We have used TargetProcess with some success. On one of our teams, they have abandoned software in favor of a physical taskboard. On another team, we have changed over to do backlog management on a physical board and the developer team uses the software for daily tasks while working on stories.
The priorities seem to be:
Product Owner
- Big visible charts (physical) are easier than looking at software
- Backlog management needs to be fast and easy
Developers
- Easy integration of tasks with source code control
- Almost some resistance to physical since they have to get up from their chair to move items along, check story numbers, etc. Prefer to stay electronic.
We have also looked at RallyDev in the past. Their local seminars are awesome - some very smart people - go to one if you can.
We also looked at VersionOne a few years back but didn't pursue it at the time.
Thanks for the feedback! But doesn’t having two different locations make it more difficult? Why not stick with virtual or physical?
What was the reason for the other team giving up on the virtual task board? Do they still use Agile? How do they manage burndown and velocity?
I haven’t tried TargetProcess – demos look interesting – I’ll play around with their online demo.
Yes – you are right about two locations. That is typically one of the main reasons I have heard to use a virtual taskboard. The other team wanted the taskboard to be more visible to whole team (including Product Owner) – since having a physical taskboard they see the PO stop by the team room more frequently to look at the board – the PO will even ask about impediments he sees and try to get them resolved there and then. So far they are happy. I believe they are managing a basic set of metrics manually.
I have worked with a number of Agile tools and bug trackers. Right now I am using Yodiz(http://www.yodiz.com) which is a relatively new player in the market. It’s an all in one tool combining Agile, Issue tracking and SCM. I like it’s clean UI. It has some nice progress tracking charts scattered all around which are quite useful. I particularly like its task board which is very handy for updating and keeping track of my current tasks. It also has facebook like comments, user tagging and notifications which are really handy for discussing things with the team on the spot. In my experience it’s a very good tool for complete project management. Regards Sadaan