GoKids!: Orchestra supercharged gamedev studio’s productivity by 2X
Learn how the team switched to a messaging-first interface with built-in task and team management tools, shifting their focus from managing the workspace to tackling projects and tasks.
Evgeny leads the production team at GoKids!, a company that makes interactive games for kids ages 2-5. They’ve launched over 100 educational games across iOS and Android, releasing 10-15 projects each year. Last year, the team realized they needed to speed up their output, so they decided to review their development tools to make sure they were helping, not hindering, the process. The goal was to make their work faster, simpler, and more intuitive.
The current tools were too complex and slowed down project delivery.
They switched to a new tool with an interface that combines communication and management features.
› More clear communication
› Smoother workflow
› Project delivery doubled by 2x
“I can’t give exact numbers, but honestly, I can’t imagine working without Orchestra now. It feels like everything would just stop and turn into total chaos.
Evgeny Farsalov
Producer at GoKids!
Why Jira fell short for us
We’ve been there with tools. For a long time, we used Discord for communication and Trello for task management. Then we switched to Jira, hoping for more functionality, but it quickly became disappointing: slow loading and time-consuming actions. Jira didn’t work for our need to keep workflows flexible. Its many integrations made it overly complex. At one point, we even had to create a dedicated Jira Ops role just to manage it. For a team of 50, it was too much. We went back to using Discord along with Google Sheets.
“I believed that kanban works best when powered by messaging.
Evgeny Farsalov
Producer at GoKids!
So the search for a new tool continued. I dreamed of a tool where team communication and process management worked together seamlessly. But no matter what I tried, everything was either just messaging or just task tracking — never both.
Orchestra changed everything – our tasks are now seamlessly connected to our chats
As a production team, it was crucial for us to break our workflow down into two main entities: projects and releases. We structured the Tasks section so that each release has its own set of tasks and assigned roles — programmers, animators, illustrators, and testers.
Orchestra also has a Teams section, which displays team members and stores relevant information about them. It allows us to configure visibility settings for team distribution, projects, assigned tasks, and specific chats. This ensures there’s no confusion about who sees what or who is responsible for each task.
We also work with a remote team of illustrators, so we created a dedicated chat for them to track who’s working on what at any given time. With in-house programmers and animators, our workflow is different — it’s easier to monitor their tasks and progress through the project board.
Chats stay clear and structured, exactly as intended
The core of Orchestra is its messenger, and the interface feels a lot like Telegram or WhatsApp, but with a big plus: it’s clean and customizable. You can attach chats to specific projects, so all your work-related conversations stay tied to tasks and always stay on track.
One feature I absolutely love is the one that allows to create a new task right from a chat message with just a click. It might seem like a small thing, but it really speeds things up. Also, agreements don’t get lost — they’re turned into tasks with descriptions, assignees, and deadlines right away.
Another feature I can’t live without is the ability to organize chats into folders or tabs. The Unread tab, in particular, is a lifesaver. It lets me see where I’ve been tagged and what needs my attention. Back when we were using Discord, we didn’t have anything like this. We had to scroll through endless messages just to find the unread ones and figure out what was important.
We slashed operations in half and achieved 2X productivity with Orchestra
After we switched to Orchestra, our team started delivering projects faster. The boost in efficiency came from the messenger-first interface, where every conversation is focused and productive. Since chats are directly tied to projects, we never lose track of important discussions, media files, or team members. Plus, with just one click, we can turn any message into a clear task, assign someone to it, and keep track of the progress.
Another huge advantage is the founders’ customer-focused approach. They actually listen to feedback and quickly roll out the features we need.
“If you’re a small production team like ours or you’re constantly optimizing your processes, Orchestra could really change the game for you.
Evgeny Farsalov
Producer at GoKids!
That doesn’t mean switching tools will instantly double your productivity, but it will completely change how you collaborate, stay connected, and keep everything in context across your projects.