So what’s this all about, then?
Posted by Bash
The original plan had been to shoot the breeze around Google Wave and the potential it offered to developers and UX designers. We ended up outlining the bare bones of a collaboration system that would address our bugbears with the current bug-tracking tools we’ve used.
We wanted something that combined essential functionality with a slick UI. We wanted it to be fast and responsive. More than anything else, it had to be a complete joy to use. We agreed, a little sump’n sump’n thrown in for the fun factor wouldn’t hurt.
Six months on, we have a bug tracker that supports collaboration across small teams. Users can set development milestones and keep an audit trail of internal and external communication across all their projects. It is blindingly fast, thanks to the combination of Redis and Nginx. The element of fun and soul comes in the game mechanics which we’re building into the system.
When we explain the PlayNice.ly concept to developers, we’re met with enthusiasm and impatience. “When can we use it?” (Soon). “How do I get onto the beta?” (Sign up here).
One of the most exciting and validating experiences we’ve had so far is hearing Andy Baio’s SXSW talk about how game mechanics can be used to make otherwise dull tasks fun and engaging. At one point, illustrating how Flickr’s internal bug tracker supports achievements, Baio said: “I’ve been waiting for a public bug tracker to do this.”
Dude. We are here. Well, almost. 
We began working on PlayNice.ly in October 2009. Since then we have:
- Grown the team to four passionate adventurers
- Written 12,0074 lines of Python (and 5,282 of JavaScript)
- Gone through 6 wireframe iterations
- Discovered the joy of developing with a non-relational database
We are still working really hard on getting a beta ready, but in the meantime we would like to give back to the developer community by sharing what we have learnt so far.
Expect to see some interesting posts in the coming weeks!
That’s incredibly exciting. I can’t wait to see it.
Just a question… is Playnicely app going to be a “Program, software” Or an online service?
!
Looking forward to beta
Hi Smoochict. PlayNicely is going to be an online service (Web App, RIA, or SaaS, whatever term you prefer
)
It is a good question though, as I can see how it is not 100% clear at the moment. We are looking forward to having an updated home page which will provide much more information.
Thanks for reading!
I’ve yet to find a software project management solution that fits my needs. GitHub is great for repositories, but the issue management leaves a lot to be desired.
Basecamp came close, but they seem to have stalled on releasing new features and there are just too many things it’s missing.
I just signed up for the beta and am enthusiastically waiting to give playnice.ly a try.