Best Agile Project Management Software in 2024

There are many good agile project management software programs in the market. Selecting a suitable app for your needs is thus a hard task. You can start by first defining your business needs. Then, browse FinancesOnline.com’s list of top agile project management platforms. We help you out with this buyer’s guide that informs you about what to look for in the best Agile Project Management Software for enterprises and SMBs.

You can start your selection process by browsing the tools that have the highest SmartScore rankings in our agile project management software reviews. These systems are sure to offer high-quality features and online functionalities. The agile project management software providers offer great free trial plans that you can use to check out the software’s features and benefits and make a comparison. The free trial period gives you ample time to find out how the app can boost your company’s growth. We recommend you sign up for the free trials or demo of the following apps, which have received a high SmartScore and user satisfaction rating to find the best Agile Project Management software for your company: Projectplace reviews, Nutcache, and JIRA.

• Software/IT companies can use agile project management tools to deliver products and projects more quickly and efficiently.
• The use of agile software extends beyond IT/software projects as businesses in marketing/advertising, construction, architecture, product development, finance, education, event planning. Industrial/manufacturing and other industries also use the system.

• JIRA: JIRA is a popular project management software for small businesses and large firms that is designed to help users capture, assign, and set priorities in their work.
• Nutcache: Nutcache puts efficiency from your quote to the collection process, from estimates to getting paid, using productive project management features.  
• Sandglaz: Sandglaz is a lean project management app for agile teams. It provides a simple and intuitive interface that enables users to plan quickly and adapt as they go.  
• Projectplace: Projectplace is a widely used project management solution that is packed with useful business management tools, real-time communication features, and online collaboration functions.
• Taiga: Taiga is a project management app for agile developers and project managers who want a beautiful system that makes work enjoyable.

Agile Project Management Software Methodologies

There are three main types of agile methodologies:

• DSDM is the original agile development method. It is based on all popular agile principles. This method is most widely used in the UK.
• Scrum agile development method deals with task management within a team-based development environment. It is the most popular agile method. This is because it is easy to implement and solves many of the common management issues that have affected IT development teams.
• XP (Extreme Programming) is a radical agile methodology that focuses on the software engineering process and deals with the analysis, development, and test phases. It offers novel approaches that substantially improve the quality of the end product.

Popular Versions of Agile Project Management Software

Agile software is commonly sold as a SaaS (software as a service) and an on-premise solution. SaaS is popular as it enables teams in diverse locations to collaborate in real-time over the internet. To use an on-premise version, you first need to establish an expensive intranet.

Key Advantages of SaaS software

• Minimal upfront cost
• Features and pricing terms can be scaled up or down depending on current needs
• Upgrades are regular and managed by the vendor
• The vendor offers full technical and customer support
• Data is secure as top vendors use foolproof security measures
• Setup time is quick

Key Advantages of On-premise Software

• Easily customizable to your needs
• One-time licensing expense
• You can store the data within your network

The following features are essential to agile software:

Progress Visualization: This feature makes it easy to see where each team member is on their projects. Many project management apps offer visual progress tools that make it simple to identify obstacles. Make sure this feature is versatile to ensure your team is not limited by the software’s visualization structure, such as a Gantt chart.

Issue Tracking: Issue tracking works together with project visualization and allows the team to easily identify the project parts that need immediate attention, as well as the completed parts. This feature is commonly used by software development teams and helps to manage revision-related work.

Collaboration: Select suitable collaborative tools depending on the nature of your project and team. Team wikis are great for centralizing documents attached to projects on the board. This feature eliminates email chains and makes it easy to find the information you are looking for. A good agile software has robust collaboration tools. In particular, employee collaboration is vital in agile.

Estimation: Estimation tools are used by project managers to control scope creep and set accurate requirements to calculate how long an iteration takes. Project managers can gather accurate estimations to generate a base of historical data, which they can use to forecast future projects. Estimation tools also help to update estimates after every release, which helps project managers to meet deadlines.

Customer Portal: A customer development portal helps project managers carry out software walkthroughs and customers can use it to provide detailed feedback based on which actionable tasks can be planned. Developments teams benefit as they can ask for feedback soon after a release.

Project Portfolio: Agile can be difficult to scale because of its focus on individual contribution and team collaboration. The number of interdependent skill sets and moving parts can make it hard to respond quickly to change. This issue can be solved if project managers can quickly access the entire portfolio of projects. This will help them jump between projects while ensuring estimates are accurate.

Integrations. The capabilities of agile management software are further expanded with its integration features, which also boost the agility of your team. Use your platform’s API to push or pull data from your agile project software to third-party applications. You can also use tools, such as webhooks to provide real-time data from your agile management platform to other solutions.

Customization. You can also personalize the way you use your agile management solution to suit the actual requirements of your project teams. For instance, you can create custom fields to provide the depth and context that every project requires. You can also build custom views to allow quick access to the most relevant tasks.

