The Agile school of software development’s currently one of the most accepted methodologies for improving productivity. Targeted mainly towards IT managers and CIOs, Agile methods promote an interactive approach which have the ability to help flatten your organization’s cost of change curve.

2011 was an epic year for the Jira Family including two massive releases, the launch of a new product – Atlassian Bonfire – and the introduction of Atlassian OnDemand just to name a few things. Atlassian’s Ken Olofsen had a tough time whittling this list down to just 11 things, but “did his best” to use a “traditional 4-4-2 formation“ (see primer on jersey number relevance) to highlight his “Jira Best XI” for 2011. So, here’s Ken:

GreenHopper 5.8 is now available, delivering a huge win for everyone: the new Rapid Board.

A major innovation for GreenHopper, the Rapid Board’s a flexible new board for managing and reporting on work in progress. The Rapid Board also provides multiple project support, which alone satisfies a whopping 255 votes - the most requested feature in GreenHopper’s history!

Christopher Pepe, head of our Atlassian practice, will travel to Chattanooga this weekend to present at DevChatt – a tech-focused conference for software developers and technology enthusiasts. His presentation – “Jira and Greenhopper for Agile Development” – will focus on how plugins are greats ideas but not the only ideas, how there aren’t any silver bullets, and how to use Greenhopper more effectively for Agile. Be sure to check it out – Christopher will knock your socks (or flip-flops) off.

Atlassian’s GreenHopper has a ton of features to help you organize and plan projects. But some features are harder to find than others. Christine Bang’s new post series The Three Pillars of GreenHopper highlights out-of-the-way features you can use when planning your projects.

To all Austin-area Atlassian users (we know there are lots of you) – please join us next month for the second-ever Central Texas Atlassian User Group (CTXAUG)! At our first meeting we enjoyed snacks, beer, two Jira and Confluence whizzes, and the chance to talk shop with other Atlassian users about how they use Atlassian tools.

We’re excited to announce that our primary Atlassian guru, developer, ace, bad-a… Chris Pepe, has slain a dragon. A huge, fire-breathing, metaphorical dragon.

Chris completed Atlassian’s Here Be Dragons quest, in which developers from villages worldwide are challenged with the task of fully integrating a suite of Atlassian applications. And he did it without a sword.

We’re excited to host the first Central Texas Atlassian User Group next month – a place for Atlassian users (Jira, Confluence, Greenhopper, Crucible, etc) to connect and share ideas. We’re expecting over 50 attendees, so we’ll be starting off with a bang!

Altassian’s Jira is perhaps the best issue tracking and software development management platform around. While Jira can be used in many, many ways, it’s found a sweet spot in the gaming industry.