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February 10, 2011
Prediction #10: Agile rollouts increasingly driven from executive office, developer backlash follows
Prediction #10: Agile rollouts increasingly driven from executive office, developer backlash follows
by Mik Kersten, January 26th, 2011
Agile development is at a crossroads. Practices hardened around small teams of motivated enthusiasts are now being deployed at scale in the enterprise. Average professional software developers, far from the Scrum rock stars or Kanban aficionados, may remain inspired by their Agile training for a couple of months. Then the next release crunch comes, and too often the Agile process is perceived as yet another source of overhead that keeps the developer from coding. Agile practices which have not yet become engrained, even though they are recognized as beneficial, start to fall by the wayside. User stories are not broken down into tasks until the end of a sprint, release frequency drops, the Agile project tracking tool is only kept up-to-date at the insistence of the project manager masquerading as a ScrumMaster. The software development process is once again driven by managerial needs rather than those of the self-organizing team.
The unintended consequence is that the Agile process has degraded into a project documentation methodology. While managers who architected the large-scale rollout scramble to adopt even more cutting edge Agile and Lean practices to address these problems, upper management becomes concerned that they now have even less visibility into the development process than they did with waterfall. Arguments are made that teams’ velocity has increased, but the benefit is outweighed by the overall loss in predictability and increasing developer discontent. At this point, the expected ROI of Agile is looking more like a realized loss.
The frequency of stories like the above is increasing with the growing number of early adopters of Agile at scale moving beyond the initial honeymoon phase. For organizations scaling their Agile deployments into the thousands, it is not be feasible to train and motivate thousands of employees to do Agile as it is “meant to be done”. But complaining that developers are not doing Agile right is akin to telling iPhone 4 users that they’re “holding it wrong”. To scale to large enterprise, a new work process has to be encapsulated with tool support that embraces the individual contributors doing the actual work. To date, Agile vendors have done a very good job providing project managers and product owners with planning and tracking tools. However, the primary creators of project deliverables are software developers, and they have consistently been an afterthought in most Agile solutions and deployments and are in the process of being disenfranchised.
The crux of the problem stems from the inherent need for large scale adoptions of Agile to be mandated by management. Consider the previous technologies that followed this trend. The Unified Modelling Language (UML) seemed like a great way of getting business level requirements discussed as part of software design. Heavyweight Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) tools from a decade ago promised to transform the software delivery process. Both saw a backlash from developers who knew all along that they reaped more benefit more from lightweight tools that embrace coding and collaboration.
This decade-old backlash against heavyweight and management-driven ALM tool deployments was part of the inspiration for the Agile Manifesto’s call for “Individuals and interactions over processes and tools”. If we keep heading in the current direction of ignoring the need for tools that bring developers’ programming activity into the process and that provide them with a concrete and visible benefit to their day-to-day coding, we will witness the same kinds of failures with Agile that we saw with ALM tools. We have slid far enough down this slope that in 2011 we will start to witness both major hiccups and outright failures among early adoptions of Agile at scale.
To address this necessary move of Agile from early adopters to enterprise pragmatists, tools that focus on individual developers needs are the critical “last mile” of the Agile deployment. We need look no further than the Toyota Production System (TPS), the precursor of the Lean manufacturing trend which did much to inspire Agile development, for guidance on the role that software production tools need to play in the process. The TPS consists of three interlocked elements: the philosophical underpinnings that define what we deliver to the customer, the managerial culture that defines how teams collaborate, and the technical tools that get things done. Developer tools are as primary to Agile software production as assembly line automation is to cranking out Toyota Prius automobiles. The existing focus on the ALM and above layer needs to be extended down to the Integrated Development Environment (IDE).
Coding, deployment, source control, and continuous integration tools must be integrated as a key pillar of the Agile development process. The knowledge formed around development activities needs to be captured and linked within the plan and product backlog. User stories need to be automatically connected to commits, and the developer’s workspace focused away from the system as-a-whole and onto the task-at-hand. Developers need to be given powerful and efficient tooling which gives them a window into their part of the Agile plan and connects their workspaces to the delivery process as a whole. To avoid the backlash of a thousand developers complaining that the changes imposed by an Agile rollout are getting in their way, we need a new focus on the final and most critical gear in the Agile deployment-the developer’s workbench.
