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What are the most useful cloud based tools used in agile based project management?

Project managers apply skills, tools, knowledge, and methods to the activities performed on behalf of the project in order to meet its requirements. Only by effectively applying all of this can a project succeed. It starts with a strategy on how best to bring into reality the project manager’s vision, ideas, and goals. The decision on method and tools is critical to the project’s success. The increasing availability and lower cost of digital solutions allow powerful tools and methods to be used in even the smaller projects. There is no longer a need to manage a project exclusively with tools such as sticky notes, paper, and whiteboards. The increasing understanding of collaboration to achieve results and the use of virtual teams demand new tools and methods for managing projects.

Today, if your project result is a software application, the methodology of choice is agile. Agile is a widely adopted method used for many years now. It applies incremental iterations in a flexible and interactive manner with the end customer to deliver over several releases a solution or application that meets customer requirements. Agile development emphasizes collaboration and a non-hierarchical management structure between developers, product managers, and customers.

Until a few years ago small businesses and organizations would not have the budget or inclination to purchase information technology systems and tools for exclusive use in managing projects. The capital costs, investment in training and maintenance costs were factors that prevented their widespread use.

But things began to change when cloud-based solutions and tools for project management lowered the entry costs and training requirements, providing anywhere, anytime access with zero maintenance costs. You don’t have to develop and purchase IT infrastructure. The user interface and procedures are designed to be easy to learn and intuitive for any individual with a basic understanding of personal computers. Those are the prime reasons why more and more businesses and organizations are opting for solutions based in the cloud.

If you are tasked with developing and managing software application projects here are four examples of cloud-based tools for managing projects.

1. Jira

Developed by Atlassian, it was initially created and marketed as an issue tracking tool. Today it goes beyond that and it’s one of the most popular tools for managing agile software development projects and encouraging collaboration between teams and individuals. It can be customized to a particular project or work culture and has over 25,000 customers around the world including some of the largest corporations such as Walmart. It provides functions for managing projects and tracking bugs, issues, and tasks throughout the full agile development life-cycle.

2. Asana

Asana is advertised as a work tracking tool with agile project management features. Used mostly for web and mobile applications development, it started as an internal tool developed at Facebook for improving the productivity of its employees. It has functions that allow users to manage tasks and projects online without the need of external communications such as e-mail. Teams create workspaces and those workspaces can have projects and projects can have tasks. To each task, users can add comments, notes, and tags that allow all team members and managers to instantly know task status and issues. Followers of a task can get updates on their workspace inbox.

3. Basecamp

This is the calmer, saner and better-organized way to communicate and manage projects enterprise-wide according to Basecamp marketing. It has a reputation as a user-friendly tool requiring little training on how to use most of its features such as sharing ideas, getting status reports on your e-mail account, finding and recovering files easily and managing user access. It’s lacking in time management and analytical tools.

4. Trello

By now you have realized that collaboration is at the heart of the agile way of doing things. Trello is for many the tool of choice in this regard. Managers can organize projects into boards and in a glance know what’s being worked on who is doing it. It also shows where a task is in the process workflow. It has a beautiful graphical interface for creating and organizing the boards, lists, and cards that are at the heart of Trello’s organizational capabilities.

5. Pivotal

Pivotal Tracker breaks your project into manageable chunks that you can prioritize, organize, and collaborate. Agile tools such as backlogs and user stories are explicitly supported. Project managers and team members can quickly find out on status, task responsibilities and what’s next.

6. Wrike

Another online tool for enabling users to manage workflows and schedules while collaborating with one another. Multilingual project teams will be pleased to know that it supports Japanese, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Russian and Italian. A free version with limited features is available with task creation, task assignment and task status markings for a basic but still powerful workflow management tool.

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Best Herbal Remedies For Piles Problem That Provide Fast Relief

Millions of people worldwide are suffering from piles. Some of the causes for hemorrhoids include overweight, pregnancy, low fiber intake, lifting of heavy objects, anal lovemaking, prolonged sitting, diarrhea, chronic digestive problems, constipation, and food allergies. You can choose effective herbal remedies for piles problem (Pilesgon capsules) and heal faster. You should also include fiber rich diet and consume plenty of water daily to soften stools and reduce straining to facilitate faster healing of piles.

You are advised intake of kefir and yogurt to boost immunity and promote digestion. It also helps to heal hemorrhoids safely. Regular intake of Kefir also helps in smooth bowel movements and reduces dehydration.

