Questions tagged [tasks]
Questions relating to the management of individual tasks in a project or within project management software.
151
questions
4
votes
3answers
76 views
Is Task always decomposed from User Story?
I've heard many times that tasks are basically subsets of user stories and they are derived from User Stories, so on the scale of amount of work that is needed to finish them, a Task is always smaller ...
3
votes
2answers
90 views
Estimating Tasks which have been split from a User Story
Let's say we have a good User Story with Acceptance Criteria and Definition of Done. But the Story is too big and needs to be split into tasks.
The team only uses hours for estimating the backlog ...
1
vote
1answer
29 views
MS Project Task Dependencies
Can anyone recommend a "clean" way to set up these three tasks? Thanks!
Task A
Task B
Task C - Both Task A and Task B are predecessors of Task C as follows:
Task C to start when Task A ...
4
votes
1answer
97 views
How should large non-reducable tasks be handled in Scrum?
How are tasks that do not fit in a Sprint handled in Scrum?
I see the benefit in delivering incremental value each Sprint, but I don't see how all tasks can be reduced to take no longer than a week or ...
0
votes
2answers
75 views
Finding amount of work from quantity and skill of the resource
Question 1) So lets say we have a wall that is 400 sf of area. Lets say one labor can produce 40 sf of wall per day. Then we have 400/40=10 days for 1 labor to build this wall. So this is the duration ...
6
votes
7answers
1k views
Who consumes estimates?
Consider a company that:
works on an own product(not a contractor),
the product has already been released(but is expected to need years of further active development),
the product is a consumer app(...
0
votes
2answers
111 views
Todo Note taking and Eisenhower Decision Matrix - Quadrant 2: Not Urgent but Important Tasks
Bases on the theory of the Eisenhower Decision Matrix, one is supposed to dedicate time preferably to the Quadrant 2 (Q2): Not Urgent but Important Tasks. (reference: The Art of Manliness)
Is to-do ...
2
votes
3answers
174 views
Does such physical-whiteboard-per-team management process exist in the literature?
Does the following sound similar to some established (now or in the past) practice?
One big whiteboard per team.
Tasks are written down in a single short sentence(e.g. "refactor Frubnicator" ...
0
votes
0answers
76 views
Customize the TFS Scrum board
Here is a TFS Scrum board I got from Internet:
I want to know if it is possible to customize the card, as it does have the name of attributed person as redundant information. I would want to replace ...
1
vote
1answer
41 views
Is it possible to display multiple tasks on a single line using ProjectLibre?
I have a project that I have 15 main tasks on. One of them is Meetings. I have had X meetings, and the duration is 1-day. Is there any way to show multiple bars on a single line showing these Meetings ...
0
votes
2answers
152 views
JIRA how to better manage tasks without stories, and stories without tasks?
Is it possible to make it such that single-issues (stories without tasks) can be tracked the same way a story with one task can be tracked? At my company, stories with no tasks are put under "...
8
votes
6answers
1k views
Is tracking billable time for Scrum ceremonies in JIRA an anti-pattern?
We use Story Points for estimating complexity of User Stories, but we bill hours to the client. This is the very first Scrum project within our company, and we don't have enough data to calculate a ...
1
vote
0answers
28 views
MS Project, Resource Availability, Task Usage work hours
I've been using other tools for awhile and have to jump back into MS Project.
I started a high level plan with tasks and resources, however, I'm having trouble remembering the specifics around Task ...
1
vote
1answer
28 views
Can I link or have formulas between task times?
Is it possible to use a formula to get information from "TASK A" as an input "work" in task B?
Example:
Task A is fixed duration of 2 weeks. I have assigned some resources and the total work they do ...
-2
votes
1answer
77 views
task/workflow management best practice [closed]
I know this is not a specific question and I could rephrase it as such if necessary.
I am seeking recommendations on how to manage an individual (my own) task list or how best to create a work ...
1
vote
2answers
89 views
How to reconcile WIP limits with tasks done in parallel by one dev?
Let's say we have five Stories, A, B, C, D, and E. However, while D and E are clearly separate business requirements and should be tested/documented separately, the technical requirements are related/...
