#rulefm

[tnypxl-blog]

Where is the simple project management app?

Over the years I've gained a lot of experience using Basecamp, GoPlan and currently Rule.fm to participate in and manage large and small projects. To this day none of them seem to hit the spot. They all fail in one aspect or another and the failure is often large enough to impede productivity in the long-run.

It appears current PM apps including the ones I mentioned above ask the right questions but eventually grow into the wrong answers. I look at products like twitter and facebook and one thing is constant. They evolve around a single action which in their case is sharing content in the form of text, links, videos and photos. I am never lost.

Sadly getting lost in tools like Basecamp and Rule.fm is very easy. There is no clear discernible ground zero. If I have to ask, "how should this bit of information be communicated?" or "should I upload a file to the app or just email an attachment?", "Should I comment on the file itself or post a message about it inside the project containing the file?". It is my belief that a user should never have to ask those questions.

Then you have PM apps that scale back too far. They're nothing more than a glorified todo application. They champion collaboration over the act of getting things done.

So what is ideal?

Ideally speaking

A user should be able to sit down and know exactly how to communicate effectively without friction. I say reduce friction between the following features.

Messages/Discussions

Commenting on individual assets (e.g, todos, files, messages, etc)

File management

All of the web apps I've mentioned claim to be better than email. Yet, many teams and organizations still fall back on it because it does two things well. It shares messages and files very easily. It's one-to-one collaboration at its best. But where email tends to fall flat is during many-to-many or one-to-many collaboration.

That's why we have tools like Basecampe, Rule.fm and GoPlan. But they all lose the effective simplicity of email.

I want the friction-lacking simplicity of email and the collaborative effectiveness of web-based tools.

Some day

I tried once to solve this problem with a personal project called "Kindmanage". It didn't get too far. But my recent experiences in PM apps have reignited those flames.

[startuplistinterviews-blog]

Exclusive Interview: Rule.fm Co-Founders, Patrick Carmitchel and Mark Nielsen

How do you manage your projects, milestones, and tasks? Rule.fm is here to challenge your favorite service, with impeccable style, functions, and support. Patrick Carmitchel and Mark Nielsen, co-founders of Rule.fm, gave us some excellent details on their new startup. 

Founder(s):

Patrick Carmitchel and Mark Nielsen – Co-founders

Startup:

Rule.fm is a cloud-based productivity platform that unifies business asset management in a collaborative environment. At the heart of Rule is a powerful utility from which to view, edit and manage all asset -- People , Projects, Documents, Communications, Money, and more -- relationships and permissions individually and by group.

  Links To Startup: 

http://rule.fm

http://fusionmonarch.com

http://underonerule.com

http://twitter.com/rule.fm

http://www.facebook.com/rulefm

  Startup location:

San Diego, CA

  Describe yourselves as the co-founders of Rule.fm.

As Co-founders of Rule.fm, Mark Nielsen and Patrick Carmitchel contributed to the vision, planning, product development, execution and marketing of the product. The real work is maintaining a culture that produces results with single malt scotch and an occasional group session that may or may not include smokes, tears and bro-hugs.

  What are the best features of Rule.fm’s online management system? How can they be integrated with a business’s current management plan?

It’s not that we are connecting the fundamental pieces of business management into a unified online platform. It’s not that you can see and interact with the activity of your teams workflow from anytime, anywhere. It’s not that it’s an aesthetic productivity tool backed by a bad ass infrastructure. The thing that makes Rule.fm beast, is that every asset (people, projects, documents, spaces and more) all have a life of their own and are created and managed out of one Universal Actions menu from anywhere.

●     The Rule Utility - View and Manage relationships and permissions for all assets on an individual and group basis.

●     The Stream - Post to the activity Stream and reference any asset, upload documents and notify any Rule user.

●     Dynamic Project Calendar - Fully integrated project calendar with drag and drop reordering of events to get a birds eye view and manage your timelines with ease.

●     Live Search - Just type a few characters in live search anywhere in Rule.fm and you’re one click away from where you want to be.

●     Plans & Pricing - All paid accounts are very competitively priced and come with unlimited users and access to all current and future Rule.fm features. You just pick how much storage you want and enjoy the benefit of a constantly evolving productivity tool.

With such an array of management system and software choices available today, what compelled you and your team to create Rule.fm?

Because there was such an array. Too much of an array. Too much of an array without inter-connectivity. The last thing small businesses need is to scatter their data and communication into different systems that do not talk to each other, or can only talk via an API that only does half the job and takes time. Rule is meant to break down those barriers so that you can manage your business in one place with transparency and open communication lines between different teams and functional groups.

Rule.fm is visually appealing, how did you decide what look and feel you wanted to represent your product?

User experience was crucial to the development of Rule. Our experience showed us that some of the current visually appealing systems out there lacked functionality or even the ability to classify data, and the systems that had great functionality were impossible to use because no time was taken to consider how the user actually wants to use the system. We take some liberties that certain users may need some time to get used to, but it is all in effort to make everything as easy and streamlined as possible.

  In what ways will Rule.fm have a “disruptive impact” in the current market of online management systems?

Small business...online...one application...cost effective. Ultimately this comes down to identifying what everyone wants and finding the most cost-effective and productive way to accomplish that.

Who is involved with Rule.fm? How many employees, developers, designers?

Patrick Carmitchel and Mark Nielsen – Co-founders

Dalton Woods – UX/UI

Trevis Rouse – Engineering

Randy Jones – Front-end engineering

Paul Redfern – Motivation (CFO)

Tell us your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

Currently we have no funding, but are keeping all of our options open. Our initial vision was to go it alone, but now there is a cry from the masses for Rule and we want to heed that call. We will do whatever it takes to make Rule what it needs to be sooner rather than later.

What’s next for Rule.fm? Big plans, upgrades? Goals?

CRM was just released, which is huge for our platform and our customers. Mobile and Mail is planned for early Q2 at the latest.  Integrations with Google Apps, box.net and other services are coming soon as well.

  Do you have any advice for young startup entrepreneurs?

It’s not easy -- especially if you have families with kids like our founders. Make sure you are solving and industry problem and not just building something “cool.” Things never go the way you plan, but if you work your ass off, there are those time that things go better than planned. You better be ready to do everything aside from lying, cheating and stealing if you really believe what you are creating.

FROM STARTUPLIST

Thanks a lot Patrick and Mark for letting us in on Rule.fm's details. Start your Rule.fm productivity management, and feel free to share this interview with your friends!