For more blog entries by Mik Kersten, or TaskTop Technologies, please visit (http://tasktop.com/blog/).
Ten predictions for 2011: Agile, ALM and developer tools
Ten predictions for 2011: Agile, ALM and developer tools
By Mik Kersten
January 25th, 2011
In the past year, the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) space was one of change, innovation and confusion. Those of us answering surveys on change management and issue tracking solutions had a whopping 100 answers to select from. Heterogeneous and multi-vendor ALM stacks became the norm. Agile development was everywhere and helped in popularizing esoteric Japanese management terms with the common developer. On the open source front, buzz around distributed version control and social coding grew, and in November we saw the launch of regular episodes of HBO-worthy drama around Hudson. To help developers from going insane in this rapidly evolving landscape, Mylyn was promoted to a top-level Eclipse project providing an ALM interoperability framework and tools. With open source, Agile, cloud deployment and DevOps trending in 2011, the ALM space is poised to become as action packed as the Java app server space of yesteryear.
Over the next 10 workdays I will post a prediction per day on what to watch for in the coming months, starting with tomorrow’s:
Prediction #10: Agile adoption continues its managerial rise, developers get annoyed and cause a backlash
For more blog entries from Mik Mersten or Tasktop Technologies, please visit (http://tasktop.com/blog/)
November 30, 2010
TASKTOP 1.8 CONNECTS DEVELOPMENT TO AGILE ALM WITH NEW SUPPORT FOR HP QUALITY CENTER, MICROSOFT TEAM FOUNDATION SERVER AND IBM RATIONAL TEAM CONCERT 3.0
TASKTOP 1.8 CONNECTS DEVELOPMENT TO AGILE ALM WITH NEW SUPPORT FOR HP QUALITY CENTER, MICROSOFT TEAM FOUNDATION SERVER AND IBM RATIONAL TEAM CONCERT 3.0
From Agile point solutions, to open source tools and enterprise ALM platforms, Tasktop has created the de-facto standard for ALM system interoperability and IDE integration
VANCOUVER and BARCELONA, November 30, 2010 – At the HP Software Universe conference in Barcelona, Tasktop Technologies (www.tasktop.com), creators of the Eclipse Mylyn project and a leader in Agile Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) integration and productivity, today announced Tasktop Enterprise 1.8. The new product further integrates its Agile ALM partner offerings, open source solutions and thriving ecosystem of Mylyn extensions. It is the first commercial and full-featured release of Eclipse IDE-based developer tooling for accessing HP Quality Center and HP ALM, as well as Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server based on Eclipse Mylyn. In addition, Tasktop Enterprise has been updated to support the recently released IBM Rational Team Concert 3.0. Tasktop is also proud to announce it is now an HP Gold Partner, a Microsoft Visual Studio Premium Partner and is IBM “Ready for Rational” validated.
“ALM has become increasingly complex as organizations rely on a growing number of best-of-breed and open source solutions to compete, while remote teams, employee churn and outsourcing make developer collaboration and tracking of progress more and more difficult,” explained Mik Kersten, CEO of Tasktop and creator of the open source Eclipse Mylyn project. “In this new ALM landscape organizations need improved transparency and coordination more than ever, but the heterogeneity of the typical ALM stack makes it very challenging. With this latest release, Tasktop has emerged as the leader in federating enterprise ALM systems that help organizations scale the benefits of Agile across the enterprise.”
Tasktop created its task management tools to help developers be more productive by making it effortless for them to organize their work around tasks. Serving as an ALM integration suite, Tasktop Enterprise has become the de-facto standard for integrating disparate development tools and platforms that are the reality within today’s enterprise software development organizations. By providing traceability and knowledge sharing between tools and platforms that are often provided by separate companies, Tasktop helps reduce the complexity and challenges of successfully scaling Agile programs beyond small teams. Organizations using Tasktop are able to integrate and gain added value from heterogeneous systems, improve the happiness and productivity of development teams, and integrate and manage emerging technology platforms, such as cloud computing and mobile applications, into existing development practices.
“Enterprise software development organisations have processes baked into a wide range of tools and platforms, and avoid rip and replace,” said James Governor, co-founder and industry analyst at RedMonk. “Tasktop is an ALM stack that works with existing tooling and testing environments, providing full traceability and reporting for management, without affecting the most important aspect – developer flow and productivity.”
