1. Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal skills are the bedrock of effective collaboration and teamwork. DevOps engineers work in multidisciplinary teams, interacting with developers, IT operations staff, quality assurance professionals, and other stakeholders.

DevOps engineers with excellent interpersonal skills can:

• Bridge the gap between teams by fostering mutual understanding and cooperation.
• Facilitate cross-functional communication, ensuring everyone is on the same page and working towards common goals.
• Resolve conflicts and navigate through challenging situations diplomatically, leading to smoother workflows.

2. Agile Methodologies

Agile methodologies are at the core of DevOps practices. DevOps teams often rely on Agile principles to streamline development processes, iterate rapidly, and respond to changing requirements. DevOps engineers should be well-versed in Agile methodologies like Scrum, Kanban, or Lean to ensure their work aligns with the broader development and operational strategies.

Key aspects of Agile methodologies for DevOps engineers include:

• Embracing flexibility and adaptability to accommodate changes in project requirements.
• Active participation in Agile ceremonies like daily stand-ups, sprint planning, and retrospectives.
• Understanding the value of incremental releases and continuous improvement is essential for delivering software faster and with higher quality.

3. Organizational Skills

In the complex world of DevOps, organization is paramount. DevOps engineers are responsible for managing a multitude of tools, scripts, and configurations, all while ensuring that everything runs smoothly. Effective organizational skills are critical to maintaining order amidst the chaos.

Some organizational skills that DevOps engineers should possess include:

• Efficiently managing and documenting code repositories, configurations, and infrastructure as code (IaC) templates.
• Creating and maintaining a clear, structured release pipeline to automate deployments and minimize downtime.
• Prioritizing tasks and mastering time management to meet project deadlines.

4. Collaboration

Collaboration is the cornerstone of DevOps. DevOps engineers must collaborate with various teams, including developers, quality assurance, and IT operations, to ensure seamless software development and delivery. Effective collaboration leads to better integration, fewer bottlenecks, and faster deployments.

DevOps engineers can enhance their collaboration skills by:

• Actively participating in cross-functional meetings and discussions.
• Seeking input and feedback from team members to improve processes continuously.
• Empathizing with team members to understand their challenges and perspectives.

5. Communication

Clear and effective communication is paramount for DevOps engineers. They must convey technical information to non-technical stakeholders, explain complex issues, and collaborate effectively with team members. DevOps engineers often act as intermediaries between development and operations teams, making communication skills essential.

Key aspects of communication for DevOps engineers include:

• Clearly articulating technical concepts and issues to non-technical stakeholders.
• Active listening to understand the concerns and requirements of different teams.
• Providing regular updates on the status of deployments, releases, and system health.

6. Customer-Focused Approach

A customer-focused approach is essential for DevOps engineers in today’s customer-centric world. While they may not directly interact with end-users, DevOps engineers are critical in delivering a product that meets or exceeds customer expectations. Understanding the customer’s needs and priorities is key to achieving this.

DevOps engineers can adopt a customer-focused approach by:

• Collaborating with product managers and customer support teams to gather feedback and insights.
• Prioritizing tasks and improvements that directly impact the customer experience.
• Monitoring system performance and reliability to address issues that may affect customers proactively.

7. Proactive Problem Solving

DevOps engineers often face unexpected challenges and issues requiring quick resolution. Proactive problem-solving skills are crucial in such situations. Rather than waiting for issues to escalate, DevOps engineers should actively seek out and address potential problems before they become critical.

Ways to enhance proactive problem-solving skills include:

• Regularly monitoring system health and performance metrics to identify anomalies.
• Implementing automated alerts and notifications to detect and respond to issues quickly.
• Conducting post-mortems and root cause analyses to prevent recurring problems.

8. Decision-Making

Effective decision-making is the glue that holds together the various aspects of DevOps. DevOps engineers must often make critical decisions about system configurations, deployment strategies, and incident responses.

To improve decision-making skills, DevOps engineers can:

• Collect appropriate data and information to make informed decisions.
• Be cautious with the potential risks and benefits of different options.
• Interact with teams to gather diverse perspectives before making decisions.

Best Scrum Tools

Here are the top 18 Scrum tools through which project managers work.

