Project management in Agile without the modern-day productive tools such as Jira, Rally and VersionOne is like a project manager who does not know how to know Microsoft Project. Tools play a very important role in agile, especially when you scale projects to much complex enterprise-level solutions and that’s when you start to realize the power of project management tools. There are over a dozen of tools that use agile methodology, ranging from simple, basic tools that are designed for simple team-based collaboration to fully-functional task management solutions that go well beyond simple team-based activities. We look at two such project management tools that help streamline development and management activities in agile teams.

What is Jira?

Jira is a popular bug/issue tracking and work management tool that is designed to support collaboration among team members who are working toward a common goal. Jira is probably the most recognized software product of the Australian software firm Atlassian, the company that has successfully tapped into the growing trend of remote working. Jira is a powerful bug tracking tool and project management platform that enables teams within an organization to share information with other team members and track development changes, thereby reducing the expensive time delays and increasing productivity. It also enables team members to collaborate together in generating new ideas and make instant changes. Jira comes in different flavors, namely Jira Software, Jira Core, and Jira Service Desk, each packed with a distinct set of features to cater to all kinds of users with distinct requirements.

What is VersionOne?

VersionOne is yet another popular project management tool by CollabNet VersionOne, a leading provider of Enterprise cloud development products and services. It is a versatile agile project management tool that helps organizations stay organized around their tasks and projects. Like Jira, it provides complete product/project planning capabilities including portfolio management, program management, and product roadmapping. It helps teams prioritize their requirements based on parameters such as scope, value and risk, providing total flexibility into how each team wants to work. VersionOne was specifically designed to support agile and lean delivery process. It stays true to agile and provides a robust framework to help guide you towards best practices of agile project management. VersionOne improves collaboration among team members and simplifies the process of software development. Thanks to this, over a 1,000 companies are now the proud users of VersionOne.

Difference between Jira and VersionOne

Usability 

– Atlassian Jira is a proprietary bug/issue tracking system that enables teams to track bugs, resolve issues, and manage project functions. One of the best things about Jira is that it can be easily configured and it is highly customizable, allowing teams to design their own workflows to cater to each team’s unique approach to project related activities. VersionOne is an equally reliable and robust, enterprise-level project management tool that was specifically designed to support agile software delivery process. Agile is in its DNA and it is flexible enough to be used with different levels of planning.

Customization 

– Jira is wildly popular for its numerous customization capabilities which help you transform Jira into a product you want. Jira offers you a wide selection of projects for you to choose from and thanks to the countless add-ons (or plug-ins), it gives you the power to customize the functionality to your liking and preferences. Plus, you have the complete freedom to create your own custom dashboards to effectively plan, track and manage your work. These additional capabilities make Jira a different system altogether. VersionOne is arguably a great agile project management tool, but it’s not as good as Jira when it comes to customization.

Agile Methodology 

– While both VersionOne and Jira are powerful agile project management tools that support agile software delivery process, VersionOne was built from the ground up to support agile and lean software delivery process. In fact, VersionOne is an all-in-one agile project management system that stays true to agile – it uses agile terms such as story, epic, defect, and test. It provides a robust framework to help guide you towards best practices of agile project management. It also supports the world’s leading framework for implementing agile practices – the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe).

Pricing 

– Jira has a flexible pricing structure that starts with a free trial for up to 10 users with a storage limit of 2 GB and Community Support. If you are a team of more than 10 members, then you should probably opt for the premium plans, which start with an average $7 per user per month for up to 10,000 users and 250 GB storage limit.  Jira’s Premium plan costs $14 per user per month. VersionOne also offers a 30 day free trial which comes with everything the Enterprise Edition offers and more. VersionOne’s premium plans start at $29 per user per month, which is comparatively more than Jira’s. So, Jira is probably the winner here in terms of pricing.

Jira vs. VersionOne: Comparison Chart

Summary

While both Jira and VersionOne are great agile project management tools, they have their own strengths and weaknesses. For starters, Jira is insanely popular for its numerous customization capabilities that help you transform Jira into a different product altogether. From customizable dashboards to thousands of plug-ins and a powerful workflow engine, Jira gives you the flexibility to create your own workflow to suit your needs. When it comes to agile methodology, VersionOne holds the ground as it was purpose built for agile project management so you could do it the agile way.

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