I have been quite harsh to the Conchango Scrum template for Team Foundation Server, and I actually didn’t like it when I used it last (8 months ago).
That primarily had to do with me being forced to use the standard, heavy-weight forms in Visual Studio to edit Backlog Items and Actions. That did that we couldn’t use it in our daily scrums and hence someone (read: me) had to take notes and then go an update the TFS. In lean terms this was WASTE that was added to our project. I didn’t like that one bit. So we stopped using it. Quickly.
But now Conchango has created the tool that I think was the missing link. A Task Board application that mimics the actual task board that you draw and edit during sprints, planning and daily scrums.
You can read more about it here and learn how it works from these videos. Of course I cannot be sure yet, but it looks very promising, very promising indeed.
All the usual benefits from introducing a IT-support could be found here; automatic generation of burn down (will it work?), the possibility to support distributed teams better, history, support in calculations and reports etc.
Give it a try – I know I will. Way to go Conchango!