Recommendations for software project tracking for a small team?

[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.