We run a small graphic design and advertising company of 4 employees.

We want to keep track of the jobs coming in, what is required, what has been done, what is left to be done, client changes and time spent on the job etc.

Has anyone ever purchased project management software for the Mac? If so, would you recommend any particular one, or recommend me to steer clear of any particular one.

If you have just heard of names of any that may also help - I can look them up on the web.

Merlin is awesome (search on macupdate.com). Can also load files from MS Project, which is handy.

Basecamp.
Perfectly suited for studio project management, and the fact that it's a web app is a plus - as it means you can set up clients to access the system too (obviously they can only access the projects that you've assigned to them).

Apparently this is the shit:

Streamtime ? Home ? Australia

But pricey and probably more than you need at this stage.

You can try RationalPlan. I think the Single Project version is enough for your job.

Lucian
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RationalPlan - Project Management Software

+1 for Merlin. Great product. Merlin 2 - Home is the website

also MissonMan did a fantastic review here Merlin - Project Scheduling on Mac (MS Project Competitor for Mac) which you should check out.

IMNSHO, all project management software simply isn't worth the hassle and bother.

You have to learn a whole new skillset just to use the software. It requires an amount of creative input that simply isn't justifiable. You essentially have to manage a project just to manage a project.

I'd recommend a well-made Excel sheet for your purposes.

Actually its a valid point. Looking at your requirements, its not 100% project management, more CRM related. Not sure if I would use any project management package for that.

You see, I look at Merlin and I'm immediately confused. Kzach makes a good point that most project management software requires learning a whole new skillset just to use it. Hell, I even get the same impression with just to-do apps (of the GTD variety).

That's why I like Basecamp so much. It's very very easy to get the hang of, and doesn't overwhelm you. We put all our clients in the system, some of which are very non-tech savvy, and even they get the idea very quickly.

Project management, collaboration, and task software: Basecamp

And if it's CRM stuff you need, they also make Highrise, which integrates very well with Basecamp: Contact Manager, Web Based CRM, Address Book for Small Business: Highrise

You'll understand project scheduling software when you work in large projects with hundreds of project tasks and a lot of interdepencies between them. Its only then you start to understand how important monitoring the critical path is and where things like early starts and late starts can be used to your benefit.

Basecamp isn't project scheduling or project management software in the conventional sense of the word, its probably close to task management than project management and would probably compete more with products like Omnifocus.

The only thing I don't like about web based products, particularly those that only work online is they limit your ability to do offline work when you don't have internet access

But for the original question, OneShow is after project management for a 4 person design studio. There wouldn't be ridiculously large projects, with hundreds of tasks. Funnily enough, I also work in a 4 person design studio - and knowing exactly the scope of the projects and how they should be managed, Basecamp ticks all the boxes.

Offline times aren't such a problem either. Anything that gets posted to Basecamp that you need to know about, gets emailed out as a notification (with the full written content of what was posted). You can even reply back via email. So in the instance that you're offline, you can just fire off your replies or messages and let your email client send them off once you're back on the net.

Agreed but given his requirements (keeping track of customers, jobs, time) it seems like a CRM solution than a project management or task management solution, particularly where it comes to including how much time is spent on jobs etc. Maybe I don't understand the studio business (quite feasible) so I could be wrong.

Out of interest sake, I wrote an intro to project scheduling so people can see how these packages actually work, it may answer some of the questions people have about how to work with these packages.

A crash course on how to use project scheduling/management software

We're happy using Wrike.com. It does take some time to get used to it, but the amounts of time you will save with its help are worth it.

I've tried Omniplan, which isn't much more complex than writing a list of things to do in order, then creating a gnatt chart. It requires really knowing how long parts of a project take to do, however, but is great if you do know and want a lovely visual of how a project is progressing and what you're waiting on.