# Managing Feature Backlogs **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [June 12, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/managing-feature-backlogs/170138 "2009-06-12T19:39:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mark\_ASRichman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Mark\_ASRichman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Mark_ASRichman)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/managing-feature-backlogs/170138/1 "2009-06-12T19:39:38Z")
What techniques and tools do you use to manage your feature backlogs? It could be as low tech as a post-it note, TODO file in your Rails project tree, or as high tech as a web-based collaborative tool. Thanks, Mark ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_ASRichman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Mark\_ASRichman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Mark_ASRichman)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/managing-feature-backlogs/170138/2 "2009-06-12T19:53:13Z")
Mark - On 12-Jun-09, at 1:38 PM, Mark A. Richman wrote: > What techniques and tools do you use to manage your feature backlogs? > It could be as low tech as a post-it note, TODO file in your Rails > project tree, or as high tech as a web-based collaborative tool. > > Thanks, > Mark we use redmine - [http://www.redmine.org/](http://www.redmine.org/) and as a rails project, you can tune to your needs Jodi ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_ASRichman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Mark\_ASRichman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Mark_ASRichman)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/managing-feature-backlogs/170138/3 "2009-06-12T20:09:44Z")
We’re using a Google spreadsheet, with a lot of rules and formulas. Low-tech, but it works well enough. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_ASRichman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Mark\_ASRichman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Mark_ASRichman)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/managing-feature-backlogs/170138/4 "2009-06-12T20:17:52Z")
Jodi S. wrote: […] > we use redmine - [http://www.redmine.org/](http://www.redmine.org/) > > and as a rails project, you can tune to your needs I do too, with some of the Agile Alliance plugins thrown in. It’s not perfect, but neither is any other tool I’ve found. Mingle is great when it works, but it’s expensive if you’re not using it at the free level, it’s trouble-prone, and ThoughtWorks’ support is a joke. > Jodi ## Best, Marnen Laibow-Koser [http://www.marnen.org](http://www.marnen.org) removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_ASRichman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Mark\_ASRichman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Mark_ASRichman)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/managing-feature-backlogs/170138/5 "2009-06-12T21:24:19Z")
> What techniques and tools do you use to manage your feature backlogs? A combination of notes in the source code tree (TODO/NOTE/etc) and Redmine or GitHub Issues. For personal projects I use org-mode (http:// [orgmode.org/](http://orgmode.org/)). I generally prefer to have these things available right in my editor, when possible. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_ASRichman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Mark\_ASRichman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Mark_ASRichman)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/managing-feature-backlogs/170138/6 "2009-06-12T22:54:41Z")
Mark A. Richman wrote: > What techniques and tools do you use to manage your feature backlogs? > It could be as low tech as a post-it note, TODO file in your Rails > project tree, or as high tech as a web-based collaborative tool. Requests from the onsite customer go on index cards pinned to a cork board. In some circles this is an industry Best Practice. Using a more advanced system, such as a website, represents a failure to simplify your process. Each card has a difficulty rating in the corner - 1 to 5, representing ideal half-days. That makes estimating a week’s worth of stories easier. I keep all engineering tasks in TODOs in my source, because that’s usually where I am keyboarding when I think of them. I use this format: TODO must do this before this iteration (or downgrade to CONSIDER) CONSIDER this potential code improvement awaits activation energy FEATURE the client said to do this, and it should get an index card REVIEW I made a decision that I need the client to review STORYTEST this stretch of code would make for some good Cucumbering I have a rake task which searches for those - rake todo, rake feature, etc, and I frequently run this and burn-down the count of outstanding items. – Phlip ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_ASRichman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Mark\_ASRichman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Mark_ASRichman)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 1:20am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/managing-feature-backlogs/170138/7 "2009-06-13T01:20:48Z")
Phlip wrote: > Requests from the onsite customer go on index cards pinned to a cork > board. In > some circles this is an industry Best Practice. Using a more advanced > system, > such as a website, represents a failure to simplify your process. Here I totally disagree. A list of tasks on a website is not necessarily “more advanced” or a “failure to simplify”. I find Web interfaces that emulate these cards extremely useful: I’m.a freelancer generally working with remote clients (and/or remote colleagues!). If I were on a co-located team, I might feel differently, but even in this case, I like to have a database in one place rather than a fragile array of slips of paper (which I tend to lose). Paper story cards are great for client brainstorming sessions – but then they go into Redmine for ease of tracking. ## Best, Marnen Laibow-Koser [http://www.marnen.org](http://www.marnen.org) removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_ASRichman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Mark\_ASRichman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Mark_ASRichman)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/managing-feature-backlogs/170138/8 "2009-06-12T21:07:18Z")
Pivotal Tracker -[http://www.pivotaltracker.com](http://www.pivotaltracker.com) - is a good tool. It is hosted, which may be a good or bad thing depending on your view/ needs. (It’s also a RoR app hosted at EngineYard) On Jun 12, 11:17 am, Marnen Laibow-Koser \