0
votes
1answer
179 views
Parallel task with single person poject in microsoft project
I am making plan for my personal project.I have deadline for top level task(Project Planning- 31 days). I have rough idea of how I can divide these 31 days among sub-tasks. For example, Problem ...
1
vote
1answer
281 views
Milestone behavior in MS Project
I am working in MS Project with a project someone else set up. This project contains 29 activities which are auto scheduled, has a minimum start date constraint on an activity, and two milestones. The ...
0
votes
2answers
80 views
Tasks during sprint planning
For the next sprint, Jira displays the total number of story points in the backlog, calling it "Estimate.". This number leaves out tasks, which are estimated in hours, not story points. This makes it ...
5
votes
2answers
228 views
Small Projects: Asking the right questions
I'm a data analyst. I get assigned small projects.
The projects usually take anywhere from 1 day to 2 weeks to complete.
An example would be: Create a system/query that will generate a list of roads ...
0
votes
1answer
65 views
MS Project: Sub-tasks causing unexpected 'Late Start'
I'm attempting to build a schedule and use MS Project to calculate dates and flow, based on constraints and task linking, but am unable to overcome an apparent issue with how the 'Late Start' is ...
2
votes
1answer
2k views
How can the Backlog Item's Effort field be auto calculated in Azure DevOps?
In Azure DevOps, under the Scrum template, is there a way to auto calculate the Backlog Item's "Effort" field based on the summation of its child Task items' "Remaining Work" field?
Example:
A new ...
1
vote
1answer
344 views
Microsoft Project 2019 - problem allocating resources to tasks outside their calendar working hours
We have a standard calendar work week. (Monday to Friday with weekends off)
Our resources have "standard" calendar - so scheduling as standard for them is a normal work week.
However, we have ...
0
votes
1answer
549 views
What is the difference between ABCD analysis and Eisenhower method?
According to Wikipedia, the ABCD analysis is:
Activities are ranked by these general criteria:
A – Tasks that are perceived as being urgent and important,
B – Tasks that are important but ...
3
votes
3answers
790 views
User Story breakdown - Technical Task + User Feature
My team is building a web application that has the following high-level user story:
As a user, I would like the ability to bulk exclude components from a
given country.
The work breaks down into ...
1
vote
1answer
99 views
Microsoft Project 2013 - Auto leveling according to Resource Availability
I am building a project plan on Microsoft Project 2013 and can't understand why it is not allocating a resource.
I have a task set as auto scheduled, fixed work, with a 7 day effort assigned to a ...
3
votes
4answers
321 views
How to arrive at a project plan for migrating a legacy web application to ReactJS based application
I need to come-up with a project plan for migrating a legacy web application to a ReactJS based application.
The legacy web application is written in Vanilla JS, HTML, CSS and there are approximately ...
2
votes
1answer
57 views
Is it wrong to put all projects in one VSTS project and then create nested epics
I had been reading on structuring VSTS. The guideline on structure of projects isn't very clear.
Our scenario is that we have lots of projects and only a small team of 3 developers, 2 testers and 2 ...
23
votes
4answers
4k views
Task estimation for PMs who are not developers
While working Agile, how can a PM estimate a task when he/she is not a developer?
3
votes
1answer
231 views
How can I show short tasks (less than 8 hours) in a JIRA Gantt chart?
I recently installed a few apps (like BigPicture) which help you see the order of work of each programmer. The problem is that when I link some tasks with estimates less than one work day, the Gantt ...
2
votes
0answers
128 views
Ms project - Avoid task split up in minutes
I am trying to update my ms project plan with the following:
- replan al 0% and partly completed tasks from the new status date.
- Tasks can be split up
- Plan based on priority and available time for ...
3
votes
2answers
162 views
How to correctly define tasks in a user story? And can you split the tasks between sprints?
I'm fairly new to Scrum and I'm working with a group of colleagues on a project to learn more about it. Long story short our project is simply creating a website for tourists of our country where they ...
1
vote
1answer
392 views
MS Project - Summary Task split by leveling
I have a summary task, and have the 'Leveling Can Split' option set to No.
The four subtasks which are in sequence, also have LCS set to No.