Pricing and Availability
Tasktop Enterprise 1.8 is available immediately. Pricing for the Tasktop Enterprise subscription is $199-per-user per year and includes enhanced support, advanced productivity features, automated time tracking and integration for IBM Rational ClearQuest, ClearCase and Team Concert, HP ALM and Quality Center, and Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server. For a guided evaluation of Tasktop Enterprise, please call 778-588-6896, or visit (http://tasktop.com).
About Tasktop Technologies
Tasktop Technologies is the company behind the Eclipse Mylyn ALM integration framework and its revolutionary task-focused interface technology. The task-focused interface is proven to make developers more productive by showing only the relevant information for each task, dramatically reducing search time and facilitating multitasking. Tasktop Enterprise is the company’s commercial product based on Mylyn, with task-focused support for web browsing, time tracking, documents, email, calendars and commercial ALM components. Tasktop also provides consulting, connector development services and training to the growing number of companies adopting the task-focused paradigm and tools. For more information please visit www.tasktop.com.
# # #
Media Contact:
Christie Denniston
Catapult PR-IR
cdenniston@catapultpr-ir.com
O: 303-581-7760, ext. 13
M: 303-827-5164
November 15, 2010
TASKTOP TO DELIVER ECLIPSE MYLYN FOR HP QUALITY CENTER
TASKTOP TO DELIVER ECLIPSE MYLYN FOR HP QUALITY CENTER
New connector provides full Eclipse Mylyn IDE integration for developers and testers using the Eclipse IDE
Munich (W-JAX 2010), Nov. 15, 2010 – Tasktop Technologies (www.tasktop.com), creators of Eclipse Mylyn and the leader in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) integration and productivity, today announced a collaboration with HP to develop the Tasktop HP Quality Center Mylyn Connector. The new connector will integrate Mylyn’s task-focused interface technology with HP Quality Center, resulting in improved developer productivity from requirements through defects by providing integrations with leading commercial and open source ALM platforms and Eclipse IDE.
”HP Quality Center is one of the most widely used quality management solutions by our customers,” said Mik Kersten, CEO of Tasktop Technologies and creator of the open source Eclipse Mylyn project. “Connecting the IDE environment directly with HP Quality Center will make it dramatically easier for developers to collaborate and connect their development process with HP’s leading quality management tools.”
The HP Quality Center Connector will fully support Tasktop’s award-winning productivity technology called the task-focused interface, which automatically tracks and presents the “context” of source code, documents and web pages that are most relevant for a given defect, story or task. This will improve developer productivity by making it effortless to multitask and recover from interruptions with a single click. The end result is that developers will no longer have to waste time repeatedly searching and scrolling for the information they need to write code, since the IDE shows only the relevant information.
Thanks to the Tasktop Certified integration program, the new connector will also extend HP Quality Center integration with more than 50 leading development solutions, including commercial platforms from Accept, Atlassian, CollabNet, IBM, Polarion, Rally Software, ThoughtWorks Studios and VersionOne, and open source tools such as Bugzilla, Hudson and Subversion. Tasktop Certification ensures compliance with guidelines for completeness, UI design and interoperability and enables discovery and installation of the integration from within the Eclipse IDE itself via the Mylyn Connector Discovery.
“As Agile practices become mainstream, it is vital that quality management and developer tools integrate to address application risks early in the life cycle,” said Jonathan Rende, vice president and general manager, Business Technology Optimization Applications, Software and Solutions, HP. “With integrations between HP Quality Center and Eclipse Mylyn, software developers and QA teams will be able to effectively speed the time for development and increase the quality of their applications.”
Availability
The Tasktop Certified HP Quality Center Mylyn Connector is bundled with the fully supported Tasktop Enterprise product, which provides advanced productivity features and integrations with commercial ALM solutions. Tasktop Enterprise with the HP Quality Center Connector will be available November 30, 2010, along with a free version of the basic Eclipse IDE integration version and integration support for open source tools including SVN and Hudson. Tasktop will be demonstrating the Connector at its booth at HP Software Universe 2010 in Barcelona. (http://h41112.www4.hp.com/events/software-universe-2010).
