We just overhauled the entire back end of Kerika

Kerika, Technology

An effort that took 2 years finally completed yesterday when we updated the Kerika app.

This massive project involved rewriting everything on the back-end of Kerika in order to modernize the architecture and set up us for a more rapid development of end-user functionality, as well as making it easier to release new versions in the future using Docker container.

Our old backend was not well designed: everything ran as a single monolithic server. Over the years we moved slowly away from that, by building new features as microservices, and while that helped a little, it wasn’t enough.

We had reached a point where it was taking exponentially more time to build new features, and we were facing operational risk as well because the old backend was poorly understood and document.

A complete rewrite was necessary, and we bit the bullet on that a couple of years ago. There was significant cost and complexity but our great team powered through all the challenges, particularly when it came to transitioning our main database away from MySQL (hosted as RDS, by Amazon) to a NoSQL model using Google’s Firestore service.

Now that we are done we can start delivering more functionality, starting with support for non-English languages.

Stay tuned for our first non-English language, which will be Hindi, to be offered in a couple of weeks.

6 Project Management Techniques For Work-Life Balance

Kerika

Once again Kerika is featured in an article, this time on the 6 Project Management Techniques For Work-Life Balance at Namaste UI.

The techniques include:

  1. Treating Work-Life Balance as a Cycle
  2. Prioritization and Time Management
  3. Agile Project Management
  4. Delegation and Collaboration
  5. Setting Realistic Goals and Expectations
  6. Regular Evaluation and Reflection

To quote from the article:

Tools like Kerika can help you see and analyze how your projects are going, so you can find patterns, things that slow you down, and ways to get better.

Check it out.

Kerika has been getting rave reviews on Slashdot and Sourceforge

Kerika

It’s been great to see the reviews come in on Sourceforge and Slashdot, where Kerika is listed as a leader in the Task Management category!  Click on the badges below to check out the reviews:

Kerika Reviews


Kerika Reviews


Kerika has a free Template for Remote Team Meetings

Best Practices, Kanban & Lean, Tutorials, , , , ,

Click on the image to view the Template

This template can help organize and schedule your remote team meetings. 

With this template, you can effectively organize and schedule your remote team meetings, ensuring that all the meetings go successfully!

How to use this template:

  1. Use Resources: Use this column to gather useful tools and content that will help you manage your remote team meetings. You can use the existing resources as a starting point, and start adding your resources down the line.
  2. Upcoming Meetings and Agendas: Create a card in this column for all the upcoming meetings and agendas
  3. In Progress/Due Today: Create a card or move the card from the previous column to this column to ensure that everything knows which meetings are currently in progress or due today.
  4. Notes From The Past Meetings: Once the meeting is completed, create a card in this column to keep the notes from those meetings. This will help you and your teammates keep track of everything discussed in the meetings.
  5. On Hold: For meetings that need to be temporarily paused or canceled, you can move their cards to this column. This might be because the team is waiting on additional information or resources, or because the task is a lower priority compared to other meetings
  6. Done: After a card has completed all the stages of your project, simply mark it as ‘Done’ or move the card to this column.

330k Downloads For Kerika Task Management App: How They Did It

Kerika

Website Planet featured an interview with Arun Kumar, CEO of Kerika, where he talks about Kerika journey from concept to getting 330K downloads from the Google Workspace Marketplace.  Topics covered include:

  • Introducing Kerika: What is it and how does it work?“… the fact that our users range from global automobile companies down to young children highlights the biggest advantage of using Task Boards: it is super easy for people to pick up the concept and there’s no training needed.”
  • How did it all start, and what are your achievements to this day?“We were the first to create these incredibly flexible Whiteboards that can not only contain ideas, text, and diagrams, but also files and content from the Web.”

    “Now we have users in every continent and we get 5-star reviews everywhere…”
  • How does your mission differ from the other companies in your niche?“…designing a tool that ordinary folks can use, without training. We are building “task management for the rest of us.”
  • Who are your typical clients and what problems do they have when they come to you?“Describing our “typical clients” is impossible for me, because we have such a wide variety of users.”
  • And what makes them eventually choose you over your competitors?“What we have heard consistently, from users across the board, is that they love the user experience.”
  • Can you share one success story from your customers? What was their pain point, and what results did they get thanks to Kerika? 

    https://youtu.be/U7hQEvhbIPw

  • What do you see in the future of your industry, and how do you plan to cope?“Our focus isn’t going to change. We believe very passionately that everyone else in this space is still neglecting what we call “regular folks”. We love regular folks, and we will continue to make sure we have the best user experience for them!”

