Kelly Waters posted an article recently asking what Agile project management tool folks recommend. Interesting results so far, but from other discussions I’ve been involved with on Linked In and general conversations with other crazy Agile people most of us recommend no software tool to start with.
It’s MUCH more important for teams to understand how to work in an Agile process BEFORE they adopt a tool. Agile teams that are co-located use sticky notes, spreadsheets and whiteboards to manage their work and it is extremely effective.
What this poll isn’t saying providing is context around who is voting and what their environment is. A decision maker who knows nothing about about Agile is probably more inclined to pick the tool first and base that decision on the most well known or “enterprise” version of the software that they hear other people use.
Remember, we value individuals and interactions OVER processes and tools so figure out what Agile is and learn the process BEFORE you worry about the tool.
What tool would I recommend? Well, first I would recommend sticky notes, whiteboards and spreadsheets/wiki until the team learns and really gets what Agile is. Once they know what being Agile is all about and management “gets” what it means, I would recommend either JIRA, Rally or Scrumworks. Rally is GREAT for enterprises, JIRA is great if you want a tool that can do it all and Scrumworks is really lightweight and simple.
Here’s the poll is you’d like to see the results.
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