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Microsoft Loop’s office productivity software can double as a lightweight project management tool for teams that don’t need the more robust feature set of apps like Jira or Trello.
Analysts and users have said that Loop, which Microsoft introduced earlier this month, will make it easier to track a project from start to finish without switching between apps or downloading multiple copies of a single document. This will save time and reduce inaccuracies while showing the progress of the project.
“[Loop] can be used as a lightweight project management for businesses looking for a less structured project management platform, ”said Michael Goldstein, CEO of IT services company LAN Infotech in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “Occasionally, traditional project management products are very structured and too disciplined for the average user. “
Loop software breaks down apps like Excel, PowerPoint, and Word into snippets that users can share between Teams, Outlook, and OneNote, as well as the canvas-style Loop app. Snippets are updated in real time wherever they’re shared, and the Loop app comes with a status tracker that teams can use to see how far along they are on a project.
Employees at managed services company Synoptek in Irvine, Calif., Don’t have to worry about whether the latest version of a proposal is in OneDrive, Teams, or an email sent last night, according to David Ditsworth, Regional CTO at Synoptek. The snippets they need will be in one place and updated as snippet and the original document.
Ditsworth said Loop is not a project management tool because it lacks planning and resource management. “Having said that, someone could use it for project management in [a] stripped down mode as people use Excel or Word to manually track schedule, resources and tasks. “
Darrell Webster, consultant To U.K.IT services company WM Reply pointed out that Loop’s health tracking feature is a necessity for project management. Status tracking allows a team to track the progress of a project by designating document owners, due dates, and completion levels.
Other project management apps have more features, “but sometimes you want something fast, and you don’t want that challenge of [creating] a planning board, “Webster noted.
Loop has addressed many of the challenges businesses face when working on projects with distributed teams, according to Raul Castanon, analyst at 451 Research.
A 451 Research on worker productivity challenges found that among 491 companies, 35.4% said finding and sharing information was the biggest problem, 32.6% said it reduced types of repetitive work, and 29.5% said it was better organization of work.
These challenges previously required project management software, according to Castanon. But organizing work and sharing it between teams can now be done in a loop.
Similar software, like the Notion project management app, is popular among small businesses for collaboration, but does not include the tracking capabilities of loop and project management tools.
Mazin Ahmed, founder of UAE-based cybersecurity start-up FullHunt, said that while his team uses Notion to manage projects, Loop features like tracking due dates are not in the game. Notion.
“It would be nice to have him,” he said.
Maxim Tamarov is a news writer covering mobile computing and end user. He already wrote for Daily news in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and the Sun transcription in Winthrop, Mass. He graduated from Northeastern University with a journalism degree. He can be found on Twitter at @MaximTamarov.
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