The interview was conducted with Bethenny Carl from Website Planet.

We are going to add support for more languages

Global, Tutorials,

We are going to add support for more languages this year, since so many of our users are from non-English speaking countries.

Our first attempt will be with Hindi, in the next couple of weeks.  This will help us test our internal processes for translating the Kerika website and app (but not this blog, sorry!) into different languages.

Once that’s done, we will do another test with Gujarati as our third language, to see if we can further automate the translation process. If that works, we will add a plethora of languages.

As part of this test with Hindi, we are translating some of our tutorial videos as well; here’s one:

Kerika has a free Template for a Mise-En-Place Personal Productivity System

Best Practices, Kanban & Lean, Tutorials, , , ,

Click on the image to view this Template.

This template can help increase your personal productivity each week:

This personal productivity template is designed to help you organize your daily and weekly schedules in a way that maximizes your efficiency and suits your needs.

How to use this template:

  1. Resources: Use this column to gather useful tools and content that will help you manage your daily and weekly routine. This can include existing resources as a starting point, as well as any new ones you come across down the line.
  2. Inbox: Start by creating cards in this column for all the tasks that you must complete in the future. Be sure to include the due date, estimated time required, any dependencies, and any notes or comments.
  3. Today: Move cards from the Inbox column to this column for the tasks that are due today. Make sure to prioritize them based on their urgency and importance.
  4. Tomorrow: Move cards from the Inbox column to this column for the tasks that are due tomorrow. This will help you plan ahead and stay organized.
  5. Next Week: Move cards from the Inbox column to this column for the tasks that are due next week. This will help you stay on track and make progress towards your goals.
  6. Pending: Move cards from other columns to this column for the tasks that are pending. Make sure to prioritize them based on their importance and deadlines. This will help you keep track of outstanding work and ensure that nothing falls through the cracks.
  7. Done: Move cards that have completed all the stages of your project to this column. This will help you track your progress and celebrate your accomplishments.
Remember to update your cards regularly as you complete tasks or as new tasks come up. This will help you stay organized and ensure that you’re always working on the most important tasks at any given time.

Kerika has a free Template for Go To Market Strategy

Best Practices, Kanban & Lean, Tutorials, , , , ,

Click on the image to view the Template

This template helps you create your marketing and optimize your marketing efforts to its maximum potential.

Designing and executing marketing strategies can be difficult, but this template can help you simplify the process and manage your marketing team effectively.

With this template, you can organize and optimize your marketing efforts, maintain team alignment, and achieve better results.

How to use this template:
  1. Use Resources: Use this column to gather useful tools and content that will help with your marketing campaign. You can use the existing resources as a starting point, and start adding your resources down the line.
  2. Ideas & Launch Plans: List your project-related ideas in this column. Collaborate and discuss ideas with your teammates, and decide which idea is the best to work on.
  3. In Progress: Once you decide which idea to work on, create a card or move the card you already created to this column. Update the card regularly so other teammates know what’s going on.
  4. Measurement and Optimization:  When the task is completed, move the card from the ‘In Progress’ column to this column. In this column, you can measure your campaign’s performance and analyze the data to optimize your marketing strategy.
  5. Done: After a card has completed all the stages of your marketing campaign, simply mark it as ‘Done’ or move the card to this column.

Kerika has a free Template for Work From Home Daily Planner

Best Practices, Kanban & Lean, Tutorials, , , ,

Click on the image to view the template

This template will help you increase your productivity while working from home:

Transform your chaotic and disorganized work from home routine into a more structured and efficient one by using this template. Use it to stay focused, organized, and increase your productivity while working from home.

Here’s how to use this template:

  1. Resources: Take advantage of the existing resources or create new cards for any resources that will support your work from home.
  2. Task for This Week: Start your week by moving the cards from the ‘Task for This Week’ column to this column or creating new cards for each task that’s due on Monday.
  3. Monday: Move the cards from the ‘Task for This Week’ column to this column, or create cards for each task that’s due on Monday.
  4. Tuesday: Move the cards from the ‘Task for This Week’ column to this column, or create cards for each task that’s due on Tuesday.
  5. Wednesday: Move the cards from the ‘Task for This Week’ column to this column, or create cards for each task that’s due on Wednesday.
  6. Thursday: Move the cards from the ‘Task for This Week’ column to this column, or create cards for each task that’s due on Thursday.
  7. Friday: Move the cards from the ‘Task for This Week’ column to this column, or create cards for each task that’s due on Friday
Remember to update your cards regularly as you complete tasks or as new tasks come up. This will help you stay organized and ensure that you’re always working on the most important tasks at any given time.