5 Reasons to Move from Jira to ZenTao

 

Before we dig down on to consider migration from Jira to ZenTao, let’s start with the basics, for business positions, who might be new to this. We’ll briefly introduce you to Jira, it’s the most popular alternative — ZenTao, and then touch base on the most common reasons, why businesses decided to move from Jira to ZenTao.

What is Jira?

Jira is an issue tracking tool developed by Atlassiann. It is the "#1 software development tool used by agile teams". Jira Software is built for every member of your software team to plan, track, and release great software. Originally, Jira was designed as a bug and issue tracker. But today, Jira has evolved into a powerful work management tool for all kinds of use cases, from requirements and test management to agile software development. 

When you should start looking for Jira alternative?

1. Your monthly bill is continually increasing.
2. You don’t use most of the features.
3. Your team has too many problems with receiving support.
4. Your account performance is decreasing.
5. You need to pay extras for each plug-in integration.

What is ZenTao ALM?

ZenTao is an open source project management software for product management, project management, test management, document management, bug tracking, CI management and todo management. It is a professional Application Lifecycle Management(ALM), covering the core process of software development. It is based on Scrum, a popular Agile framework that is very pragmatic and easy to implement. It fits the fast iterative development of software projects. ZenTao self-hosted and Cloud are both available.

What are the reasons to migrate from Jira to ZenTao?

Unlike Jira, you could directly use built-in features in ZenTao without paying extras for plug-ins, such as Document Management, Gantt Charts, Effort Management and SVN/GIT repositories. ZenTao has more to offer than that, so read on the following reasons that you should migrate from Jira to ZenTao.

1. Affordable and reasonable pricing with best I/O

Jira pricing is nice for small teams, but the subscription starting from $70 per user monthly. It could be a big chunk of cost to your team. If you look at the pricing and features of ZenTao, you will find it worth what it offers. For all ZenTao Biz features, it is only $32.9 per user annually. You can find more plans for ZenTao self-hosted HERE and Cloud HERE.

2. Must-have features for application lifecycle management

ZenTao is a solution for the application lifecycle. It starts from the user story management(PBI management) and planning of a product development, to the testing, releasing and feedback of the project. It is especially for agile teams aiming for fast delivery and feedback.

3. Fast support via Zoom meeting, 1-ON-1 remote support, and emails

ZenTao support team serves users from all over the world. For new users, they have bi-weekly online introduction Zoom meeting. You can find information on the latest one scheduled on Feb 2, 2021 HERE. You can also schedule a demo with the team HERE. The average response time of the team is 24 business hours if you send an email asking for support.

4. Rapid loading and stable performance

Unlike Jira which is complained as loading too low, ZenTao can be self-hosted, so it is more in the users' hand. Also, the average page loading time of ZenTao is within 0.5 seconds. But it’s not the interface that slows down your Jira account, but instead all SaaS applications. That’s why Jira users are looking for on-premise alternatives, especially when Jira announced their server and data center products are stopped on Februrary 2, 2021. 

5. No locked in by features

If you ever used Jira, you would know that almost every feature a development team needs can be integrated in Jira, such as Confluence, Slack, BitBucket, etc. The other side of the coin is that you have to buy the apps separately and then integrate it one by one. ZenTao has document management, instant messenger, CI features and such all built-in. You just pay it once and for all. You can check the features of ZenTao Biz HERE.

For feature comparison charts and details, read Agile Tool-ZenTao ALM vs. Jira Software.

Reference

1. https://confluence.atlassian.com/jirakb/troubleshoot-long-page-load-times-in-jira-server-959307746.html

2. https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-questions/Why-is-JIRA-so-slow/qaq-p/295649             

Online Event - Scrum and Jira Alternatives Self-Hosted - March 2, 2021

 

The event will walk you through Scrum basics, including the 3-5-3 structure, and demonstrate how ZenTao, a software lifecycle management tool, can help your team implement Scrum as a good fit for agile teams and a free Jira alternative self-hosted.

Scrum is an agile framework for developing, delivering, and sustaining complex products, with an initial emphasis on software development. It is designed for small teams to break their work into goals that can be completed within a sprint, aka a time-boxed iteration. ZenTao is an open source project management software, and its features are product management, project management, test management, document management, bug tracking, CI management and todo management. It is a professional Application Lifecycle Management(ALM), covering the core process of software development. Join us to know this amazing Scrum tool.

