Jira / Sprints / Backlog

Why Jira?

• The aim of working in Jira is to document a list of tasks:

  • What we have yet to start

  • What is in progress

  • What is completed

• Jira is not being implemented to track the time taken for a team member to complete a task. There is a time element to the process but this is used so that we understand how much work the team can typically complete within a set period...and then this metric (gathered from historic data) aids future work planning.

Managing Tasks

• Tasks to be done are categorised in Jira as 'Issues'.

• In Jira, there are 3 issue types (Story, Task, Bug), however all issues that we will create in Jira should be defined as a ‘Story’ as this type has more functionality than the other types.

• When a story is created the following information is added to it:

  • Name

  • Description

  • Unique ID (Auto created)

  • Parent (previously Epic) Category (Project ID - select from list)

  • Component Category (Work Type - select from list)

  • Assignee (Team Member doing the work)

  • Story Point (A value indicating the estimated time to complete the task) - See separate section

• Stories are created in the ‘Backlog’ by anyone (typically the person that knows most about the task).

• The 'Backlog' contains a number of buckets used to sort stories by status (planned / unplanned) and priority. Stories can be dragged from bucket to bucket… for further details see the list of backlog buckets below.

Sprints

• Stories are worked on during a ‘Sprint’ (a period of time with a start and end date). UX team sprints are of 2 weeks duration (starting on a Monday and finishing on a Friday).

• Prior to the sprint starting, the stories to be added are agreed during a short ‘Sprint Planning’ meeting involving team members.

• Each team member will have an agreed number of story points that can be added to a sprint and this determines the number of stories that are added to each sprint.

Story Points

1 story point should equate to the work that a team member can complete during a typical workday including meetings. So for example if a story is created and the task described would take one and a quarter normal working days to complete.. then that Jira story would be given 1.25 story points.

The story points assigned to a Jira story should be agreed with the person doing the work during sprint planning.

Story point values to be used: 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.25, 1.5, etc

Each team member will have a maximum number of story points that they can reasonably be expected to complete during a sprint which excludes holidays.

Agreed story points per sprint

Backlog Buckets

Parents (Epics)

A 'Parent’ is a category in Jira that can be assigned to a story. We are using Parents to categorise our Projects and therefore link our stories to Projects for future reporting.

Parents are created as we first learn about projects… if you need a Parent created for a ticket you have created please contact Mike or Matt O.

Components

A ‘Component’ is a category in Jira that can be assigned to a story. We are using Components to categorise our work Activities and therefore link our stories to Activities for future reporting.

Components have been created for the work we are currently undertaking… if you need a Component created for a ticket you have created please contact Mike or Matt O.

Using Jira

• Please feel free to create items in the backlog and place them in the ‘High Priority’, ‘Non Project’ or Backlog - General Low Priority buckets

• Please feel free to progress your own tickets through the current sprint’s Kanban board

• Please feel free to add to the description of a story assigned to you or add a comment

• Please feel free to link a document link to a story assigned to you

• Please feel free to flag a story as blocked and add a comment as to why

• Please do not add or remove stories from the current sprint without agreement with Mike or Matt O. It won’t break anything but it does affect the sprint metrics and reporting.

• Please do not adjust the story point values assigned to a Jira story in the currently running sprint without agreement with Mike or Matt O. It won’t break anything but it does affect the sprint metrics and reporting.

Naming Conventions

• Stories

  • <project description> - <brief work description>
    eg Mobile App - promotional video
    eg Savings base build - UI designs
    eg Broker CRM - User Journeys

• Parents

  • UX - Broker : <Project Name>
    eg UX - Broker : CRM

  • UX - Connect : <Project Name>
    eg UX - Connect : Broker ID

  • UX - Lenders : <Project Name>
    eg UX - Lenders : Apprivo Savings Base Build

  • UX - Group : <Project Name>
    eg UX - Group : Finova Website

• Components

  • UX : <ID> : <Activity>
    eg UX : 01 : Discovery