1. Jira

Key Features of Jira:

• Customizable dashboard
• Agile views like Kanban boards and Scrum boards
• Monitors bugs, milestones, launches, and much more
• Flexible projects with personalized workflow

2. VivifyScrum

Key Features of VivifyScrum:

• All-in-one project management tool for Agile teams
• Possess nifty features including invoicing, time tracking, and Scrum training
• User-friendly interface
• Robust free plan
• Drag and drop feature
• Graphical representation of team’s utilization 

3. Targetprocess

Key Features of Targetprocess:

• Eye-catching pricing structure
• User-friendly interface
• Training /implementation professional services available
• Diverse approaches, including Agile/Agile Scrum, are available
• Pre-built solutions such as SAFe are present

4. ClickUp

Key Features of ClickUp:

• You can get a free plan for the comprehensive Scrum board software
• Breaks down Scrum project into manageable chunks
• Tracks progress with ease
• User-friendly interface
• Multiple views can be used to visualize a project with personalized settings
• Reminders can be set for crucial tasks, deadlines 
• Generate to-do-lists and define time estimates with one click
• Helpful in setting recurring tasks

5. Scrumwise

Key Features of Scrumwise:

• Simple and easy to use in Scrum and Kanban boards
• Offers standards Scrum features like visualization of tasks, backlogs, and deadlines
• A digital post-in feature is available for teams
• Release management and native time tracking
• Burndown charts that hold vacations and time zones into account
• Provides updates in real-time

6. Trello

Key Features of Trello:

• A Kanban software, not a Scrum project management software
• Offers real-time tracking and updates on tasks assigned and deadlines
• Review, feedback, checklist, attachments, and comments options are available
• Updates can be delivered via mail
• User-friendly interface
• Swipe and drop-down features are available
• Projects can be easily break-down into multiple tasks

7. MeisterTask

Key Features of MeisterTask:

• Flexible kanban boards are available
• Featured with built-in automation
• Task limits to boost focus and performance 
• Functional with combining other tools, including Dropbox, Outlook, and others
• The free plan is available

8. QuickScrum

Key Features of QuickScrum:

• Integrates with Google Drive
• Offers extraordinary insights and backlog features 
• Track team progress with burnup and burndown reports
• Monitors team velocity, speed and leakages
• Quick inline edit to bulk edits or tasks feature is available
• Set priorities, attach files, and filter backlogs with easy navigation

9. Yodiz

Key Features of Yodiz:

• Product backlog templates are available 
• A planning board is available for multiple project data
• Story allocation, burndown tracking, and more features are available 
• Epics feature is present for feature management 
• The free plan is available
• Payments are charged for integration with other apps. 
• Get backlogs and user stories, and track progress easily 
• Sprint board and planning board with more than 20 integrations are available 

10. nTask

Key Features of nTask:

• Easy to use and inexpensive
• Best for small to mid-sized companies 
• Offers free options with 100MB storage for five team members 
• Add-on features like Gantt charts and custom filters are available with the paid version 
• Offer risk management 
• Board specifications like ‘Not Started,’ ‘In progress,’ Completed,’ ‘Canceled,’ ‘Due today,’ ‘Starred, and’ Overdue’ options are available to filter tasks 
• The backlog can be tracked
• Centralizes the communications among team members when tasks are pulled up

11. Axosoft

Key Features of Axosoft:

• Best for task-heavy software development 
• Quite an expensive tool with an increased rate per team member
• User feedback can be given through design insights
• Real-time feedback in a closed-loop system
• 20 integrations are available, including Office 365, and Stack
• Scrum and Kanban boards are available 
• Burnout charts, sprint management, and custom filter feature is present 

12. ScrumDo

Key Features of ScrumDo:

• Drag-and-drop iteration planning can be done 
• Customized reporting files feature is available 
• Monitor built-in workflow easily 
• Dependency relationships can be viewed in one click 
• Accurate tracking of project performance 
• Histogram, burnups, burndown, and cumulative flow diagram features for reporting are available 
• Scrum, Kanban, or SAFe (agile to scale) workflow management processes can be adopted 

13. Nutcache

Key Features of Nutcache:

• Collaboration and workflow tool that optimizes sprint management
• Set sprint length, define purpose, and allocate story points
• Real-time update on ongoing updates
• Schedule with color code features 
• Gantt chart to visually organize work
• Simple and easy to use 

14. Infinity

Key Features of Infinity:

• Pre-made templates feature is available to save time
• Multiple views can be easily switched
• Unlimited folders and subfolders are available
• Easily organized tasks 
• Integration of over 2,000 third parties is available 
• Assign tasks and visualize progress in real-time
• Provides updates on each sprint
• Prepare items for future sprints
• User-friendly interface 

15. ActiveCollab

Key Features of ActiveCollab:

• Reminders can be set for start and due dates
• User-friendly interface
• Actionable tasks and subtasks
• An unlimited number of projects can be updated
• Organize tasks with color labels
• Client management 
• Email integration is available 
• Recurring tasks can be set
• Invoicing, online payments, and time estimate features are available

16.  easyBacklog

Key Features of easyBacklog:

• Backlog Management
• Sprint Planning
• Task and Work Item Tracking
• Kanban Boards
• Burndown Charts
• User Story Management
• Customization
• Collaboration
• Reporting and Analytics

What is Scrum?

