- Posted by liammclennan on April 23, 2009
Of late I have been working with an agile project management tool that shall remain nameless. It has been a struggle. I never know how to do anything. Nothing is obvious, nothing is easy. It is not the experience that I would like to have when learning a new application.
Sometimes, very occassionally, I come across an application that is intuitive, simple and a joy to use. Things are where I expect them to be. There is a help system but I don't need to use it. Here are my favourites:
Unfuddle
This is my current tool of choice for hosted source control, project management and wiki tools. I like using a hosted solution for these things. When I start a new project it is simple to get the basic services I need up and running with Unfuddle. No time wasted installing servers or configuring apache.,
Balsamiq
Balsamiq is one UI mockup tool among many, yet it has managed to stand out from the crowd. The creator Peldi Guilizzoni is heavily influenced by 37 signals, and it shows. The tool he has created is simple and elegant. Everything is where I expect it to be and no features are included that should not be.
NHibernate Profiler
Most recently I am in love with NHibernate Profiler. It is a tool for profiling applications that use NHibernate. People experienced with object relational mapping tools know how important it is to be aware of what the ORM is doing. NHibernate Profiler provides a clear view of the interaction between an application and its database. As soon I started the tool it was immediately obvious how to use it and I got value straight away.
