52
votes
Accepted
Task estimation for PMs who are not developers
If at all possible, they don't.
They ask developers to estimate it.
Estimates should always be made by the people who will perform the work being estimated. If this is not done, then you run the ...
- 14.8k
10
votes
Accepted
What are the benefits of queuing tasks as opposed to assigning them?
I will assume that the "push" approach is not only direct, but also immediate.
(Like when someone comes up to you and says "hey, Joe, can we roll this later today?").
The "...
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10
votes
Task estimation for PMs who are not developers
Have Task Performers Provide Estimates
In agile frameworks (and even in sensible non-agile frameworks), project managers should never estimate work items themselves. Instead, the people who will ...
- 50.7k
9
votes
Accepted
Who consumes estimates?
Estimates are a tool that supports planning. Anyone that needs to make decisions and build plans about the future can use estimates as a tool to make predictions and figure stuff out (without knowing ...
- 15.5k
8
votes
Task estimation for PMs who are not developers
It is very rare that this is possible. But it can happen, so let's look at it:
Any estimate is based off of statistical evidence from past experiences doing similar work. If the work we are doing is ...
- 16.9k
8
votes
Is tracking billable time for Scrum ceremonies in JIRA an anti-pattern?
The direct answer to your question is that how you bill your time to the client is not addressed in Scrum. Therefor there is no billing model that is expressly anti-scrum. If adding a place on the ...
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7
votes
Scrum - What and when is the best process to task a user story card in this environment
I am assigned to an Epic expected to take 3 developers for 6 weeks.
There are so very many things wrong with that statement, from a Scrum perspective. I'll go through them in order.
I am assigned ...
- 14.8k
7
votes
Is tracking billable time for Scrum ceremonies in JIRA an anti-pattern?
Scrum works best if you have good product ownership, fixed-length iterations and a stable team. If the backlog is determined by the client and the team is stable then (barring leave and unexpected ...
- 6,345
7
votes
How should large non-reducable tasks be handled in Scrum?
I'm not convinced that what you describe fits the notion of "large, non-reducible tasks". So far, I'm also not convinced that any piece of work is large or can't be reduced to something that ...
- 19.9k
6
votes
What is the weighting difference between Epic/Story/Task
Epics – Large projects that entail many people over a long time.
Stories – Smaller projects within an Epic that must be completed before the Epic can be considered ‘Done’.
Tasks – The day-to-day ...
6
votes
How to visualize and manage task dependencies?
TL;DR
Respect the time box, and do "just-in-time planning." Don't do so much up-front decomposition, and rely instead on iterative delivery to provide you with an emergent design.
Analysis
From an ...
- 50.7k
6
votes
How to deal with a team that fails to complete a task?
There is a not a single answer to this questions. Its imperative to understand how a team should perform so that you can spot dysfunction and respond appropriately. You need to understand the ...
- 171
6
votes
User Story breakdown - Technical Task + User Feature
Sprint Backlog Tasks Aren't Inherently User Stories
You're conflating user stories and tasks. Product Backlog Items often start as user stories on the Product Backlog, but Scrum doesn't mandate the ...
- 50.7k
6
votes
Does such physical-whiteboard-per-team management process exist in the literature?
Looks like something custom, possibly borrowed from, or resembling Kanban.
Kanban has two main principles:
visualize work
limit work in progress
Anything else falls into how you want to organize ...
- 15.5k
5
votes
Accepted
What level of detail should I include in epics?
To me an Epic is a large User Story, every time a requirement comes to our team and it seems very large (e.g. > 13SP), we consider calling it an Epic instead of a Story. A good metric is: Does it ...
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How should we deal with interdependent tasks in Scrum?
I think the question you're asking points more to a problem with how you split your stories/tasks/work items/whatever, and how they're written. Rather than trying to solve the symptoms of this issue, ...
- 904
5
votes
Is tracking billable time for Scrum ceremonies in JIRA an anti-pattern?
TL;DR
Scrum is based on an empirical control methodology. While not directly stated in the Scrum Guide, it essentially posits a roughly-constant run rate for each Sprint, allowing predictable ...
- 50.7k
4
votes
Accepted
JIRA: how to have many Kanban boards for one project
What field are you entering the categories into? I would recommend using "component" (but using label or epic would also work) and then creating either quick filters or swimlanes for the 2 different ...
- 337
4
votes
How should we deal with interdependent tasks in Scrum?
TL;DR
Your Scrum implementation suffers from a number of framework anti-patterns that are detailed below in the Analysis section. These process issues can generally be resolved through:
Adhering to ...
- 50.7k
4
votes
What level of detail should I include in epics?
What is going to change when you have a visual identity? How do you measure success?
Delivering business goals, not just software features
https://www.impactmapping.org/delivering.html
The ...
- 5,553
4
votes
Accepted
Can I break down a vertical story into horizontal tasks?
Short answer: the tasks are for the team to organize their work however they see best to do it. If that means dividing it up into front-end, middleware, and database, that's fine. This is actually a ...
- 16.9k
4
votes
Accepted
User Story breakdown - Technical Task + User Feature
Pay attention to the 'V' in the INVEST mneumonic.
A PBI must deliver value to the stakeholders.
Ask yourself: by itself, does the ability to parse country data from the XYZ feed provide any value ...
- 14.8k
4
votes
Accepted
Small Projects: Asking the right questions
There is no standard list of questions, defined by PMI (or any other organization). You have your own industry, your own vertical, your own org and your own group. It's very specialized...
Part 1, ...
- 316
4
votes
Accepted
Milestone behavior in MS Project
Milestones don't directly affect resource allocation. They are just another element in your schedule (tasks, summary tasks, and milestones). Milestones are scheduled the same way tasks are except they ...
4
votes
Is tracking billable time for Scrum ceremonies in JIRA an anti-pattern?
I'm confused. You say you bill hours to the client. By that I understand "hours of work".
Scrum ceremonies are part of the work the team is doing. When you hold a daily standup for example, ...
- 15.5k
4
votes
Accepted
JIRA how to better manage tasks without stories, and stories without tasks?
Unfortunately it seems like the exact problem you are having does not have an easy solution. The issue was reported back in 2012 on https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSWSERVER-6053 but the makers of ...
- 66
4
votes
Accepted
Does such physical-whiteboard-per-team management process exist in the literature?
Sounds like Utopia
Unfortunately, this process is unlikely to exist in the real world.
Anyone can add tasks to the board
Looks like all work is internally generated by the team. If this is a product,...
- 11.1k
4
votes
Who consumes estimates?
Since you mention sprint planning I will assume your team are using fixed-length iterations. Estimates are for the team. The team should include the senior stakeholder or the person who is accountable ...
- 6,345
4
votes
Accepted
Is Task always decomposed from User Story?
Is Task always decomposed from User Story?
No.
Tasks are often split from a user story, but that does not mean that a task can only exist as part of user stories and thus they always have a smaller ...
- 15.5k
3
votes
Accepted
Best practice to register additional tasks
The dev team can add small tasks needed to accomplish the Sprint Goal to the Sprint Backlog
Here is what the Scrum Guide has to say on this topic:
The Development Team modifies the Sprint Backlog ...
- 11.1k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible