Brix – Online Agile Project Management And Collaboration Made Easy And Cost Effective

12 thoughts on “Brix – Online Agile Project Management And Collaboration Made Easy And Cost Effective”

1. Visit http://www.brixhq.com, what do you think the site is about?

   First thing, it’s good that your background loads fast, but the middle images took quite a while to load. I don’t know why though? At first, I thought they were videos or something but they are only images?

   Anyway, back to topic. I think the website is about managing agile processing of projects. You are lucky that I do software engineering and thus know what agile processing is. Others wouldn’t. From that, I can say that your website is strictly targeted to developpers and knowledgeable people.

   What do you think of the sign up process?

   I like the fact that you validate immediately whether the company name is taken or not. It allows me to rectify it instantly without having to scroll.

   As for the “I agree to the terms of privacy policy”, where are they? Do you really expect me to go find it in your footer?

   Wouldn’t it be easier for the user to just click on those words which should be linked to the terms of privacy page? It will give less space for doubts and uncertainties. For example, I thought you did not have them, so I honestly wouldn’t sign up. But after a bit of search I find it into your footer.

   Another thing, if I tick that box, it only means I agree with the “Privacy policy” or the “terms of service”. From that, if I did something illegal, you wouldn’t be able to pursue me because I did not agree to abide by the terms of service. Make note of that.

   I like the fact that you have to confirm the email before being able to log in, it assures me that I indeed put in the right email address.

   With the confirmation email, you need to be more formal. “Welcome to Brix, we are glad that you chose us…”

   And do not provide hidden links, just give the full URL for people to click instead of the “Confirm my  account” link. Why? Because it seems less suspicious that way, you could be redirecting me to another website with the “Confirm my account” hyperlink but if you give the whole URL I can confirm whether or not it is indeed your website.

   I know that you see the URL if you hover the mouse over the link, but most people don’t.

   Other that that, the sign up process is relatively easy and straight forward.

   What do you think of our pricing options?

   I fail to see any pricing options.

   Please share any feedback about why you would or wouldn’t use a site like BrixHQ?
    
   On your main page, at the bottom, the “Learn more” button should all be aligned. That makes your look more professional.

   You have really good “working” colour scheme as well well-thought designs and images. You website got this nice feeling of professionalism (although this could be improved).

   I love the “as you go” tutorial, that helped me greatly as to what I had to do on the website.

   I also love the fact that I can cancel my account anytime I want! Most websites do not provide this feature, and it just frustrates me, as I don’t want to leave any traces behind.

   The site map is simply great as well, I get an oveall structure of your website . Or that’s what it should do… I got an error:
   ___
   “The file you were looking for could not be found.
   Attempted URL: /company/sitemap
   It is possible that you typed the URL incorrectly or that you clicked on a bad link.
   “<< Back to Home Page”:/”
   ___
   

   Please rectify that.
   You might want to include a FAQ section or “User manual”/”tutorial”/”guide” for more indepth use of your website.

   That’s all from me. Hopefully those feedbacks will help you greatly.
   I hope you the best, good luck!

2. Visit http://www.brixhq.com, what do you think the site is about?

   I think the site is about project management and collaboration.

   What do you think of the sign up process?

   Sign up was straightforward and easy.

   What do you think of our pricing options?

   Looks decent. Up to 3 users is free. 30 day free trial free for unlimited users. Non-profits are free with documentation.

   Please share any feedback about why you would or wouldn’t use a site like BrixHQ?

