There are a variety of open source project management tools available for free online. Despite being developed and distributed for free, these programs are high quality software, and many are used for massive important projects done by various government and private agencies. We will look at these different tools and their strengths and weaknesses in a series of blog posts.
For hunting down bugs in a larger group of developers, Trac is the right solution. It is a web based project management tool specifically designed for linking with a programming bug database, viki content, and the revision control information. Trac allows a group to collaborate on finding and fixing glitches and bugs in any type of software.
Collabtive is a web based software that is a great open source alternative to BaseCamp. It allows all the members of a group working on a project to chart and track their goals, publish regular progress reports, share documents and other files securely, and has a built in private messaging system. It’s flexible and powerful enough to work for any project, and allows unlimited user accounts on one project.
eGroupWare is another program that allows group project workers to collaborate and connect. eGroupWare is mainly web based, but can also be used with certain compatible clients, such as Microsoft Outlook. It allows all of the users on one project to share and manage contacts, to-do lists and progress reports, track dates and timelines, and share project information.
For editing and presenting information and documents over the internet, Feng Office is a great choice. Not only does it allow for document and data management within the software, it keeps your team on top of time management with it’s built in tools. It’s also one of the few open source product management programs to allow online editing and multi-user presentations, eliminating the needs for regular video or in person meetings. No matter what the project is you need to manage, there is a perfect open source software solution for your team.
You should also check out http://www.huddle.net/ as another rival to Basecamp – our company has just started using it and I’m happy with it thus far. Far more user friendly than Basecamp.