Our Views feature just got even better

October 30, 2018Agile & Scrum, Distributed Teams, Kanban & Lean, Kerika, UsabilityDesign, Kanban, Lean, New Version, Scrum, Task Board, Usability, WorkflowKerika

We have improved our Views feature to include a simple toggle that lets you filter the entire View to show just those items that are assigned to you.

This new toggle appears on the top-right corner of the View, and we have added a Tip to help you understand the function:

Clicking on the toggle will immediately shrink the View to show just those items that are assigned to you:

What's Due with filtering — What’s Due with filtering

All the other items are hidden from the View, and a simple count at the bottom of each column shows you how many items are assigned to others. In the example shown above, 1 item is assigned to someone else, and is due today.

It’s a simple, fast feature that we think shows the best of Kerika’s design approach 🙂

This feature has been added to all of our Views that need this:

What’s Due
What Needs Attention
What Got Done

What's Due without filtering — What’s Due without filtering

It’s an incredible feeling knowing that you have users everywhere

October 12, 2018Distributed Teams, KerikaKerika

Making Kerika available free for most universities and schools!

October 11, 2018Distributed Teams, KerikaAccount, Interesting Users, Kerika, New VersionKerika

We have offered free accounts to small nonprofits and schools/universities from the very beginning of Kerika’s existence, but this was always on an ad hoc basis: someone would occasionally ask us for a free account for their school or nonprofit team, and we would agree.

Looking back, we found that we agreed to almost 99% of all the requests that ever came to us: the only situations where we turned someone down were

When we couldn’t figure out what the nonprofit was doing, or even whether it really existed. (Having a domain for your school/nonprofit really helps, even if it is not in English.)
When the school was for-profit, (We dodn’t see why we should subsidize for-profit organizations.)
When the organization was essentially a governmental entity that was getting funded through public money in a normal way.

With these caveats aside, we have tried to be very generous and helpful for small organizations that are doing philanthropic work, or are schools.

But our old process for dealing with these requests was really haphazard, and when we implemented our new billing system and improved account management features, we also made it easier for us to grant nonprofit status to a much larger group of organizations, providing they are small teams.

Our new process makes everything much easier for schools and nonprofits: we are whitelisting entire domains so that everyone from that domain who signs up automatically gets a free Academic & Nonprofit Account.

This means that only person ever needs to make a request on behalf of a school or university: if that gets approved, we will approve it for everyone from that school/university.

With a free Academic/Nonprofit Account you can have up to 10 people working on boards owned by that account: it doesn’t matter how many boards you have, or how big these boards are.

If you need more than 10 people, you will need to sign up for a Professional Account, which is $7 per user, per month (normally billed annually, as $84 per user).

Here’s a partial list of schools and universities we have already whitelisted for free service:

