I’m the sole developer at my job and we currently do not have any kind of project management software for our products. I believe something was used when they had a larger development team but nothing since I’ve been there. I track new feature requests and project milestones via documents but I’m not sure if this is the best practice.
Should I even consider incorporating a project management tool? Is there a tool that is considered industry standard or that would be best for my situation? I’ve heard of basecamp but have never really looked into the product.
To give a little more background. Our source was in CVS and I’ve since migrated it to SVN. I’m also using GIT for some of our newer code bases. I’ve got a bug system (fogbugz) going but haven’t gotten to the point where I use it often. My next goal with the code is creating and executing tests which again used to be done but hasn’t for a little while. Its a lot of work but its fun!
a) Yes project management is necessary
b) The tool is not the point. You cannot select your tool until you know your process, and what you will track.
I would not recommend, for instance MS Project – you can draw horizontal bars with a ruler. I would recommend doing your project planning on paper. You may well wish to use an issue tracker to track tasks.
Use version control. Create and execute tests.