Scrum refers to the software development team’s framework that aids in creating, delivering, and sustaining intrinsic products. In other words, Scrum is a set of tools that helps complete the work and enables organizations to deliver value to their clients or customers consistently. Scrum aids in incorporating changes by breaking complex projects into smaller features. This approach helps in completing the work quickly through time-boxed iterations called sprints. Scrum tools like Jira Software are typically used to strength

Effective Scrum Tools

When assessing Scrum tools, one must consider features like the capability of sprint management, monitoring of tasks, and performance evaluation. Specifically, Scrum tools must include the following features:

• The tool must be able to generate a task board offering a visual representation of the progress of ongoing sprints.
• They must document user stories. It means an informal explanation of features from the user’s point of view that aids in understanding the goal of the team collectively.
• They should have the potential to conduct sprint planning, including defining each sprint concerning the goal, workflow, team assigned, task, and outcome.
• They must provide real-time updates. For instance, it tracks the status of the ongoing task in percentages on the task board.

FAQs on Scrum Tools

1. Why use Scrum tools?

Scrum tools help to adapt to changes, focus on prioritized tasks, and deliver outcomes within deadlines and budget to achieve the desired outcome.

2. Can Scrum tools be used for non-software projects?

Yes, they can be adopted by non-software projects for customer collaboration and team and end-user interaction. 

3. Are there free Scrum tools available?

Scrumblr, Taskjunction, and MeuScrum are examples of free Scrum tools. 

Design Thinking and Business Agility

Design thinking has become the go-to approach to developing products that are more customer-centric. The design thinking process exposes customer needs on a more human level by developing stronger user empathy and experimenting in phases to get a process or design just right. It turns out that agile and design thinking have a lot in common, and melding the two together can add tremendous value to agile practices. 

For example, project teams can build extra time into sprint activities to better understand customer pain points and improve the overall customer journey. Taking time up front to build user empathy and getting quick design feedback will help streamline prototyping and testing, as well as helping visualize a solution that can set the team on the right path. Within the agile environment, companies should consider ‘dual track agile’ or ‘staggered sprints’ that include user empathy, ideation, and feedback loops as an adjacent part of the agile process. A design thinking mindset delivers a more customer-centric strategy from the beginning without impacting the speed of the agile process.  

Scaled Agile and Scrum Approaches Continue to Dominate

The scrum development approach empowers project managers to effectively coordinate the activities of cross-functional teams and produce working code in phases at the end of each iteration or sprint. Companies today are now turning toward scaling their scrum activities to deliver greater value and improve collaboration. The idea of extending agile from individual scrum teams to large-scale programs is gathering steam. Smaller teams have reaped the benefits, so they are comfortable with the basic principles. Now (usually with executive management’s guidance), those tenets can be scaled to larger projects. 

As for the most popular frameworks, SAFe® is rated as the top-scaled agile methodology last year, according to a survey from StateOfAgile.com, outpacing the Scrum@Scale framework by 19 percent. Leading SAFe approaches are the most complete for large-scale Agile projects and support the successful transformation of organizations into Lean-Agile enterprises. SAFe scrum masters are highly valued as they are trained to plan and execute projects in the context of the enterprise, not just individual sprints. Scale is the name of the game in today’s business environment to ensure departments are all working from the same playbook. 

AI and Machine Learning Support Agile Too

Even when agile approaches are running at full steam, there is still a great degree of analytical labor that must take place by project teams, such as testers and product developers. AI and machine learning algorithms are playing an increasingly important role in data analysis in the project and development environments. They provide real-time data and lightning-fast analytical capabilities, for example, to offer clear predictions of when project phases will be complete. That’s especially important when projects get close to the release phase, and the eyes of multiple executive constituents are glued to the schedules. 

AI and machine learning provide additional benefits to agile as well, including:

• Providing more precise insights and cleaner processes for creating and testing programming code. 
• Reviewing code with better accuracy to identify and eliminate bugs. 
• Integrating with innovative smart technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) devices, robotic process automation (RPA), quantum computing, and other cutting-edge technologies to speed development time and get products to market faster. 

