Scrum is an agile software development process. Work items are placed in a product backlog. You select backlog items to work on for a fixed length iteration (ex. 30 days) or a "sprint". Progress is monitored in daily standups. Work progress goes into a burndown chart. A series of sprints make a scrum.
Its no secret that Scrum is also adopted within Microsoft.
So its great to see how groups within Microsoft are giving something back to the agile developer community by releasing a tool called "Tackle".
Tackle - a web based scrum tracking tool has just been released on CodePlex. If you're wondering about the terms, Scrum is a play in a rugby game. So tackle fits right in ;-)
It's built using ASP.NET using the AJAX framework and requires a SQL Server backend. Good news is that SQL Server Express IS supported.
From the website...
Tackle
Tackle is a web-based scrum tracking site the provides a rich set of features to help manage small and large teams through their cycle of scrum-based sprints. It is built using ASP.Net and SQL Server.
Some of the features include:
- Multiple scrum team management in single site.
- Multiple product backlogs per scrum team.
- Windows Authentication for secure lockdown of backlogs.
- Multiple prioritization methods for product backlogs.
- Auto-generation of sprint backlog based on product backlog prioritization.
- Management of resources per sprint including OOF and buffers.
- Multiple reports including sprint totals, sprint tasks per product or owner, burn down graphs, status reports, work per day reports, cross-scrum team reports, and sprint review documents.
- Sprint retrospective note tracking.
- Personal status report tracking.
- Full help and tutorials available directly from the web site.
- Source code automatically installed with the web files and database scripts for further customization.
So if you're a team that's practicing Scrum in your development, go ahead and give it a try.
http://www.codeplex.com/Tackle/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx
For folks using Visual Studio Team System, there is also a Process Guidance Template for Scrum. http://scrumforteamsystem.com/en/default.aspx