Why Redbooth Is the Backbone of Our Company Operations

An inventor, engineer, and design director, Steve Hammond is the also the founder of two companies: SYLO and SH3D, both based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Here, he explains how he keeps both on-site and remote team members organized and focused as they tackle ambitious projects.

What do you do at SYLO and SH3D?

I’m the director of SYLO, where we create and market intuitively designed gadgets and accessories, and of SH3D, our engineering and design consultancy.

I founded SYLO in 2014 to help people access great technology backed up by fantastic customer service. SH3D is our engineering and design consultancy. We use the latest in 3D CAD technology, as well as engineering simulation tools such as Ansys and Fluent, to develop product and engineering designs for our clients that are right the first time, every time.
 

What was life like before Redbooth?

Prior to Redbooth, we relied exclusively on Evernote to keep track of our work. It worked great in the beginning, but as SYLO grew and things got more involved, we knew we needed to look for a more robust solution. For example, with Evernote, time reporting was impossible and repeating tasks were very cumbersome to manage. We needed a team management tool that could offer more features to manage our growing company.

We wanted to continue to use Evernote to store our company procedures, so we needed a solution that integrated well with Evernote. We considered a number of team management tools but felt Redbooth would be the best fit for SYLO. Once we tried it out, we realized it was what we were looking for.
 

How do you use Redbooth today?

We use Redbooth extensively to manage teams of remote workers. Using Redbooth, I can track every project, keep tabs on completed tasks, and reach out to a team member involved in any project.

And because each team member has daily tasks to complete, Redbooth made it easier to assign repeated tasks, which saved us a lot of time. We use Redbooth to manage long-term projects, too.

For example, we’re working on an ambitious internal project right now: building a custom solution to manage all of the data that flows into and out of our business. We’re creating it from scratch, so we’ve had a lot of moving parts to keep track of.

We’re tracking every aspect of this project in a Redbooth workspace. Thanks to Redbooth, we know exactly where we are and can stay on top of issues that crop up. We even know how long each member of the team has spent working on specific tasks. And thanks to the new Timeline view, we can see when projects are expected to be delivered.
 

How has Redbooth helped you get more done?

As a manager of other team members, it has personally saved me at least two hours per day by making it far easier for me to work through completed tasks and identify any issues. The auto scheduling of tasks is also a massive time saver. With Redbooth, I can manage our team and keep track of every project, while also fostering productivity among team members.

We’ve certainly become a more efficient organization as a result of using Redbooth. Our company has grown significantly over the past few years and it was essential that it did so on a firm foundation. Redbooth has made this stable growth possible: it’s our core project management tool and the backbone of our company operations!