Backlog (from Nulab), is a project management tool that prioritizes and tracks work.
Review of Backlog Software: Overview
Name: Backlog
Vendor: Nulab
Languages: English and Japanese
Hosting options: Online or enterprise version that is self-hosted
Backlog Pricing and a Free Trial
You can get a 30 day free trial and a plan for free (1 project, 10 users). It’s easy to give it a try.
Hurrah! There is no per-user pricing. Gantt charts are available for an additional $83 per month, which covers unlimited users. You can choose between a $35 per month plan without Gantt charts or a more expensive plan that has more storage.
First Impressions
This is not just a backlog software. In other words, it will be used for more than managing the product backlog for Agile projects. It’s a powerful collaboration tool for teams that happens to be called Backlog.
Backlog is a simple tool to get started. I downloaded the app to my iPad and was able to quickly get started.
The dashboard is clean and easy to use.
Backlog dashboard You must create a key for your project. The sample project I created was about writing my next novel, so I chose BOOK.
All my activities now have BOOK prefixed. It would have been more helpful to use something that would allow colleagues to track and manage the project, such as a reference number or departmental code. Think about this when you create keys.
Second, you cannot create tasks. Only ‘issues can be created. This can be renegotiated as a task is a type issue. Don’t worry too much about it. It is not difficult to learn the vocab, especially for technical teams that talk a lot about issues’.
How to create a project in backlog
Open the Backlog software application. Click the plus sign in the dashboard to create a new Project. Fill in the fields.
Easy!
Add Tasks to Backlog
SelectTask to add an issue. Other types include Bugs, Requests, and Other.
Fill in the details and click Add to create your task. You don’t need to fill out every box.
Backlog: Adding tasks I love the ability of batch updating, but it opens in a new tab. Just a few clicks and my plan was updated. I already had four windows open.
Attach files to tasks and notify users that tasks were added.
There are many options available for categorizing issues and tasks, including setting priority levels. Backlog can be used to manage your Agile product backlog. This will allow you to easily see the relevant items for your grooming discussions.
Milestones
Backlog also allows you to create milestones. Backlog also has the ability to create milestones. This is something I often find when reviewing software.
This can be done simultaneously with creating an issue. Next, link the issue (and all other issues) with the milestone.
You can add a milestone in Backlog from the Project Settings. This will allow you to set dates for the end and release of software iterations.
Gantt charts in Backlog
This Backlog review would not be complete without a look into the Gantt chart functionality available in the tool.
Basic Gantt chart features are available. The Gantt chart feature is basic. It allows you to set a start date and due date for each task. This is useful to visually display work, so you can see what you are working on.
Example of Backlog Gantt chart You can’t add task groups or roll up tasks in MS Project or other tools.
This view provides a basic overview of your project. However, it is not a Gantt chart. If you are familiar with Gantt charts, this view may be useful.
Repo