About Tasktop Technologies
Tasktop Technologies is the company behind the Eclipse Mylyn ALM integration framework and its revolutionary task-focused interface technology. The task-focused interface is proven to make developers more productive by showing only the relevant information for each task, dramatically reducing search time and facilitating multitasking. Tasktop Pro is the company’s enterprise-ready product based on Mylyn, with task-focused support for web browsing, time tracking, documents, email and calendars. Tasktop Technologies also provides consulting, connector development services and training to the growing number of companies adopting the task-focused paradigm and tools. For more information please visit www.tasktop.com.
# # #
Media Contact:
Christie Denniston
Catapult PR-IR
cdenniston@catapultpr-ir.com
O: 303-581-7760, ext. 13
M: 303-827-5164
November 12, 2010
TASKTOP TECHNOLOGIES’ EXECUTIVE TO OUTLINE LATEST TASK-FOCUSED WORKFLOW PRACTICES AT ALM SUMMIT
TASKTOP TECHNOLOGIES’ EXECUTIVE TO OUTLINE LATEST TASK-FOCUSED WORKFLOW PRACTICES AT ALM SUMMIT
Green to share how recent Mylyn integrations can increase Agile team productivity
WHO: David Green
VP of Engineering
Tasktop Technologies
(www.tasktop.com)
WHAT: Connecting Developer Workflow: Mylyn and the Task-Focused Interface
In less than four years, Mylyn’s task-focused interface has gone from a university whiteboard to a tool with more than a million monthly downloads. The next big step in the evolution of developer tools is becoming clearer, as tasks and work items become more important than files. Increasingly, focus is more important than features, and an explicit context is a great way to automatically connect software planning to production. The Eclipse Mylyn project has restructured the integrated development environment (IDE) interaction around tasks, connecting the developer’s workflow to Agile and ALM systems. Today, Mylyn provides the developer with unified access to leading ALM systems and features such as cross-repository linking and Agile planning. During this presentation, Green will outline the latest developments around the use of Mylyn, and demonstrate new integration and productivity benefits to users of Microsoft TFS, as well as developers based in Visual Studio.
WHERE: ALM Summit
Microsoft Conference Center
Redmond, Wash.
WHEN: Wed. November 17, 2010
2:10 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Pacific
CONTACT: For more information or to set up an interview with David Green of Tasktop Technologies, please contact Christie Denniston at Catapult PR-IR 303-581-7760, ext. 13 or (cdenniston@catapultpr-ir.com).
November 11, 2010
TASKTOP EXTENDS REACH OF ITS OPEN SOURCE, ENTERPRISE, AND AGILE ALM OFFERINGS IN GERMANY
TASKTOP EXTENDS REACH OF ITS OPEN SOURCE, ENTERPRISE, AND AGILE ALM OFFERINGS IN GERMANY
Active and innovative development community around Eclipse Mylyn and Agile methods leads Tasktop to expand German team and sponsorship of W-JAX 2010 community events
VANCOUVER AND MUNICH, Nov. 11, 2010 – Tasktop Technologies (www.tasktop.com), creators of Eclipse Mylyn and the leader in Agile Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) integration and productivity, today announced several initiatives aimed at supporting the growing Agile software development community in Germany and the entire European region. The company now has three representatives based in Germany, including two Eclipse open source committers and a sales and business development specialist. Tasktop also is increasing its commitment to the region with a Gold Sponsorship of the W-JAX 2010 conference and having company founder and CEO Mik Kersten present a keynote session on bringing open source collaboration and ALM tools to the enterprise.
“The European market, and Germany in particular, has long been an innovator in open source adoption and at the forefront of Eclipse innovation,” said Tasktop’s Kersten. “Tasktop’s offerings fill the gap between the developer and ALM system that’s needed to get the ROI promised by Agile deployments. To better serve our European customers’ needs for integrating their Agile and ALM deployments, we are very pleased to announce our new presence in the region and support of leading events such as W-JAX 2010 and the upcoming JAX 2011.”