Highlights

• What is Scrum
• The 3-5-3 structure of Scrum
• How ZenTao supports Scrum implementation
• Q&A on ZenTao

Date and Time

Feburary 2, 2021

GMT +8:00 Asia/Hong Kong 2:00 PM-3:00 PM

Sessions

Tue, 02 Mar 03:15 AM•Asia/Shanghai	Session Closing Activity FAQ and free trial acceptance
Tue, 02 Mar 02:00 PM•Asia/Shanghai	Session Opening Speech
Tue, 02 Mar 02:15 PM•Asia/Shanghai	Session Scrum ABCs Scrum Guide reading and examples
Tue, 02 Mar 02:45 PM•Asia/Shanghai	Session ZenTao Demo Demonstrate the workflow in ZenTao to implement Scrum.

Event Type

Online Zoom Meeting

How to join the event

You can leave a comment below to request the Zoom Meeting link to join. 

What are the Product Owner role and his responsibilities?

Scrum Guides explanation of the Product Owner role is "responsible for maximizing the value of the product resulting from work of the Development Team'‘. The way how to perform his duty can be divided into two parts:

• Managing the Product Backlog; and
• Collaborate with the Team.

Manage the Product Backlog

The Product Backlog is a list of requirements needed for the product. The Product Backlog items are prioritized by the Product Owner, and anyone could add items to it. The scope of the Product Backlog management include

• Clearly describe Product Backlog items;
• Decide the priority of Product Backlog items; 
• Optimize the quality of the work done by the Development Team;
• Ensure the transparency of the Product Backlog and the Development Team understand it as required

Although anyone of the Scrum team can add items to the Product Backlog, only the Product Owner can decide what will be included in it for the Development team to achieve. The Product Backlog refinement is introduced to review and revise the items. 

Collaborate with the Team

The Product Owner is accountable for the work delivered by the Team. So he is responsible for defining the vision for the Team to visualize the expectation by a product roadmap. The Product Owner also acts as a liaison between the Team and the stakeholders. He ensures the Team understand the requirements and interact and collaborate with them on delivering the quality. He is equally important in communicating with the stakeholders about the goals.

The way that the Product Owner work with the Team also includes

• Monitor the progress of team backlog item in each Sprint;
• Participate in Scrum meetings, including Sprint Planning, Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective;
• Inspect and adapt to impediments the Team encounter

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Challenges for the Product Owner

The Product Owner is a person, not a committee, so it is not easy for just one person to make decisions for the whole team. The product is facing challenges from both the inside and the outside of the Team. Common pitfalls might be

• The missing product roadmap
• Priority change in the progress of doing a Sprint
• Acceptance criteria overly set
• Too much time spent on support rather than the Product Backlog.

The skills required for being a competent PO is to be knowledgeable about the product, extremely communicative, and agile. He also has to be a great storyteller and an issue solver who always has the final say to things. If you have any ideas, feel free to comment below.

Related Reading

• Top Secret: How senior PO writes a PRD
• What is 3-3-5 Structure in Scrum?
• Project Management - A Tree Swing Story

Reference

1. https://www.scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#team-po
2. https://www.agilealliance.org/glossary/product-owner/
3. https://www.scrum.org/resources/what-is-a-product-owner
4. https://www.scaledagileframework.com/product-owner/
5. https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/agile/scrum/roles/product-owner
   

How to do resource management in ZenTao

 This article will walk you through the magic of resource management and demonstrate how ZenTao can help with your managing project resources.

What is resource management

Resource management is the process of planning, scheduling, and allocating resources in the best possible way. Its ultimate aim is to maximize the efficiency of your resources. This in turn will help the success of your project, task, or organizational goals.

 

When you implement resource management, it can help with:

• Maximizing resource productivity
• Getting an overview of your project:
• Preventing miscommunication mishaps
• Foreseeing and avoiding problems
• Taking Control

Resource management in ZenTao

ZenTao features that support resource management are Effort, Schedule, and Report. to keep your projects on track.

Plan 

ZenTao Product module can manage user stories and product backlog items(PBIs) and decompose stories into smaller tasks. It also tracks team actual time: click and log hours, timesheet, and compare scheduled hours with the actual time taken to complete tasks.

Resource scheduling

ZenTao Effort and Calendar increase visibility and control over resourcing. You can see who is available by skill and capacity and understand how much work they can take on. 

Analyze and Act

ZenTao Report provide work summaries and reports on resources, so you can forecast resource needs and shift resources to meet goals.

Tips for resource management

If you are trying to correctly plan resources, then you might want to follow these tips.

1. List Tasks
2. Be Aware of Constraints
3. Know How Many Resources You Need
4. Control Availability of Resources
5. Assign Wisely

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See also

• Why Zombie Scrum Teams Struggle To Improve Continuously
• Invictus: What a real Scrum Master is like
• 10 ways to make pair programming more effective