Adler Graduate Professional School, adler.ca
American Quality Leadership & Educational Management, aqlem.com
Arizona State University, asu.edu
Austin Community College, austincc.edu
Australian Pacific College, apc.edu.au
Bethlehem University, Palestine, bethlehem.edu
Boston University, bu.edu
California State University, Fullerton, csu.fullerton.edu
Campbell University, campbell.edu
Carnegie Mellon University, cmu.edu
Catholic Education Diocese of Wagga Wagga, Australia, ww.catholic.edu.au
Clemson University, clemson.edu
Cochise College, cochise.edu
Coconino Community College, coconino.edu
College Euroamericano, Monterrey, colegioeuro.edu.mx
College La Grange du Bois, Savigny Le Temple, clg-la-grange-du-bois-savigny-le-temple.fr
Colorado State University, colostate.edu
Cornell University, cornell.edu
Crefito-3, Sao Paulo, crefito3.org.br
Drew, drew.edu
Duke University, duke.edu
Edmonds Community College, edcc.edu
Escuela de Educacion Secundaria Tecnica No. 5 de San Martin, Argentina, galileo.edu.ar
Everett Community College, everettcc.edu
Faciplac, Brasilia, faciplac.edu.br
Fundacion de Estudios Superiores Universitarios, Medellin, fesu.edu.co
George Fox University, georgefox.edu
Humboldt State University, humboldt.edu
ICDL Colombia, icdlcolombia.org
Iḷisaġvik College, ilisagvik.edu
Indiana University, iu.edu
Institucion Universitaria Colegio Mayor del Cauca, Colombia, unimayor.edu.co
Instituto Potosino de Investigacion Cientifica y Technologica, Mexico, ipicyt.edu.mx
Instituto Superior de Ciências Económicas e Empresariais, Cape Verde, iscee.edu.cv
Instituto Superior de Formacion Docente Salome Urena, Dominican Republic, isfodosu.edu.do
Iowa State University, iastate.edu
Kalamazoo Valley Community College, kvcc.edu
Kirtland Community College, kirtland.edu
Kuruwi, Cabo San Lucas, kuruwi.edu.mx
Lane Community College, lanecc.edu
Macquarie University, mq.edu.au
Maricopa Community Colleges, maricopa.edu
Michigan Tech University, mtu.edu
Mid Michigan College, midmich.edu
Milwaukee Area Technical College, matc.edu
Mount Holyoke College, mtholyoke.edu
Mount Wachusett Community College, mwcc.edu
Mundo Sin Fronteras, Oaxaca, sinfronteras.edu.mx
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Tawian, kuas.edu.tw
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, ntust.edu.tw
Newman University, newmanu.edu
North Carolina State University, ncsu.edu
oc.unlv.edu
Oregon Health Sciences University, ohsu.edu
Ośrodek Szkolenia, Krakow, straz.edu.pl
Paul Cuffee School, paulcuffee.org
Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, pcom.edu
Politecnico Grancolombiano, Bogota, elpoli.edu.co
Portland State University, pdx.edu
Purísima Concepción School, Madrid, pconcepcion.escuelateresiana.com
RB Institute of Management Studies, Ahmedabad, rbi.edu.in
Regional School Unit 5, Maine, rsu5.org
Robert Morris University, rmu.edu
Rosalind Franklin University, rosalindfranklin.edu
Rowan University, rowan.edu
Saint Ambrose University, sau.edu
Saint Joseph’s University, sju.edu
Salish Kootenai College, skc.edu
San Mateo Community College District, smccd.edu
Santa Barbara City College, sbcc.edu
Santa Clara University, scu.edu
Seattle Central College, seattlecentral.edu
SKH Bishop Mok Sau Tseng Secondary School, Hong Kong, mst.edu.hk
South Seattle College, southseattle.edu
South Shore Educational Collaborative, Massachusetts, ssec.org
Stanford University, stanford.edu
Tecnologico National de Mexico, itcelaya.edu.mx and itoaxaca.edu.mx
The New School, New York, newschool.edu
The Philadelphia School, tpschool.org
Uniguacu, Brazil, uniguacu.edu.br
Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Mexico uabc.edu.mx
Universidad Autonoma de Gabriel René Moreno, Bolivia, uagrm.edu.bo
Universidad Continental, Peru, continental.edu.pe
Universidad de Ingeneria y Tecnologica, Peru, utec.edu.pe
Universidad de Puerto Rico, upr.edu
Universidad del Valle, Columbia, correounivalle.edu.co
Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Urena, Dominican Republic, unphu.edu.do
Universidad Politecnica de Chipapas, Mexico, upchiapas.edu.mx
Universidad Popular de Cesar, Colombia, unicesar.edu.co
Universidad Puruana Union, Peru, upeu.edu.pe
Universidad Tecnologica del Sur de Sonora, Mexico, uts.edu.mx
Universidad Tecnologica, Uruguay utec.edu.uy
Universidade de Integracao da Lusofonia Afro-Brasileria, Brazil, unilab.edu.br
Universidade Feral do Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, ufrn.br
Universitat Pompeau Fabra, Barcelona, upf.edu
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, comet.ucar.edu
University of Alaska, alaska.edu
University of Antioquia, Medellin, udea.edu.co
University of Arizona, arizona.edu
University of British Columbia, chem.ubc.ca
University of California Davis ucdavis.edu
University of California San Diego ucsd.edu
University of Central Missouri, ucmo.edu
University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, uccs.edu
University of Columbia, columbia.edu
University of Georgia, uga.edu
University of Kentuky, uky.edu
University of Massachusetts, umass.edu
University of Melbourne, unimelb.edu.au
University of Michigan, umich.edu
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, unl.edu
University of Nebraska, Omaha, unomaha.edu
University of Ottawa, ottawa.edu
University of Pittsburgh, pitt.edu
University of Southern Mississippi, usm.edu
University of Southern Queensland, usq.edu.au
University of Texas, utexas.edu
University of Toronto, utoronto.ca
University of Virginia, virginia.edu
University of Washington, u.washington.edu and uw.edu
University of Wisconsin-Madison, wisc.edu
University Technical Colleges, Plymouth, utcplymouth.org
Victorian Institute of Teaching, Australia, vic.edu.au
Western Governors University, wgu.edu

Among small nonprofits we have whitelisted:

A Rotta Love, arottalove.org (animal welfare)
Child United, childunited.org (children’s welfare)
DEXX Network, dexxnetwork.org
Freedom Youth Program, freedomyouthproject.org (children’s welfare)
Frontline Club, frontlineclub.org (journalism)
Hospital De Clinicas Porto Alegre, hcpa.edu.br (hospital)
Heart of Florida United Way, hfuw.org (public welfare)
MCA Church, mca.tv
National POLST Paradigm, polst.org (medical welfare)
Mainland BC Morale and Welfare Services (veterans welfare)
The Bridge Church, mybridgelife.com

(Update Oct 12, 2018: we did a better sort of the list, to be purely alphabetical by organization name.)

