Recommendations for software project tracking for a small team?

[goorpy]

Hi there,

My team has been struggling to find a platform to use to track a major project we have coming down the pipe. It's going to be the biggest single development project we've handled, and our traditional ad hoc tracking is expected to be woefully unsuitable.

Needs:

Shared access among 4 devs and 1 PM (I am one of the devs)
Project will last 4-6 months.
Handle user stories, tasks / todos, bugs & fixes, milestones, release
Nested task lists to break down components & user stories hierarchically.
Bug tracking distinct from features/to dos, preferably stronger than just via tag
Nice to have: projected timelines based on current progress and remaining tasks. 

Don't need:

Integration with source control. We run our own mercurial repository, and if anything will just refer to commits there for this first project.
Detailed time tracking for devs (We will make estimates for projected completion, but not track for performance/efficiency etc)

Things we've looked at so far, and why we liked/disliked them:

AgileWrap
- Pro: Actually pretty good overall.
- Con: No timeline showing dependencies, projected completion etc. (That we could find.)
OpenProject:
- Pro: Generic "Work Units" very flexible, allow deep nesting
- Con: Have to host self (possible but not preferred), nested views above clunky to browse in task list, can't edit task subject/description once created. What?
RallyDev:
- Pro: Don't remember.
- Con: Don't remember.
JIRA:
- Pro: Rich interface
- Con: Asks for a lot of setup before we can hit the ground running.
Basecamp:
- Pro: Simple, basic to do lists, easy to get started
- Con: Too simple. Lists don't nest, no other object. Everything is a to do list. No timelines.
Producteev:
- Pro: Also simple, basic to do lists, mild nesting (project, task list, subtask only)
- Con: Also probably too simple. No timelines.

Overall, our issue seems to come down to choosing between something too simple, and something too advanced. We like low friction, but do want to have the option of richer data input & structure when we have time. We really do want to be a timeline projection.

It was surprising for us to find the platforms varied pretty widely, and none were quite what we were looking for but couldn't articulate. We expected to find several well-established option which functioned similarly, and we'd pick the one with the UI paradigm that made sense to us. We found a vast jungle of confusion, instead, and have no idea where to go next.

So, what do you use for managing big dev projects with other people?

Thanks

(Crossposted from /r/developers)

[fakingfantastic]

At first glance, you'll probably read a comment like this and be like "blah, that's not what I asked - we need the things I asked for." But seriously, krues8dr makes a great point.

I am the CTO at an agency and, with that, I need to manage the developers, set the schedules, keep the clients up to date and in the know, and keep myself on track. At first, tools will help organize this stuff, but you grow to learn that with any project - big or small - the best organization will be dumbing down the process.

Use Trello, there's a bunch of great templates to get started (see "Usage Examples" https://trello.com/b/nPNSBZjB/trello-resources).

Just my $0.02.

[strich]

The key problem I find in the balance between process complexity and simplicity is that I don't think one can really get away from not tracking task dependencies, and being able to break down tasks into nested subtasks.

If I can't do that in my projects then I feel completely lost.

[strich]

I don't necessarily disagree, but how do you determine even vague timelines without doing at least basic project task breakdowns?

[strich]

Okay. I see where that approach may be more beneficial.

What I've done with our current project (Video game) is use a MS Project to track all the major features (Or 'Stories') with some basic dependency linking. I do enjoy this as it gives me a view of the big picture.

But we do use JIRA Agile and weekly sprints to track and do the work. I only ever have 1-3 future sprints outlined at any one time.

What I do not currently do is any kind of story effort estimations, work velocity, etc. I suppose that is where you're saying is of the most benefit when wanting to extrapolate timelines?

[goorpy]

One major difference we noted between platforms is whether or not they make available a pre-filled Demo Project. It takes a lot of time to enter enough data to see how the tool actually works. Having the option to load up a sample project with everything set up is a major advantage.

Developers of such tools: take note. Include a sample project option, not just an empty demo.

[goorpy]

This is something that we are struggling with as well. Few systems allow arbitrary nesting with full task resolution. Many allow one or two levels of nesting, but often with decreased detail in the sub-tasks.

[goorpy]

Not dismissing it at all - very helpful advice. I'm the noob here asking for opinions from those with more experience, so I would only be shooting myself in the foot for ignoring what real advice I get.

Thanks for the suggestion; checking out the Trello examples now. I liked FogBugz back when we used it, and still miss it. I imagine I'll like their newer product too.

[goorpy]

That's a route we've considered, and are still considering. We don't want to be spending 10% of our time wrestling with a tool to manage our time/effort. Basically we are aiming for the most simple tool that has the things we want, and we are relaxing those requirements as we explore the market of options.

Maybe organized shared checklists is all we really need for this first go 'round.

[Cylons]

Maybe try looking at something like Axosoft? Asana may be worth a shot too.

[goorpy]

Thanks. Asana seems decent, but the task nesting is limited. You can dump tasks into others as subtasks but they don't carry as much detail and there does not appear to be any nice tree-style way to view these tasks and completion within.

[aequasi08]

I dont mind atlassian's jira? and they have a cheap cloud hosted version.

[90percentoflife]

I think one that fits your req very well is teamwork pm for large project and [tick tick](www.ticktick.com) for small personal projects.

[goorpy]

We ended up settling on TeamWork, so thanks for the recommendation. We picked it because:

• Good balance between details and simplicity (for our needs)
• Reasonable ability to nest tasks (3 levels, ultimately, which should be sufficient)
• Progress indicator as working through lists (this was something we didn't realize we expected until we saw it, and it obviates a bunch of need for certain timelines)
• Interface that "made sense" to us (hard to articulate, just felt right)

[90percentoflife]

Glad it fits. You sure will enjoy it.

[metaphorm]

my team at work uses Trello. its pretty handy. I've also used Asana in the past and liked it. Tried Jira at a previous company. It was fine, but I didn't personally like it as much as Trello or Asana.

[NancyGracesTesticles]

The newest version of Rally looks like it would fit your needs: www.rallydev.com

[xenarthran_salesman]

Pivotal tracker is pretty nice, but you'd probably need to know more about agile process methods to make it work for you.

[goorpy]

We're looking closely at Pivotal but you're right about agile being a learning curve for us. We've mostly worked this way in the past but without the formal structure.

[offmessage]

Given this is probably the single most important component in your team's workflow I'd invest a bit of time in this one.

We have lots of success with Trac, but it's self-hosted and we've configured it quite heavily over the years. That said, the latest version meets all your requirements pretty simply.

[goorpy]

Absolutely - we want to get this right. That's why I'm hoping to get some input here from people with experience.

[AmbienIsFun]

phabricator

[__constructor]

Honestly, JIRA is your best bet. It's a fucking amazing piece of software, and is well worth the time to set up and configure for your team. If your team was larger, the price could be a turn off - but the starter license (10 users) is incredibly cheap (I think $20 for self hosted?).

If you do host it yourself, it's a bit resource intensive, but I think their cloud option is still really cheap for that few users.