To ease constipation and boost functioning of immune system, you are advised to consume lot of nutrient rich fruits and vegetables. Fiber rich vegetables and fruits add bulk to the stools to reduce straining as well as pain in bowel movements.

You can include fruits and vegetables such as blueberries, broccoli, artichokes, pears, berries, avocados, apples, beans, dark leafy greens and winter squash in your daily diet. You should prevent intake of processed sugars and processed foods. You should also prevent spicy foods.

Whole grains supplement your body with micronutrients, protein and more fiber. You need to ensure intake of 38 grams of fiber daily. Intake of pearled barley (one cup) provides your body with 6 grams of fiber. You can also get 6 grams of fiber through consuming one-fourth cups of amaranth.

You can also consume long grain brown rice, cold cereals, whole grain breads, oat meal, pop corn and wild rice to supplement your body with sufficient fiber. You can also consume broth based soups, herbal tea and 100% vegetable or fruit juices without adding sugar. You should avoid high sugar beverages, alcohol and caffeinated products like coffee.

Pilesgon capsules, which are the best herbal remedies for piles problem, are developed using advanced herbal formula under the supervision of topnotch healthcare professionals in GMP certified facilities. Only pure plant ingredients are utilized in the manufacture of this herbal pill. You can use this herbal pill to get relief from itching, burning, irritation and pain associated with hemorrhoids.

You should control temptation for rubbing or scratching the affected area. You should regularly consume this herbal pill two times with plain water for 2 to 3 months to completely heal external as well as internal hemorrhoids.

Regular use of this herbal supplement relieves you from inflamed bleeding through repairing damaged tissues. It has got astringent properties to tone and improve elasticity of walls. It also offers effective cure for constipation through improving digestion.

Key ingredients in Pilesgon capsules, which are the effective herbal remedies for piles problem, are Khun Shosha, Hemsagar, Nagkesar, Haritaki, Kttha, Ritha, Shudh Takan, Kalijiri, Indrajau and Ayapana. All these ingredients are blended in right dosage to cure hemorrhoids and to prevent its recurrence in future. It is free from chemicals and fillers. You can use this herbal supplement without any fear of side effects. You can buy this herbal pill from reputed online stores in the denomination of 80, 32, 64 and 48 capsules.

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More Vacation Time or A Raise? What Would You Prefer for Debt Relief?

The money in the form of a raise can help them pay down their debt more quickly. While it is true, there can also be another side to this.

What I actually mean by that is what if you could select benefits like more vacation time, over a raise in your salary?

Now your question might be why would one do that? Well, I believe that for keeping the process of paying off a debt at its best, one needs to stay focused and for this, one must take out time to enjoy life.

So, would you go for it? Let’s explore some of the advantages of both the scenarios.

Taking More Benefits

When it comes to discussing an annual increase, very few people consider negotiating benefits. But is it something you should think about on a serious note?

Yes, of course, it is. Why?

Some benefits can prove to carry more value than the small or even large raise that you might be receiving.

There are many benefits to negotiate, such as health benefits, educational opportunities, retirement benefits, and my personal favorite, more vacation time.

The first reason why it is my favorite is that when I was following my debt relief plan, it was this vacation time that kept me focused on my objective of reaching financial freedom.

The second reason why I went for extra vacation time instead of a raise is because I believe you can find a plethora of ways to generate more money, but you can’t create more time.

Unlike a raise, it is vital to keep in mind that for extra vacation you don’t need to pay more in taxes. Since you’d still be taking home the same amount of salary, your taxes would likely to remain the same. Well, you won’t be taxed on the number of days or weeks of vacation you get.

The concept of benefit increases isn’t something everyone approves of. Here are some points for the raise side of compensation.

The Reason Why Raises are So Popular
Everyone loves to have a raise and for a good reason. A raise will reflect in your paycheck every time until the next one or you find a different job. Even if you land on another job, there is a good chance that you’ll keep your raise with you.

Raises are simply amazing as they display themselves as a part of your salary. If you keep on getting big raises, your salary will hike in a short time. Did I still need to tell you that this can help you pay off your debt sooner?

Alongside this, you should also think about that some of your other benefits, including your 401(k) matching, that are based on your salary amount. On receiving a raise in your salary, you also get a raise in your 401(k) matching contribution.

It’d be a pity to miss an opportunity of taking that extra vacation.

The question is, which way would you like to go to achieve debt relief? Would you choose the road to some extra benefits like vacation time, or prefer the raise? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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