We’ve just wrapped up the Agile 2014 conference in Orlando, Florida, sponsored by Tasktop. One of the overall themes shouting the loudest at this year’s event is Enterprise Agile. Agile has enjoyed tremendous success at the team level and attention continues to turn toward making Agile work at larger scales. Agile 2014 featured a track dedicated to Enterprise Agile and many of Tasktop’s partners were on hand to talk about how they can help organizations take Agile to another level.
Given the focus on scaling up, it’s no surprise that Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) was also front and center at the event and worthy of its own separate track. While PPM as a discipline has much to gain from directly adopting Agile practices, another key area for improvement is the interaction between PPM and Agile development. PPM, Agile or otherwise, will always take place at a higher level of abstraction than Agile development, and require project management tools specialized for each level. This is where Tasktop can bridge the gap by automating the interaction between PPM and Agile development. Connecting these stakeholders is critical so that each has instant visibility into priorities and progress information.
For example, the new Tasktop 3.6 release provides the capability to automatically send time tracking information from Atlassian JIRA and IBM Rational Team Concert (RTC) into CA Clarity PPM. Of course, Agile’s swim into adjacent seas extends far beyond PPM. There is an ever-increasing need to automate the connections between Agile and disciplines like QA and IT Service Management. The Agile translation project for the Agile Manifesto is symbolic of Agile’s expansion and Tasktop is leading the way in connecting the big sea of software delivery.
