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The Dilemma of Tool Selection for Agile Project Management

Authors:
Gayane Azizyan
Miganoush Magarian
Mira Kajko-Mattsson

Keywords: agile; tool; process; adoption

Abstract:
Even if agile project management tools grow in number and complexity, companies still face difficulties in selecting tools that fit their needs. One such company is Company A, a multinational company that has experienced a great need for a tool supporting their multi-layered management of requirements and projects. For this reason, they commissioned us to perform a detailed analysis of their tool usage needs, placing much stress on adherence to their processes and all the roles involved. In this paper, we present our journey towards selecting the right tool for Company A and the problems encountered when trying to reach our goal. The tool selection process was based on (1) a study of tool features such as usability and extensibility, and (2) observation of the company’s process and elicitation of the company’s tool usage needs. Our results show that even if there are many tools on the market, it was still difficult to find an appropriate tool. The reasons were the following: (1) a study of general tool features could not provide enough information to account for the company’s needs, (2) even people possessing the same role in the company prioritized different features differently; hence, it was difficult to utilize their feedback for selecting a tool, and, finally, (3) even after having observed the company’s process, it was still difficult to find an adequate tool. The tools simply could not support the company’s multi-level requirements management process. Moreover, they suffered from poor usability as well as imposed their own terminology and process. Overall, the agile tools studied were not a good match for supporting the company’s agile project management needs.

Pages: 605 to 614

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2012

Publication date: November 18, 2012

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4235

ISBN: 978-1-61208-230-1

Location: Lisbon, Portugal

Dates: from November 18, 2012 to November 23, 2012