Choosing the appropriate Agile tool to match your business needs and methodology is crucial. Your decision-making process for a solution that supports your team and their Agile methodology can be aided by the five features listed below:

• Encourage communication and collaboration
• Accountability and History Tracking
• Central Searchable Storage
• Scaling Ability
• Analytical Services

As a project manager, you know that getting everything done on time is a top priority. These Agile tools can help you and your team become more productive and more nimble. 
Project managers are always in high demand, and an Agile certification validates your knowledge in Agile and Scrum practices.

1. Icescrum

Created by a French company called Kagilum (KAnban-aGILe-scrUM) SAS in 2011, Icescrum is a free and open source solution for teams of any size. This tool is compatible with Linux, Windows, and Mac—and integrates with a variety of popular apps like Box, Excel, Dropbox, GitHub, Google Drive, Slack, and more.

Cost: free download. The cloud version starts at $35 USD per month.

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2. Taiga

Awarded Best Agile Tool 2015 by the Agile awards, and Top 11 PM Tools 2016 by Opensource.com, Taiga offers better functionality than many paid tools, including backlogs, sprints, Kanban boards, and QA, along with the ability to import from Trello, Jira, Asana, and Github.

Cost: Public projects are completely free; private projects start at $19 a month.

3. Scrumpy

The unique selling point of Scrumpy software is that it allows long-term story views and is completely written in Java. It is specifically designed to help a product owner maintain a meaningful long-term backlog of user stories.
Cost: Completely free.

Explore our library of Agile and Scrum articles. Happy reading!

4. Hansoft

Hansoft’s fast and intuitive interface, powerful find/report tools, and a host of other features can run different project management methods depending on your project. Hansoft is scalable and configurable since it was inspired by the Project Management Institute (PMI), Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), and Large Scale SCRUM (LeSS). Its core feature critical for planning and tracking is the backlog, which can be refined by any custom attribute to your deliverables.

Cost: Completely free for up to 2 users. It allows unlimited projects and programs.

5. YouTrack

We found that YouTrack has the best reporting feature of any tools on this list. Whether you’re looking for burndown charts, timeline reports, and more—all available on a live dashboard. Newest features include improved, project-based swimlanes, advanced visibility options, and time report improvements. 

Cost: Free for ten users and 5GB of storage. Paid options are based on the number of users and start at $20 per month.

6. Scrumblr

Scrumblr is an open-source scrum application that enables real-time collaborative support for managing an Agile sprint board. It is created with node.js, jquery, CSS3, and WebSockets (using socket.io). It has an intriguing user interface that attempts to replicate a real board.

Post-its can be placed on the collaborative whiteboard known as Scrumblr. In addition, you can split the whiteboard so you can manage an exact task board equivalent. This tool is also helpful for retrospectives. 

7. ScrumDo

Users may plan, monitor, and improve their work processes using the Agile and Kanban work management and collaboration application known as ScrumDo. The cloud-based platform’s robust features and intelligent notifications enable users to maintain tabs on everything in their organization.

Users can be informed about everything going on in the company, including project statuses and due dates, via Slack and email with ScrumDo’s smart notifications. Users can plan iterations and prioritize tasks using the hierarchy of work feature in ScrumDo, and they can track their projects’ status in real-time using the project timeline. Additionally, the user can manage each task’s subtasks and save details about its features.

8. ScrumDesk

ScrumDesk is a project management tool. ScrumDesk is an online application for Agile product management and Scrum project management for teams utilizing Scrum or Kanban. With ScrumDesk, we hope to give Agile teams the ability to oversee product development from conception to completion.

Small or medium-sized teams that are working on one or more projects concurrently are the main emphasis of ScrumDesk. The tool should offer excellent transparency for the team’s daily work and the backlog. ScrumDesk encompasses all aspects of a business. It assists product owners in quickly understanding the backlog and determining priorities. 

9. Kanbanchi

With its integrated project management tool, Kanbanchi enables teams to work more efficiently. In addition, it offers a disciplined methodology for setting up your work to make your daily tasks more productive. 

The only online project management, task management, and collaboration tool, including a Kanban board, Gantt chart, and time tracker, is Kanbanchi for G Suite. A sequence of all your tasks and activities is visualized on project boards with lists and cards. It enables real-time team collaboration and visual project management.

10. Pipefy

Pipefy enables top-tier managers to design and manage effective workflows. For teams like finance, human resources, and customer service, the no-code workflow management tool boosts team productivity, centralizes data, and standardizes processes. As a result, those making service requests, processing those requests, and overseeing the operation are all more effective.

