Increasing project visibility with Backlog

In fast-paced software environments, development teams need tools that can scale with their needs, reduce friction, and support transparent collaboration. For Piestar, a Kansas-based software company focused on university research administration, those needs were amplified by their flexible, startup-style culture and distributed team structure.

Founded to help research programs track grant impact and streamline compliance reporting, Piestar has always embraced a DIY approach to workflows. But as the company grew, their development team needed a more structured yet adaptable way to manage tasks, sprints, and bug tracking, without disrupting how they worked best. That’s when they turned to Backlog.

Before adopting Backlog, Piestar’s developers used a combination of physical and digital Kanban boards to manage their tasks. While this method provided a high-level view of work in progress, it fell short when it came to tracking the kind of detailed information needed for sprint planning, QA, and bug reporting.

“We were always looking for better ways to track additional information outside of just task names and descriptions,” says Ryan Woodburn, Piestar’s Director of Software Development.

The lack of structure made it easy for tasks to slip through the cracks, especially when non-developers had no clear way to submit bugs or feedback. Issues were often forgotten or delayed simply because there was no system in place for surfacing them effectively.

Backlog gave Piestar the structure they were missing without compromising their flexibility. After implementing the platform in November 2019, the development team began using Backlog for sprint planning, task tracking, and internal coordination.

“I use Backlog to plan out future sprints and track which branches I need to test,” said Woodburn. “Our developers use it to keep track of their tasks and know when branches need additional changes after being tested.”

Other teams across the company also started using Backlog, finding it made their workflows simpler and more efficient. “Support and sales use Backlog’s email integration to quickly note issues that need fixing without interrupting what they were working on.”

Several features made Backlog stand out to the team. Linking tickets across projects manually helped developers track related tasks and dependencies, while the built-in wiki feature served as a go-to space for documentation.

“We liked the built-in wiki feature, the ability to add dates to tasks, and being able to link tickets across different projects,” Woodburn said. Perhaps most importantly, Backlog’s customizable statuses allowed Piestar to match the platform to their own internal process.

“I love the ability to create tickets via email and link tickets to related tickets in other projects,” he said. “I also just appreciate having easily customizable statuses for tickets.”

Since adopting Backlog, Piestar has seen measurable improvements in development visibility, sprint execution, and cross-functional alignment, including:

• Improved testing and release pipeline: By streamlining their testing and release process, Piestar has been able to deliver updates faster, with fewer delays and less back-and-forth between teams. This has made it easier to plan sprints and stick to deadlines without sacrificing quality. “We’ve greatly improved our testing and release pipeline,” Woodburn noted.

• Increased bug reporting: Before Backlog, team members would often keep mental notes about bugs they spotted, meaning many issues went unreported until much later. Now, logging bugs is quick and easy, so they get documented right away.

Ryan Woodburn, Director of Software Development at Piestar, Inc.

“People will actually report bugs they find instead of making mental notes to ‘get around to mentioning that’”

• Clear sprint visibility: With a shared view of sprint progress, everyone in the company, from developers to stakeholders, can now see exactly what’s been completed, what’s in progress, and what still needs attention. This clarity makes it easier to spot bottlenecks, reassign resources when needed, and keep projects on track without endless status meetings.
• Maintained team alignment: Structured handoffs between teams have improved significantly. Whether it’s moving work from development to QA or passing tasks between product and support, Backlog keeps everyone on the same page. This alignment ensures that priorities are consistent and next steps are always clear, reducing the risk of miscommunication or dropped work.

• Enables informal yet flexible workflows: While Piestar values a relaxed, flexible working style, they’ve found that Backlog gave them just enough structure to stay organized without slowing anyone down. The platform adapts to the way the team likes to work, offering flexibility in how tasks are created, assigned, and tracked while still maintaining visibility across projects.

• Avoided overlooking tasks: With so many competing priorities, keeping track of every deliverable used to be a challenge. Backlog now serves as a single source of truth, so nothing slips through the cracks. “Tracking tasks in Backlog helps us not drop any balls when we’re trying to juggle so many different priorities,” Woodburn explained.

As Piestar continues to grow and refine its development workflows, Ryan Woodburn sees Backlog as an essential part of the team’s future.

Ryan Woodburn, Director of Software Development at Piestar, Inc.

“I recommend Backlog for any other teams that are experiencing the same growing pains we went through on being able to track everything that needs to be done, is being done, or is done and needs testing.”

With a tool that meets the needs of both developers and non-technical teams, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Looking ahead, Piestar plans to continue expanding its use of Backlog to support future development projects, streamline team collaboration, and strengthen visibility across all stages of work.