   Actionable suggestions:
   1. On pricing page, it looks like the font is small, and the “Sign up Now” in the bottom right hand corner of your pricing chart (Under Annual pricing) is a different font size than the other two categories. Would look more professional if they were all consistent.
   2. On pricing page, why do you have a Twitter feed? It doesn’t not make sense to me why this is the most appropriate place for a Twitter feed. I typically see this on the homepage, or on a blog/forum area.
   On second glance, it looks like this Twitter feed is on most pages. Why not keep it on one page, and not all of them?
   3. On your company page, why do you tell us that your company is bootstrapped? This does not tell me you are premium. This tells me that you can only offer limited services because your resources are limited. I would rather you not tell me you are bootstrapped, because this is not something the potential client needs to know.
   4. On company page, it would seem more personal (adds a human touch) if you have profile pictures of your team members with the profiles.
   5. On company page – I don’t think this is the appropriate page to have “Why choose us?” here. Why choose us sounds like selling points. These need to be on your homepage, where your visitors are first learning about you – although keep in mind that you don’t want too much info on your homepage. A person typically remembers 5-7 things about your brand if you get their attention. Recommend moving the best of your “Why Choose Us” to your homepage as selling points.
   6. I am on your homepage again. If I am looking above the fold, I am getting very little info about your brand. You need to have your most important information before you have to scroll down on homepage. I recommend a company motto here near your logo, such as:  “Small Business Solutions Built With Brix” something that says small business. I don’t pick up just by reading project management and collaboration that your service is for small businesses. Lots of professions use project management (engineers, contractors, and many others). You need to say what your brand is for.
   7. I don’t see the need for 3 screen shots on your homepage. None of them are readable so it is not making sense why you need 3 taking up all of your valuable screen space. This is the space you need (before you scroll down) to have your selling points, what your brand is about specifically.  “agile project management and collaboration” may be it, but this is really vague. To be honest, it means nothing to me. You need it to be as simple and concise and as memorable as possible, so your brand is built with your homepage.
   8. I also notice you use a lot of dark blue on homepage. You can use this to your advantage if you want something to catch a person’s eyes, then use a bright (complimentary) color such as lime green or hot pink on a button or link if you want to emphasis its importance, because people will see it easily. Use this to your advantage.

3. Visit http://www.brixhq.com, what do you think the site is about?

   Site is about a tool, that can be used to work with projects and collaborate.

   What do you think of the sign up process?

   pretty short, but if timezone selector could have city names first, for accelerators to work. no link to terms or privacy policy. company name should not be unique if the tool is international. if the username is not required for logging in – it should not be asked during registration. message about confirming email should be bigger.

   What do you think of our pricing options?

   attractive.

   Please share any feedback about why you would or wouldn’t use a site like BrixHQ?

   it is not exactly clear the identity of the tool – it talks about Agile and then suggests Gantt charts, add sprints. So it is a mix between ideas. Most people have troubles with project management not because of the tools, but that project management is very difficult task in general – this tool doesn’t make that easy. Where is Kanban?

4. * Visit http://www.brixhq.com, what do you think the site is about?

   My first impression is that this is a web-based application that makes collaborative project management easy and accessible.  On further reader, I see that it can be customized, is searchable and has reporting features.

   * What do you think of the sign up process?

   The sign-up process was pretty straightforward.  I would have liked to see a message after I signed up that told me I would have to check my e-mail and confirm the account before logging in.  Instead, I tried to enter my information to log in and the message came up afterwards.  It would have been a bit of a time-saver to me to know this beforehand.

   On another note, I received the confirmation e-mail on my blackberry and confirmed my account through there.  The page that came up was obviously not for mobile devices.  Have you considered writing separate CSS so that users can access Brix from a mobile device?  It’s definitely a good selling point, now that many people use their iPhones and other smartphones to access the web on a daily basis.

   * What do you think of our pricing options?

   What pricing options?  I had to go back to the home page, and then noticed the little pricing link all the way at the top.  There was no mention of the free trial on the home page – it would have been nice, going in, to know that I had 30 days to evaluate the software.  I didn’t even notice the pricing link at first.  It’s not that you should put the pricing on your home page, but words like “try it now” (instead of get started) would clue me in to the fact that this IS a paid service, but there’s a free trial.

   As for the prices themselves, I understand the reason for keeping it simple – but what if I have twelve people on my team?  The price more than doubles, just because of two extra people.  Is there a way to add a few a-la-carte?  What about a 25-user price?  10 to 50 is a big jump, especially since teams are usually on the small side, at least in my experience.

   Also, the line, “email support for all your needs whilst your subscribed,” doesn’t look good.  First of all, whilst is more commonly used by the English – and sounds a little awkward to Americans.  In fact, I don’t hear many Brits say it, either.  More importantly, “your” should be the contraction, “you’re.”  This was one of the first paragraphs I’ve read on your site, and already I can see you should have a copywriter go over everything with a fine-toothed comb.  Little details like this make your company look less professional, but could be easily avoided.

