IT Project Management

Are you looking for a great project management tool?

We were looking for one too. We spent a long time researching, tried out several different ones, and finally found the right solution – JIRA software. We’ll describe our requirements and the reasons why we think JIRA is the best.

Our requirements for project management software

Our requirements for project management software

The priority was good value for money
Role management, i.e. administrative rights
A cloud-based solution that is always accessible online from anywhere
The ability to integrate with other software
the ability to connect to repositories (in our case, BitBucket)
planning capabilities (in our case, Gantt charts)
elimination of errors made by our developers
- the ability to perform automatic deployment; in other words, this system will monitor transfers to test and production servers, including integration, which Bamboo helped us with
Simplicity

What didn’t JIRA solve for us?

JIRA met all our requirements, except for one – and that was simplicity. It is a highly capable tool for all developers in any IT field. It is perfectly suited to managing large projects (for example, using the SCRUM method).

However, AITOM is a digital agency focused on high-performance websites. We most often handle projects over shorter timeframes, to which we gradually add further tasks (such as website management or online marketing). From this perspective, however, JIRA is relatively complex software that takes quite a bit of time to manage all tasks.

Nevertheless, this is fully compensated for in the future, when we can provide the client with a comprehensive report on the work carried out during development. We are even able to locate specific lines of code written in the source code. Likewise, we know which developer made changes to the code, when and where.

How does JIRA save you time and money when managing projects?

A major advantage is the traceability of all tasks across all developers. You can also search through past records. If you resolve a bug on one project that reappears on another months later, you can pinpoint exactly what went wrong back then and how the bug was fixed.

Of course, when integrated with Bamboo – i.e. automatic deployment – the manager can see whether the development version is already on the test or production server.

5 reasons why we chose JIRA for project management?

For up to 15 users, the price is USD 50 per month; essentially, for CZK 15,000 a year, you get an excellent tool that is constantly evolving and being updated
Version backups during development are handled by Bitbucket, which is similar to Git
Each developer can configure their environment as they see fit
Customisable approval process (workflow configuration)
Code review capability (i.e. a second developer checks that the first developer has not made a mistake and is developing in accordance with our company’s standards)

Summary of the advantages and disadvantages of using the JIRA system for IT project management

Advantages of JIRA for project management

Price
Backed by a stable company and with potential for expansion
Online solution available anytime, anywhere
ability to customise the environment entirely to your liking
Integration with other software such as Bamboo, BitBucket and Hipchat
option to install plugins such as Gantt Charts for planning, and Time Tracking for work reports (with the option to connect to Toggl), etc.
Clear reporting in graphs for managers and performance analysis for employees
ability to improve estimates of the effort required for individual tasks (sprints)

Disadvantages

Time-consuming when assigning tasks
Less clear reports on completed tasks
Slower application loading speed in online mode

What other options are there for project management?

Redmine – http://www.redmine.org/
- free
- A skilled programmer can quickly and flexibly extend the tool and use it as a ticketing system, CRM, etc.
- Poor user interface
Basecamp – https://basecamp.com/

A simple tool for team management

– does not extend far enough into full-scale application development
Trello – https://trello.com/
- more suitable for individuals
- simple and fast