Making Kerika less chatty for new users

October 11, 2018Kerika, UsabilityNew Version, UsabilityKerika

It’s hard for us to get the balance right between making sure our users don’t miss out on important project updates, while avoiding the impression that Kerika is “too chatty”.

We are changing out default preferences settings — this will affect new users only, not existing users — to have most notifications emails turned OFF by default:

One reason for this change is that our Views feature does a good job of providing an overview of important updates across boards — and we are going to make it even better in the near future — so for new users in particular, we don’t want to give the impression that Kerika will increase their incoming emails, rather than actually streamline their existing communications.

Squashing even the tiniest bugs is important

October 10, 2018TechnologyKerika

What have we been up to lately, you ask?

Fixing bugs. Lots and lots of bugs, all minor but we don’t like to have any known bugs at any time.

We recently implemented some new error reporting services so that we can trap server and browser exceptions more efficiently.

This threw up a bunch of errors that we hadn’t been aware of before. Obviously these were minor, since no one had observed any ill effects before, but it’s long been a point of pride for the Kerika team that no known bug gets away alive.

So, we have been cleaning up even minor server exceptions, and obscure Javascript warnings from the browser console, so we have a completely clean slate.

One advantage of having a clean slate is that it makes any new errors immediately more visible. If you get used to ignoring some exceptions/warnings because you know they are not important, your team eventually gets desensitized to the presence of these errors and warnings, and bigger, more important issues start to get ignored as well.

Best to squash all bugs, no matter how small.

Leaver’s Regret

October 9, 2018KerikaAccountKerika

Yesterday we had our first instance of “leaver’s regret”: someone asked us to delete their Kerika account, and we acted promptly upon receiving that request.

Too promptly, as it turned out, because a couple of minutes the ex-user changed her mind. But by then it was too late: we had completed closed her account and deleted all the associated data.

Maybe we should be a little slower in responding to these requests? Deleting/closing an account is an irreversible action: we scrub all the boards owned by that account, and we don’t have any way of getting that data back. Our goal in implementing this process was to be very faithful to our privacy promises, namely that your data remains your data; it’s never Kerika’s data.

But, faced with this leaver’s regret situation, we are now thinking that maybe we should wait, for up to a day, before acting on these requests.

What do you think?

Why Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook emails aren’t great for free Academic and Nonprofit Accounts.

October 5, 2018KerikaAccountKerika

We occasionally get requests from Gmail users for a free Academic/Nonprofit Account; we often have to turn down these requests.

With a free account from Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc., it is impossible for Kerika’s staff to confirm that a user is truly from a qualifying organization.

As a result, these requests don’t get quick approvals, which is available for people signing up with an email address that clearly points to a nonprofit or academic account.

We can make exceptions in particular situations where we are sure a Gmail user is using Kerika solely for a nonprofit purpose, but this is rare.

If you are working at a nonprofit or university, please sign up with your official email address.

Thanks.

We made it easier for schools and universities to use Kerika, free

October 4, 2018KerikaAccountKerika

We have been offering free Kerika Accounts to schools and universities for many years now, and we have made this easier and more broadly available.

A free Academic Account lets the Account Owner have up to 10 Team Members working on boards owned by that Account, and this service is really intended to help small nonprofit groups benefit from Kerika.

With our new billing system we have added an admin feature that let’s Kerika staff whitelist an entire domain as Academic, which means that all accounts created within that domain will automatically get free Academic status.

If your school or college wants to use Kerika, let us know: we have already whitelisted dozens of domains.

You can now hide columns in your Views as well

October 3, 2018KerikaAgile, Kanban, Lean, Task Board, Usability, WorkflowKerika

For some time now we have offered the ability for you to hide entire columns on a Task Board or Scrum Board; we are now extending that to Views as well:

In the example shown above, several columns are hidden in this What Needs Attention view, and Kerika shows a count of how many items are hidden in each column.

This feature is available through the Column Actions button that’s at the top of each column:

This can help you focus in on specific work items that need more attention than others.

Usability tweak: when someone’s Account is no longer sharing boards with you

October 2, 2018Distributed Teams, KerikaAccount, Distributed TeamKerika

We have made a small usability tweak/improvement to handle the (rare!) situation where you are part of someone’s Account, but for some reason the Account Owner is no longer sharing any boards with you.

To make this clearer, we are now showing a helpful message:

Get more done

Kerika is Work Management for Distributed Teams