Top Tips to Optimize Workflows in Axosoft

Getting Started with Axosoft: A Beginner’s GuideAxosoft is a purpose-built tool for agile teams that combines issue tracking, project management, and release planning. This guide walks you through the basics: what Axosoft is, why teams use it, how to set up an account and a project, key features to learn first, common workflows, best practices, and resources for continued learning.

What is Axosoft and who is it for?

Axosoft is a web-based project management and bug-tracking system designed for software development teams working with Agile methodologies (Scrum and Kanban). It emphasizes clear visibility into product backlogs, sprint planning, progress tracking, and release management. Teams that benefit most from Axosoft include:

• Small to medium-sized software development teams
• Teams practicing Scrum or Kanban
• Organizations that want integrated issue tracking, backlog management, and reporting

Core value: Axosoft centralizes work items (features, defects, tasks), links them to releases and builds, and provides dashboards and reports to monitor progress.

Setting up your Axosoft account

1. Sign up: Visit Axosoft’s signup page and create an account. Most plans offer a trial — use it to explore features without committing.
2. Invite team members: Add colleagues and assign roles (Admin, Project Manager, Developer, QA, Viewer).
3. Configure global settings: Set your company name, time zone, and working hours. Integrations (Git, Bitbucket, or other VCS) are usually configured at this stage.
4. Customize field values: Adjust item types, priorities, statuses, and custom fields to match your processes.

Tip: Start with minimal customization. You can expand fields and workflows as your team matures with the tool.

Creating your first project

1. Create a new project and give it a clear name (e.g., “Product X — Web”).
2. Define the project’s default workflow: decide which item types you’ll use (Feature, Defect/Bug, Task, Support) and the statuses each moves through (e.g., New → In Progress → In QA → Done).
3. Set up releases/versions: Create a release for the next milestone or sprint so work can be planned into it.
4. Set up sprints (if using Scrum): Define sprint length and start/end dates. For Kanban, configure swimlanes and WIP limits.

Key Axosoft features to learn first

• Backlog: The prioritized list of work items. Learn how to create, edit, rank, and assign items.
• Boards (Kanban/Scrum): Visualize workflow with columns representing statuses. Drag and drop items to update status.
• Releases & Sprints: Group work into releases and time-boxed sprints for planning and forecasting.
• Issue details: Each item contains description, steps to reproduce (for bugs), attachments, comments, time estimates, and history.
• Burndown and Velocity charts: Track sprint progress and team throughput.
• Reporting & Dashboards: Create widgets for cycle time, open bugs, top priorities, and other KPIs.
• Integrations: Connect to source control, CI/CD, and chat tools to automate status updates.

A simple starter workflow

1. Backlog grooming: Product Owner or PM creates and prioritizes items with clear acceptance criteria.
2. Sprint planning: Move prioritized items into the upcoming sprint, estimate effort, and assign owners.
3. Daily work: Developers update item status on the board, log time, and comment on blockers.
4. QA: When a developer marks an item “In QA,” testers verify and either mark it done or reopen with detailed notes.
5. Review & deploy: Once items in the release are complete, conduct reviews and deploy according to your release process.
6. Retrospective: Use velocity and burndown charts to discuss improvements.

Tips and best practices

• Use concise, testable acceptance criteria — it makes QA faster and reduces rework.
• Keep issues small and defeatable: prefer multiple small user stories over one large epic.
• Automate where possible: link commits and pull requests to items so status updates automatically.
• Use the backlog ranking feature to keep priorities visible — don’t rely on implicit memory.
• Limit work in progress (WIP) to reduce context switching and improve throughput.
• Regularly archive old projects and items to keep the system responsive and relevant.
• Train the team on one agreed workflow to avoid inconsistencies in status usage.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Over-customizing fields and workflows before the team understands needs.
• Treating Axosoft as a checklist repository without regular grooming and reviews.
• Not using integrations — losing the benefit of automated traceability between code and issues.
• Allowing too many concurrent priorities — lack of focus reduces delivery speed.

Security and access control

Axosoft allows role-based access control. Use roles to:

• Limit who can change project settings and workflows (Admin only).
• Restrict sensitive items or customer-reported bugs to specific teams.
• Review audit logs regularly if available to monitor changes.

Migration and integration considerations

• Importing data: Axosoft supports CSV import and has APIs; plan a mapping strategy from your old fields/statuses to Axosoft equivalents.
• Integrations: Connect your VCS to automatically link commits and pull requests. Connect CI systems to update build/release status.
• API: Use the REST API for custom reports, automation, and integrations with other tools (CRM, customer support, analytics).

Continuing learning and support

• Explore built-in help and guided tours inside Axosoft.
• Use the trial period to pilot with a single team and iterate on setup.
• Create internal documentation with screenshots and conventions your team agrees on.
• Join community forums or reach out to Axosoft support for specific configuration questions.

Quick checklist to get started (action items)

• Create account and invite team members.
• Create project, releases, and initial backlog items.
• Configure a single workflow and basic custom fields.
• Integrate VCS and CI if available.
• Run one trial sprint and refine processes based on retrospective findings.

Axosoft can be a strong foundation for agile teams when set up with clear workflows, disciplined backlog management, and good integration with development tools. Start small, iterate quickly, and use metrics to guide improvements.