At Macedon, we approach all our projects with an Agile methodology to accommodate the wide range of team sizes and dynamic roles. The agile methodology embraces change and iteration to help achieve our goals in an efficient manner. Getting the most out of an Agile environment takes many tools and finding the right project management software for Appian projects can be a complicated task.
Ensuring good communication between team members is one of the most vital aspects of a project’s success. However, when you are working simultaneously in multiple systems, it can be easy to make mistakes. Remembering to provide your teammates with updates about both systems adds additional room for error and stress. There are many tools for Agile project management, but they have a long setup time, high cost, and will increase the number of systems the team needs to interact with. It was important for Macedon to streamline the process, enhance communication, and improve the overall velocity.
What is Macedon’s approach?
Macedon explored various options, including industry “standard” applications, and found that they can be way too bulky for smaller-scale projects. On the flip-side, these applications also tend to be too rigid for large scale projects when customization is needed, especially with regards to reports. As a result, Macedon’s Appian certified architects and developers created an in-house tool for project story management – the Sprint Planning & Agile Resource (SPAR) application. SPAR is available on the Appian AppMarket, and is both health check verified and cloud approved.
Using the SPAR application, organizations can easily start tracking their project management in Appian. The combined utility of Appian’s deployment speed and SPAR’s base functionality can jumpstart a new Agile program at your company. Designed for ease-of-use and beginners to the Agile methodology, SPAR allows you to get your feet wet in the space without a heavy commitment.
What can SPAR provide?
The SPAR application provides all the necessary tools for either beginning your first Agile project or quickly converting your current project management tool into Appian without losing any functionality. SPAR gives organizations the power to track and manage their work using the Agile Methodology without having to ever navigate away from Appian. Users can:
Create and customize all aspects of projects, sprints, and user stories
Move and delete user stories using the backlog tab
Indicate which user stories are blocked
Flag user stories for attention
View the status and details of all the user stories in a sprint with the Agile Board Page
Plan out future sprints
Understanding statistics about each sprint has never been easier using the Sprint Burndown report. In addition, the Epic Percent Completion report gives a great, easy-to-digest overview of how far along a project is overall. All of these features are readily available as soon as the SPAR application is imported to your Appian environment.
What does the future hold?
Macedon plans on continually updating the application to build out more features while keeping them simple to use. Macedon’s use of SPAR means that these new features will be tried and tested in real project scenarios, making sure they will be valuable additions. We always value feedback from clients and customers, so if you’re using SPAR, please let us know what you think!
Macedon Technologies accelerates Digital Transformation by delivering sustainable, enterprise-grade applications faster and more reliably.
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