Zineb MaddiProject Manager| Government of CanadaOttawa, Ontario, Canada
We use rightnow excel and word documents but it is very hard to maintain...wondering if there are tools to hepl, if yes who is responsible to capture and enter/update the data in the system? Saving Changes...
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Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
I have used JIRA, SharePoint, and MS Project Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
When you understand that Agile project management does not exists and what exists is project management performed in some way (PMI way for example) that is performed using different approaches in quit different environments then you will understand that you can use any tool (where tool is not software tool only) that best fit for your proposes. In our case, for example, we use MS Project with methods like SCRUM. Saving Changes...
In some organisation they use, Microsoft Team Foundation Server (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Foundation_Server) for Project Management and Microsoft Test Manager (MTM) for tracking Bugs/issues reported by testing team.
Other tools used are MS Project and JIRA as rightly said in above replies. Saving Changes...
Like Sergio said, your organisation and project would influence what best fit. I have seen from smalll word processor and spreadsheet to large system that track almost everything.
The fact that you do the project in an Agile way may have some influence.
I see your with the Government, they sure have some guidance, tools,....
Agile or not you should check with the Organization. Saving Changes...
Mikel SteadmanPMO Leader| Development Dimensions InternationalTroy, Nh, United States
I've used Jira, MS Project, Smartsheet, and Wrike, Excel, Word, and sticky notes on a whiteboard. The focus should be what is the project and how would you manage the project the best. The software or whiteboard is the tool. Saving Changes...
Zineb MaddiProject Manager| Government of CanadaOttawa, Ontario, Canada
Thank you all for your replies! much appreciated.
A major challenge currently faced with the Agile methodology is due to the MS Excel limitations. A workflow process is in place, but is labourious due to the significant manually effort needed to manage the Scrum (Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, workload and defect management) and keeping all information in sync:
Tracking user story workflow is tedious especially with carry-over from sprint to sprint: tracking velocity is a challenge and story points are lost with carry-over. Adding to that the difficulty in tracking defects and their status to user stories within the Sprint Backlog; Defects in the Agile methodology are understood as being work items in order to complete a sprint. Also, the fact that there is no link between Product Backlog and Sprint Backlog - no overall view of Roadmap and current status, which facilitate a confusion by the team resources on what tasks they should be working on as changes on the requirements/tasks/defects are occurring faster than can be updated and synched within the MS Excel documents...
All these point listed above are prone to transcription errors and time consuming on updating documentation instead of Managing the Sprint (Scrum Master) and performing UAT and requirement functions. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Zineb: taking into account your last statement let me say: First, MS Project (as others) is not easy to use. I have used others tools that could be consider easiest or not. But not matter the tool is too difficult to find one that could help you with the project life cycle process you use (for example iterative). Second, you are trying to use MS Project for things that MS Project are not intended to use. If you need to follow user stories or bugs then you need other tool. Saving Changes...
Mikel SteadmanPMO Leader| Development Dimensions InternationalTroy, Nh, United States
MS Project I great for Project Management. Especially if your PM is being charged with managing everything.
If you are truly Agile Scrum and have the blessing of Scrum Masters doing the WBS and running their own Stand Ups, then tools like JIRA are decent as you can co-manage user stories, bugs, and software releases.
I would also say that a PM can use MS Project while your Scrum Masters can use sticky notes, whiteboards, Trello, JIRA, or something that's more intuitive.
Again, don't let the tool get in the way of what you know you need to do to plan, monitor, and execute. Saving Changes...
I use ProofHub for agile project management. Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
It sounds to me as if you are expecting a toolset to solve a process problem. Look to what exactly is required within the team or organization, build a process around that, implementing tools to support the processes. Saving Changes...
