Free Project Management Software

This week, Free Project Management Software is dedicating its space to a discussion of what organizations should look for when evaluating agile tooling solutions. Today’s post examines the RFP’s sections on Agile Compatibility, Release Planning and Tracking, and Usability.

Agile Compatibility

• Is your tool designed exclusively for the Scrum method or is it an all-in-one tool?
• Is the tool capable of capturing requirements as User Stories/Backlog Items?
• Can Product Backlog Items be easily prioritized (e.g., with drag-and-drop)?
• Does the tool enforce a strict priority ordering for Product Backlog Items?
• Is there a way to capture and expose impediments blocking the team/organization?
• Are your metrics based on the User Story/Backlog Item level as opposed to the task level?
• Can effort units for User Stories/Backlog Items be customized?
• Is there a clearly separated Product Backlog and Sprint Backlog? Are both of these aspects visible from the same screen?
• Can Product Backlog Items be moved into the Sprint Backlog using drag-and-drop?
• Does the tool offer a way to print requirements and tasks to cards for use on physical task boards?
• How does the tool function as an information radiator to users and non-users alike? Can you publish data out to URLs for consumption by anyone on the network?
• How does your tool handle scaled agile scenarios with multiple teams working against a single release or backlog?
• Does your firm demonstrate a clear understanding of Scrum principles? Do you have in-house expertise (not including partners) to provide service offerings around Scrum and agile such as Certified ScrumMaster training?

Release Planning and Tracking

• Is the tool capable of creating custom releases and release dates? Can reports be filtered and customized by release?
• Can releases be prioritized amongst other releases?
• Does the tool contain a release forecasting capability based on empirical metrics like Mike Cohn’s “Alternative Burndown Chart”?
• How does your tool handle the categorization of work? Do you use tags/themes or a nested hierarchy and why?
• Does the tool track progress for high-level requirements (Epics)?
• Does the tool permit release reporting across multiple teams?
• Does the tool permit release reporting across multiple products?
• Is it possible to filter your release backlog to isolate a specific feature or set of features for a more focused prioritization or feature decomposition?
• Does the tool allow users to assign business valuations to User Stories/Backlog Items to better inform release planning?

Usability

• Please describe how the interface utilizes drag-and-drop.
• Please describe the tool’s time-saving interface features such as keyboard shortcuts.
• How are “bulk” operations performed?
• How do I copy and paste commonly recurring tasks?
• How does the interface allow for customized screen layouts?
• Does the tool include a “search” feature?
• Does the tool offer in-line editing?
• How does the tool support printing?
• Can users attach files to User Stories/Backlog Items? Is it restricted to specific file types?