CXO

Top ticketing apps for developers

By // January 31, 2012, 3:52 AM PST // justin_m_james

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  • Introduction

    There are plenty of good help desk ticket applications available, but they're not suitable for development work.  For developers, bug tickets need to be joined to the rest of the development workflow and integrate with a host of other tools. Here's a look at five apps that are designed to address the specific ticketing needs of developers.

    Note: You can read the full post in our Five Apps blog.

    Photo credit: Copyright © iStockphoto.com/belterz

  • FogBugz

    FogBugz has several intelligent features for getting bugs worked out and development tasks completed. One of the most interesting ones is "evidence-based estimating," in which the inaccuracy of previous estimates is used to tweak current estimates to try to make them closer to reality.

  • FogBugz

    FogBugz also has integrations with source control systems and integrates easily with Mercurial through Fog Creek's Kiln product.

  • MantisBT

    If you're looking for a mature, open source bug tracker, MantisBT might be what you need. It has several unique features, such as mobile apps for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone and the ability to Tweet tickets in.

  • MantisBT

    MantisBT supports CVS, SVN, and git, and it provides a SOAP API for you to write your own integrations in. It also supports a variety of database back ends.

  • Trac

    Another open source choice is Trac. It also integrates with source control (git, Mercurial, and various common DVCSs), and it adds a wiki.

  • Trac

    Trac has a limited feature set by design, so it's easy to get accustomed to. If you want a bare bones toolset with a simple workflow, Trac is a good choice.

  • Jira

    Jira is a Web-based bug and issue tracker. It offers some nice visualizations of the workflow to resolve problems and integrates into a number of source code systems.

  • Jira

     Jira also offers numerous keyboard shortcuts, which will please a lot of developers. Jira is available on demand in the cloud or on-premise.

  • Team Foundation Server

    The help desk and ticketing functionality built into Team Foundation Server (Figure E) isn't especially noteworthy -- but its integrations are hard to ignore.

  • Team Foundation Server

    Team Foundation Server provides a tight connection between Visual Studio, source code management, reporting, and the tickets. As a result, developers and managers will find it easy to relate bugs and user problems to the activities of the development team.

Introduction

There are plenty of good help desk ticket applications available, but they're not suitable for development work.  For developers, bug tickets need to be joined to the rest of the development workflow and integrate with a host of other tools. Here's a look at five apps that are designed to address the specific ticketing needs of developers.

Note: You can read the full post in our Five Apps blog.

Photo credit: Copyright © iStockphoto.com/belterz

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By Justin James

Justin James is an OutSystems MVP, architect, and developer with expertise in SaaS applications and enterprise applications.