At the W-JAX 2010 conference slated November 15-19, Tasktop will provide event support through a Gold Sponsorship. Kersten will present a Keynote session scheduled for Wed., Nov. 17, titled: Bringing Open Source Collaboration to the Enterprise. This presentation will look at how during the past decade heavyweight ALM tools tended to get in developers’ way by emphasizing process over collaboration. The adoption of Agile and Lean development methodologies was a reaction to this trend, emphasizing people over process, but often leaving the tools necessary to scale collaboration behind. Kersten argues we are now on the cusp of a new phase in the evolution of ALM, being driven by a new breed of tools that successful open source communities have created to support their own collaboration. This keynote will outline how the recent developments in open source collaboration sets the stage to build and improve on Agile principals and how this trend is transforming other areas of knowledge work connected to software development, and beyond. To see the full abstract please visit: (http://jax.de/wjax2010/keynotes/).
Additionally, Kersten will be giving a session scheduled for Thursday, November 18, titled The rebirth of Mylyn: Eclipse, Agile and ALM. This session will focus on the new tools now available and coming soon to developers, architects and development managers who are looking to maximize productivity and accountability in a world where development efforts are growing increasingly complex.
For more information about Tasktop, its products and services within Germany and the region please contact Sigrid Haberkorn at sigrid.haberkorn@tasktop.com or stop by the Tasktop booth at W-JAX.
About Tasktop Technologies
Tasktop Technologies is the company behind the Eclipse Mylyn ALM integration framework and its revolutionary task-focused interface technology. The task-focused interface is proven to make developers more productive by showing only the relevant information for each task, dramatically reducing search time and facilitating multitasking. Tasktop Enterprise is the company’s enterprise-ready product based on Mylyn, with task-focused support for web browsing, time tracking, documents, email and calendars. Tasktop Technologies also provides consulting, connector development services and training to the growing number of companies adopting the task-focused paradigm and tools. For more information please visit www.tasktop.com.
# # #
Media Contact:
Christie Denniston
Catapult PR-IR
cdenniston@catapultpr-ir.com
O: 303-581-7760, ext. 13
M: 303-827-5164
December 9, 2009
TASKTOP INTEGRATES THOUGHTWORKS STUDIOS MINGLE WITH ECLIPSE MYLYN FOR AGILE ALM
New integration connects Mingle project management tool with the Eclipse IDE
for improved developer productivity and project status visibility
VANCOUVER, Dec. 9, 2009 – Tasktop Technologies (www.tasktop.com), creators of Eclipse Mylyn and the leading provider of task management for application lifecycle management (ALM), and ThoughtWorks Studios (www.thoughtworks-studios.com) today announced the availability of the ThoughtWorks Studios Mingle® Mylyn Connector. The new offering integrates development activities performed in the Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE) with project management in the new Mingle 3.0. Together, the products help developers easily and accurately track progress while, simultaneously, providing accurate and up-to-date project status visibility for team leads.
“To gain the greatest value from Agile project management tools organizations must accurately track development activity and progress as close to real-time as possible,” said Mik Kersten, CEO of Tasktop Technologies and creator of the open source Eclipse Mylyn project. “The Tasktop integration with Mingle makes it effortless for developers to collaborate, update project status, and automatically track time within the Eclipse IDE, bridging the gap between the development and project management layers of the Agile ALM stack.”
The Mingle Mylyn Connector enables Mingle development teams to take advantage of Mylyn’s innovative task-focused productivity technology that shows only the most relevant source code for a given task. This technology helps reduce information overload for large-scale development projects and enables developers to multitask and recover from interruptions with a single click. With the connector, ThoughtWorks Studios’ customers will further improve their productivity by eliminating the need to toggle between their browser, email and IDE to gather information necessary to complete application development tasks. Tasktop and ThoughtWorks Studios are planning to release Mylyn connectors for Twist and Cruise during Q1 of 2010.
Mingle is the project management component of ThoughtWorks Studios’ Adaptive ALMTM, a complete development solution that includes Twist® (test automation) and Cruise® (release management). Major features available in the new Mingle 3.0 include an entirely new communications platform called “MurmursTM.” Murmurs captures conversations that would otherwise have been lost through unstructured communications – such as IM chats, emails, etc. – and instantly associates team conversations with Mingle project artifacts. Mingle 3.0 also includes new program-level management features that provide cross-project visibility, traceability and extended reporting capabilities. In addition, it provides enhanced reporting capabilities, support for software configuration management (SCM) through Subversion® 1.6.5 and API updates that provide better access to information within Mingle for integration with external applications or systems.
