Do you know how to use Pivotal Tracker? Want some ways to get the most out of this program? Pivotal Tracker is a powerful tool which at times can be hard to comprehend. Pivotal Tracker is a story based digital project management tool which allows team members to easily react to real world changes and collaborate instantly. This program can be used for a wide variety of projects; however, do you feel like you using it to its full potential? If not, the following is a guide on how to get the most out of Pivotal Tracker.

How to use Pivotal Tracker? Top tips and tricks to make the tool work for you

Start with small stories

When creating stories which require regular or additional contributions, start small and in sections. Creating a large story can cause complications and confusion. Instead create a story for each process and when one process is complete you or your team can move onto another story.

Don’t use Pivotal Tracker as a sole communication method

When using Pivotal Tracker, try not to use it for sole communication between team members. Remember that language is open to interpretation and that anyone could misinterpreted what you’re trying to say. If you find that your story is being misread by any team members, it may be best to contact them through other means to explain exactly how you want the project to continue.

Plan for success

When using Pivotal Tracker always plan for success. You can do this by conducting weekly planned meetings which go over and review previous parts of the project along with what may be coming in the future. It’s important that the whole group develops estimates so everyone has a voice to help make the project run better.

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Work as a team

Wherever possible it’s important that developers and customers come together as a team and write stories together. This will have your business and customer’s best interest at heart while being able to deliver the desired results. By opening the collaboration everyone’s viewpoints and interests as aligned and shared.

Allow customers to prioritize stories

While anyone can create a story, allowing your customer to prioritize them is a great way to go. This allows your customers to be a part of the decision making process and shows you which part of the project should be focused on first over others. This allows your business to focus on areas to complete which may be in the customer’s best interest.

Turn any chores into feature stories

By turning chores into feature stories it helps to re-frame them as direct and verifiable valuable items to both the project goals and the end user. This can be done by rephrasing the story or studying its business value more thoroughly.

Accept and then move on

After accepting a story, never restart it again, instead create a new story. This makes the process and project cleaner and you can keep any new information more organized and focused. It also won’t distract from the work which has already been completed with the previous story. If you need to reference the original story, you can copy and paste the URL for context.

Move any rejected stories to the top

When it comes to signalling importance, it’s all about location. With any rejected stories, always move them to the top of the group. This way developers will look to see what the next story is and will get straight onto fixing the story which has been rejected. This way the project stays on track without losing sight of important stories that need addressing immediately.

Reject stories the right way

When it comes to rejecting a story it can be challenging to keep the clarity intact. However, you can easily reject a story and make it go smoothly. One suggestion is by prefixing your story with the word reject. It’s a lot easier for the team to work out which comment is related to the rejection. It’s also important when you want to reject a story that you’re doing it for the right reasons. Don’t reject a story if you’ve changed your mind or if there’s a part of the criteria missing. Instead create a new story and link it to the previous story to make sure what’s missing in the criteria is covered and completed.

Conclusion

When it comes to using Pivotal Tracker it’s important to know how it works first before implementing these tips and tricks. Once you get the most out of Pivotal Tracker you won’t look back. So are you using Pivotal Tracker for your business? Have these tips and tricks helped improved your usability?

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