Cards vs. Tools

Well, that startup collapsed. Under-funded. I had a few things to sort out in the mean time, hence the long gap. As I turns out, I got a sweet gig as an Architect for a major Internet site (who shall remain nameless). They do scrum over here, but quite a different variant than I have been doing.

The biggest difference is the use of cards/sticky notes for story management instead of a tool. I have to say, I don't like it. The biggest issue with cards is that there is a complete loss of historical data. Once the card goes into the completed stack or is torn up all knowledge goes with it. This includes sprint in which it was completed, original story points, issues, whether is was later unfolded, actual effort expended. There is only a velocity tracking for the last two sprints, and it is somewhat suspect.

I've also noticed that our backlog - perhaps subconsciously - has been limited by the size of our board and the number of sticky pads that will fit. It is actually impossible to retain even two months of data (forward or back), much less six to 12 months of data. Ouch.

While the tactilness of cards is nice during the sprint planning game, the loss of historical data far outweighs this. Modern Agile project management tools allow for drag and drop, so you can get this interactivity by using a laptop and a projector.