• Better product quality – Agile software offers excellent safeguards to ensure the production of high-quality products.
• Higher customer satisfaction – Agile teams keep customers engaged and involved in projects.
• Greater team morale – Employees can be part of a self-managing team that allows them to be creative and get recognition for their work.
• Increased ownership and collaboration – The development team, scrum master, and product collaborate closely on daily project work.
• Customized team structures – All important decisions are decided by scrum team members.
• Relevant metrics – Agile software offers relevant and accurate metrics that project teams can use to estimate project cost and time, measure performance, and make smart decisions.
• Better performance visibility – All team members have the opportunity to know about project progress at all stages.
• Improved project control – All project team members can exercise control and create better products.
• Improved project predictability – Agile software boosts predictability by offering several tools and artifacts.
• Reduced risk – Agile techniques and software reduce the chances of project failure.
• Increased flexibility – This type of solution allows project teams to self-organize, which enables them to produce the best possible results and better meet project requirements.
• Enhanced transparency – An agile platform enables teams to use regular intervals to enhance efficiency by making adjustments in their behaviors.
• Sustainable development – Project teams can achieve this using agile management platforms by maintaining a regular, continuous development pace.

Our in-depth comparisons indicate that agile software exhibit the following common characteristics:

• It is imperative for users to get actively involved
• Teams must be empowered to take decisions
• Requirements change, but the timescale is fixed
• Capture requirements at a high level; visual and lightweight
• Build small, incremental releases and iterate
• Concentrate on frequent delivery of products
• Finish each feature before going on to the next one
• Apply the 80/20 rule
• Integrate testing throughout the project lifecycle–test early and often
• It is essential for all stakeholders to collaborate and cooperate productively

Agile project management software vendors continue to sustain their agility in innovating their product and service offerings. Here are the essential technology trends in agile PM solutions:

• Artificial Intelligence. AI technology is being deployed to totally transform agile project management. Agile software makers are increasingly integrating AI and machine learning algorithms into the rule-based, day-to-day tasks of team members. AI is also being tapped to provide concise project-related suggestions.
• Hybrid Agile Method. More and more dynamic PM teams are combining agile methods with traditional project management approaches, thus the emerging need for agile PM solutions that allow for a hybrid methodology. Hybrid agile PM software is also expected to generate more desired outcomes.
• Remote Agile Project Teams. The entire PM world is shifting more to implementing dispersed project setups. This is why agile software makers are further enhancing the remote work features and capabilities of their product offerings.

The following common challenges need to be tackled effectively to productively use agile project management tools:

• It increases the workload as you need to collect and process customer feedback. The job is not restricted just to delivering software as iterating becomes most important.
• As there are many agile methodologies and frameworks, you need to experiment to find a suitable one for your needs and tailor it to your team.
• Hand holding is not possible as most agile software teams organize their work autonomously. You can’t use a massive Gantt chart to direct the team step-by-step.
• Processes and procedures can hamper productivity. You can overcome this challenge by cooperating and working together to build new processes that meet everyone’s needs.
• Communicating effectively with business owners and stakeholders is a challenge. You can solve this issue by including stakeholders in each project phase.
• Finally, it can be difficult to adapt to changes in business needs while reducing wasted effort. This challenge can be tackled by working iteratively.

We hope this buyer’s guide has adequately informed you about the pros and cons of agile project management software. Do proper research and homework to select the right app for your specific requirements.

Agile project management platforms are not your typical business solutions that anyone can use. It requires a minimum set of project management skills and experience to properly use this type of software and produce the best outcomes. Some of the key agile tools include:

• Scrum or Kanban boards – These tools allow team members to visualize each ongoing user story using cards that indicate the project tasks, assigned members, and statuses in a sprint.
• Agile software development tools – Include various development solutions like Linx, GitHub, and Jira.
• Sprints – Utilized for setting priorities for sprints, establishing sprint tasks, and backlogs for estimating stories.
• Velocity chart – Used for monitoring the velocity of your team and making precise forecasts for every sprint.
• Workflows – Custom workflows are created to automatically update issues triggered by particular events.
• Daily Scrums or Standups – User dashboards that provide quick snapshots of task statuses that are used for preparing Standups or Scrums.
• Burndown chart – Used to manage tasks by monitoring the remaining volume of work in the epic or sprint.
• Backlogs – With a drag-and-drop editor, teams use backlog cards for prioritizing bugs and user stories.
• Task swim lanes or columns – Projects, assignees, epics, and others are separated by transferring cards across lanes.

Organizations looking to adopt agile for project management may encounter any of a number of common hurdles, such as the following:

A vague understanding of the agile method’s effect on business objectives – Simply using agile project management solutions to implement projects doesn’t automatically guarantee that the intended benefits will be gained. Likewise, inappropriate use of this software may bring more harm than good. Strategic alignment is essential to ensure successful implementation.

Limited agile skill – Another typical impediment is the absence of qualified team members. In fact, the best agile professionals are becoming a scarce talent commodity. Restricted agile talent means constrained advantages for businesses seeking to implement projects using this software solution.

Rushed testing cycles – Haste makes waste in agile. Sprints can increase the likelihood of risks of hurried testing cycles. Implementing sprints should be done with constant care to ensure defects are detected early on.

Poor organizational support for agile methods – Whereas project teams could be well-prepared for agile project management technology, the rest of the organization may not be on the same page. Before agile implementation, ensure that your company culture or structure can support agile methods. Everyone, from the bottom to the top, should be on board to reach success.