Based on the reference, I contacted VersionOne and they set me up with a 30-day trial. I am use the XP flavor of the tool (you can also pick Scrum, AgileUp, and I think there was another option — features are pretty much the same, just the terminology changes).

Even though I had 30 free days, I purchased the licenses I needed after about 10 days — it was VERY clear to me this was a ‘must have’ tool for the success of my project. They are hosting the tool for me (you can pick that option, or host it yourself).

I am now closing out my second iteration and I am very happy with it. It very quickly gives me the information I need to know to evaluate how the iteration is doing, and insight into what I need to do to drive the iteration to closure.

While it doesn’t have drag and drop of Stories from one developer to another (you do that with a pick list), it DOES have drag and drop of a story from one iteration to another — and that feature just plain rocks.

I would recommend giving the trial a run — you get 5 licenses. Also, in addition to the article Mike talked about, I will be writting up “best practices” articles as I go through my project. Next one on is on how to use the tool for the initial planning process.

if you have any other questions, just drop them as a comment on the article Mike mentioned, and I will answer if I can.

Thanks for the feedback about JIRA! I posted a response to your blog on our blog and it includes some links to resources you may (or may not :) )find helpful. http://blogs.atlassian.com/news/2006/05/breddynet_1.html

You can find a customer posting on VersionOne with some great suggestions @ http://sonjayatandon.com/05-2006/how-to-setup-a-project-in-versionone/.

You can also find out more about agile development @ http://www.versionone.com/Resources/AgileDevelopment.asp, and about VersionOne in particular @ http://www.versionone.com/products.asp and http://www.versionone.com/index.asp.

Finally, we have a couple of special offers you can read about @ http://www.versionone.com/Pricing.asp.

If we can assist with anything, feel free to contact me @ michael dot leeds at versionone dot net.

–michael