Like many adult companies, we have workers spread out around the globe, and AJ and I frequently work from our homes.

I'm curious what other companies do as far as managing projects. For a long time, AJ and I maintained separate "to-do" lists for ourselves and our workers, updated through emails and phonecalls multiple times a day.

Just recently, I got annoyed at how difficult it was to keep on top of a million different projects and started looking at project management software. We settled on Project Pier, an open source web-based project manager that's very similar to BaseCamp, an (expensive) commercial product.

It's been a Godsend for me. A typical project might be a DVD... in which we capture and edit and prepare the scenes, make the slipsheet, prepare menus and authoring assets, review and create the 2257 docs for it, author it, test it, review it, make changes, send to manufacturing, prepare support materials, etc.

With the project software, we create all the subtasks, assign them to the various people (AJ, myself, our editor, our designer, etc.) and the system handles due dates, emails everyone, collects all the notes/assets/messages in one place, and allows us to see what's on time, what's late, etc.

Even for simple stuff ("I need pics selected for the new gallery designs"), putting it in the project system makes sure that the ball doesn't get dropped, as happens occasionally with emails.

For my own projects that don't involve anyone else, I use a "scancard system" that keeps track of stuff on small paper notes that also keep me organized.

Perhaps we're really late to the party, but I'm really curious how other people manage projects for their businesses? High tech, low tech, both?