Pipefy improves speed, boosts visibility, and produces outcomes of higher quality using ready-to-use, customized processes and a no/low-code platform. It transforms the team digitally in a matter of hours rather than weeks or months.

11. VivifyScrum

With the help of collaboration boards for Scrum and Kanban, users of VivifyScrum, a web-based Agile project management tool, can plan, arrange, manage, and complete projects all in one place. In addition, the platform provides management tools, such as time management, invoicing, customer base, team engagements, project calendar, reports, and more, to meet the demands of both small Agile teams and large businesses.

12. KanbanTool

The Kanban Tool is a program for using the Kanban methodology to manage tasks and projects. The Kanban technique is based on two principles: a graphic, clear picture of the workflow and a limitation on the number of functions that can be carried out concurrently. Kanban Tool is the original program for setting up your Kanban board and tracking your work process step by step. As a result, clients and team members can effortlessly communicate in real time by exchanging tasks, information, and comments at any time and location.

13. Targetprocess

To help software development organizations manage their projects more simply, TargetProcess offers Agile project management solutions. An easy-to-use yet effective solution for Agile project management is TargetProcess. It is easy since it has a user-friendly interface and provides a complete Scrum and Kanban process by default for software development organizations transitioning to Agile . It is effective because it enables the customization of item content, status, and workflows, promoting the development of a flexible approach to visual project management.

14. VersionOne Lifecycle

VersionOne is a cloud-based Agile application lifecycle management (ALM) tool that aids enterprises in involving stakeholders, tracking progress, and reporting on diverse software portfolios, programs, and projects. It offers features of Agile  development tools connected to Scrum and Kanban methodologies, such as project boards with targets, problems, and faults, spring plans, project road mapping, release planning, and test management.

15. Zoho Projects

A well-known cloud-based project management application is Zoho Projects. You may use it to support your Agile software development workflows because it has many project management tools. By itself, Zoho Project is capable of setting up fundamental features like timesheets, Gantt charts, and resource use.

16. Agile fant

Agile provides the fundamental characteristics of Agile project development tools connected to the Scrum and Kanban methodologies in both open source and cloud-based versions. The tool offers functions including storyboards, burn-up, and burn-down charts, and timeline views. In addition, numerous cutting-edge capabilities for iteration management, project management, product management, and portfolio management are offered by Agile fant.

17. Kanbanize

Agile project management software called Kanbanize creates a virtual workspace by merging business automation and Kanban-style features. You may use this Agile solution to manage your software development projects, programs, tasks, and portfolios because it was designed with scalability.

18. Yodiz

Yodiz is an easy-to-use yet complete Agile tool that aids in managing Agile projects of all levels of difficulty.

The best and most effective approaches to complete story-related Agile tasks are outlined by Yodiz, which simplifies the management of Agile projects.

By using well-planned and practical approaches to provide a great user experience, it lessens the difficulty of handling project and team-related data.

A few of its many unique features include simple user story management at the release and sprint levels, thorough reporting, current performance indicators, issue tracking, dynamic chat, and connection with other applications.

1. Is DevOps a coding job?

DevOps is not primarily a coding job, but it does involve coding to a significant extent. DevOps professionals use scripting and automation to streamline software development and deployment processes. They create infrastructure as code (IaC) and develop scripts for CI and CD pipelines. While coding is essential, DevOps is a broader role that focuses on collaboration, automation, and improving the efficiency of software development and IT operations processes.

2. Is AWS required for DevOps?

AWS (Amazon Web Services) is not strictly required for DevOps, but it is one of the popular cloud platforms commonly used in DevOps practices. DevOps engineers often work with cloud services to deploy and manage applications. However, other cloud providers like Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform are also used. The choice of cloud platform depends on the specific needs of the organization.

3. Is DevOps a good career?

DevOps is an excellent career choice for individuals interested in the intersection of development and operations in IT. The demand for DevOps professionals has steadily grown as organizations recognize the value of automation, collaboration, and faster software delivery. DevOps skills are transferable across various industries and can lead to high-paying positions. However, the rapidly evolving technology landscape requires continuous learning and adaptation. Those willing to invest in their skills and stay updated can find rewarding and fulfilling careers in DevOps.

4. Which programming language is best for DevOps?

There isn’t a single “best” programming language for DevOps, as the choice of language depends on the specific tasks and tools in use. However, some languages, such as Python, Ruby, and Shell scripting, are commonly used in DevOps automation. Python is particularly popular for its simplicity, readability, and extensive libraries, making it a versatile choice for tasks like writing automation scripts, creating configuration management code, and interacting with APIs.