Friday, May 15, 2015

Stupid Idea #692: The installed client has fewer features than the web client

So there I am, using my nice speedy Visual Studio program, happily editing and running code.  I want to use the new team planning features so I can pick my next task more rationally.  And what I discover is that it's horrible: the isn't really a way to "plan"; I can create a work item (but is that what I want to do?), and I can write a custom query to see my work items, but what I can't do is see some boxes on the screen and move them around.

Keep in mind that I use Trello for my hobby projects; it's awesome in its simplicity.  I can make new little card, and move them from column to column, and track what's going on.

So why is the expensive, heavy, full-featured Visual Studio so far behind the curve?  Why doesn't it have a nice graphical interface?  Where is the help for simple planning?

Answer: those are on the web, not in the full client.  In order to use them, I have to leave my nice productive environment, and go to a totally different web page.  And sign in.  with some credentials.  Which have to match the credentials I signed into Visual Studio with.  But there isn't a "go to the web" button.

Never force your customers to leave your product!  As soon as I have to type in a web address to go somewhere else, and sign in again, why wouldn't I just use Trello and skip the Microsoft solution entirely?

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