Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET
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ZDNET's key takeaways
Zenkit is a project management tool for all platforms.
Individuals and small orgs can use Zenkit for free.
Zenkit has a low learning curve.
It never fails that I have several big projects either going on at once or stacked up, one after another, and this fall/winter is no exception. Because I know what's coming up for me, I have to make a concerted effort to keep everything organized, and one of my new go-to tools is Zenkit.
What is Zenkit?
Essentially, Zenkit is an all-in-one solution for collaboration, project management, processes, communication, scheduling, documents, and knowledge sharing.
Zenkit is an app and a service. The app can be installed on all platforms (Linux, MacOS, Windows, Android, and iOS) and has both free and paid subscriptions. The free option is for individuals or small teams and offers recurring tasks, 2FA, and automation. There are three paid plans, ranging from the Plus plan, which adds Gantt charts, advanced access controls, custom fields, password restrictions, and more. That plan costs $8/month/person. There's also the Business plan, which adds features like API access, user and group management, activity auditing, provisioning, and SSO. The Plus plan is $21/month/user. The Enterprise plan adds several other features aimed at large organizations, and you must call ZenKit for a quote.
I opted for the Personal (free) plan, because I was the only one who would be using the service, so I wouldn't need any of the advanced features (plus, I hate Gantt charts).
After signing up for the free account, I installed Zenkit on Linux via the Snap store, with the command:
sudo snap install zenkit
You can install the app on Windows, Android, and iOS from their respective app stores. For MacOS, download the dmg file for either Apple Silicon or Intel from the Zenkit download page.
Once the installation is finished, open the app, log into your account, and either walk through the onboarding wizard (if you've not already) or jump straight into your projects.
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Using Zenkit
With the free option, you can choose between three different views:
Kanban
Calendar
Table
You can quickly switch views from this drop-down. Jack Wallen/ZDNET
If you have a paid plan, you can add Gantt charts to the mix.
I've been using Kanban for years, so I opted to go with that view. I can also easily switch between views by clicking the view drop-down and selecting the option I want.
If this is your first foray into Zenkit, you'll be prompted to start building your Kanban board during the onboarding process. There, you'll name your project and add cards to the existing "stages" (aka lists or columns). Don't worry, you can rename the stages after the onboarding (defaults being to do, doing, done) simply by clicking on a list name and changing it.
The Zenkit on-boarding process is very easy to follow. Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Once you've gone through the onboarding process, you are ready to manage your projects. Zenkit includes a lot of features, so the first thing you should do is familiarize yourself with the GUI. The app is easy to use, so you shouldn't have any trouble figuring it out.
Start adding cards to your stages. At first, when you add a card, you are only able to give it a name. Once you've added the card, you can click on it to fill out details such as due date, reminder, workload, add a member, attachments, notes, tags, subtasks, dependencies, checklists, and comments.
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If you're an individual using Zenkit, you probably won't dig too deep into the feature set. If, however, you're collaborating, you'll find a lot of handy features, such as the Chats option, where you can have real-time chats with members of your project.
Another option you might want to consider is adding new views. As I mentioned earlier, you can quickly select from Kanban, Calendar, and Table lists, but there are more tucked away.
Click + to the right of the view drop-down, and a new pop-up appears, where you can select from several different views, such as mindmap, hierarchy, Wiki, files, and dashboard. With a paid account, you also get Gantt and Form Editor views. Once you add a new view, it'll appear in the view drop-down.
You can add as many views as necessary. Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Zenkit brings the zen to your projects
It's pretty easy to get overwhelmed by projects. I've been there plenty of times and have always been grateful that there are project management applications and services available to make the task a bit less hair-pulling. Although I've been using Trello for years, Zenkit is making a good case for me to migrate. With plenty of features, a great desktop application, and a well-designed UI, Zenkit makes managing even complicated projects much easier.
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