Quick Start
You might be surprised at the various features in ZenTao, so you would think ZenTao is very complicated. Actually, ZenTao is professional collaborative management software, so it is integrated task management in ZenTao instead of simple task management. Project management is complicated by itself, so the features in ZenTao are must-have ones, which doesn’t mean that you have to go exactly the same as the workflow in ZenTao. You can customize the workflow according to your actual situations.
- Click Project -> Create Project.
- The page will show to add a project. You can define the fields such as project name, alias, start and end date, workdays available, team name, etc. As for Linked Product, it can be null or multi-selected.
- Click the Save and a prompt will notify you that the project is created. Then you can set up teams.
- Or you can manage the project teams from the menu by clicking Project->Team.
Choose users involved in the project and set up the user roles when managing your team. Weekdays and available hours must be set up carefully. Generally speaking, a user cannot work 8 hours/day continuously or 7 days a week in a roll.
After it is set up, ZenTao will automatically calculate the total man-hour in the project.
- Once the team is set, the next step is to create tasks. Click Project-> Task-> Create.
- The page for creating a task will show.
- When creating a task, you should assign Read privilege to members of the project teams.
- The initials of the name lists can be used to screen users quickly.
- The priority of the tasks and estimated man-hour has to be set up.
- If a task must be finished before a certain date, you can also set up the deadline.
- Files can be uploaded.
- Update Task Status
If all the tasks are created in ZenTao, every one of your team will be on the same page and knows what they are going to do. Once the project is started, the team members should update the status of their tasks.
- Click a task name and you will go to the page to find all the details about the task, including history. There are also Actions to edit the task
- When the task is completed, it will be automatically assigned to the one who created it. Then the assignee can verify whether the task is completed or not. If completed, the assignee will close the task. The task is finally done.
Test in ZenTao can also be used separately. This feature is for QA teams. The basic process of bug tracking in ZenTao goes as follows,
testers identify bugs → developers solve bugs → testers verify and close bugs.
- Create a product
The design philosophy in ZenTao is that bugs are linked to products. Before managing bugs, you have to create a product first. Click Product-> Create Product.
- Report a bug
Once a product is added, you can report bugs. Go to Test->Bug and click Report Bug.
When reporting bugs, the required fields are basic information, such as title, open build and STR (Software Testing Efforts). Fileds like linked projects, linked products and Story can be ignored. A bug can be assigned or leave the Assignee as null if it is not sure who will fix it.
- Resolve a bug
Find the bug that is assigned to you by various labels and search conditions. ZenTao provides a variety of search conditions. For example, it can list all the bugs that are assigned to you.
Developers can click the Resolve button in Actions to change the status of the bug.
- Close a bug
After the bug is resolved, it will be assigned to the one who reported it. Then testers will test whether the bug is actually fixed. If accepted, close the bug. You can click the Close button in Actions, or click the bug and close it.
In ZenTao, story management is provided, including creating stories, changing stories and evaluating stories. Now let’s see how to manage stories.
- Create a product
To create stories in ZenTao, products must be created first. This is the same process as in bug tracking mentioned in the previous chapter.
- Create a story
Once a product is created, you can add stories. Go to Product-> Story and click Create Story.
Then add details of the story.
- When creating stories, you can choose the source of stories, such as from product owners.
- Three key elements of stories are required, title, description, and acceptance.
- You can specify fields like the priority of stories and estimates.
- You can also choose who will review the story. If a reviewer is set, the status of the story will be draft. If check the box “No Review”, it will be Active.
- Change a story
ZenTao provides a professional process for changing stories. Changes to Title, Description, Acceptance, and Files of Stories must be added according to the workflow of story change. Then the status of the story will be changing/in change.
Click the "+" in History to view the details before and after the change.
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- Review a story
Click the Review on the page of the Story, or click the Review button on the story list.
On the review page, you can choose review results which can be Pass, Revert, Clarify, and Reject.
ZenTao is designed to be a collaborative software for Agile teams, but it is also useful to manage individual tasks. Back in 2009, ZenTao was used to manage projects for developing ZenTao itself. At that time, the DEV team has only one developer who was also the product owner. When talked about that situation with his friends later, he said that ZenTao was a project management tool for just one person.
- Create a todo
Go to Dashboard-> Schedule and click Add Todo.
The page of creating a Todo will display. You can set the time frame or leave it empty for later. If you don't want others to see this Todo, check Private box.
- Choose "Custom" as the Type of the Todo, then you can enter any title for it.
- Choose other types, then you can choose the related item from the drop-down menu if you have been assigned to the bug/task/story.
- View Todos
ZenTao has a variety of labels as filters to search the Todo you want.
Actually, you can learn from the concept of project management using ZenTao to manage your personal work. You can manage your private projects, such as buying a house, preparing for postgraduate exams, in ZenTao and track it.
This is a brief introduction of four features in ZenTao, namely Product Management, Project Management, Bug Tracking, and Todo Management. If you want to know more about it, check ZenTao Simple Application and Advanced Application.