Pivotal Tracker
Encyclopedia
Pivotal Tracker is software as a service
(SaaS) for agile project management
and collaboration
. The product is developed by Pivotal Labs
, an agile software engineering firm headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Colorado, and Singapore.
, and arrange them in a shared backlog in priority order. The team then works through these stories and completes them, while the team's customer accepts completed stories and provides feedback as they're completed.
The built-in workflow in Pivotal Tracker is based on the "Extreme Programming
" agile software development
methodology, which emphasizes short iterations, frequent releases, and immediate customer feedback. It is also well suited for teams using the Scrum development process
.
The tool includes: file sharing and task management; simple, drag and drop user interface; automatic, reality-based velocity
tracking and iteration planning; release markers; real-time charts, including release burndown
, velocity over time, story type breakdown, and iteration burn-up; support for team strength adjustment; and full application programming interface (API) and web-hooks, to allow developers to build extensions and third party tools.
Pivotal Tracker has built-in integrations with Get Satisfaction
, JIRA
, Lighthouse, ZenDesk, and Bugzilla
, plus support for custom integrations. Pivotal Tracker integrates with Google Apps, including Google Docs. In addition, users can enable automatic project activity notifications to Twitter
and Campfire, and sign in via their Google OpenID
.
In addition, Pivotal Tracker has a free mobile application for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. The Pivotal Tracker web site supports a variety of browsers and can be accessed via the Chrome Web Store
in Google Chrome
.
, Pair Programming
and Test-Driven Development
.
In 2008, Pivotal Labs released Pivotal Tracker, which it had been using as their internal project management and collaboration software, to the Ruby on Rails
community. That year, Pivotal Tracker won the Jolt Product Excellence Award in the Project Management category, one of the most coveted prizes in the software development industry.
In July 2011, less than 3 years after their launch, Pivotal Tracker had over 250,000 registered users, including many notable customers. These include well known technology startups and household names, such as Groupon
, Best Buy
, ING Direct, EMI Music, Zendesk, Mavenlink
, Twitter
, and Get Satisfaction.
Software as a Service
Software as a service , sometimes referred to as "on-demand software," is a software delivery model in which software and its associated data are hosted centrally and are typically accessed by users using a thin client, normally using a web browser over the Internet.SaaS has become a common...
(SaaS) for agile project management
Agile management
Agile management or agile project management is an iterative method of determining requirements for engineering development projects in a highly flexible and interactive manner, for example agile software development. It requires empowered individuals from the relevant business, with supplier and...
and collaboration
Collaborative software
Collaborative software is computer software designed to help people involved in a common task achieve goals...
. The product is developed by Pivotal Labs
Pivotal Labs
Pivotal Labs is an agile software development consulting firm with headquarters in San Francisco, and satellite offices in downtown Manhattan, Boulder, Colorado, and Singapore. Pivotal's practice highlights Ruby on Rails, pair programming, test-driven development and behavior driven development...
, an agile software engineering firm headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Colorado, and Singapore.
Features
Pivotal Tracker enables software development teams to break down project requirements into small, concrete storiesUser story
In computer programming a user story is one or more sentences in the everyday or business language of the end user that captures what the user wants to achieve. User stories are used with Agile software development methodologies for the basis of what features that can be implemented...
, and arrange them in a shared backlog in priority order. The team then works through these stories and completes them, while the team's customer accepts completed stories and provides feedback as they're completed.
The built-in workflow in Pivotal Tracker is based on the "Extreme Programming
Extreme Programming
Extreme programming is a software development methodology which is intended to improve software quality and responsiveness to changing customer requirements...
" agile software development
Agile software development
Agile software development is a group of software development methodologies based on iterative and incremental development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing, cross-functional teams...
methodology, which emphasizes short iterations, frequent releases, and immediate customer feedback. It is also well suited for teams using the Scrum development process
Scrum (development)
Scrum is an iterative, incremental framework for project management often seen in agile software development, a type of software engineering....
.
The tool includes: file sharing and task management; simple, drag and drop user interface; automatic, reality-based velocity
Velocity (software development)
Velocity is a measure of productivity sometimes used in Agile software development. Velocity tracking is the act of measuring said velocity. The velocity is calculated by counting the number of units of work completed in a certain interval, determined at the start of the project.-Principle:The main...
tracking and iteration planning; release markers; real-time charts, including release burndown
Burn down chart
A burn down chart is a graphical representation of work left to do versus time. The outstanding work is often on the vertical axis, with time along the horizontal. That is, it is a run chart of outstanding work. It is useful for predicting when all of the work will be completed. It is often used...
