Relatively recently, at Drupalcamp Colorado, it was suggested that I lead a session on project management and the tools those in our community might use. This seemed like a segue from a series of interesting conversations that were started at Drupalcon Chicago. You see, the general feeling is, there is no silver bullet. There is no grail of a tool that does everything a single Web Producer, Project Manager, Product Manager, or Content Manager might need or want. There is clearly a gap that is filled with a series of different products. This walked hand in hand with a desire to review processes at work and engage in course corrections. It is an excellent habit to follow - look what you are doing with a critical eye, analyse why you are doing it, and make changes as needed. I have worked across four different shops with a wide variety of different ways of practicing project management. I have used these methodologies and tools across ~ 50 different Drupal projects and another 25 or so custom PHP MySQL projects.

I was asked during a BOF at Drupalcamp CO, "Well what tools have you used?" I thought about that for a few minutes and came to the conclusion, the tool kit I have utilized and continue to add to, subtract from, and refine really includes several different classes. I also realised that the sheer volume of different tools I've been exposed to is staggering. For Drupalcon Denver, I will likely suggest a session on process and tools as I think the discussion warrants exploration.

Pure Project Management/Ticketing

• Microsoft Project - this was the first project management package I ever used. It is well suited to waterfall projects, allowing you to heavily gantt chart out projects from beginning to end. It is a little on the expensive site, especially when you get into collaborative versions of the software. I think there are better options out there- but lots of projects have been successfully completed using MS Project.
• Bugzilla - an open sourced bug tracking package that allows to you deal with issues. It is an issue tracker, not really a project management tool per se. That said, I have used it to create tickets and follow a project from beginning to end. It really isn't well suited to full blown project management.
• Drupal's "Case Tracker" module - again, this is a case tracking tool - not so much a project management tool. It does a tolerably good job when combined with a bunch of other modules, particularly in the Open Atrium Distro. Limited reporting and a complete lack of time tracking tools make this highly useful in context of an Intranet, but not well suited to project management as a whole.
• Basecamp - this tool is largely a glorified "To Do" list. It is excellent for small projects, but when you get to projects that have high levels of complexity, it shows itself as being a rather flat tool. As a To Do list, it is fabulous.
• Rally - Expensive and BIG, but one of the best Agile suites available. It has many more features than most projects might need, but includes a great suite of reporting tools allowing you to analyze burn down rates, estimate project, set up stories for pointing, vote on stories for development, and the list goes on. It has a very steep learning curve and each seat that you need costs a little bit more. It ends up being priced out of most project's budget.
• Unfuddle - Unfuddle is largely a ticketing package. However, you can easily book time against it and extract those hours as reports. If you are clever with excel, you can then build out some pretty decent reports. One of the things that I really appreciate about Unfuddle is its free Git and/or SVN repositories. Even the free version of the software includes unlimited repositories.
• DotProject - perhaps one of my favourite open sources project management packages. It has a full cadre of reporting features, gantt charting tools, can integrate into invoicing easily, there is little not to adore. It is, however, clunky to use (clearly the tools weren't designed by a UI/UX expert) has a very steep learning curve which can drive the most patient person to insanity. But, for the price, it is simply amazing. It is best suited to more waterfall style projects.
• Trac - perhaps one of my least favourite tools for project management. Trac is largely a ticket tracking system. It has rudimentary hours booking tools, but these tools don't allow you to go back and retroactively add time to a ticket in the time period that the work was done. So, you had better book your time when the work is done if accuracy is important to you. Trac includes a rather clunky wiki that doesn't integrate closely to the tickets themselves, but its search does allow for searches across both the wiki and tickets. When a series of projects gets large, the search becomes pretty useless though. It has fairly good filtering on lists of tickets. However, like many other management tools, it has poor overall reporting.
• Pivotal Tracker - this is a rather new kid to the block. It is, like many other offerings, largely simply a ticketing system. That said, it has some robust and very useful filtering with excellent UI outputs. Pivotal Tracker is a pay product and for small teams with small to mid-sized projects may well be a great option.
• Jira - this is likely my favourite of all the project management suites. Like DotProject, it truly has every bell and whistle you can imagine. Add plugins like GreenHopper (it makes Jira an Agile tool) and you might have the closest thing to a perfect system. It has tight integration with Google Docs, combines beautifully with a well designed wiki, allows for integration of tools for release management and code review. When used with GreenHopper it allows for intuitive creation of Agile style epics, stories, features, issues, and subtasks. It has some of the best reporting I've seen in any package. The down side? It is a little pricey. That said, there is open source pricing and non-profit pricing that may make it an attractive option.
• Omniplan - from the Omni group of tools, I love this gantt charting tool. It is perhaps one of the best with an intuitive interface, ease of addition of different kinds of resources ranging from human to infrastructure and beyond. It has a super export tool that will allow everything from a Web export to csv and xml. It is a bit pricey and Mac only however. Still, well worth the peek if you are an Apple user.

