In all fairness, there is a lot more to a tool than just this small set of use cases that I have presented so far. However, the use cases which I have presented are enough to give me a good look at the tools, and figure out which tool works best for me. Let’s review my usability comparisons:
Usability Comparison Summary on a scale of 1 to 10
| Tool | Merge | Group | New | Reparent | Scenarios | Roles | Value | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ideal Tool | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | ||||||||
| 3×5 Cards | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| AgileOnDemand | 3 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Excel | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 7 | ||||||||
| VersionOne | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| Mingle | 2 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| Rally | 4 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
Analog (3×5 card) Method
This hands-on approach is definitely a good, low-tech starting point for any story-writing workshop. For what it can do, it is the gold standard in usability. Pick it up, put it down where it goes. It’s easy, intuitive, and hard to screw up. For me, however, what it can NOT do means that I definitely need to combine this with some form of electronic tool.
Excel
It is no wonder that Excel is the recommended tool for backlog management in the literature. It’s easy, ubiquitous, and a decent compromise in features versus usability. If I had no budget for one of the other tools, this is definitely a workable solution, if I were willing to let go of some of the features I want.
AgileOnDemand
This tool is in its infancy, and yet it blows away the competition in everything which this tool is designed to do. With one exception, that being the Merge functionality, this tool is at least on par with writing user stories on 3×5 cards, as far as usability is concerned. In many ways, it is vastly superior. Yes, vastly superior to the gold standard. That’s high praise.
Yet, being as it is such a new tool, it is lacking some of the features sported by some of the other, older, more mature tools. Give it time, I expect great things from these guys.
For me, because of my need for being able to look at cross-sections of the backlog from various perspectives, I can not use this tool, yet. But I’ll be continuing to watch as they implement new features. And I hope to be able to contribute towards turning this promising piece of software into that ‘Ideal Digital Tool’ I kept talking about.
Rally
This is one of the best looking of all of the tools. And there are a few things that it does very well. Unfortunately, one of the things it does poorly is one of the features I need the most: the ability to quickly re-organize my backlog differently than I had previously organized it. But it is a fairly mature tool, so it has many good features, such as test management, something AgileOnDemand has not yet implemented. I will continue to watch these guys, and I will give them my feedback, and we will see what comes of it. With a few small changes, I could easily make use of (and thus recommend) this tool.
VersionOne
VersionOne consistently scored relatively high marks across the board. Unfortunately, the model that they use in their user interface leaves a few things to be desired. Unfortunately, rectifying that probably means a paradigm shift for the user experience guys at VersionOne, so I’m not holding my breath. But it really isn’t THAT bad from a usability standpoint, and it is a highly functional tool. As such, I can imagine finding a way to make it work the way I need it to, at least, for the most part. But, if at all possible, I’d really rather find a tool that suits my needs a little more closely.
Mingle
Mingle stands out from all the rest of the tools I reviewed, because it is not, strictly speaking, an Agile Backlog Tool. Instead, it is a generic tool that can be configured to match the way you work, including Agile. Unfortunately, it has a few serious usability issues, and is missing a few key features. But it also has features that none of the others have, such as an integrated wiki, something I consider to be immensely valuable. As with the other tools, I intend to give them my feedback, and find out which of the things I need most from them are already on their way.
Conclusion
The truth is, all of the tools are decent, a couple of them outstanding, but none of the tools that I surveyed are “good enough” for me in their current incarnation. Some are closer than others, and they are all contenders. If I were willing to compromise on some key points, I would be able to decide between them. But I know what I want, and I’m going to keep looking until I find it, until one of these tools build it for me, or I break down and build it myself!