Product Update: February
TL;DR
- New highlights in awork are the planned effort hierarchy (with practical example), Gantt view & MFA
- Coming next on the roadmap are project and task keys, complex filters & cross-project task lists
- Reading tip on the topic "Why we build awork for agencies (and how)" from CPO Lucas
Feature Highlights Overview
New Planned Effort Hierarchy
Planned effort in awork now follows a clear hierarchy: from project through lists down to individual tasks and subtasks. This solves a real agency problem: until now, you could quickly see whether you were still on budget overall for a project, but not whether the planned efforts for individual line items like "creative" had already been exceeded.
Example: you're planning a project with a 100-hour budget, split into strategy (30h), creative (50h), and implementation (20h). If creative takes 60 hours to complete but you're only at 90 hours overall, everything looks good at first glance. In reality, though, you're short 10 hours elsewhere - often exactly where the higher hourly rates apply.
This impacts profitability and quickly leads to uncomfortable renegotiations with clients.
Here's how to use the new planned effort hierarchy:
- Create a separate list in your project for each quote line item (e.g., strategy, creative, implementation)
- Set the corresponding planned effort directly at the list level (e.g., 30h, 50h, 20h)
- Distribute the list's planned effort across tasks and subtasks to "consume" the budget at the list level
You can now see as the project progresses how much effort is still available per list (line item) - not just for the overall project. This gives you early warning signals if things are getting out of hand, so you can course-correct in time.
More details on the planned effort hierarchy
Gantt View for Projects
You can now visualize project plans in the timeline as a classic Gantt view with one click. This makes all dependencies clear and keeps your timings under control. It's especially useful for projects that run in distinct phases (e.g., campaigns) and also helps when clients expect a clear timeline report (tip: just export as .svg or .png).
More details on the Gantt view
MFA for High Compliance Requirements
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) can now be enabled for all users in a workspace. In addition to the standard password login, you can now also secure login with an email code or authenticator app. This is especially important when you're working with confidential client data that requires higher security standards.
What's Coming Next
We're focusing awork even more on agency workflows and working on highly requested features:
- Project and Task Keys: Quick and unique identification of projects and tasks
- Complex Filters: Create, combine, and share filter groups
- Cross-Project Task Lists: See all tasks across projects at a glance
Reading Tip
Our CPO Lucas recently started a newsletter on LinkedIn where he explains why we're deliberately building awork for agencies and not trying to be everything for everyone. Definitely worth reading if you want to know where awork is headed. As a bonus, there's also a sneak peek at the new UI design.
Have questions or feedback on the format? Feel free to send us a message - we really appreciate any suggestions!
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