ThoughtWorks, a global IT consultancy, today announced the general release of Mingle, a software application that gives Agile development teams the tools they need to manage software delivery projects. For the first time, teams can collaborate and document, track bugs, capture requirements, and link code to requirements all in one place. It is aimed at software developers, business analysts, quality assurance professionals and project and programme managers.

ThoughtWorkers and clients have been using and feeding back on early releases of Mingle since early 2007. Unlike other agile project management applications that are designed solely for technical project managers and software developers, Mingle encourages col­laboration across entire cross-departmental teams. Mingle echoes ThoughtWorks’ philosophy that by giving indi­vidual team members a user experience that makes doing their job more enjoyable, the data provided to management will be more accurate, timely and thorough.

Adam Monago, product manager for Mingle at ThoughtWorks, said:  “We are really excited to be releasing the first version of Mingle, targeted at simplifying the problems of day-to-day collaboration currently faced by software development teams. With this platform, teams of all sizes and skillsets can now benefit from over a decades worth of ThoughtWorks’ expertise; in Agile project management experience.”

Monago added:  “We are planning further developments for Mingle, including additional support, training offerings and consultancy services, as well as incorporating new features that support an increased rate of feedback to developers, managers and IT decision makers.”

A globally distributed Agile team within ThoughtWorks, hubbed in Sydney, spent the last nine months developing the application using cutting edge technologies such as Ruby on Rails and JRuby. As expected, Agile best practices, including frequent releases and short feedback cycles, were used throughout and the ThoughtWorks team used Mingle itself to project manage the product development from Iteration 2.

Mingle is commercially available on the Windows, Mac and UNIX platforms.  ThoughtWorks is offering a 30-day trial of Mingle, after which it will remain free to use for teams of five or fewer members.  In addition, Mingle will be available at no cost for most open source projects, academic institutions and non-profit organisations.  Pricing information for teams of five plus can be found at: http://studios.thoughtworks.com/mingle-project-intelligence/pricing-and-license

For more information, please visit: http://studios.thoughtworks.com/mingle-project-intelligence/