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Using an Agile development process for your project leaves room for flexibility and responsiveness when, inevitably, things come up. The tools you use can make the difference between smooth sprints that lead to a project done on time and on budget and a complete disaster. They help you manage work and track deadlines in an easy-to-read space where multiple people can collaborate, share information, and stay apprised of other parts of the project. Reporting and analytics features are also available.

Take note. Not all tools are good for all teams and all projects. There are a few things to take into consideration when deciding on what’s right for you. Team size, budget, and project complexity are major factors. Then, consider the features you might need from each tool—sprint planning, reporting, backlog management, etc.—and find one that offers them. Don’t forget to find something that aligns with your Agile methodology of choice. If you’re on Team Scrum, you’ll have different needs than Team Kanban.

Save time and frustration using the tools below:

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JIRA

This one is popular with software development companies for good reason. It’s a quality, web-based project management tool with a centralized dashboard for assign and tracking issues and progression. It’s fairly intuitive, so there’s no need for extensive training. You can get up and running within a short timeframe.

Jira is also great for customizing your workflow for each project. Efficiency matters. Notable features like project tracking that prioritizes critical tasks, agile boards, team collaboration, reporting, and a multitude of broadly-used integrations make things seamless. Features also support Scrum and Kanban. Plus, you can use the mobile app if you want to be the first to know about any updates. And stakeholders can get up-to-date information of the latest releases.

Alternatives: Trello, Asana, Wrike, Monday… It’s a long list.

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Slack

Slack is pretty much standard in the post-pandemic world, and it deserves a place in everyone’s day-to-day, especially remote teams. Topic-specific spaces or “channels” keep things organized while private groups and direct messages options allow for customizing the flow of information. You can even mute certain channels if you don’t want to be bothered

It’s user-friendly and feels like natural conversation. The DevOps team can follow certain threads, and conversation history searches allow transparency of information without having to repeat things. Overall, it’s an excellent addition for communication efficiency and building comradery amongst teams, even if you don’t share an office.

AWS CodePipeline

AWS CodePipeline is a continuous integration (CI) tool offered by Amazon Web Services that works seamlessly with their other offerings. The most important function of a CI tools is to run unit tests after new code is added to the stack, verifying the software is performing as intended. They make it easy to see that your code is meeting your goals. CodePipeline is fully cloud with custom plugin support and strong access control.

 Alternatives: GitLab, Jenkins, Atlassian Bamboo

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GitHub

GitHub is another heavily-used tool and one of the most popular Git hosting providers. Write code faster and in a collaborative environment. You can expect quality performance and a range of useful functions with this: unlimited private Git repositories, automatic safety checks, GitHub Actions, collaborative work with forks and pull requests, and a ticket system with milestones. Better yet, for an easy cloud solution, use it for all of your projects, and you’ll eliminate the ineffective search for data on multiple computers and old backups.

Alternatives: Bitbucket, GitLab, Atlassian Open DevOps

The best tools will depend on your team and the project you’re working on. Take some time upfront and figure out what best serves your needs before diving in. You’ll save yourself time later if you start out with the right ones.