2023 Review: All Things Huddo
Writing posts like this reminds me how fast time can pass. 12 months seem to have passed in what feels like 4. I am aware today that not every year is a rebrand or a relaunch, or a new product release. However, although project and company lifecycles do have big milestones, there are often longer periods of background tasks and essentially time spent playing the longer game.
So, this year, I would like to celebrate those periods of progress without the big bang of a major milestone. Those stages of hard graft with incremental progress. Those smaller steps we take that we often forget to acknowledge and reward. I think it is these periods in which our determination and perseverance carry us through. Grit is an important part of a project, and indeed life. Grit without added incentive. What carries a project through, day-to-day, is drive. Drive to keep taking steps forward.
2023 did have some noteworthy highlights, of course.
Engage 2023 and Wannes winning the Lifetime Ambassador award.
Or as I said at the event… ‘all hail the king’. This highlight is not the first, in terms of chronological order (Engage was in April 2023) but it is the one that is most touching and special for us at Huddo. Going to Engage is not a new thing for Huddo, and it has always been a chance for our European and Australian colleagues to meet and spend time together, surrounded by the supportive network of the HCL Community, which fuels further this feeling of a family get-together. It is like coming home for Christmas and seeing everyone you love after a long time. So, seeing Wannes called to the stage unexpectedly to collect his award was a real treat for us. Thank you Amsterdam and Engage.
READ MORE ON ENGAGE 2023: https://www.huddo.com/blog/engage-2023-the-one-where-wannes-was-awarded-the-hcl-life-time-ambassador-status
Huddo became an approved app integrator for Zapier.
This highlight is the first, in terms of chronological order. We had somewhat unexpected confirmation in December 2022, from Zapier, that our app had left beta and was an approved app integrator. Spreading this news in January 2023 was a wonderful way to start the year. Just like the opening paragraph of this blog post, this wasn’t a big milestone we had planned to reach, but instead a little reward for continuous work and improvements on the Huddo Boards app. A little pat on the back, if you like, to the commitments we made (and still make) every day to improve Boards. Something not pushed for specifically, or sought after, but organically recognised. A natural output from the grit and hard graft. Thank you Zapier.
READ MORE ON OUR ZAPIER APP APPROVAL: https://www.huddo.com/blog/huddo-boards-becomes-verified-zapier-app-integrator
Rolling out the free version of Huddo Boards
This highlight is likely the most impactful, and the big-ticket item from 2023. Huddo Boards used to be a free trial application, only, where you could get access to the full application for 30 days and then, after, went to a limited version of only the Activities View. Changing the model to include a completely free version with 200 cards and 20 Boards (i.e. not time-limited), enables a more natural way of testing and trailing Boards. It could take you 1 week, 1 month, or 1 year to reach your limits, meaning everyone had the opportunity to put Huddo Boards through its paces. Without the constraint of time. We believe the proof is in the (Christmas) pudding. If you use 200 cards, we think, by then, you will have seen the value of Huddo Boards and upgrading is a simple decision, without risk. It’s about you knowing that you are ready, by giving you the time you need to evaluate our application. Thank you free stuff.
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR VARIOUS SUBSCRIPTIONS HERE: https://www.huddo.com/boards-pricing
2023 updates and improvements to Huddo Boards
Like every year, we did several big updates to Huddo Boards. Including basic app improvements; new features; and extending existing features. Innovation is a key aspect of keeping Boards relevant to the modern project manager, and 2023 saw some awesome updates hit our screens. Including:
Unlimited Colours.
Choosing any colour from a colour palette sliding scale and/or adding HEX codes were two new features to our application, giving users a better range of colours and the ability to use specific branded ones. Making life just that little bit brighter.
New Admin Controls on Users and Content.
From something very visual to something very practical. The new Admin Settings enables users to not only control licences and invoices, but also control user permissions, and transfer licences and content (Boards) to other users. This is especially useful when you have changes to your team, and you can move all Boards and Cards from one user to another.
Template Roles and Rescheduling.
Templates are not new, but the roles and rescheduling extension have revolutionised Templates. Setting roles instead of people enables Templates to be reused by other members, and teams, more easily. The rescheduling feature makes super light work of repeated projects and will roll out cards and tasks against newly assigned start or end date, with just a few clicks.
iCalendar Feed.
One of the most sought-after updates of 2023 was the iCalendar integration. This feature enables users to sync Boards with their third-party calendar applications, to combine Board dates with other key dates, but also enables a standard calendar view of your projects. Giving an additional time-related project preview other than our Timeline view. It was very nice to deliver this much-wanted feature to our users.
Special thanks to our hard-working Dev team.
JUMP BACK INTO BOARDS: https://boards.huddo.com/login
New blog series on Project Management
The ‘Downloads’ section of our website is intended to help users with their projects and tasks, often providing support outside of the Boards application itself. Like tips on how to run projects or collaboration, and/or integrate Huddo Boards with your preferred systems. In preparation for a new Guide in 2024 on Project Management, we released 8 blog posts on various project management methodologies and techniques in 2023. Our aim? To support our users make easy work, of their work.
Covering methodologies like Kanban, Waterfall, and Scrum and techniques for projects with lots of collaborators, or strict deadlines, or no deadlines. It's our most detailed and comprehensive guide yet. Keep an eye on our new guide coming in early 2024, not only extending this blog series but also combining everything into one useful download. This is thanks to me, and I will not self-servingly thank myself. Thank you for being curious.
CATCH UP ON THE BLOG: https://www.huddo.com/blog
