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What can be good alternative to Jira/Redmine?

Added by itnithand englishjhand about 5 years ago

I am currently a product manager in a new software startup inside our parent company. Soon we will start development and now I am choosing a tool for managing our tasks. It is good opportunity to start with new tools.Requirements:
- Kanban board with ability to add our columns
- Epics/tasks division
- Separate backlog
- Git integration
- Project Wiki

I've already had experience with redmine, jira and all of them have cons. For example, epics in Jira are not shown in product backlog and redmine doesn't have kanban board.

So guys, which tool do you use to manage your tasks?


Replies (6)

RE: What can be good alternative to Jira/Redmine? - Added by Greg Lewsza about 5 years ago

Hi,

Redmine with Redmine Agile plugin fulfill all of the aforementioned points

- Kanban board with a selection of columns. You can show issue statuses columns with main and sub-statuses (on the screen example from a release board)
- Epics/tasks divisions - this can be achieved by using issues/tasks and sub-issues/sub-tasks in Redmine
- Separate backlog - Create separate versions for each backlog (if you're running only a single project). Soon we'll release a new feature which will add a "Sprint" feature, allowing to add it separately from Redmine "versions".
- Git integration - functionality covered by Redmine
- Wiki - covered by Redmine. If you need a discussion board, Q&A, or idea-reporting page then take a look at Redmine Questions plugins.

Even though the interface of Redmine at first might look dis-encouraging, with a nice theme, it becomes way more user-friendly. I wrote a short blog post on the most popular Redmine themes.

You can take a look at short blog post how we manage development project in Redmine

RE: What can be good alternative to Jira/Redmine? - Added by Samuel Langton about 5 years ago

Hey there,

Have you had a look at Jira's new next-gen projects?

There's an in-built roadmap, separate backlog, epic to story hierarchy (the epics appear as labels on your backlog work, and you can filter your backlog by epic/s too) and it's loads easier now to configure your boards - you can just add columns directly on the board.

That will take care of the first four, and you could use Confluence or some other tool for your project wiki.

Full disclosure - I work for Atlassian on the Jira team. Happy to answer any questions you have, or chat further.

RE: What can be good alternative to Jira/Redmine? - Added by Matthew Paul over 4 years ago

Old ticket but fyi I have worked with Jira, ServiceNow, and Redmine. For me Redmine is far and away superior to SN or Jira.

  • Service Now is very heavy and functional, you can basically do anything you like, but it takes a lot of work to do things that are standard in Redmine - example, stripping and threading inbound emails using patterns, inline screenshots, physically attached documents to emails, use of multiple email addresses for single users, etc. Like I say, you can do pretty much anything you like in SN but you have to be comfortable with Javascript and some other stuff to make it the email integration usable which is one of the most important features.
  • Jira is more lightweight but still very functional - I prefer it to SN out of the box. SN comes from a help desk mentality, Jira is much more of a team tool. The UI is very slick, functionality is very good, especially if you add some plug ins. You can also extend the functionality I think more easily than SN although I don't think is quite has the same power that SN has.
  • Redmine is often underestimated because, out of the box, it's pretty basic. But, if you know what you are doing, it's massively quicker and easier to use it as a team tool, and for 90% of stuff is just as powerful. Plus the way that everything is rolled into one UI is far superior than the bits and pieces approach of Jira and SN. But, you have to understand plugins and themes to get it to anywhere like Jira or SN (like Kanban/Agile, Mindmaps, Charts/Reporting, etc), so if you aren't prepared to understand the Infrastructure and install those I would tend to Jira instead. I have a decent theme, plus 20+ plugins just as an example, but have used it to run the IT department of an $11B company - 380 users, 5 times zones, users/IT/external support.

RE: What can be good alternative to Jira/Redmine? - Added by Dominik Ras over 4 years ago

I second Greg Lewsza's commen (http://www.redmine.org/boards/4/topics/56472?r=56479#message-56479).

We're using Redmine Agile plugin (PRO version) http://redmineup.com/pages/plugins/agile and it rocks. You can have/save an many variations of boards in one project as you want.

You can have as many taraget versions aka separate backlogs as you need. Each sprint or backclog can have its onw/connected/dedicated Wiki page.

Out of the box Wiki is not as powerful as Confluence, but in many areas, Confluence just seems bloated.

I highly recommend utilizing (and adding new) 'trackers' and 'roles' for fine-tuned permissions, visibility and custom-fitted work prosess flows.

RE: What can be good alternative to Jira/Redmine? - Added by Matthew Paul over 4 years ago

Would also second/third Greg's comment. I actually counted my plugins and have 40+ - many of which are RedmineUP (have purchased full stack and helpdesk paid versions as well as used free ones). Excellent company, Agile is essential imho. Easyredmine folks also do good ones.

Basically, for me anyway, redmine is by far the best in terms of range of functionality and flexibility. Much better than SN and Jira, doesn't get the respect it deserves in the corporate world because it is 'Open Source' and requires a little more effort to make it fully functional.

RE: What can be good alternative to Jira/Redmine? - Added by Madhu Singh over 3 years ago

Hello,

As I am Software Tester in https://askmeoffers.com/ i can say that jira is best but we can also use SpiraTeam i.e an integrated application lifecycle management system which manages the specifications, updates, test cases, problems and tasks of all projects in one cohesive setting. This is agnostic approach-endorsing methodologies such as Agile, Kanban, Scrum, XP, cascade and combination.

Thanks,

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