Wanted: free online way to share backlog and iterations planning docs

Ask questions and discuss topics of interest related to the FamilySearch wiki found at http://wiki.familysearch.org.

Moderator: ForbesMM

RitcheyMT
Member
Posts: 113
Joined: Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:33 am

Wanted: free online way to share backlog and iterations planning docs

#1

Post by RitcheyMT »

We have a disconnect between three "development groups" and need to coordinate their task list into an online source everyone can use. Here are the groups:
  1. The "wiki standup" team of employees who meet each day at 9 AM.
  2. Usergroup meeting attendees.
  3. FamilySearch Wiki forum users.
In usergroup meeting last week I showed the whiteboards and sticky notes the standup team uses to prioritize enhancement requests and plan iteration development and resource allocation. Seeing the long list of open tasks, some usergroup attendees volunteered to take several tasks off the back of our employees. Thanks! This is how a wiki should work!

I proposed that we get this document online in a form where volunteers can see it and volunteer for tasks. I think everyone on the employee team agrees that this would help us develop the wiki faster. Now we need a solution.

One possible solution is Google Docs. It would let us create an online spreadsheet that multiple people can edit without stepping on each other. Lots of organizations use it this way.

Please propose any other solutions that may apply, and let's vote on them soon.
The_Earl
Member
Posts: 278
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2007 9:12 am

Ideas

#2

Post by The_Earl »

http://www.scrumwiki.com/

I don't know anything about this, but the title is right :)

We use ScrumWorks. http://www.danube.com/scrumworks

ScrumWorks is a Java web start app. It has a basic security model, but I am not sure I would trust a public instance to be completely secure. I also dislike the non-visual nature of it, as it is kind of nice to see the post-its move from one queue to another. In ScrumWorks, you have to open the client and view the burndown chart to see the progress you are making.

Thanks
The Earl
ForbesMM
New Member
Posts: 48
Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:44 am
Location: Salt Lake City

#3

Post by ForbesMM »

A couple task related extensions.....

http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Category:Task_extensions
engerhk-p40
New Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 4:30 pm

Todo Tasks

#4

Post by engerhk-p40 »

The Todo Tasks extension posted by Mollie may be helpful and it would allow the data to be tracked within the wiki (unlike the other suggestions I've read thus far). The only concern I have is that it lacks a mechanism to enter/display remaining hours or ideal days. As this data feeds the burndown chart, it allows us to determine the status of the sprint tasks and how close the sprint is to completion.
The_Earl
Member
Posts: 278
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2007 9:12 am

#5

Post by The_Earl »

ritcheymt wrote:In usergroup meeting last week I showed the whiteboards and sticky notes the standup team uses to prioritize enhancement requests and plan iteration development and resource allocation. Seeing the long list of open tasks, some usergroup attendees volunteered to take several tasks off the back of our employees. Thanks! This is how a wiki should work!

I proposed that we get this document online in a form where volunteers can see it and volunteer for tasks. I think everyone on the employee team agrees that this would help us develop the wiki faster.

I think that some of your tasks might not want to be public. Specifically, high priority security issues should probably not be posted on the wiki.

You also might think about hiding all current sprint tasks, so that a wiki user does not jump into an edit war with someone tasked with completing that task.

So I propose that you open the backlog generally, but mark the current sprint's tasks as completed at the beginning of the sprint. For the next sprint, I would make committed tasks read-only.

This would allow users to see items move into the sprints, and see their issue get prioritized and fixed, but not get users and employees tripping over each other.

Thanks
The Earl
Darris Williams-p40
New Member
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2008 10:52 am
Location: Highland Utah

Scrum

#6

Post by Darris Williams-p40 »

The srumworks option looks good and would probably address the needs that Kip mentioned. Is it something we can implement with our wiki or not?

I think the Earl had a good thought on questioning just how much of the current iteration tasks we want to make public. I would like to hear input on this from Kip and Jim.
RitcheyMT
Member
Posts: 113
Joined: Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:33 am

#7

Post by RitcheyMT »

The Earl wrote:I think that some of your tasks might not want to be public. Specifically, high priority security issues should probably not be posted on the wiki.

You also might think about hiding all current sprint tasks, so that a wiki user does not jump into an edit war with someone tasked with completing that task.

So I propose that you open the backlog generally, but mark the current sprint's tasks as completed at the beginning of the sprint. For the next sprint, I would make committed tasks read-only.

This would allow users to see items move into the sprints, and see their issue get prioritized and fixed, but not get users and employees tripping over each other.
Thanks, Earl -- good ideas. One question, though -- what do you mean about the edit war? I understand the concept of edit wars, but I'm trying to think of an example of how an edit war would affect the completion of a sprint task. Not questioning the idea; just curious.
RitcheyMT
Member
Posts: 113
Joined: Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:33 am

Task_extensions

#8

Post by RitcheyMT »

molliewog wrote:A couple task related extensions.....

http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Category:Task_extensions
First of all, good find, Mollie -- and quick, too.

Now a question. I looked at http://www.s23.org/wiki/Special:Tasks, which is the example implementation noted on the abovementioned page. I am confused, though. In this implementation, I don't see a place to communicate the use case or story or customer need that a task is designed to fulfill. It's all very cryptic. That could be because this implementation is for a rather limited group of insider coders who understand each other's cryptic notes. But I'm just trying to imagine where we'd put a good use case if we used the tool. Not trying to be critical; just trying to imagine our furniture in this house. :) Does anyone else see a good place to put this information?
RitcheyMT
Member
Posts: 113
Joined: Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:33 am

Re: Scrumworks

#9

Post by RitcheyMT »

The Earl wrote:
We use ScrumWorks. http://www.danube.com/scrumworks
Wow. Nice heads-up, Earl. I watched the tutorial and was impressed. This seems to have all the functionality that Kip Enger, our project manager ("Mr. Check-off") wants.

I'd be interested to see a comparison of features between the freeware and pro versions, as well as some cost/licensing info. Kip, if you like the look of this product, could you obtain these details for the team?
RitcheyMT
Member
Posts: 113
Joined: Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:33 am

#10

Post by RitcheyMT »

The Earl wrote:http://www.scrumwiki.com/

I don't know anything about this, but the title is right :)
I visited the site; there's no example of an implementation. They used to have one, but people abused it. I searched the Wayback Machine to see the implementation, and found a link to it, but the implementation was not archived by Wayback. :(

It's possible, though, to download the code and have a look that way. Kip? Jim? Would this be worth doing?
Locked

Return to “FamilySearch Wiki”