All new work and modifications are made according to a request logged to a common system that assigns a unique identity to each item, such as an issue tracker or agile project management tool.
Originally, issue trackers were designed to help software developers log and resolve defect reports. Before long, teams started to use issue trackers to log all types of work. Today, products like Jira and YouTrack describe themselves as Agile Project Management tools that you can use to plan, track, and release great software.
From the perspective of building a continuous delivery toolset, a modern issue tracker can provide several key abilities in one package.
Many of today's hosting platforms, such as GitHub and Visual Studio Team Services, include issue tracking along with build management tools, and overlap with some of the core features provided by issue trackers.
If you use an issue tracker to log absolutely all the work being done to your code base, a truly amazing benefit is that you will have a well-known unique record for each work item. Products like Jira and Visual Studio Team Services integrate with version control so that you can link commits to work items. Consequently, you can start with Git Blame and click through to the work item for a given commit, or start with the work item and drill down to the actual code-level changes made to implement the item. I cannot overstate the usefulness of being able to audit changes against change requests, from either direction. |
What you need to decide
There are several equivalent products available today. The crux of the decision can rest on what other tools you are already using or want to use.
If you are starting from scratch
For a larger project with five or more developers
Except for GitHub, these suggestions are available in both cloud and on-premises versions.
The cloud platforms are both reliable and cost effective, though some plugins may only be available on premises.
Resource checklist
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