Project management software for tech companies

Use this as a buyer's checklist. It is written for software, SaaS and IT teams, and it assumes AI agents will be doing some of the work within a year, since most developers already use AI daily or plan to ^[4].

1. 01

   Tasks that know about the code

   A pull request or commit that mentions a task should appear on that task without anyone pasting a link. If the team still tracks bugs in GitHub Issues, the two should stay in sync in both directions, with a guard against the sync echoing itself forever.

2. 02

   Sprint plans that learn from actuals

   The tool should compare estimates with logged time per person and use the history to say what fits in a sprint with a stated confidence, without overwriting the original estimate. A plan that cannot tell a coin-flip commitment from a safe one is guessing.

3. 03

   AI agents with a scope, an approval step and an undo

   An agent should see only the projects it is allowed to see, ask before any category of action you choose, record every action it takes, and let a person reverse one. Trust in AI output is low among developers ^[4], so the controls matter more than the demo.

4. 04

   An API, a CLI and an MCP server

   Engineers automate. The tool should expose a documented REST API, a command line, and a Model Context Protocol server so AI assistants can work with it directly. MCP is an open standard for connecting AI applications to external systems ^[11].

5. 05

   Follow-ups that survive the meeting

   Postmortems only work when their actions are tracked to completion. Google's SRE guidance defines a postmortem as a written record of an incident, its impact, the actions taken, the root causes and the follow-up actions to prevent recurrence, written without blame ^[10]. The follow-ups belong on the board, owned and dated.

6. 06

   Identity and security evidence your customers will ask for

   SaaS companies sell into security reviews, so the tools they run on get reviewed too. Expect SAML or OIDC single sign-on, SCIM, multi-factor sign-in and an audit log, and ask exactly where the vendor's SOC 2 stands. SOC 2 reports cover security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy ^[12].

Each item below describes the product as it ships today. Where something is opt-in, it is off until a workspace turns it on, because anything that acts on its own or spends AI credits in Kavanah starts disabled.

Each competitor cell describes only what that vendor's own public page said when we checked it on October 24, 2026: Jira's product, features, agile and integrations pages and Atlassian's SOC 2 page ^{[13][14][15][16][17]}, Linear's home, pricing and security pages ^[18][19][20], Asana's engineering, pricing and trust pages ^[21][22][23], and monday dev's product and pricing pages ^[24][25]. "Not described" means the page we checked did not say, not that the product lacks it. Kavanah cells describe the product as it ships.

What is the best project management software for tech companies?

The one that links your tasks to your code, plans on real estimates and lets you control any AI agent it runs. Jira is the most widely used tracker among developers, Linear is popular with product-led startups, and Asana and monday dev cover engineering alongside other teams. Kavanah is built for teams that want AI agents doing the coordination work, with scopes, approvals, an action ledger and undo, on a price of $3 a seat a month.

Does Kavanah integrate with GitHub?

Yes. The GitHub App syncs repositories, pull requests and commits, and links each one to a task when its title or message references the task, for example "fixes #123". Two-way GitHub Issues sync is available per repository and is off until you turn it on. GitLab repositories can be added as well.

Can Kavanah replace Jira?

It can, but you do not have to switch to start. Kavanah connects to Jira, Asana, ClickUp, monday and Notion, so a team can keep its current tracker as the system of record while Kavanah's agents work across it. Trello, monday and CSV imports move tasks in when you decide to move.

How does Kavanah plan sprints?

It compares each person's logged hours with their estimates over the last 90 days, then packs the backlog into the team's capacity twice: at the median, which is a coin flip, and at the 90th percentile, which is a commitment worth making. It reports what fits and what was deferred, and never rewrites the stored estimates. A person commits the sprint.

Are Kavanah's AI agents safe to use on production work?

Agents in Kavanah see only the projects they are given, and safe mode removes risky tools such as deletes and outside email entirely. Action policies make any category of action wait for a person's approval, every action is recorded in a ledger, and actions can be undone. An agent cannot grant itself authority. Anything that runs on its own or spends credits is opt-in.

Does Kavanah have an API?

Yes. There is a REST API with a published OpenAPI specification, workspace API keys that carry the permissions of the person who created them, the kvn command line, and an MCP server so Claude can use your Kavanah workspace as a connector.

Is Kavanah SOC 2 certified?

Not yet. The SOC 2 Type II observation period is underway and there is no report to share today. Kavanah supports SAML 2.0 and OIDC single sign-on and SCIM on the Enterprise plan, TOTP and passkey multi-factor sign-in, per-project and per-task access control and an immutable audit log. The security page describes the controls in detail.

How much does Kavanah cost for an engineering team?

Basic is $3 a seat a month and Pro is $6, both with unlimited seats and projects. AI usage is metered in credits, with an allowance included per seat, and there is a flat Scale plan for AI-heavy workspaces. You can start free.

• IT Project Management Software: Eight Things to Require Before You BuyIT teams buy a project tool and then spend a year working around it. Here are the eight requirements that decide whether it fits: code links, honest estimates, agents with limits, an API, and the security answers your own customers will ask for.
• SaaS Roadmap to Release: Turning Quarterly Bets Into Sprints That Actually ShipA SaaS roadmap is a list of bets. A sprint is a promise. Most teams lose the thread between the two. Here is how to keep the year, the quarter and the sprint connected without re-planning every fortnight.
• Sprint Estimation With p50 and p90: Why Your Commitment Should Be the 90th PercentileAn estimate is a guess with a confidence level nobody writes down. Plan at the median and you miss half your sprints. Here is how p50 and p90 planning works, and why it never touches the original estimate.
• GitHub Issues and Project Tasks: How a Two-Way Sync Avoids the Infinite LoopTwo-way sync sounds simple until the first edit bounces back and forth forever. Here is how to keep GitHub Issues and your project tasks in step, which fields to sync, and which to leave alone.
• Postmortem Follow-Ups That Get Done: Running Action Items as Tracked WorkThe postmortem is written, the meeting ends, and the action items quietly expire in a document. Here is how to turn a blameless review into owned, dated work that competes for sprint capacity in the open.
• AI Agents for Engineering Teams: Driving Your Project Board From the API, the CLI and MCPEngineers do not want another chat window. They want the board inside the tools they already use, and an agent they can script. Here is how the API, the CLI and MCP fit together, and the controls that make it safe.