In the Leveling options I also have 'Leveling can create ...
1
vote
1answer
2k views
EOT and LOT vs EET and LET
Are the Earliest Occurrence time and Latest occurrence time same as the Earliest Event time and Latest event time or are they different? If they are different can you please explain to me what are EOT ...
4
votes
4answers
1k views
How to deal with a team that fails to complete a task?
I had been in a situation where details about the task and the target to be followed have been explained to the team. However, in spite of multiple follow-ups, they fail to complete the defined tasks ...
2
votes
3answers
1k views
How to split or manage a PBI/User Story in multiple sprints for different task types
We're struggling to break Product Backlog Items (PBIs)/User Stories into Sprint-sized chunks as we have multiple steps that need to be completed in a linear fashion.
Each release goes through ...
2
votes
2answers
1k views
ProjectLibre: One person two tasks at the same time
I'm trying to schedule a few tasks in ProjectLibre and I'm also fairly new to PM
The problem
Suppose we have Person1, and he'scheduled on two tasks (100%):
Install device (duration=1hr)
Test ...
1
vote
1answer
87 views
MSProject show main resource on Summary tasks
How can I show the main (resource with maximum hours) for Summary tasks.
I suspect I would need to set a custom text field to show this, but how would I structure this?
thanks
7
votes
3answers
618 views
Can I break down a vertical story into horizontal tasks?
My team and I are implementing Scrum in our project. We are at the phase of dividing user stories into tasks to assign to each developer.
I understand the concept of Slicing the Cake where a user ...
0
votes
2answers
371 views
I want to create a summary task without indenting the subtasks
Is there a way to create a highlevel task that will summarize all the subordinate tasks without indenting the subtasks?
1
vote
1answer
36 views
How can you represent a task which only takes place at specific days on MS Project?
I want to represent a task which only takes place at specific days on MS Project: for example, on 01/01/2018 between 9:00 and 11:00, on 03/03/2018 between 10:00 and 12:00 and on 12/03/2018 between 11:...
0
votes
1answer
44 views
Finding a to-do app to track a particular set of daily tasks given to the team [closed]
We are a small team of developers. We have created a product in text messaging field. Now we have hired few guys for increasing seo of our product website. We have created a list of tasks (...
0
votes
4answers
70 views
Is creating a task to write many stories appropriate?
At my company, we often have meetings where we brainstorm / plan for next steps for our projects. After the meetings, I feel like I have a bunch of stories to write, and creating thorough and ...
1
vote
1answer
208 views
How to create a “smart” checklist in excel or google sheets?
We have a need to create a template checklist for our workflow and at a past job we had a template checklist that had various tabs for each process of the workshare that needed to be complete. For ...
1
vote
1answer
95 views
How should I control a programming project's progress?
We have a startup and it is our first experience. We want to create a mobile application and its website implementation.
We have 3 main parts:
Mobile application
Website application
A server that ...
0
votes
1answer
1k views
In Microsoft Project how to get change in resource max units to cascade to tasks automatically
I had already defined a bunch of tasks, and assigned resources 1 and 2. The durations of the tasks were calculated on the resources Max Units availability at the time of assignment. Later I went ...
5
votes
5answers
513 views
What are the benefits of queuing tasks as opposed to assigning them?
When something needs to be done, be it a new task or getting help with an existing one, a knee-jerk reaction I've often seen in the wild is finding a person to do it.
Here are some random examples of ...
3
votes
5answers
342 views
Is it possible to give accurate estimates and planning without tracking time for tasks?
I work within a small team of developers. We don't track our time so we have no data to work off when we give estimates. Basically, I'm wondering if it's possible to have a successful plan and give ...
0
votes
1answer
114 views
How to Kick off a Task with just 1 predecessor complete
So I have Task A,B,C,
Task B is based on CSF-5, (needs to have finish date 5 days prior to C date), but I want the task to kick off as soon as Task A is completed.
Is there a way to set that?
...
1
vote
1answer
1k views
Why are tasks split while updating plan?
I inserted the actual start for updating a task and then inserted the %comp and reschedule and resource leveling for the plan with ms project 2013. The problem is that the task has been split in ...
