One of the top reasons why many enterprise and business software applications end up collecting dust is the lack of user adoption. If users don't use the solution, the value will never be realized. At Pie, I know this very well.

I make good design our number one customer success driver. It has to be nice to look at and intuitive to use.

Many of our customers have applauded our friendly visual design. Some have asked me why we are updating the design in the upcoming new version (5.0). The answer is that it's in our blood to keep making it better.

I will be introducing the new version 5.0 changes over a number of upcoming blog postings and newsletters.

Today is our first official sneak preview with the latest version that is now in the QA phase.

*** UPDATE January 2020 — Check out our new Pie visual project management software design and see the big improvement. The example on this page are from the old version.

New Workspace Tab Look

Above is a screenshot of the new workspace tabs. These new tabs will quickly get you to your workspace with one click. You will notice a new workspace called Social.

This is really exciting for us because it will bring a new dimension in how Pie customer users can collaborate with each other and keep up with project updates in a real-time news feed.

We have been working hard designing and developing this new workspace over the past year. I will cover this new social feature in an upcoming post.

Also, note that while you are working in either Projects, Dashboard, or Pie Recipes (project templates), you will be able to get to your To-do workspace with one click. In this example, we are in the Projects workspace.

The project list page is selected. Immediately you will see the bold green plus symbol for creating a new project. We are making it easier for you to quickly get to the most common actions, such as creating a project and keeping our other less commonly used functions neatly tucked away for use when needed. This creates a clean and simple feel while providing the muscle power under the hood when you need it.

Another change is our carefully selected user of the most important filters. Notice under the Active tab in the left, there is a subtab for showing projects that are in executive states of Issue or Risk. Or you can click on the Priority subtab to quickly list your portfolio projects based on how important they are.

My favorite is the new Draft state tab. In version 5.0, when you create a new project, you will have the option to set it to a draft sate. This means no one else will see it or be notified by email of any people assignments while it's in draft mode.

As a project manger, you can set up your new project and try different what-if scheduling or people assignment scenarios. Once you are ready, you can make it active with one click. In doing so, the system will then send out all the appropriate email notifications.

So, we are sticking with our long standing philosophy that friendly and smart design is important to user adoption. I hope you and our other Pie customers will find this interesting.

Stay tuned for future postings on what's hot in version 5.0.