“We are extremely excited to offer our customers a new level of integration between task-level activities and our Mingle project management tool,” said Cyndi Mitchell, managing director for ThoughtWorks Studios. “In addition, the integration of our new Murmurs social networking feature available in Mingle 3.0 represents a new level of communication and collaboration within the Eclipse IDE.”
The ThoughtWorks Studios Mingle Mylyn Connector is available now and included in Tasktop Pro for $99. A free Tasktop Pro trial is available from http://tasktop.com/download. Eclipse Galileo (3.5) users also will be able to install it directly from Mylyn’s Connector Discovery in Eclipse. For more information, visit http://tasktop.com/connectors/thoughtworks-studios. For more information, or to download a free trial of Mingle 3.0 visit http://www.thoughtworks-studios.com/mingle-agile-project-management/mingle-releasing-with-murmurs.
About ThoughtWorks Studios
ThoughtWorks Studios is a global leader in Agile ALM tools and training. Its products and services are used by organizations as a foundation for sustainable Agile adoption, where project management, automation and engineering best practices are required. The company’s Adaptive ALMTM solution provides a platform for managing all aspects of the software development lifecycle, from requirements definition and project management to test automation, quality assurance and release management. The three products that make up Adaptive ALM, Mingle (project management) Twist (test automation) and Cruise (release management), are available as an integrated solution or as stand-alone products. The company also provides in-depth training courses that cover all aspects of Agile ALM through its Agile Workshops series. Backed as an independent division of ThoughtWorks®, the pioneering leader in Agile development and best-practices, ThoughtWorks Studios’ customers include 3M, Barclays, BBC, eBay, Honeywell, McGraw-Hill, Rackspace, and Vodafone. It is headquartered in San Francisco and Bangalore, with offices in London and select cities in Europe, Asia and Australia. For more information, please visit www.thoughtworks-studios.com.
About Tasktop Technologies
Tasktop Technologies is the company behind the Eclipse Mylyn ALM integration framework and its revolutionary task-focused interface technology. The task-focused interface is proven to make developers more productive by showing only the relevant information for each task, dramatically reducing search time and facilitating multitasking. Tasktop Pro is the company’s enterprise-ready product based on Mylyn, with task-focused support for web browsing, time tracking, documents, email and calendars. Tasktop Technologies also provides consulting, connector development services and training to the growing number of companies adopting the task-focused paradigm and tools. For more information please visit www.tasktop.com.
# # #
Media Contact:
Christie Denniston
Catapult PR-IR
cdenniston@catapultpr-ir.com
O: (303) 581-7760, ext. 13
M: (303) 827-5164
THOUGHTWORKS STUDIOS NOW SHIPPING MINGLE 3.0 FOR IMPROVED COLLABORATION AND PROGRAM MANAGEMENT FOR AGILE ALM
Mingle 3.0 includes Tasktop integration, extends collaboration via
social communication and enables program management
LONDON and SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 9, 2009 – ThoughtWorks Studios (www.thoughtworks-studios.com), a global leader in Agile ALM tools and training, today announced it is shipping Mingle® 3.0, its industry leading Agile project management tool. Mingle 3.0 provides new levels of team collaboration, and extended reporting and management visibility across projects for improved program management. In addition, Mingle 3.0 is now fully integrated with Tasktop Pro (www.tasktop.com), the enterprise version of Mylyn, the most widely adopted ALM integration platform for the Eclipse IDE.
“At its core, successful software development is all about collaboration and the ability for stakeholders across the enterprise to share information and track progress in a timely and efficient manner,” said Cyndi Mitchell, managing director for ThoughtWorks Studios. “In Mingle 3.0, our new Murmurs functionality offers new levels of enterprise communication that brings previously unstructured conversations into projects. Additionally, the integration of task-level activities directly into Mingle through Tasktop improves developer productivity and the accuracy of status reporting.”
Mingle is the project management component of ThoughtWorks Studios’ Adaptive ALMTM solution that supports all aspects of the software development and delivery lifecycle – from requirements definition and portfolio management to test automation, quality assurance and release management. In addition to Mingle, Adaptive ALM includes Twist® (test automation) and Cruise® (release management).
