Schedule for Risks. Or else.

Risks are everywhere in software projects. The only question is, can you see them?

Simply having a project management tool won't necessarily make you a successful project manager.  But having the right one, can make a huge difference.

Why do most tools simply give you a place to write things down and let you create whatever (unachievable) schedule you like? Where's the added value in that?

The biggest down-side to using a general purpose tool is that, by definition, it's general purpose. It doesn't care about, let alone attempt to understand, the kind of project you're running. Devshop has been designed from the ground up just for software projects.

It helps insulate your schedule from the most common (and deadly) risks found in software projects, so you don't get eaten alive.

What does "just for software projects" mean?

It means we've adopted design philosophies and practices to best serve software teams and the biggest challenges they face every day. Things like:

• Estimating time properly can make or break a software schedule. Making estimates without the requirements and designs factored-in appropriately only increases your risk of failure.
• Distractions (meaning anything that takes you or your team away from the project) are common and need to be explicitly accounted for in the schedule.
• Knowing how "sure" you are about a given schedule is critical when it comes to making realistic commitments about the release date, and then delivering. Devshop helps you continually quantify and articulate the accuracy of the schedule. Equally as important, Devshop tells when you shouldn't be confident about your project plan, and why.

Here's what Devshop has to offer:

• Really easy scheduling

  Create a project, add some tasks and assign them to team members. Let Devshop worry about making sure you don't double-book someone. Don't worry about managing tricky dependencies to get things to line-up, one after another. Devshop does this for you. You just need to figure out who you want to do what, and in what order of priority.

• The right metrics to help you manage risk

  Wouldn't you like to know how solid your current schedule is, in easily quantifiable terms? Now you will. How about the extent to which time estimates are off for the team? Done. And what impact are distractions having on the project? Devshop has that too.

• Devshop applies the past to the present

  It keeps track of your past projects and applies metrics and trends to each new project plan you create. Trends like distractions and accuracy of time estimates can automatically be factored into your brand-new schedule for you. It actually learns about your team over time!

• Multiple ways to look at a project

  In addition to the standard Gantt view, Devshop offers specialized views optimized for particular purposes. For example, you can view your schedule in various levels of detail by organizing your project into task groups and phases. Or select the "People" view that shows you what's on everyone's plate and what their priorities are, so you can easily make adjustments. Devshop automatically highlights task that are falling behind, as well as those that haven't been approved yet.

• Tie requirements to schedule

  One of the biggest risks in software projects is requirements that fall out-of-sync with the schedule. Devshop keeps them glued together for you so that you're treating requirements, designs and time estimates for tasks cohesively. If requirements change, Devshop highlights the impact on your schedule.

• All the richness of the desktop with the reach of the Web

  Devshop is a hosted Web application, which means you can access it from anywhere, on as many machines as you like. But you don't lose the richness of a desktop application. We've made sure you keep all of the "drag and drop" efficiency of the desktop, as well as familiar things like: inline editing of data, keyboard shortcuts, context-sensitivity, property menus and more. It's the best of both worlds.