Top Planning Tools For GitHub Projects

Want to run a successful GitHub software development project? You need a plan.

Put away your napkin. You need a plan that evolves with the project.

You need tools that can help you plan and build smarter. They should give you visibility into the entire project and the ability to manage all the moving pieces.

The right software can help you map out everything: From each team member’s workload and project milestones to budget and communication flows. 

You can also better anticipate roadblocks, see the critical paths, track progress, and plot a big-picture roadmap to keep your eyes on the prize.

We have done the legwork for you and rounded up the best tools for every need.

7Pace: The Best Planning Tool for Time Tracking and Estimates

To plan a project well, you must know how your team performs—namely, how long they need to complete a task that requires a specific amount of effort (i.e., story points.)
That’s why 7pace has created a unique metric—pace—to help developers understand how long it takes them to complete a task or a project.

By calculating your team’s pace based on past sprints, you can estimate the effort needed for the tasks at hand and establish a project timeline.

You can also get real-time data from 7pace for GitHub at any point to calculate the pace of a current project. You can then compare the metric with the team’s average pace. 

If the current pace deviates significantly from the average, you can take a closer look at it to identify and address potential issues right away.

Unlike other time recording tools, developers can track their hours where they work using 7pace. The software automatically associates the time with each work item on GitHub, so you don’t have to log time in a separate software as an afterthought.

GitKraken Boards: The Best Planning Tools for Tracking Issues

This Kanban-style system syncs with GitHub Issue in real-time to help you track issues on the web, via a mobile app, or inside project management software such as GitKraken and Atom.

You can use the Kanban board view to track tasks by workflow, the calendar view to organize them by due dates, the timeline view to see the big picture, and dashboards to access aggregate productivity metrics.

The software supports markdown, file attachments, and mentions. Column automation allows you to eliminate repetitive processes by updating card labels, assignments, due dates, and milestones all in one place.

You can also import boards with full card details from Trello and add tasks directly from Slack to reduce context-switching. The Pro plan allows you to set up group users so you can add, remove, or assign tasks to an entire team.

ZenHub: The Best GitHub Planning Tools for Project Management

Designed to support the Kanban and Scrum methodologies, ZenHub helps you visualize all the tasks in a project. 

You can turn issues into epics, add user stories, conduct agile planning, and manage your sprints directly inside GitHub.

You can also automate the GitHub workflow to minimize redundancies and bottlenecks while giving your team transparency and clarity on the sprint plans and deadlines.

ZenHub includes a reporting function so you can get real-time data to see progress and estimate project completion dates based on the latest information.

Other Planning Tools To Consider

Different teams have different needs. You can mix and match various tools to plan your tasks and streamline workflows:

WakaTime for Project Dashboard

The open-source plugins help development teams collect metrics on their programming activities to uncover skill gaps and bottlenecks. You can get weekly reports and use the data to address issues and adjust the timeline or scope as needed.

Codetree for Project Management 

The Kanban-style project management tool synchronizes with GitHub while adding functionalities to Issues and Pull Requests. You can review progress with inline updates, track dependencies, and prioritize activities with the drag-and-drop functionality.

Aha! Roadmap for Strategy and Planning

The software offers tried-and-true templates to help you outline a strategic approach for your GitHub project. You can map business goals and high-level initiatives to the progress and analyze and prioritize features to help your team focus on the right tasks.

Notion for Task Management

This centralized platform helps you streamline goal setting, status tracking, and more by connecting teams, projects, and documents. You can use its drag-and-drop interface to organize, rearrange, and prioritize features and plan your sprints.

Wrike for Collaborative Project Planning

Designed for teams of five or more, Wrike helps you predict and prevent delays, visualize timelines and milestones, and monitor progress. It offers planning tools such as task lists, subtasks, schedules, file sharing, and real-time communication and collaboration.

TeamGantt for Online Gantt Charts

Create online Gantt charts with the tool’s drag-and-drop interface. It helps you see the big picture view and drill down each task by switching between the Gantt chart, Kanban board, and calendar views. You can also store project-related documents together with your Gantt charts.

How To Choose Planning Tools For Your GitHub Project

Different software teams have different needs, so there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to choosing your planning tools. Some teams prefer an all-in-one solution, while others benefit from combining specialized tools to meet their needs. 

Here are some key features to have in your project planning toolbox:

• Gantt chart builder
• Timeline and schedule builder
• Team collaboration 
• Resource planning 
• Workflow management 
• Requirement management 
• Analytics and reporting 
• Budget planning and management
• File sharing and management
• Task list and management
• Real-time GitHub synchronization

Regardless of the tools you choose, the foundation of effective project planning is accurate information on how your team’s estimations translate into timelines and milestones.

7pace for GitHub gives you granular data so team members can create accurate estimates to inform planning decisions. Try 7pace for Github to supercharge your project planning with accurate data-driven insights.