Bonfire Evaluation

Bonfire is a plugin from Jira, which allows to create sessions, to collaborate between members to perform exploratory testing.

From Administration->Plugin->search and install the plugin.
If you don't have Jira installed, then you can install the standalone version that is available as a 30 day free trial.
Generate license from my atlassian
From Administration->Plugins->Bonfire, paste the license and click add.
administration->Plugins->bonfire settings->Install bonfire for your browser
users would need re-indexing - during this time, Jira will not be accessible

->Test Sessions->Create session
Create a Test session from the desired project. The default assignee will be the user who creates the session.
The current version of bonfire does not support multiple assignees.
Make sure the users who wants to join the session have permission as Assignable User to this project.
Once this is done, download the Bonfire plugin for the browser (currently supports FF, chrome, safari and internet explorer)
Then you are set to go!

The plugin from the browser allows you to use bonfire effectively.
    - Create issues directly, without switching tabs
    - Start and pause the sessions
    - Direct edits of screenshots
    - Create pre defined templates for issues
    - Create variables that can be used in templates that can capture information like env, browser details etc dynamically
    - Join/unjoin sessions
    - Sharing of templates [To share a template created by another user, you need to set them as favourite. Only then you will be able to use it.]
    - Usage of wiki markup for tags like questions, follow-up items etc and mark them complete once they are done.
    - Filter on tags, sessions, providing consolidation of team work

While there are specific gadgets for greenhopper that you can use to create Dashboards, there are no such gadgets available for Bonfire testsessions.
You'll have to go by the labels that are assigned.
On the whole, it will be a very useful plugin, which can
    - ease the time taken to filing issues
    - coordinate group testing sessions
    - exploratory testing
    - customer beta test sessions

Jira - Greenhopper Plugin Evaluation

I wanted to try Greenhopper for a very long time. I already have firsthand experience with Jira.

I like the tool a lot and hence I decided to install the standalone version of Jira on my machine and Install Greenhopper on top of it.

So, I went to the Jira website.

I installed a Standalone version of Jira (Trial version, free for 30 days). I wanted to use the sandbox,  but since it asked for the credit card details, I preferred the standalone version! You may need to create an account with Atlassian to get the License keys, one for Jira and another for Greenhopper.

Created the projects

Created issues of various types for different projects

Configured the translations

Created different components

Created different releases.

Created a couple of tickets

The following are the findings:

After upgrading to greenhopper, it will ask for indexing of database, which will migrate all the tickets and during this time, Jira won’t be accessible.

Planning Board:

 Pros: Will be good to use when the project is going to start.

This is mostly for, on the fly issue creation and assigning it to a version.

Affects version, if already created, we cannot create the same version with greenhopper.

Cons: As when the cards grow, it will be a lot tough to use.

Filters cannot be used here!!!

The cards get listed only based on the version/component etc ONLY if the fix version is populated [scheduled]

Rapid Board (Kanban)

Pros: Thank God!, with the Rapid board, filters can be created and used.

This is more flexible and the TO DO are listed in a more organised way(Kanban).

We can set quick filters as buttons [eg: My Issues, Component etc).

There are good charts for trends, burndown charts and timelines...

Cons:It will look a lot more cluttered with the defects coming in.

Categorization of cards is not available

The gist of the project at any given point in time will be difficult to achieve

Rapid Board (Scrum – Coming Soon) :)

Scrum is a method of development where the focus is on planning, committing and delivering time-boxed chunks of work called Sprints.

Presets are:

Story Points as column statistic

Two-week iterations (starting today)

Velocity (evidence-based scheduling)

Standard Quick Filters

Issues ordered by Rank

Columns: To Do, In Progress, Done

Scrum option coming soon

My Opinion:There are good charts for trends, burndown charts and timelines... with the rapid board.

The same can be achieved with the current dashboard functionality along with the desired charts.

I couldn't find a specific usecase, to move towards Greenhopper as the dashboard can be made self-sufficient.

With its amazing defect tracking features, I thought greenhopper would offer more. Looking forward for the Rapid board - SCRUM.

Overall the product has amazing quality. Wow! was the experience in installing and uninstalling Jira. There was not even one hiccup. Since I was accustomed to the features of Jira, figuring out the configuration was easy. But for some one new to Jira, it would be a bit difficult. The features wont be easy in predicting the sequence. Once you get a hang of it, it is a child's play!