive outlook.

For those of you who are not familiar with Workamajig, it’s the project management software we utilize at re:group to keep everyone on the same page. It’s popular among small and large advertising agencies, and used by 20% of Fortune 500 companies because it’s an incredibly robust tool.

So here’s the good news: Workamajig is “maturing” nicely, and it’s becoming much more user-friendly. It’s currently being overhauled, redesigned, and rebuilt in HTML5 since Flash has become irrelevant. So far, the design is much more aesthetically pleasing. The folks at Workamajig call this version Platinum. If you are a current user, you can check it out now: just log in as you usually would and then type “/platinum” at the end of your Workamajig URL to give the new interface a whirl. For example, “app##.workamajig.com/platinum.” The program has been remapped so it will certainly take you some time to become familiar with it even if you are a veteran user.

Unfortunately, I don’t expect Platinum to be entirely ready until early 2018 since Workamajig releases tend to get pushed back. The chart below indicates the expected rollout dates:

As you can see, only a couple of wings have been released in full at this time. But if you are a standard non-admin user, you should be in line to utilize the new landscape by the end of this year. Please be forewarned that the functionality is still a work in progress and you are sure to encounter various bugs.

I’m excited to track the improvements and development of Platinum, not just because it’s our project management software of choice here at re:group, but because I know it will allow us to work more efficiently as a team. For now, I encourage you to formally introduce yourself to Platinum if you have not yet had a chance; I think y’all will get along!