How to Switch from Pivotal Tracker to ClickUp
If you manage agile software projects in Pivotal Tracker and want a more flexible workspace, switching to ClickUp can give you a single platform for planning, tracking, and collaborating on every task.
This step-by-step guide walks you through evaluating Pivotal Tracker, setting up your new workspace, and recreating your workflows so you can confidently manage product development inside ClickUp.
Why Move from Pivotal Tracker to ClickUp
Before you start, it helps to understand what you gain by changing your primary work management tool.
The reference comparison explains that product teams often grow beyond basic story boards and need a more complete system.
- Multiple project views instead of only story boards
- Custom fields for richer requirements
- Deeper collaboration across departments
- Scalable structure from simple tasks to complex roadmaps
- More adaptable workflows for non-engineering teams
With the right setup, ClickUp lets engineering, product, design, marketing, and operations share one hub instead of spreading work across several tools.
Step 1: Review Your Current Pivotal Tracker Setup
Start by auditing how you use Pivotal Tracker today. This makes it easier to rebuild or improve your system later.
- List all active projects and backlogs
- Identify story types you rely on most
- Review epics, labels, and tags that organize your work
- Note how you estimate effort, such as points or other scales
- Document your sprint or iteration cadence
Capture screenshots of your boards and key project configurations. These will guide how you configure spaces and views in ClickUp.
Step 2: Plan Your Workspace Structure in ClickUp
The next step is to map your Pivotal Tracker layout into a scalable hierarchy.
In a typical structure, you can use:
- Workspaces for your entire organization
- Spaces for major areas like Product, Engineering, or Marketing
- Folders for applications, services, or domains
- Lists for sprints, epics, or feature groups
Match each Pivotal Tracker project to a folder or space. Then match stories and features to lists and tasks inside ClickUp.
How to Mirror Story Types in ClickUp
Pivotal Tracker stories usually fall into categories like features, bugs, chores, and epics. You can represent these with:
- Task types or custom fields for story categories
- Tags for quick filtering across lists
- Custom statuses to reflect your exact workflow stages
Document this mapping before you move anything so every new task in ClickUp has a clear, consistent structure.
Step 3: Configure Workflows and Statuses in ClickUp
To keep agile teams productive, your workflow needs to be crystal clear.
Look at your existing stages in Pivotal Tracker, such as:
- Backlog
- Ready
- In Progress
- In Review
- Accepted or Done
In ClickUp, create a status set that mirrors or improves this flow. You can use different status groups for different teams while still reporting across them.
Best Practices for ClickUp Statuses
- Keep status names short and action-oriented
- Use color-coding to show progress at a glance
- Avoid too many micro-steps that slow updates
- Make sure every status has a clear exit condition
Once your statuses are in place, you can build views like Kanban boards and lists that match what your team is used to, while adding new reporting abilities.
Step 4: Rebuild or Import Key Data into ClickUp
Now you are ready to bring your work into the new system. For many teams, this is a mix of high-level migration and selective recreation.
Use these guidelines to avoid clutter while preserving important history:
- Move only active projects and critical backlogs
- Archive or export old stories you rarely touch
- Recreate epics as parent tasks or lists
- Convert labels into tags or custom fields in ClickUp
If you plan a bulk import, prepare a spreadsheet that maps columns like title, description, type, status, and due date to fields in ClickUp. Clean the data before importing to avoid duplicates and confusing labels.
How to Organize Epics and Features in ClickUp
The reference article describes how modern product tools use flexible structures for epics and features. To follow the same approach, you can:
- Create epics as parent tasks with sub-tasks for stories
- Use lists for feature groups inside each folder
- Track initiative-level work with an additional list or space
This structure makes it easy to zoom out to a roadmap or zoom in to specific user stories and bugs.
Step 5: Set Up Agile Views in ClickUp
One major advantage discussed in the source comparison is having multiple ways to visualize work. Once your tasks exist, configure views that help product teams move faster.
Useful views to create include:
- Board view to replace your Pivotal Tracker-style story board
- List view to prioritize backlogs and triage bugs
- Calendar or timeline views for release planning
- Workload-style views to understand team capacity
For each view in ClickUp, configure filters and grouping so developers see only what matters, like current sprint stories or bugs assigned to them.
Building Sprints in ClickUp
Your agile cadence can continue with sprints built using lists or dedicated sprint features. When setting this up:
- Create a separate list for each sprint or iteration
- Assign start and end dates to each sprint
- Filter views to the current iteration for daily standups
- Use estimates or points fields to track planned versus completed work
This approach mirrors Pivotal Tracker iterations while giving you a modern interface and more flexible reporting options.
Step 6: Enable Collaboration Features in ClickUp
The source article highlights that modern product tools emphasize team-wide visibility. After your structure is in place, configure collaboration elements that keep everyone aligned.
- Set watchers or followers on key tasks
- Use comments for discussions instead of scattered messages
- Mention stakeholders directly inside tasks
- Attach specs, designs, and test cases to the relevant items
You can also create documentation pages to store product requirements, release notes, and onboarding guides next to the work itself, making ClickUp a central knowledge hub.
Step 7: Train Your Team on ClickUp
A successful switch from Pivotal Tracker depends on people, not just tools. Plan a short onboarding process so everyone understands how to work in the new environment.
- Run a walkthrough of your spaces, folders, and lists
- Explain how story types and labels were mapped
- Show how to update statuses and log progress
- Demonstrate daily workflows, including standups and reviews
- Collect feedback and refine views or fields
Use a pilot project to validate your approach before fully retiring Pivotal Tracker. Adjust statuses, fields, and views in ClickUp according to the team’s feedback.
Step 8: Optimize and Scale Your ClickUp Workspace
Once your teams settle into the new system, you can add more advanced capabilities to improve planning and reporting.
- Create dashboards to track velocity and throughput
- Standardize templates for epics, user stories, and bugs
- Add automation rules to reduce manual updates
- Introduce more teams beyond engineering, such as design and marketing
Regularly review which views people actually use, then simplify the rest. This keeps ClickUp fast and easy to navigate as your organization grows.
Where to Learn More About ClickUp and Alternatives
To understand how this platform compares to other tools, you can read the full breakdown of Pivotal Tracker alternatives on the official blog at this detailed comparison page. It explains how teams choose the right work management system as products and organizations scale.
If you want expert help designing a scalable workspace structure, agile workflows, and integrations around ClickUp, you can also explore consulting resources such as Consultevo for strategic implementation support.
By following the steps in this guide, you can move from Pivotal Tracker to a more flexible, all-in-one platform and keep your software projects organized, trackable, and ready to grow.
Need Help With ClickUp?
If you want expert help building, automating, or scaling your ClickUp workspace, work with ConsultEvo — trusted ClickUp Solution Partners.
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