We use bugzilla to track bugs and feature requests, and we also require developers to write to a separate release notes should they finish coding a feature. Old fashion, I know.
One problem we have with the above arrangement, is that while it works great for software that we are already selling, it is completely useless when comes to track the progress of a new software development project. The reason is that at the point of developing new software, we don't,or rather, we can't, use bugzilla to trace the features simply because bugzilla is not suitable to represent the complicated intricacy of feature dependency ( To complete a new software application, there are just too many features to code and we just don't feel like putting them in bugzilla, and even if we did, we had no way of knowing which features depend on which, and we won't be able to get an accurate prediction of the shipping date anyway).
Then, our stakeholders will get concerned about our development progress ( or lack of) and start banging on the team lead ( yours truly)'s door on the estimates, which I can't answer because tragically, I also honestly don't quite know how far is the new application from completion.
How would you present your software development progress to your stakeholders?
Best Answer
Do it the Agile way: Demo early and demo often.
Nothing beats the visceral feeling of actually using it to give a feel for progress.