SIMPLE GmbH & Co: building a connected planning workflow for experiential design projects with GanttPRO
“We explored quite a lot of competing products before, but we stuck with GanttPRO. It offers us the right amount of clarity and control, without cluttering our daily routines.”
A story about GanttPRO as the planning hub for custom projects, connected to a wider toolset through the API.
Company overview
Company: SIMPLE GmbH & Co
Roles interviewed: Daniel Dormann, Head of Digital
Project types: interactive spatial experiences for brands, companies, and museums
External pressures: fully custom projects with no standard template, deadline and milestones commitments
Problems hinted at: finding a solution that avoids the extremes of chaos and micromanagement
Summary
Company Background
What does your company focus on?
SIMPLE GmbH & Co is a multidisciplinary agency that creates interactive spaces for brands, companies, and museums. The team’s work combines architecture, technology, production, and development, all handled in-house. Each project can involve up to 40 people and last from six to nine months in the active development stage.
“We rarely follow the template, each project is unique and tailored to the client. GanttPRO seems like the perfect match for this environment – timeline-based with clear milestones, yet flexible for individual work.”
GanttPRO serves not only as the single source of truth for all planning, but also allows other tools to pull status, deadlines and milestones directly from it.
Struggle
How did your approach look before GanttPRO?
“With 26 years of history we have tried it all: from sketchbooks and white boards to fine-grained task management. The main challenge was to find the thin line between chaos and micro-management.
We explored quite a lot of competing products before, but we stuck with GanttPRO as it offers the right amount of clarity and control, without cluttering our daily routines.”
Solution
“We follow the standardized German HOAI framework which defines a scope of activities and a basis for cost calculation. That overall structure is then transferred into GanttPRO. Based on that, we break it down into smaller projects within that one big initiative, mostly the room itself and single exhibits.
As planning is only one part of the team’s wider toolset, the API has become one of the strongest features: “GanttPRO serves not only as the single source of truth for all planning, but also allows other tools to pull status, deadlines and milestones directly from it.”
Impact
What does your work look like now with GanttPRO?
“Rather than solving one specific challenge, GanttPRO brought us better visibility, less one-to-one communication within the team, and noticeably less misunderstanding, all with a better track record on our internal milestones."