Are you struggling to keep your software development projects organized and on track? Do you find it difficult to collaborate effectively with your team members and stakeholders?
If so, you’re not alone.
Many teams struggle with these issues, which can lead to delays, missed deadlines, and frustration all around.
Fortunately, there is a solution: Azure Boards.
Azure DevOps Boards is a powerful project management tool that can help you and your team stay organized, collaborate more effectively, and deliver high-quality software on time and on budget.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at what Azure Boards is, how it works, and how you can get started using it. Let’s dive in!
What is Azure Boards?
Azure Boards is a web-based project management tool that is part of the larger Azure DevOps Services suite.
It provides teams with a centralized hub for managing work items, tracking project progress, and collaborating with stakeholders.
At its core, it allows teams to define and track work items, which can be anything from user stories and bugs to tasks and features. Work items can be customized to fit your team’s specific needs and can include details such as priority, effort, status, and assigned team members.
Now that you have a general understanding of what Azure Boards is let’s take a closer look at some of its key features.
What are Azure Boards’ key features?
Azure Boards offers many features to help teams manage their projects and collaborate effectively.
Here are some of the key features:
- Customizable work items: Azure Boards lets teams define and track customizable work items, including priority, effort, status, and assigned team members.
- Boards and backlogs: visual representations of work items in Azure Boards are organized into columns based on status, providing a quick overview of project progress. Backlogs offer a prioritized list of work items for effective planning and task prioritization.
- Sprints: it enables teams to work in time-bound sprints, typically lasting 1-4 weeks.
- Dashboards and reporting: it offers various dashboards and reports to track project progress, detect trends, and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs).
- Integration with Azure DevOps Services: it seamlessly integrates with other Azure DevOps Services tools such as Azure Repos, Azure Artifacts, and Azure Test Plans.
Now that we’ve explored some of the key features of Azure Boards let’s take a closer look at how those features translate into benefits and limitations for users.
What are the benefits and limitations of Azure Boards?
Azure Boards provides a number of benefits to teams that use it for project management, including:
- Improved collaboration: it centralizes work item management, progress tracking, and stakeholder collaboration, fostering enhanced communication and teamwork.
- Increased visibility: real-time tracking and progress monitoring in Azure Boards provide comprehensive visibility into project status, enabling early issue detection and proactive problem-solving.
- Customization: it allows teams to tailor work items and workflows to their specific needs, ensuring alignment with project objectives and goals.
- Integration: seamless integration with other Azure DevOps Services tools empowers teams to manage their entire development process in a unified platform, enhancing efficiency and workflow streamlining.
While Azure Boards offers many benefits, there are also some limitations to consider, including:
- Complexity: it can be complex and difficult to set up, especially for teams that are new to the platform. This can require some time and resources to get up and running.
- Learning curve: teams new to Azure Boards may need to learn how to use the platform effectively. This can require some investment in training and onboarding.
- Cost: it is part of the larger Azure DevOps Services suite, which can be expensive for some teams. This may not be a feasible option for smaller or budget-limited teams.
- Limited to Azure DevOps Services: While it integrates seamlessly with other Azure DevOps Services tools, it may not be the best option for teams that are using other project management tools or platforms.
Now that we’ve explored the benefits and limitations of Azure Boards, let’s turn our attention to how you can set it up for your team or organization.
How to set up Azure Boards?
Setting up Azure Boards is a multi-step process that involves creating a new project, defining work items, and configuring your team’s workflow. Here are the steps you need to follow to set up Boards:
- Create a new project: the first step in setting up Azure Boards is to create a new project in Azure DevOps Services. This can be done by navigating the Azure DevOps Services portal and selecting “+ New project.”
- Define work items: once you have created a new project, you can define the work items that your team will be using in Azure Boards. Work items can be customized to fit your team’s specific needs and include details such as priority, effort, status, and assigned team members.
- Configure your team’s workflow: once you have defined your work items, you can configure your team’s workflow in Azure Boards. This involves defining the columns that will be used in your team’s boards and backlogs and mapping work items to the appropriate columns based on their status.
- Invite team members: once you have set up your project and defined your work items and workflow, you can invite team members to join your Boards project. This can be done by navigating to the project settings and selecting “Users,” where you can add team members and define their roles and permissions.
Now that you have a good understanding of how to set up Boards let’s take a closer look at the pricing options available for this tool.
What is Azure Boards pricing?
Azure Boards’ pricing varies depending on your chosen plan and the number of users in your organization. Here’s an overview of Boards` pricing:
- Free: Boards offers a free plan that includes basic project management features for up to five users. This plan includes unlimited work items, boards, and backlogs, as well as integration with other Azure DevOps Services tools.
- Basic: The Basic plan starts at $6 per user per month and includes additional features such as advanced reporting, custom dashboards, and team permissions. This plan is ideal for smaller teams or organizations that require more advanced project management features.
- Basic + Test Plans: The Standard plan starts at $52 per user per month and includes additional features such as portfolio management, custom fields, and test plans. This plan is ideal for larger organizations or teams that require more advanced project management capabilities.
It’s important to note that Azure Boards’ pricing is based on a per-user basis, so the cost of using it can add up quickly for larger teams or organizations. However, the platform does offer a range of features and benefits that can help to improve collaboration, efficiency, and project management across your organization.
Now that we’ve explored the pricing options for Boards, let’s turn our attention to the question of whether it’s a suitable tool for project portfolio management.
Is Azure Boards suitable for project portfolio management?
Azure Boards is a powerful project management tool with many features to help teams manage their projects and collaborate effectively. One of the key features of Boards is its ability to support project portfolio management (PPM).
PPM is the process of managing a collection of projects as a portfolio with the goal of achieving specific business objectives. PPM typically involves managing project resources, prioritizing projects, and aligning projects with organizational goals.
Azure Boards can support PPM in several ways, including:
- Portfolio backlogs: Azure Boards enables prioritization of work items across multiple projects, ensuring focus on strategically important tasks.
- Cross-project visibility: Azure Boards provides a comprehensive view of project status within a portfolio, facilitating the identification of dependencies and potential issues.
- Resource management: Azure Boards supports resource allocation and availability tracking across multiple projects, optimizing resource utilization and preventing overburdening.
Overall, Azure Boards is a powerful tool supporting project portfolio management for teams of all sizes and industries. Whether you’re managing a large portfolio of projects or just a few, it can help you stay organized, focused, and on track.