   Okay, after combing through your contact page, I see that you’re actually Australian, not English.  Sorry!  Still, if you are trying to appeal to the American market, you’ll want the site written in American english.  If not, keep it as-is, just change your to you’re (that’s still correct, in any form of the language – unless things have changed since college).

   While I’m on the “About Us” page, I thought I would note that it seems a bit lengthy.  I think you would do better with a photo and shorter bio for each member of the team.  If there is any way to say more with less, do it.

   * Please share any feedback about why you would or wouldn’t use a site like BrixHQ?

   I wish your questions had addressed some of the program itself, then I could give you better information here.  I did play around with it a bit, and could not find a single thing that annoyed me.  I would love to use this when collaborating with a buddy in missouri on some projects we have going together.  I also loved the drag-and-drop features, being able to take a task from not-started to in-progress without opening it up for editing.  I also loved the pop-up help balloons. Very intuitive.

   The whole application interface is, to me, pretty faultless.  Though, keep in mind I’ve only played around with it for a few minutes.

   I also want to mention a few things that bother me on the home page.  First, under “Agile Project Mgt made easy,” the text is a bit small and hard to read.  What’s even more irritating is the redundant “learn more” buttons that don’t line up.  It’s a little distracting.  Why not just have a single button on the right, under the last column?  Oh, and make the last column the shortest one so everything lines up nicely.

   Then there is the footer.  You have all the relevant links in place, but there is this huge empty space on the right and, again, the columns don’t line up.  Make these things line up, or better yet, removed them from the home page entirely.  They could be on your about page.  In fact, the twitter widget is also on the sidebar on your About page, so it’s redundant there.  Why Twitter, but no Facebook? Also, why is there “From our blog,” but no link to the blog itself?  I would expect a blog link in the top navigation bar.

   I don’t think those things would necessarily keep me from using the site.  Once I was into the program, I could see the benefits.  I would like to see a bit more exciting home page, however.  Screenshots of the program don’t really do it for me.

   I’ve mentioned this site before, but I really like HighWire’s home page (highwire.com).  It’s simple (and contains screenshots), but remains a little exciting while containing all the relevant information.  I understand you’re appealing to a more professional audience, but they will still appreciate a flair of the excitement you have for your product, and that doesn’t come across on the home page.  Again, you don’t sell the fact that clients have the opportunity to try your product for free and that should definitely be highlighted.

   Those are my critiques, but overall this site is very polished.  I will love to see what you do with our feedback!

    
    
    
    
    
    
    

5. Visit http://www.brixhq.com, what do you think the site is about?
   Project Managers building schedules and meeting deadlines.  This is one of those must have things for executives in corporate settings to manage empoyees and keep it simple.
   What do you think of the sign up process?
   The feedback portion on the sign up portion I love.  Nothing makes you feel more welcome than knowing that someone is there to hear how you heard, what you think, or what you plan on doing wit the tools provided by Brix Wall.  The sign up is easy, simple, and the URL portion is good tool.
   What do you think of our pricing options?
   Awesome! 10, 100, 1,000 employees or co-workers able to use tools with one simple price for each one.  A great strategy for an individual signing up. They will immediately consider signing up 100 or even 1,000 people to share the Brix tools.  Everything on this site is clean, has links to blogs, and  Twitter.  All things someone trying to organize as a task manager should consider doing.
   Please share any feedback about why you would or wouldn’t use a site like BrixHQ?
   Yes.  Large corporations do not allow Internet or software use into their firewall computer systems. Most of Americas large corporations will see red flags when it comes to Twitter or other social networks unless they are in financing and collections.  So on that note, collections companies are using Twitter more and more to build rapport against their clients in order to collect.  They want social networks, mortgages, and even e-mails.  Also, smaller corporations should want this as a training tool that their managers would suggest everyone use with their business.  This should be a go for the new and out with the old traditional ways.  But, then again, most large corpoartions, major baseball sports owners, and even our senate is over ruled by old guys using traditional methods. My suggestion is get as many small business corporations to use this and then try to hit big in all major corporations as a training tool.  Again, social networks and computer firewalls are a red falg as well as being the number one preferred methods.  A catch 22!

