Github is not good enough… but so close.
As a developer my first go to tool for working on a project is Github. It’s where I store my code, create issues for work to be done, keep notes, and how I version software. I really don’t see a more valuable tool in software development. Unfortunately Github does not allow for a good clean big picture view of what is going on when you have multiple repos and/or projects.
Another tool I really enjoy is a good kanban board like Trello. When you manage projects it really is nice to see a flow of tasks that are organized by importance and status. When someone looks at the kanban board they get full transparency of how the team is doing and what they are working on. The problem with Trello is that it means the developers now have to manage their tasks in a different application than what they are used to using.
Wouldn't it be nice to have these two tools merged? I think so!! Github has built in milestones, labels, issues, comments, notifications, and more. It has all of the right attributes to be project management software and there are companies out there trying their hand at combining these attributes to give us what we need to succeed. You have ZenHub, Waffle, and HuBoard.
Lets talk about ZenHub.
ZenHub integrates with Github by being a browser extension and manipulating on page elements. This means the CEO who asks to see what the team is doing is going to have to “Install” something on his computer to see the roadmap. Are you crazy? The reason why the web has won is people don’t have to install stuff!! Also from a technical standpoint it doesn't make sense to have a browser extension as your base of business. If Github changes their page layout it will break until ZenHub updates its code. I just don’t get this idea. I can see if the browser extension was an add-on to make developers lives easier but not for project managers or executives to see what the team is doing. ZenHub seems to have the most features out of all of the tools. Reports, kanban boards, todos, blah, and blah blah blah. I don’t really care because more features doesn't mean a better product. It can actually mean a more complex product. Take the project management tool Jira. You can do anything with Jira. I’m sure if I wanted I could even have it make me breakfast (not joking). But if you talk to a developer about Jira they cringe at the thought of using it because it is so complex. Developers just want to get work done (we are lazy: http://threevirtues.com/). Okay, ZenHub is not anywhere near as complex as Jira but it does add more complexity to Github.
Most project managers are not developers and don’t really care about Github. They just want to see the team happy and projects moving forward. All in all I don’t see ZenHub as a possible choice at this time.
The next option is Waffle.
Waffle is really great and it is almost identical to HuBoard so I will cover the features in a second.
The problem with Waffle is it’s missing a key component which is to edit and manage milestones directly. You have to go to the individual Github repo to edit the milestone. Which this means you can not share or manage milestone between projects easily. As a project manager you need this feature. Sorry but on to the next tool.
Could HuBoard be the winner?
So the best tool out there (at the moment) is HuBoard. Hands down they are looking at this the right way. From a large picture view, from a project management standpoint, and to make developers happier.
They use the attributes that Github provides and make it easy for a project manager to see and make changes to priorities and update milestones. You can link multiple Github repositories into one kanban board, share and update milestones, drag and drop issues into different milestones, see who is doing what.
As changes are made they are reflected on Github. A developer can also make changes to a issue on Github and they are reflected back on HuBoard. You can look at a kanban board for one repo or see all of the repos linked to a parent repos board for a bigger picture. Now everyone knows what the team is working on. Also if project scope changes everyone can see how that effects what people are working on. This is pure clean transparency and that is what everyone throughout a company is wanting. The only big thing that is missing form HuBoard are story points and burn down charts… but that is not needed for a team to be successful.
I look forward to the future of tools that integrate with Github and make developing on projects better for people.
