Agile has become the default framework in the fields of IT and Software Development. The ability to deliver a product on time and within a certain budget even when the customer needs requirements are changing on demands along the way is the primary motivation for many to embrace Agile project management tools. This is because utilizing these tools, Project managers can easily note all the milestones, and be quick to react to constant change. With agile tools, complexity is reduced, issues are identified earlier and quality is improved, successes are recognized quickly, and feedback is allowed from users throughout the development lifecycle in the project. These days, Agile is many people’s ideal and favorite project management methodology and a common buzzword everywhere in the corporate world, but do you know what Agile tools can you use to help in your project to get successfully run an Agile project? In this Agile tools comparison article we are going to explore some of our favorite tools in Agile development and options for Agile project management.
WHY DO YOU NEED AN AGILE TOOL?
You may be wondering that why you need tools in first place or why a tool specific to Agile is it necessary? It’s true that Agile can be managed through a variety of means which includes old-school methods such as index cards, MS project, spreadsheets or drawing it on the whiteboard, but with this we can’t provide for collaboration. With these following examples we can track of iterations and even reporting to some extent, we can begin to track timeline values and gather data on development but it’s too messy and inefficient process.
The good news is that there are many tools that can integrate all the functions of agile into a single resources, iterations, backlogs prioritization, Burn down charts, user case storage and a good collaboration we can manage in a single project, by maintaining and keeping everything in one place all stakeholders know where and up to what extent we finished the development, and can stay on top of their roles with the project. Agile isn’t actually a methodology at all, but it’s a set of principles for developing software.
The principles of agile are-
• Individuals and Interactions Over Processes and Tools.
• Working Software Over Comprehensive Documentation.
• Customer Collaboration Over Contract Negotiation.
• Responding to Change Over Following a Plan.
Scrum is a framework which contains a set of principles and roles to process and improve delivery in software development, Scrum is one most popular frameworks applying the principles of agile, the ultimate goal is to improve communication, teamwork and speed of development. Sprints, scrums, backlogs, and burn downs are all the parts of the scrum framework.
What Are Agile Tools?
Agile tools are project management tools designed to support an agile methodology, whether it’s Scrum, Kanban, Scrumban, Feature Driven Development (FDD), Lean Software Development (LSD), Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM), Agile Software Development (ASD), Extreme Programming (XP), and Crystal. Our organization may have already decided which methodology fit best, as well as whether to adopt Agile at the enterprise level (scaled Agile or “SAFe ®” (Scaled Agile Framework ®) or at the development level (Scrum Agile), by the time you begin selecting a tool. Or any other hybrid agile methods. Selecting the right agile tool to support one’s business needs and methodology is essential. To choose the right agile tool you need to gather the requirements list, not features, features are what we find out in the tool, but functions are the activities performed by the features.tools used in agile methodology can be used in various ways depending on how you’re carrying out your agile oriented approaches, Mostly your tools might include Backlogs, Kanban or Scrum boards, Task swim lanes or columns, Workflows, Sprints, Daily Scrums or Standups, Burndown charts, Velocity charts. Important elements for agile project management are Task management, Team collaboration, Agile metrics, reporting & analytics, Integrations.
What Are The Best Agile Tools?
Everyone loves the idea of agile tools and agile development here are the best tools used in agile development are-
• GitScrum
• Team Foundation Server (TFS)
• Easy Redmine
• Trello
• Jira
GitScrum:
While it’s a new tool in project management marketing, GitScrum advantageously offers additional highlights that many tools lack. for example, a time-tracking feature for logging hours and bug tracking features that enables feature allows you to pull bug reports to check the present status of any bugs in the entire projects are made easy with this tool.
helpful in Scrum highlights which include both Kanban and non-Kanban board task management tools, a project note with calendar dates, changelog, customizable workflows, checklists, various reporting(burn down charts ) etc., and quick sprint planning features. Team can easily share/upload documents, communicating through receiving email notifications; chats to stay update on tasks are recorded. Integrates with Drop box, Slack, GitHub, BitBucket, Asana, trello, GitLab, and Discord.
Team Foundation Server (TFS):
TFS, it is a Microsoft product which provides source codes management systems ( Version Control or Git tools), requirements management, project management, reporting for agile software development, automated builds, lab management, testing and release management capabilities lab management, It also helps the entire application lifecycle and enables DevOps capabilities. TFS can be used as a back-end to numerous integrated development environments (IDEs) but is tailored for Microsoft Visual Studio and Eclipse on all platforms.
Microsoft provides two standalone redistributed API’s for connecting to TFS. first Java SDK, the other is a .NET SDK. API’s allow for the client connection to TFS. Because TFS is written on bases of service-oriented architecture, it communicates with virtually any tools that can call a web service. it also extensible mechanism is subscribed to system alerts: for example, alerts when a work item was changed or is build completed.
Easy Redmine:
Redmine is a standout agile tools around considered by individuals to be an industry-standard, it’s an open source platform used by many organizations around the globe. Its highlights task management and collaborations with issue tracking until fixed, calendars, Gantt charts, file sharing, customized roadmaps; it’s a powerful flexible tool.
It’s an improved version of Redmine tool which provides a powerful project management highlights and a huge range of extension for customer needs, finance, and resource management, on the cloud as well as locally hosted on your server. The extension which available functionally for resource management to help distribute and plan work and capacity, finance functionality to monitors revenue, costs, payroll costs and the final profit of the project. The Advanced Plugins are most useful which helps a document management system, work breakdown structure, agile board for Scrum and Kanban, test cases, meeting calendar, project knowledge base, timesheets, workflows, and project collaboration. They’re tried to create plugins for most extension for everything you could make possible.
Trello:
Trello is a simple and best tool present we are using in our organization but a powerful agile Kanban tool. it is easy to enter into the world of agile tools, Trello is a great option and cost less as it’s one of the easiest agile tools to learn and it’s free (or at least it’s freemium!) and we have to consider one of the best free agile tools because it’s so intuitive and simple to use.
Being that it’s also limited in feature and function. Out of the box, which is a free version, Trello has task management, team collaborations, but it’s pretty limited. For high functionality and documents sharing you have to start paying for it – The Business class version gives you app integrations which enables you to have a bolt on additional functionality which helps us, also integrates with Github integration, Sales Force, Slack, Gantt charts, timesheets, reporting, and analytics.
Jira:
Jira is a Project management, bug tracking, all-rounded tool, and the big daddy in the world of the agile tool. which start out as a bug and issue tracking system which as a nice feature now complete with features to make JIRA a fully-fledged agile tool with fully helpful task management and team collaboration and reporting tool to get a successful project.
RA is flexible and easily configured allowing for unique workflows and processes so that we can able to use an out-of-the-box workflow, and team to work quickly. JIRA is flexible and integrated. The suite Atlassian tools, Jira is powerful, including Confluence and Hip Chat we can JIRA to Bit bucket, GitHub and provides your team to end-to-end traceability, from backlogs to deployment stage. Which has more than 2,000 add-ons and plugins in the Atlassian Marketplace, we can have Jira support to find just about any customization and extension for JIRA to fit the best project and just about any use case.
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As a company comprised of individuals who have seen the vast number of improvements the Agile mindset can bring, It has become our resolute mission to bring Agile practices to every workplace the world over.
