Previously, I wrote "After all, isn't the fundamental reason for software the automation of manual processes? Why in the world should software developers ever have to resort to keeping track of things with 3x5 cards or spreadsheets".
In response, in a comment, someone anonymously responded: "Software is used to replace repedative(sic) manual processes. In practice the use use(sic) of cards works well. To be blunt if you havn't(sic) tried XP with cards you are not qualified to comment on thier(sic) suitability."
Anonymous, your first sentence seems to be a restatement/validation of my first sentence. If you are trying to make a different point, I missed it. As for the use of cards working well, they work well in comparison to what? I will of course agree that using cards is better than nothing. I tried that prior to using issue tracking. I will also agree that using cards is better than trying to keep it all straight in my head. I also tried that. Ok, you've got me on the actual use of actual 3x5 cards.
I have to admit that I have never used 3x5 cards to keep track of stories related to software development. Though I did use them to keep track of role-playing characters at one point. Hmm. But the whole time I was wishing that they were on my computer. And I did actually try that, but storing the info on tape cassette and trying to find the exact place on tape was just too much of a manual process. These days, role-playing games are on-line, in 3D, and globally distributed. Things change fast.
But I digress. So, I admit I never used 3x5 cards in software development. I skipped that technology and went right to post-it notes. I had actually been hoping to gloss over that period in my career, but now you've forced it out of me. And though I'm smiling as I write this, it is in fact true that I used post-it notes.
That was actually a very short-lived adventure when I was working on an early prototype of what later became AccuRev. Within weeks we had moved on to storing everything in a text file. Here's a snippet:
O --- M -- - special case of merging a defuncted element 4h
C 502 E D3 - be forgiving when principal is included in ws name
I don't remember the format any more, but the terse description was the "story" and there was usually an estimate, such as "4h" for 4 hours. Many of them even had bug numbers. It was primitive, but it was a big relief getting off of the post-it notes. At least with the text file we could send it around, make changes, do diff/merge, search, create scripts to do reports, etc. We even had a script that created a web page for remote viewing.
Of course it wasn't long after that we realized that we were writing yet another issue tracking system, so we installed a free one in a couple of hours, breathed another sigh of relief, and went back to working on our real goals.
In short, I suppose I can't comment on my experience using 3x5 cards. However, based on the application of logical thought to my above experience, I think I'll take a pass. Call me crazy for liking the ability to use powerful tools to edit, search, categorize, re-organize, report, track, manage, distribute, share, and do backups. Say that I'm too demanding to want to be able to do these things from my office, from an office on the other side of the building, from home, or from a remote site. That's fine with me. Just don't expect me to go back to post-it notes (or 3x5 cards) any time soon.
Here's another way to think about it. What sort of reaction would you get if you suggested to a user of whatever software that you produce that one of the new features they wanted would be implemented using 3x5 cards? What if you also suggested that they pay for that feature?
I'm not saying you should toss the 3x5 cards and shell out dough (though if you feel like it let me know :-) ). But for goodness sake at least use a text file, or Excel (or Open Office), or Bugzilla.
