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Ask HN: What are some good tools for keeping a software project on track?

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Re: Ask HN: What are some good tools for keeping a software project on track?

#51

Post by rabidrat »

andreasklinger wrote: post #47
anotheryou wrote: post #46

How do you guys manage large backlogs? Tiny bugs or nuances with low priority that just accumulate and are a pain to review again because you are not even sure they are still reproducable.

Honest answer: > How do you guys manage large backlogs? Try not to. If PMs insist on logging ideas or keeping rejected projects i have a backlog board where ideas can have several stages. They can go from "spark of an idea" to "concrete details" there. In reality they go there to die > Tiny bugs or nuances with low priority. If they come from customers have a customer care person aggregate them and present a summary…

Is there a way to have a backlog board with github issues?

Re: Ask HN: What are some good tools for keeping a software project on track?

#52

Post by PeterisP »

rabidrat wrote: post #51
andreasklinger wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honest answer: > How do you guys manage large backlogs? Try not to. If PMs insist on logging ideas or keeping rejected projects i have a backlog board where ideas can have several stages. They can go from "spark of an idea" to "concrete details" there. In reality they go there to die > Tiny bugs or nuances with low priority. If they come from customers have a customer care person aggregate them and present a summary…

Is there a way to have a backlog board with github issues?

Assign them to a milestone 'backlog', and have people filter the view so they see only the milestone(s) 'we will actually do this'.

Re: Ask HN: What are some good tools for keeping a software project on track?

#53

Post by foodie_ »

I'm honestly surprised no one has said it yet, but you shouldn't be thinking about tools at this stage. You should start on Monday and see what they are using, identify where it's not working and propose a solution.

It's simply to early to think about the solution at this stage.

(With that said I manage a remote team and we use kanban on trello, heroku and slack. We only meet as needed)

Re: Ask HN: What are some good tools for keeping a software project on track?

#54

Post by logicallee »

bshimmin wrote: post #34
dyim wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We use Trello and it works great. Its closest skeuomorphic equivalent is... a whiteboard with Post-it notes stuck to it.

I actually find that the ease with which non-technical and - let's phrase this delicately - busy people can add new cards and even new lists (columns) to Trello is a significant detractor from its successful use in software project management. JIRA is significantly harder to use - I challenge any non-technical novice JIRA user to figure out how to add extra columns - but, for that reason, vastly easier to keep under…

sorry, what is your "busy people" a euphemism for?

Re: Ask HN: What are some good tools for keeping a software project on track?

#55

Post by ilaksh »

Depends on the type of project. For small projects it mainly is about engagement and communication. They have to actually be around doing work and also have time set aside to communicate. They have to actually use the communication tools effectively. A lot of people actually are bad at online communication so you have to correct or work around that. If you are doing online everyone needs to be good at whatever online communication, or trying hard to be. And if most people are using Github issues for example, some people can't be doing their own thing on Skype if they overlap with the stuff on Github. Github. A chat tool with history. Phone calls or Skype or any voice tool. Make sure people are available for a minimum amount of time every day or few days to discuss things freely. For me I think it is counter-productive and just stressful to dump a big to-do list in any tool. Concentrate on the most important tasks for that week or two is how I do it.

Re: Ask HN: What are some good tools for keeping a software project on track?

#57

Post by jwdunne »

vram22 wrote: post #45
dannysu wrote: post #27

Tools don't keep projects on track. Communication skills and project management skills keep projects on track. I believe the most important task is to teach your team members those project management skills. Teach them the skills to recognize unexpected events and know to communicate those bad news proactively. For example, an assigned task turned out to be much more difficult or larger scope than previously thought?…

>Tools don't keep projects on track. Communication skills and project management skills keep projects on track. Great comment. Good methods are more important than tools, to keep projects on track. As in, methods of doing things, not OOP methods. Tools, while they can be useful (though no panacea), are secondary, and also, some tools bind you into fixed ways of doing things, which may be a hindrance at times.

Another dark side to tools is that they are a vector for procrastination. You can convince yourself (or justify at least) that you need a new X and that's the answer. You'll spend a few hours evaluating various Xs.

You might end up using it for a few days but then you quickly fall back to the tools you usually use.

I've seen this with email clients, todo apps, project management tools, etc.

Re: Ask HN: What are some good tools for keeping a software project on track?

#59

Post by mpfundstein »

klenwell wrote: post #41

About a year ago, I took over a small team of 3 developers that was floundering and demoralized. This was not a remote team but I think that's incidental for the most part. I admit I'm writing this mainly as a testament to my own experience. But I think it includes some sound advice (a lot of which I collected from Hacker News discussions over the years.) Process is key. Tools should serve the process and the team. F…

Great post. I am in the situation and can confirm that this works. I don't do the 1-on-1 though but will introduce them soon. It's a great idea.

How involved are yiur developers in the design process? Do they work in a whole story from a to z or do they get handed over requiremebts, ux and ui and then only work on the inplementation? I am trying to get a real a to z process in place, but its quite hard

Re: Ask HN: What are some good tools for keeping a software project on track?

#60

Post by bshimmin »

logicallee wrote: post #54
bshimmin wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually find that the ease with which non-technical and - let's phrase this delicately - busy people can add new cards and even new lists (columns) to Trello is a significant detractor from its successful use in software project management. JIRA is significantly harder to use - I challenge any non-technical novice JIRA user to figure out how to add extra columns - but, for that reason, vastly easier to keep under…

sorry, what is your " busy people" a euphemism for?

I mean, for example, a sales director with a stake in the business getting in after a challenging client meeting and creating extremely hyperbolic cards like "Search is incredibly slow!!!" or "Client profile picture is blurry" with absolutely no further details. I've seen this happen with Trello, and it doesn't help anyone. You don't get it with JIRA, because the sales guy really won't be able to use JIRA well enough to do it (in all likelihood), so he'll just send an irate email which may get translated into meaningful tickets (or, you know, it might just be he was on slow wifi in his meeting).
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