Tell me more ×
Programmers Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professional programmers interested in conceptual questions about software development. It's 100% free, no registration required.

I was wondering, does anybody work as part of a team, or as a project manager who highly recommends a certain project management solution (self-hosted or otherwise)?

Ideally I want something where I can manage the entire project, and also manage the financial side of things too.

Should also add a few other things:

  • notifications for team members for individual projects
  • version control integration (like codebase)
  • real time collaboration like chat
share|improve this question
2  
We use Clarity which is 100% hated by all users, whatever you do, do not waste money on this product. – HLGEM Feb 2 '11 at 16:14

closed as not constructive by gnat, Martijn Pieters, Kilian Foth, MainMa, GlenH7 Mar 21 at 13:59

As it currently stands, this question is not a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or specific expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. If you feel that this question can be improved and possibly reopened, see the FAQ for guidance.

10 Answers

up vote 7 down vote accepted

I think MS Project is an overkill for most (99.9%) of web/software projects. I've been through lots of tools, and currently my team and our company are very fond of Jira, which has lots of cool stuff integrated such as:

share|improve this answer
Thanks! Jira looks awesome, though extremely expensive compared to other project management solutions. – Zenph Feb 12 '11 at 18:33
Yes, it's bit pricey. At least they give a cheap ($10) starter license for 10 users: atlassian.com/starter and free 30 day trial. – Maglob Feb 15 '11 at 21:49

Try out Teamlab

completely free web service. easy to use and still with a quite range of functions.

share|improve this answer
+1 for Teamlab. Quite a simple, but very functional service. We`re pleased with it. – user15352 Feb 2 '11 at 14:46

Two popular open-source project management software suites are Trac, which is written in Python, and Redmine, which is written in Ruby using Ruby on Rails. Both of them include issue tracking and VCS integration. They may take some work to get setup on your server, however. A rather cheap hosted solution is Teambox, which is being developed by a startup. Teambox is also open-source, so you can get it running on your own server if you want. I haven't really used any of these that much, so I can't tell you their relative merits.

share|improve this answer

OpenProj is one that impressed me recently. It's nowhere near MS Project, but in OSS domain I think it's the closest equivalent. Stil, it has a couple of annoying bugs.

share|improve this answer

I do agree that MS Project is an overkill to most of the projects. It would be nice but because of the price, it's not practical to use it. Basecamp is great. It also has a real time collaboration that works like a forum where everyone can participate in a topic. You can also have a look at this blog that lists alternatives of project management software packages. The blog also has a spreadsheet that lists a detailed information of the features that the software packages offer.

share|improve this answer

I prefer excel or the openoffice equivalent. Its not the software that is important but how you organize it. It doesn't matter if you are organizing by writing on small yellow "post its" or whether you have some fancy software as long as you have a plan. I find most of my time is spent on presenting the project to upper management supplying ERDs PRDs etc but at the end of the day its the functionality and features that are important.

share|improve this answer

There are many project managing software out there. So what you decide to pick completely depends on the features you are interested in. For the past few months I have been using Microsoft Project Professional 2010 at work. Features like the Gantt chart, inactive tasks, automatic project scheduling as per changes made to task, and easy collaboration with other open source software, etc. make it a great project management tool. Gantt charts help graphically represent various tasks by date, dependencies, completion timeline, etc. Inactive tasks help analyze risks and in managing the project scope. The well designed scheduling engine provides proper notifications as per the tasks. You could check out the free 60-day trial to see how it fits your needs.

share|improve this answer

I like AgileZen :

AgileZen is a lean project management tool that is simple, flexible, cost-effective and web-based. Drawing on ideas from lean, kanban, and agile methodologies, we help you stay organized, focused, and on target.

share|improve this answer
Why do you like it ? What makes it special ? How does it fit with the question requirements ? – Matthieu Dec 11 '11 at 15:54

There is also LiquidPlanner :

Online project management software for planning, tracking, and collaboration

Easy and professional with the integrated features for scheduling, collaboration, time tracking, and reporting.

  • Flexible best case, worst case estimates
  • Multi-project planning and organization
  • Drag-n-drop scheduling
  • Integrated timesheets
  • Integrated project portals
  • Collaboration and file sharing
  • Analysis and trend reporting
  • Email and calendar integration
  • iPhone and iPad support
share|improve this answer
Why do you recommend it ? What makes it special ? How does it fit with the question requirements ? – Matthieu Dec 11 '11 at 15:58

We use latitude as our project management software package. It is a customizable tool for us surveyors and engineers to customize it the way we want to. It can produce invoices to job costs and can export user timesheets to accounting software for payrolls. You can notify users of their tasks and schedules.

share|improve this answer

protected by Community Aug 16 '11 at 11:57

This question is protected to prevent "thanks!", "me too!", or spam answers by new users. To answer it, you must have earned at least 10 reputation on this site.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.