A Great Simple Timeline Visualizer but not a PM tool
Preceden is a straightforward task manager for high-level timelines and board-level communication.
According to AppSummo, Preceden is a viable alternative to Microsoft Project! But don't be taken in by this: Preceden only has about 2-3 % of the capabilities of MS Project or any other serious project management tool. Fast Track Schedule is a better, simpler tool for real project management.
Another misrepresentation concerns the export capabilities to Powerpoint. Preceden does not export to PowerPoint, but it does generate an "optimized" png image for use in a PowerPoint slide.
Other basic features of a true project management tool include task assignment to people, a summary task for hidden sub-tasks, and the ability to have dependent tasks that overlap, for example, you collect data for two weeks, but after one week you begin analyzing the data received up to that point, and many more.
Preceden is a good simple visual task manager (to-do list), and the timeline charts are nice (however, I haven't tested a real project with dozens of tasks and activities, which may overwhelm the app?)
If you're looking for a true Project Management tool, consider Fast Track Schedule, which may also be a good reference for updating the company's future roadmap to become a more powerful tool.
It's a decent product for simple senior management briefing timelines, but it's not suitable for actual project work.
Matt_Preceden
May 9, 2024Hey, thanks for this feedback and sorry if the description had you thinking Preceden was a full-fledged project management tool.
We've intentionally chosen to focus on timeline visualizations and try to be the best software in the world for that purpose. For some users who don't have or don't want to use a complete project management solution like Nifty, Asana, or Basecamp, Preceden can serve as a great light-weight tool for keeping track of high-level project plans. For those that do use another project management tool who are dissatisfied with their visualization capabilities (which tend to be very limited and lack customization and branding options - like MS Project), Preceden can help them create clear project plans to present to their team and other stakeholders in their organization. Thousands of project managers use Preceden in this way.
To address your other comments:
Yes, Preceden does export images optimized to be embedded in PowerPoint and Keynote. We haven't had any complaints about this approach, but if you notice any issues about the quality drop us a note and we'd be happy to investigate.
Regarding the possibility of the app being overloaded with large timelines, we have customers with hundreds of events on their timelines. Shouldn't be an issue unless you have over 1,000 events on your timeline, which very few timelines will have (and at that point it probably makes sense to split the timeline up anyway).
Again, appreciate this feedback. Whatever tools you wind up using for creating timelines, we hope they serve you and your team well.