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Scrum tools offer several benefits to programmers and software development teams, such as enhanced collaboration, Agile planning and scheduling, improved task transparency, increased productivity, and more. This guide will break down the following top Scrum tools for programmers in terms of their features, pros, cons, and pricing:
- VivifyScrum: Best for programmers or small software development teams of 10 or fewer members needing an affordable and user-friendly Scrum tool with strong task management.
- Scrumwise: Ideal for programmers that need a beginner-friendly Scrum tool with speedy performance, plus sprint and release management features.
- ActiveCollab: A great pick for programmers seeking an easy-to-use project management and Scrum tool with comprehensive collaboration features, kanban boards, and financial management capabilities as an added perk.
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VivifyScrum
VivifyScrum is user-friendly task and project management software made with Agile development teams in mind. While it can serve programming teams of all sizes, VivifyScrum is ideal for smaller teams due to its pricing structure.
Features of VivifyScrum
Some of the features that make VivifyScrum a popular Scrum and project management tool for programmers include:
- Scrum boards.
- Kanban boards.
- Task management.
- Scrum metrics.
- Time tracking.
- Team management.
- Third-party integrations.
If you are a project manager or programmer who uses the Scrum framework to organize your work into sprints, you will find VivifyScrum’s Scrum boards right up your alley, as they let you set sprint goals and prioritize tasks to increase your chances of achieving them. VivifyScrum also has customizable Kanban boards with columns and work-in-progress limits that can be tweaked to fit your specific needs. Project managers will enjoy all of the task management options in VivifyScrum, especially since the PM software lets you prioritize tasks, attach documents and links, and add comments for detail.
VivifyScrum offers reporting on individual programmers and entire teams and has various charts and Scrum metrics to help improve performance. The integrated time tracker tells project managers how much time is spent on tasks, and there is also a team management feature that reveals programmer availability. VivifyScrum integrates with popular third-party developer tools like Bitbucket, GitLab, GitHub, Jenkins, and Slack.
Pros of VivifyScrum
VivifyScrum’s pros include:
- Agile-friendliness.
- User-friendly interface.
- Affordability for small development teams.
- Strong task management capabilities.
Agile software development teams and programmers will love how VivifyScrum’s features cater to their needs with fully-customizable Scrum boards. The interface is also highly intuitive.
If your development team has fewer than 10 members, VivifyScrum’s Starter plan is incredibly affordable, even for the leanest budgets.
Cons of VivifyScrum
VivifyScrum’s cons or areas for improvement include:
- No Gantt charts.
- Lack of a free plan.
- Minimal reporting.
Some programmers may find the lack of Gantt charts in VivifyScrum to be a disadvantage. And while the Starter plan is highly affordable for software development teams of fewer than 10 members, those seeking a free forever plan will be disappointed here. VivifyScrum could also benefit from more robust reporting.
Pricing of VivifyScrum
There is plenty of pricing flexibility with VivifyScrum, as the Agile project management solution gives programmers four plans to choose from. Best of all, each plan unlocks all of VivifyScrum’s premium features with unlimited workspaces, boards, and tasks. The only thing that changes is team size:
- Starter: $96 annually or $10 per month for an entire software development team of up to 10 members.
- Standard: $4.80 per user per month, billed annually, for teams of 11 to 50 members.
- Growth: $4 per user per month, billed annually, for teams of 51 to 100 members.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing for teams of over 100 members.
All plans except for Enterprise come with a seven-day free trial. Since each unlocks every VivifyScrum feature, your development team can enjoy task management, Scrum or Kanban boards, product backlogs, custom fields, third-party integrations, time management, reporting, team management, and invoicing features. Enterprise customers can enjoy enhanced customization, scalability, and security.
You can learn more by reading our VivifyScrum Project Management Tool Review.
Scrumwise
Scrumwise calls itself “the easiest Scrum tool you will find,” and many online reviews echo that sentiment. Besides being user-friendly, Scrumwise provides programmers with collaboration features, backlog management, sprint management, and release management capabilities.
Features of Scrumwise
Some of Scrumwise’s top features include:
- Kanban boards.
- Sprint management.
- Task boards.
- Backlog management.
- Release management.
- Team collaboration.
- Roles.
- Burndown charts.
- Time tracking.
- Third-party integrations.
Scrumwise’s Kanban boards let programmers create boards for each workflow and come in handy when sprints are not needed. You can mix Kanban and Scrum boards as you wish for total flexibility. Sprint management in Scrumwise lets project managers visually organize sprints to allocate work among team members. They can view which teams are overloaded, make on-the-fly adjustments, handle weekend work and vacations, etc.
Customizable task boards offer real-time updates. Programmers can create backlogs and then organize them with tags, lists, and filters. They can also divide complex projects into manageable subtasks and checklists. Scrumwise also offers release management, which helps with planning releases efficiently and uses burnup and expected velocities to predict release dates accurately.
Programmers can collaborate in Scrumwise through chat, announcements, and file sharing. Project managers can create teams and assign roles to each member. There are also burndown charts to show progress, detailed time logs, and third-party integrations with GitHub and other developer tools.
