Pivotal Tracker Evaluate – The Good and Unhealthy for 2023

Most mission administration software program casts a large web, permitting groups to collaborate seamlessly on tasks, even throughout numerous departments like IT, advertising and marketing, gross sales, and product improvement. Nevertheless, Pivotal Tracker takes a comparatively novel method by focusing its performance completely on the Agile mission administration methodology. We’ll dive into all the advantages and disadvantages of that on this assessment. 

Pivotal Tracker In comparison with the Greatest Undertaking Administration Software program 

We examined dozens of platforms to give you the choices that made the lower on our put up on the finest mission administration software program. Beneath are our Golden Eggs, the cream of the crop of PM software program that fulfills the wants of the broadest vary of customers.

Monday.com has built-in buyer relationship administration (CRM) performance, so gross sales and advertising and marketing groups can handle campaigns and contacts with equal ease. Check out Monday.com totally free for 14 days with no bank card required. 

ClickUp is flexible mission administration software program with all of the options you should handle duties, arrange work, collaborate, and monitor mission progress. Begin on ClickUp’s feature-rich free-forever plan and improve whenever you’re prepared. 

Smartsheet helps groups convert conventional spreadsheets into playing cards, calendars, grids, or Gantt charts to fit your most well-liked workflow. Attempt Smartsheet free for 30 days with no bank card required.

Pivotal Tracker: The Good and the Unhealthy 

Regardless of not being a family identify in mission administration circles, Pivotal Tracker is a potent software, particularly for software program improvement groups. A few of its customers embody well-known manufacturers like Twitter, Glovo, and Accenture. We’ll discover the software program’s sturdy factors and shortcomings beneath, so you’ll be able to determine if it’s the precise alternative on your staff. 

What Pivotal Tracker Is Good At 

Pivotal is specifically constructed for Agile builders and mission groups, supported by ample options to help with collaboration, integration together with your different favourite instruments, and extra intensive mission wants like prioritization and value or time estimates. 

Made for Agile: Scrum groups will admire a software constructed particularly for his or her most well-liked workflow. Pivotal Tracker makes use of terminology and workflows acquainted to Agile groups, so there’s no must spend a day or extra customizing software program parts and labels to match the tenets of Agile PM. Each story card has fields for including particulars like story kind, proprietor, blockers, description, and related duties, so that you don’t have to fret about lacking something. 

For instance, managers can create a narrative for a function, chore, bug, or launch. Then, the staff follows the everyday Scrum workflow, with Pivotal Tracker understanding milestones and phases like prioritization, estimation, and testing. That makes this software program intuitive and straightforward to choose up for Agile groups. 

Actual-time collaboration: Agile software program and product improvement prioritizes people and interactions, mirrored in Pivotal Tracker’s options for collaboration and visibility. Every story has an Exercise part the place members can focus on progress and blockers by way of feedback, and the software program supplies a Comply with button if a staff member needs to obtain notifications about updates to related tales or epics. 

On prime of that, customers can faucet into the @ point out function after they want the eye of particular staff members. All collaborators on an epic or story can view real-time updates and modifications, beginning with the newest change or replace. 

Stable analytics: This software program has sturdy reporting capabilities that provide help to keep on prime of the well being and progress of varied ongoing tasks. For instance, the Undertaking Overview function captures all of your important information in a single chart or report. 

You’ll be able to see important metrics like velocity, story cycle time, burnup, and cumulative circulate. This view additionally enables you to filter particular iterations, epics, or tales for a granular view of your mission progress. In brief, you’ll be able to rely on a condensed view of your mission’s well being and tempo. The filter can be useful for drilling all the way down to the specifics to determine potential issues or bottlenecks. 

Developer-friendly integrations: Pivotal Tracker integrates properly with software program stacks that your builders are already utilizing. Sync the software program with improvement instruments like Zendesk, Jira, GitHub, Jenkins, and Slack. Pivotal Tracker additionally has a strong API if you happen to favor to construct {custom} instruments or integrations. You’ll be able to even request Pivotal Tracker to listing your app amongst its integrations. 

Mechanically calculate velocity: Pivotal Tracker enables you to estimate the trouble required to finish a narrative in one in all its most unusual options. Assign factors to every story primarily based on the trouble required to finish it. Then, relying on the rate technique you set within the mission settings, the software program robotically calculates your present velocity primarily based on the variety of story factors accomplished in earlier iterations. 

For instance, the software program might calculate the common velocity of your previous 4 iterations. Then, it robotically strikes the variety of tales matching this common velocity out of your backlog to your present iteration. This manner, you at all times know what number of tales you’ll be able to full in an iteration. 

Handle associated tales: This software program enables you to drag and drop tales out of your backlog and set the order of precedence. You can even change a narrative’s precedence in both panel by merely dragging and dropping it within the right place. 

What’s nice, although, is that Pivotal Tracker additionally enables you to group associated tales in an epic. You’ll be able to prioritize epics independently of the tales in your backlog and see how tales match into the bigger mission. Every epic additionally has a progress bar to trace progress. The software program even estimates the epic’s completion date primarily based on the completion date of the final story within the epic. 

What Pivotal Tracker Is Missing 

Pivotal Tracker has its shortcomings, however they’re largely because of the platform’s concentrate on Agile PM and improvement work. Meaning it isn’t terribly well-suited for different varieties of mission administration and sports activities a little bit of a studying curve. Let’s dive into a number of key elements that will make Pivotal Tracker a less-than-ideal match for some. 