6. Your site gives off a very good impression for the type of business which you are promoting which is for completing various types of projects. Anyone who is serious about getting their projects done in a timely manner would no doubt take a serious look at your site. The layout is very professional and clear. I also would like to mention that your website has excellent clarity, and is concise and readable.
   Signup isn’t difficult at all and I found it quite simple as I went through it. I was able to login easily once I had confirmed my email address-no problems there.
   Your pricing options are more than reasonable as well. Free for up to three users is excellent, and beyond that for up to 10 users or more is about the best pricing I have seen yet in comparison with other project management sites.
   If I were seeking out projects that needed to be done for my individual business, I would definitely tend to go with your site above others.
   The “Contact Us,” page is very thorough which makes it easy for clients to contact you with their various questions. You have a well-written privacy policy as I see it, along with a well laid out site map.

7. Visit http://www.brixhq.com, what do you think the site is about?
   Is about system to agilize projects and to reduce operative costs with collaborative work
   What do you think of the sign up process?
   I think it’s fine because is not too long, but you can improve it and assure you will receive quality information, maybe changing the programming to add some validation function after the field “COMPANY” to avoid company names of one letter, currently you can put just a symbol like -,@,#,$.
   I didn’t see the “THE TERMS OF THE PRIVACY POLICY” the site is asking me to agree with.
   What do you think of our pricing options?
   I would recommend you to put at the top of the list the free option and to simplify the list , eliminate the “Up to 3 users” option and convert each option in a link, that captures the option that the client selected and takes him to the signing up section.

   For example:

   Number of Users

   Price Per Month (USD) 
   Annual Pricing (USD) 

   30 Day Free Trial
   Free (unlimited users)
   Free (unlimited users)

   Not for Profit and Charities
   Free with documentation
   Free with documentation

   Up to 10 users
   $19.99
   $175

   Up to 30 users
   $49.99
   $450

   Up to 80 users
   $99.99
   $900

   100 Plus
   $199.99
   $1,800

   Please share any feedback about why you would or wouldn’t use a site like BrixHQ?

   I would use it because, as an online tool, it’s very useful to do collaborative work and make synergy. I saw the screenshoots at the “PRODUCT” section and I like how the interface looks, it has a very professional style and definitively invites to use the system.

8. What do you think this site is about?
   It’s a project managment website, that can be customized to help business’ operate more effectivly
   
   What do you think of the sign up process?
   It was quick and easy. Very simple, although I didn’t see the “TERMS AND CONDITIONS” that I was to agree with. Definately need to fix that. There also needs to be a message about checking your email before logging back in. I didn’t see it til after I tried to log in.
   
   What do you think of our pricing options?
   I think the pricing options were great. Very reasonable. I like the fact it gives you the annual rates also instead of just monthly, and you also get a 30 day free trial. You should mention you get a 30 day free trial on your home page.

   Please share any feedback about why you would or wouldn’t use a site like BrixHQ?
   If I operated my own business I would use this site. It seems very helpful with task managment.

9. Visit http://www.brixhq.com, what do you think the site is about?
   It helps workers manage their projects, and allows them to work together through the website so that they can work on the same project from different locations.

   What do you think of the sign up process?
   I like the very obvious “Get Started”button, it’s attention-grabbing but not too obnoxious.
   It seems quite easy, but I did not see the Privacy Policy linked anywhere. That could be a problem, with people not wanting to sign up without knowing what they are agreeing to. 

   What do you think of our pricing options?
   The pricing options seem quite fair, and I like the 30 day free trial option. That’s an excellent way to draw customers in. 
   I also like the choice between monthly and annual pricing, as well as the fact that the price caps after over 100 people. That way the prices appeal to both small and large businesses.

   Please share any feedback about why you would or wouldn’t use a site like BrixHQ?
   If I owned my own company, I would use it. As it is, I may recommend this to my coworkers and friends who want travel but  also continue working on their current projects.

10. $5 awarded to H_game.

11. $5 awarded to zeke2100.

12. $5 awarded to jessicafry.

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