
I’m not gonna lie, it took me a moment to figure out how to open the Kanban View (go to View | Net Plan | Kanban). Not being a big fan of Gantt charts, I immediately wanted to know what Merlin Project had to offer by way of kanban boards. ICloud Usage Policy (TechRepublic Premium) Save more than $1,000 off a refurbished MacBook Air How to change Touch ID settings on a MacBook Pro When you opt to use Merlin Project, you better know your way around Gantt charts, otherwise, you will be lost from the jump. This isn’t a piece of software that will hand-hold you through the onboarding process. Right out of the gate I realized that Merlin Project means serious business. To that end, I opted to use the General Project Management Plan to see how much mileage I could get out of it.Īfter choosing the template, I was surprised to find it filled with demo data ( Figure B).įigure B The demo data for the General Project Management Plan. Of course, I’ve learned over the years to not judge a book by its cover, so the real test will be how easy the software is to use and the available features. Given the cost of the software, I would have assumed it to be a beautiful UI that was every bit as modern as the current macOS.įigure A The initial Merlin Project window seems a bit outmoded by modern standards. Upon the first run of Merlin Project, my initial assessment of what I saw was a bit pessimistic upon seeing a UI that seemed a bit outdated ( Figure A). But is the software worth it, given how many free options are available? Let’s take a look and find out. After that, you can either pay an annual ($169.99) or monthly ($16.99) subscription fee. You can try Merlin Project for free for 30 days. Express is for private project management and Project is their flagship application that can be used by either a single person or teams of users. There are two different takes on Merlin: Merlin Project and Merlin Project Express. One thing to keep in mind is that Merlin Project is not free. SEE: Hiring kit: Project manager (TechRepublic Premium) Export to PDF, HTML, MS Project and more.Import from MS Office and MindJet MindManager.Project sync with iCloud, Dropbox and other cloud services.Costs and budgets with both top-down and bottom-up planning.The feature set found in Merlin Project includes: With Merlin Project, you can plan, control and monitor all of your projects.

One option is Merlin Project, which is a professional-grade project management system for macOS and iOS devices. There are plenty to choose from, but when a project might be of a more sensitive nature, or you prefer a more traditional desktop client-type solution, what do you do? If you depend on Gantt charts and kanban boards to keep your projects on schedule, you might assume your only recourse is to sign up for one of the many services available. Jack Wallen kicks the tires of the macOS version of Merlin Project to see if it lives up to the cost of the software. Is Merlin Project a worthy replacement for your current project management solution?