Extremely technical: Pivotal Tracker is created by software program builders for software program builders. Thus, the workflow, terminology, and different parts could also be incomprehensible for non-technical groups or not less than troublesome and time-consuming to study. That makes it harder for organizations that loop in different departments like advertising and marketing or customer support to get essentially the most out of it.

Not significantly versatile: In the identical vein, the software program’s greatest power can be its shortcoming. Whereas Agile is a terrific PM methodology for software program improvement, its values and ideas don’t at all times carry over to sure varieties of different tasks. 

For instance, undertakings with strict timelines and predetermined outcomes work finest with conventional methodologies just like the waterfall mannequin. Equally, you wouldn’t use Agile for tasks with strict authorized or regulatory necessities since delays might imply fines or penalties.  Additionally, in contrast to related instruments like Jira, Pivotal Tracker doesn’t allow you to create or add {custom} steps to its workflow, so it’s powerful to bend the platform to suit PM approaches outdoors of Agile product improvement. 

No Gantt charts: Gantt charts are a good way to simplify advanced tasks and present key milestones and deadlines in an easy-to-grasp visible format. The truth that they’re lacking from Pivotal Tracker isn’t a dealbreaker, as you’ll be able to depend on the platform’s analytics to trace progress and even combine Pivotal Tracker with a third-party Gantt software. However, in case your staff likes to lean on Gantt charts, it might be extra hassle than it’s value to should work across the lack of that function on this software program. 

Pivotal Tracker Choices and Pricing 

Whereas this can be a technical, succesful platform for software program and product improvement groups, Pivotal Tracker doesn’t include the sticker shock you would possibly anticipate. In reality, this software program is impressively reasonably priced, particularly for small groups which might be solely engaged on a handful of tasks at a time.

Pivotal Tracker Undertaking Administration

Pivotal Tracker’s pricing is easy and primarily based on the variety of customers (which Pivotal Tracker calls “collaborators”) who want entry to the platform. 

There’s a free-forever plan for as much as 5 collaborators, which is incredible. Whereas it solely helps as much as 5 tasks, you get all of the core options the software program has to supply. Plus, you continue to have entry to limitless read-only seats, which means you’ll be able to convey purchasers, stakeholders, executives, or others outdoors of your dev staff to view progress (however not edit something).

Luckily, if you happen to want greater than 5 collaborators to have entry, Pivotal Tracker continues to be one of many least expensive PM platforms out there. Groups of six to 10 customers want solely pay a flat price of $10 per thirty days for the Startup plan. That plan unlocks limitless tasks and even lets you check drive it on a 30-day free trial. 

Past that, you’re wanting on the Commonplace plan, which runs $6.50 per collaborator per thirty days. That’s nonetheless a stable cut price. The plan additionally has quantity reductions, so you possibly can find yourself paying much less for the software program relying on the variety of customers. In the event you’re a large operation, you possibly can as a substitute go for the custom-priced Enterprise plan, which unlocks its personal distinctive options like single sign-on and a complete mission historical past log.

On any plan, you’re gaining access to the core Agile options that make Pivotal Tracker a PM platform uniquely suited to improvement groups utilizing that methodology. You’ll be able to bounce proper in and create a brand new public (viewable by read-only customers) or personal mission.

The default mission view shows two panels by default, with the tales you’re engaged on showing within the Present Iteration/Backlog panel whereas your concepts for future tales go within the Icebox panel. 

You’ll be able to simply drag and drop tales between the panels as wanted and separate your present iteration out of your backlog. The primary dashboard makes it straightforward to search out your categorized gadgets, whether or not they’re energetic epics, blocked gadgets, completed duties, or {custom} labels.

On the draw back, Pivotal Tracker doesn’t permit for a lot customization of the mission view or dashboard. You’ll be able to regulate the panel’s width or place within the mission view and never a lot else. It may not be the tip of the world for many customers, however it’s value mentioning this inflexibility.  

Pivotal Tracker in Abstract 

In the event you’re searching for mission administration software program to assist Agile improvement workflows, Pivotal Tracker is undoubtedly a best choice, if not the outright most suitable choice round. The software program is intuitive for Agile mission administration, with tales, iterations, epics, and every part you should assist your workflow. 

Pivotal Tracker can be fairly reasonably priced, particularly for small groups who would possibly even be capable to use it without end with out ever paying a dime. And, with quite a few native integrations, it really works seamlessly together with your software program stack, permitting you to attenuate your staff’s want for context shifting. 

Nevertheless, it’s essential to reiterate that Pivotal Tracker is the software program of alternative for Scrum masters and Agile dev groups. Customers outdoors this circle might discover the software program troublesome to make use of, if not solely incomprehensible. So, most individuals might need to follow extra mainstream PM software program that’s extra adaptable to conventional mission administration methodologies and workflows. 

Take a look at our put up on the finest mission administration software program reviewing one of the best total choices available on the market, together with our Golden Eggs, Monday.com, ClickUp, and Smartsheet. The put up delivers an in depth account of every software program’s capabilities for important mission administration performance and the place they rise above the remainder of the pack. It is likely to be the one useful resource you’ll must make an knowledgeable, assured determination.