Major new features in Mingle 3.0 include:
- Online Team Collaboration – to help teams work more efficiently and collaboratively, ThoughtWorks Studios has designed an entirely new communications platform called “MurmursTM.” Murmurs captures conversations that would otherwise have been lost through unstructured communications – such as IM chats, emails, etc. – and instantly associates team dialogs with Mingle project artifacts. All software development team members can share ideas, track progress in real-time, and improve intra-team and cross-team visibility and traceability. The first external integration of Murmurs uses JabberTM chat.
- Program Management Capabilities – new program-level management features provide cross-project visibility, traceability and extended reporting capabilities. Features include a pre-built cross-project reporting macro that extends the Macro Developer Tool Kit for flexible reporting from multiple projects in real time. Managers now can easily copy cards and create links between projects to manage work among them.
- Enhanced Usability and Support – additional reporting capabilities include a Macro Creator for developers. This helps simplify and automate syntax for powerful reporting within Mingle projects when creating reports and previewing charts. Other enhancements add support for software configuration management (SCM) through Subversion® 1.6.5, API updates that provide better access to information within Mingle for integration with external applications or systems, and updates to available MQL database queries. Personalization upgrades allow end-users to manage history notification subscriptions and add personal icons to a user profile page.
In addition, Mingle 3.0 provides rich client access and Eclipse development environment integration for project team members by way of Tasktop Pro. The ThoughtWorks Studios Mingle Mylyn Connector, now included in Tasktop Pro, allows Mingle users to access Mingle artifacts directly from their development environment. The connector provides cross-repository accessibility and dependency management so team members can easily relate Mingle cards to artifacts within numerous other tracking systems supported by Tasktop Pro. In addition, Tasktop’s automated time-tracking solution integrates with Mingle, providing a much needed integration layer between developer tools and project management tools in the Agile ALM stack. This allows team members to accurately track actual hours on the desktop, adjust as needed, and submit them to Mingle, providing improved visibility for the entire team. Tasktop Pro also enables team members to enrich their day-to-day conversations via direct integration with the new Murmurs collaboration feature in Mingle.
“Being able to bring the new Murmurs social collaboration capability available in Mingle 3.0 directly into the Eclipse IDE will further streamline developer communication and knowledge transfer around a project or specific development task,” said Mik Kersten, CEO of Tasktop Technologies and creator of the open source Eclipse Mylyn project. “We look forward to working with ThoughtWorks Studios to help teams reach a new level of collaborative development and project visibility by connecting Mingle with development activity on the desktop.”
Pricing and Availability
Mingle 3.0 is available immediately directly from ThoughtWorks Studios and pricing starts at $566 per user, per year. For more information or to download a free trial please visit http://www.thoughtworks-studios.com/mingle-agile-project-management/mingle-releasing-with-murmurs. The ThoughtWorks Studios Mingle Mylyn Connector is available now and included in Tasktop Pro for $99. A free Tasktop Pro trial is available from http://tasktop.com/download. Eclipse Galileo (3.5) users also will be able to install it directly from Mylyn’s Connector Discovery in Eclipse. For more information, visit http://tasktop.com/connectors/thoughtworks-studios.
About ThoughtWorks Studios
ThoughtWorks Studios is a global leader in Agile ALM tools and training. Its products and services are used by organizations as a foundation for sustainable Agile adoption, where project management, automation and engineering best practices are required. The company’s Adaptive ALM solution provides a platform for managing all aspects of the software development lifecycle, from requirements definition and project management to test automation, quality assurance and release management. The three products that make up Adaptive ALM, Mingle (project management) Twist (test automation) and Cruise (release management), are available as an integrated solution or as stand-alone products. The company also provides in-depth training courses that cover all aspects of Agile ALM through its Agile Workshops series. Backed as an independent division of ThoughtWorks®, the pioneering leader in Agile development and best-practices, ThoughtWorks Studios’ customers include 3M, Barclays, BBC, eBay, Honeywell, McGraw-Hill, Rackspace and Vodafone. It is headquartered in San Francisco and Bangalore, with offices in London and select cities in Europe, Asia and Australia. For more information, please visit www.thoughtworks-studios.com.
# # #
Media Contact:
Christie Denniston
Catapult PR-IR
cdenniston@catapultpr-ir.com
O: (303) 581-7760
C: (303) 827-5164