There are other tools I haven't used like Redmine that some PMs are rather enthusiastic about.

Most tools focus on ticketing and bug tracking options - a few have planning elements in them. They aren't the only tools available in the tool kit. In fact, some tools that aren't purely PM tools may aid you in better ways. There are so many others that aren't strictly PM tools that can help you.

Flow Charting/Wireframing/and User Stories OH MY

• Omnigraffle - Also from Omni - this flowcharting, space defining, wireframing, visual user storying tool rocks. I've used it for all these things. It is a simple tool to use and highly effective. Again, a little pricey and Mac only.
• Balsamiq - I've used this in a limited way, but it does make it very clear that your wireframes are WIREFRAMES and not design. I'm sure you've all heard, "Well… I don't know, it seems awfully grey and black with really boring fonts." Balsamiq attempts to make it entirely obvious you aren't looking at a design. It has many preset elements that allow you to quickly sketch out elements that will be on a page. I like it.
• Visio - It is Microsoft.

Collaborative Tools

• Dropbox- I LOVE this tool. It allows you to set up a collaborative synching directory on your desktop that automatically synchs changes, additions, and removals from EVERYBODY who "shares" a directory. You can work off line but when you get back online it synchs everything up for you in a lovely way. It really seems like magic. It versions what you have worked on, so if you delete something - no worries, the web interface will allow you to bring it back. There is a free version with quite a bit of space, even more if you invite people to join, and large disk space for a nominal fee. Use this tool. You will love it.
• Box.net - This tool is much like Dropbox but it does integrate pretty well with google docs. It adds in the ability to tag, chat, and a bunch of other sweet bells an whistles that Dropbox doesn't have. Sometimes synching seems a little buggy, but by and large it is a sweet tool too.
• Google Docs - I almost never open Office any longer. Why? Simply because almost everything I could possibly need (from an Office replacement standpoint) is available to me through Google. The fact that multiple people can collaborate in real time on the same document is almost awesome. The fact that I can get on any computer and access my library of documents is awesome. The fact that Google is likely tracking every word I write and making plans on how to monetize that activity - perhaps less awesome. So, Google, when are you going to tightly integrate Docs into +? You gotta do it!
• Skitch - You see something you want to screen shot - open up skitch and take your cross-hair shot. Then use the light set of tools to add an arrow pointing at an element - throw in a little text and click "share". Within seconds you have this screenshot available on the Web to share with your team. What could be easier? Down side - the tool itself is Apple only.

Communication

• Skype - you got chat, you got video, you got file transfer, you got logging, you got voice, and it has screen sharing. Oh, and it is free.
• IRC - the grand-dad of all chat. It is nearly ubiquitous amongst the very geeky. Using Morbus' Drupal bot module, you can add all sorts of sweet logging, factoids, leaving messages for users that aren't currently available - it is just full of geeky deliciousness. You will need a client - I use Colloquy on my laptop and Lime Chat on my iPad.
• The phone - the grand-dad of all voice. Don't discount this tool. Voice has a way of helping people see eye to eye in a way text never can or will.
• Email - need I say more?
• Google+ - this could end up being the finest collaboration and communication tool to date. It remains to be seen how this experiment works out.

Other

• MS Office
• Open Office
• Text Pad/Note Pad

This just scratches the surface. However in the end, the toolset isn't what makes a PM successful or not successful. There are a few main ingredients, that when combined lead to projects that have legs. A good PM can leverage these ingredients to create a strongly collaborative and communicative environment where creativity is valued.

You need:

1. organization
2. communication
3. authority
4. a vision
5. sufficient time
6. sufficient budget

My next post will focus a bit on how you might define a process. The process is key to success, the tools just make getting there a bit easier.