, velocity over time, story type breakdown, and iteration burn-up; support for team strength adjustment; and full application programming interface (API) and web-hooks, to allow developers to build extensions and third party tools.
Pivotal Tracker has built-in integrations with Get Satisfaction
Get Satisfaction
Get Satisfaction is a customer community software platform for technical support based in San Francisco, California, United States. It was founded on January 31, 2007 by several people, including Lane Becker, Amy Muller, Thor Muller, and Jonathan Grubb. It publicly launched in September 2007. The...
, JIRA
JIRA
Jira may refer to:* JIRA, software-engineering package* Journal of Iranian Research and Analysis* Jira, also known as Zilla, fictional character* Jira * Jira...
, Lighthouse, ZenDesk, and Bugzilla
Bugzilla
Bugzilla is a Web-based general-purpose bugtracker and testing tool originally developed and used by the Mozilla project, and licensed under the Mozilla Public License....
, plus support for custom integrations. Pivotal Tracker integrates with Google Apps, including Google Docs. In addition, users can enable automatic project activity notifications to Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
and Campfire, and sign in via their Google OpenID
OpenID
OpenID is an open standard that describes how users can be authenticated in a decentralized manner, eliminating the need for services to provide their own ad hoc systems and allowing users to consolidate their digital identities...
.
In addition, Pivotal Tracker has a free mobile application for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. The Pivotal Tracker web site supports a variety of browsers and can be accessed via the Chrome Web Store
Chrome Web Store
The Chrome Web Store is an online store from Google. It was announced at the Google I/O conference on May 19, 2010 by Vic Gundotra and released on December 6, 2010...
in Google Chrome
Google Chrome
Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine. It was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and the public stable release was on December 11, 2008. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or...
.
Company
Pivotal Tracker is developed by Pivotal Labs, which was founded in 1989 by Rob Mee and Sherry Erskine; the rest of the principals group includes Edward Hieatt, Christian Sepulveda, and Dan Podsedly. Throughout the company's growth, Pivotal Labs has focused on modern, agile software development practices, and is a recognized pioneer of the Extreme Programming MethodologyExtreme Programming
Extreme programming is a software development methodology which is intended to improve software quality and responsiveness to changing customer requirements...
, Pair Programming
Pair programming
Pair programming is an agile software development technique in which two programmers work together at one workstation. One, the driver, types in code while the other, the observer , reviews each line of code as it is typed in...
and Test-Driven Development
Test-driven development
Test-driven development is a software development process that relies on the repetition of a very short development cycle: first the developer writes a failing automated test case that defines a desired improvement or new function, then produces code to pass that test and finally refactors the new...
.
In 2008, Pivotal Labs released Pivotal Tracker, which it had been using as their internal project management and collaboration software, to the Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails, often shortened to Rails or RoR, is an open source web application framework for the Ruby programming language.-History:...
community. That year, Pivotal Tracker won the Jolt Product Excellence Award in the Project Management category, one of the most coveted prizes in the software development industry.
In July 2011, less than 3 years after their launch, Pivotal Tracker had over 250,000 registered users, including many notable customers. These include well known technology startups and household names, such as Groupon
Groupon
Groupon is a deal-of-the-day website that features discounted gift certificates usable at local or national companies. Groupon was launched in November 2008, the first market for Groupon was Chicago, followed soon thereafter by Boston, New York City, and Toronto...
, Best Buy
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
, ING Direct, EMI Music, Zendesk, Mavenlink
Mavenlink
Mavenlink is a cloud-based team collaboration and project management application, sometimes referred to as a Professional services automation software, developed in the United States. The company's SaaS platform enables professional services providers and their clients to efficiently manage their...
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, and Get Satisfaction.
See also
- Project management softwareProject management softwareProject management software is a term covering many types of software, including estimation and planning, scheduling, cost control and budget management, resource allocation, collaboration software, communication, quality management and documentation or administration systems, which are used to...
- List of project management software
- Collaboration software
- List of collaborative software
- Cloud computingCloud computingCloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility over a network ....
- Agile project managementAgile Project ManagementAgile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products by Jim Highsmith discusses the management of projects using the agile software development methodology. The book has been recommended by different reviewers....
- Application lifecycle managementApplication lifecycle managementApplication Lifecycle Management is a continuous process of managing the life of an application through governance, development and maintenance...
- Comparison of issue tracking systemsComparison of issue tracking systemsThis article is a comparison of issue tracking systems which are notable, including bug tracking systems, help desk and service desk issue tracking systems, and asset management systems...