---
title: 'Launching Trajectory: Communication Builds Better Software '
teaser:
tags: news,trajectory
author: Chad Pytel
published_on: 2011-04-12
---

Over the past 8 years, we’ve used many tools for project communication and
planning and we tried very hard to not write our own. The latest combination was
Basecamp and Pivotal Tracker. Basecamp was great for discussion and
communication. Pivotal Tracker was great for user stories and emergent planning.

However, we’ve grown tired of having one tool that designers love, one tool that
developers love, and no tool that clients love.

**I'm excited to take the lid off of our newest product,
[Trajectory](http://apptrajectory.com).**

[![''](http://images.thoughtbot.com/ui/trajectory-logo.jpg)](http://apptrajectory.com)

Trajectory is an agile planning tool that helps teams discuss and plan their
projects in a realistic, structured way.

We set out last summer to create something which met the following goals:

* **Encourage conversation. **The ability to start with a feature idea, and have
  a real conversation that defines exactly what to build and results in a story
  that describes what that is.
* **Embody a clear workflow. **A better system for people to know exactly what
  to work on next and do so in a way that designers, developers and clients all
  agree makes sense.
* **Look and work great.**Be easy to understand, embrace workflow and
  linkability, and be enjoyable to use.
* **Track velocity and have emergent iterations. **A way for all team members to
  know where things really stand, and what momentum looks like.

We created Trajectory to solve our own problems. We now use it on all of our
projects. Maybe it can solve your problems too. I invite you to [learn more and
give it a try for free today](http://apptrajectory.com). If you're currently
using Pivotal Tracker, you can import your project and get up and running in a
matter of minutes.

Many thanks to all the designers and developers at thoughtbot who have worked on
this since last summer's
[CapeCo.de](https://thoughtbot.com/blog/recap-capeco-de), our clients who were
the early, enthusiastic alpha testers, and our designer and developer friends
who have helped us work through bugs and add polish in the last few weeks.