Guest Post by Edward Burns, Co-Founder of InterMedia4web. Twitter: TheEdwardBurns

Let’s face it: most software projects tend to bog down the energy, enthusiasm, and business goals that initially got everything going. But it doesn’t have to be that way. The goal of software project management, the Agile way, is to maintain a smooth and fun development experience by maintaining an easily understood and predictable road map for business owners, project managers & technical staff alike. Are you ready to have some fun? I know I am.

There are different flavors of Agile project management strategies, but the one that most successful development shops agree tends to produce the best result is called “SCRUM”.  What does “SCRUM” stand for? Nothing really, it’s just a Rugby term. But for software developers you can think of it as a delicious layered cake with all of your favorite flavors and none of the calories.

We begin this SCRUM-licous layered cake as you would any other software project, by meeting with the client. In this fun and goal driven meeting, the project manager attempts to gain a thorough understanding of the business goals and business processes that the client (business owner) wants to achieve. Then the project manager translates those into “user stories” (aka features) which are how those business goals are achieved from the “user’s perspective”. After all, no business exists without customers.

The project manager enters the features/user stories into what is known as a Product Backlog in the tracking system as shown by the following screenshots from OnTime by Axosoft (a really great tool to use to keep track of your project – check them out http://axosoft.com/).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each area would have a list of features and whom they are assigned to:

 

 

 

 

 

After the features are categorized in order of priority you can assign them to delivery dates known as “Sprints” (aka Releases). Sprints typically last 2 weeks and the goal of each Sprint is to produce testable units of code at the end of the Sprint.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using the “burn down chart” and planning board, you can easily track the progress of development in real-time and produce reports:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For convenience, when working with stakeholders like business owners, you can use your iPhone to gather the info necessary to keep your client well informed and happy:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being that the planning board is web accessible, you can even do project planning on the go, including on an iPad or other tablet device:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, next time you fear beginning a new software project, then fear no more and go get yourself a big serving of that SCRUM-licious cake!