Pros of Scrumwise
Scrumwise’s pros include:
- Very easy to use.
- Integrated time tracking.
- Predictability.
True to the claim on its homepage, Scrumwise is incredibly easy to use, even for non-technical beginners. Time tracking is a nice added feature, and programmers can get some predictability on scheduling and progress with its release management features.
Cons of Scrumwise
Scrumwise’s cons include:
- Rigid access controls.
- Cost.
Some have complained about access control with Scrumwise and its lack of flexibility, which is something project managers may want to keep in mind when shopping around for a Scrum tool.
Also, Scrumwise could be considered a bit pricey compared to competitors, especially considering it primarily offers basic features.
Pricing of Scrumwise
Scrumwise keeps pricing simple. The Scrum tool offers just two plans to choose from, and both unlock all of its features. Both plans also come with 30-day free trials, regardless of team size:
- Monthly Plan: $9 per user per month, billed monthly.
- Yearly Plan: $7.50 per user per month, billed annually.
For those affordable prices, Scrumwise unlocks its complete feature set for programmers, including teams, roles, backlog management, release management, sprint management, task boards, burndown charts, kanban boards, time tracking, team collaboration, GitHub integration, API, and enterprise-grade security and reliability.
ActiveCollab
ActiveCollab is another project management tool that offers Scrum functionality for programmers. True to its name, the PM tool offers a ton of collaboration features, as well as various views and solid task management capabilities.
Features of ActiveCollab
ActiveCollab has a long list of features as a Scrum and project management tool. Here are some of its highlights that can promote programmer productivity:
- Kanban boards.
- Multiple views.
- Team collaboration.
- Task management.
- Project management.
- My Work feature.
- Automations.
- Resource management.
- Financial management.
- Third-party integrations.
Project managers and programmers can implement Scrum via ActiveCollab by setting up a Kanban board, planning a sprint, having daily stand-ups, building software, and/or completing a sprint review and retrospective when finished.
Beyond kanban boards, ActiveCollab has calendar, list, and Gantt views. Team collaboration features include in-app chat, comments, mentions, custom groups, discussions, file sharing, notes, and a Slack integration. ActiveCollab is also strong in task management, offering task lists, subtasks, due dates, assignees, task subscribers, colored labels, file attachments, and other options to users. Its strongest project management capabilities include project sorting, sample projects as quickstart templates, and project importing from other PM software.
The My Work feature keeps programmers organized by putting all tasks, emails, activity history, and more in one place, while ActiveCollab as a whole helps users save time on recurring tasks with automation. The project management software rounds out its feature set with resource management to prevent overload; financial management features that include cost estimates, invoices, and budgeting; and third-party integrations with Zapier, Slack, and other third-party developer tools.
Pros of ActiveCollab
ActiveCollab’s strengths include:
- Superb collaboration.
- Excellent task management.
- Native financial management features.
- User-friendliness.
Programmers will be hard-pressed to find a more comprehensive collaboration tool than ActiveCollab. It excels in task management, offers financial management features that many other PM tools lack, and, most importantly, is easy to use.
Cons of ActiveCollab
ActiveCollab’s weaknesses include:
- Limited integrations.
- Problematic upgrades.
- Sluggish performance.
We would like to see more third-party integrations with ActiveCollab. Users have noted that its upgrades are occasionally buggy, and performance can falter when users try to load more complex projects.
Pricing of ActiveCollab
ActiveCollab gives programmers four pricing plans to choose from:
- Free: Unlimited projects, tasks, and more with one GB of storage for up to three users.
- Plus: $9.50 per user per month, billed annually, or $11 per user billed monthly. Designed for smaller teams of up to three users.
- Pro: $8 per user per month, billed annually, or $9 per user billed monthly.
- Pro + Get Paid: $11.75 per user per month, billed annually, or $14 per user billed monthly.
The Free plan offers unlimited projects, task management, kanban boards, personal timesheets, an activity log, discussions, and notes. Plus offers list, calendar, and Gantt views; project templates; and unlimited clients.
With Pro, you get unlimited members, a Zapier integration, expense tracking, time reports, and advanced reporting. With Pro + Get Paid, you get workload management, user availability, time estimates, invoicing, budgeting, and online payments.
What to Look for in a Scrum Tool
There is no shortage of Agile Scrum tools for programmers, so how can you filter through them to pick one that fits your needs? Besides looking at the price to ensure the Scrum tool fits your budget, keep a close eye on functionality.
Make sure the Scrum tool has an intuitive and user-friendly interface, both Scrum and kanban boards, customization options to fit your unique needs, team collaboration features for discussions and comments, and sprint planning and management. Other features to look for in your ideal Scrum tool include backlog management, reporting (burnup charts, burndown charts, etc.), and integrations with third-party project management and developer tools.
Final Thoughts on the Best Scrum Tools for Programmers
The Scrum tools listed above are some of the best on the market for programmers, project managers, and software development teams. Review each in terms of its pricing and features to ensure it meets your needs. If the options we discussed miss the mark, know that there are many other Scrum tools available that may be a better fit.