Project management for agencies and software development shops

Short answer: Project management for agencies works best when the project sits next to the client, the deal and the invoice. Alori is the all-in-one app for service businesses, and small software development shops use it to run the whole client cycle: a deal, a quote signed online, a project with its tasks, recorded meetings and invoices paid by card, in one app.

A day at a small dev shop

A dev shop of three to twenty people juggles clients at different stages. A discovery call at 9 with a new lead. A sprint review at 11 with a client who wants one more feature. A quote to finish for a mobile app. An invoice that is 30 days late. And the developers just want to know what to build next.

The tools: a CRM or a spreadsheet for leads, a project tool for client work, Zoom with a note taker, a scheduling link, a proposal or quote tool, an invoicing tool and QuickBooks. The project tool knows the tasks but not the money. The CRM knows the deal but not the project.

What Alori gives a software dev shop

• A deals pipeline. Track each lead from first call to signed, with your own stages and the value of each deal. Leads from your website form, Zapier, Make or Google Ads come in through your lead link.
• A project per client. In Tasks, start a project for the client, keep the tasks Alori suggests, set a lead and a target date, and follow progress. Link the project to its quote and invoices to see the money next to the work. See tasks.
• A task board. See tasks as a board, one column per status, and drag cards as work moves. Assign a task; your teammate accepts it or sends it back with a reason. Import your existing tasks from Excel or CSV.
• Tickets with cycles. File bugs and requests as tickets numbered like DEV-12, with a type, a priority, a size and your team's steps, on a list or a board. Plan work in cycles of 1 to 4 weeks, split a ticket into sub-tickets, and mark one as blocking another. Add the client and Alori emails them when their ticket moves to in progress or done.
• Meetings that become tasks. Run discovery calls and sprint reviews as video meetings in the browser, recorded, with a transcript and a summary. Turn each next step into a task in one click, and ask questions about a past meeting, like "what did the client ask for on the login screen?". See meeting notes to tasks.
• Quotes accepted online. Build a quote from your price list, email it, and the client signs and accepts it online. An automatic follow-up goes out when a quote gets no answer. See quotes.
• Invoices paid by card. Every emailed invoice has a pay by card link, unpaid invoices get automatic reminders, and invoices sync with QuickBooks Online.
• Booking links for discovery calls, with reminders, synced with Google or Outlook calendars.

Coming soon for dev shops

These are not built yet:

• Proposals with long-form contracts and e-signature. See proposals. Today, quotes are accepted and signed online.
• Time tracking to invoice and retainers. See billable time to invoice.
• A client portal where clients follow their project.

How to start

1. Describe your business. Type something like "Software agency, 8 people, web and mobile apps for small businesses", or paste your website. Alori builds your app and your website.
2. Bring your data. Paste your client list into Ask Alori, import tasks from Excel or CSV, or move from HubSpot.
3. Invite the team. Every plan has unlimited users, so every developer and contractor gets a login. See pricing.

FAQ

Is Alori a replacement for Jira? For many small shops, yes. Tickets have numbers, priorities, sizes, cycles, sub-tickets and links like Blocks or Duplicate of, on a list or a board. Alori does not link tickets to commits or branches, so keep your issue tracker if your developers rely on that.

Can I bill by the hour? You can invoice any amount from Alori today. Hours are logged from jobs for payroll, but turning tracked time into an invoice is coming soon.

Can a meeting create tasks for the team? Yes. After a recorded meeting, the summary lists the next steps. Click Create the task beside a next step to make it a task.

Does Alori work with QuickBooks? Yes, with QuickBooks Online. Customers and invoices sync both ways.