Ask HN: creating project management software for magazines?
I am thinking of scratching some itches that we have currently.
Some of the stuff we spend a lot of time dealing with:
-Converting the external source files (often .doc or .docx but variations occur) into text files with html tags (it's what we use internally).
-Finding images for articles and storing them alongside each article. Keeping track of who should be given credit.
-Keeping track of changes in the internal source files and the PDFs (ie typos were fixed in the PDF, and this should be reflected in our internal source files). The reason for doing this syncing is that we want to put everything up on the web eventually, and we want every text to be exactly the same.
-Some kind of diff mechanism which could tell us if a PDF differs from the text files that we use internally (this is kinda hard due to the PDF format, or at least the hacks that our graphic designer uses to make it look nice).
-Keeping track of leads for articles as well as deadlines for individual authors.
-Brainstorming general ideas with the team (currently done over email which is a hassle when you are dealing with 10 people).
-Coordinating layout work between various graphic designers (or, rather, this is something we WANT to do and have TRIED to do in the past, but failed to do because of the hassle).
-Being able to do mock-ups of various layout ideas (bonus point if I can do it myself without having to go through my designer).
Now, this is a quite diverse list, and I would be happy to just solve 1 of these as it would free up lots of hour for me.
Is anyone else in the magazine business? What do you wish for in project management software?