In Team System the Work Item Type (WIT) is the currency of application – you use them to define your tasks, requirements, bugs etc… This data is stored in the Team Foundation Server data warehouse and can be queried either by using the Work Item Query Language (WIQL) or by coding against the data warehouse fields in SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services. The WIT data can also be exported to Microsoft Project and Microsoft Excel – where it will be presented in tabular form, which will allow for rapid editing / updating of the data. Any changes made can then be synchronised back to Team Foundation Server.
WITs are defined by an Xml document that consists of three parts:
- Field Definitions – this is where new types are defined and configured (such as default value, whether the field is required and what its help text is)
- Workflow – this allows you to define the different states of the fields and the legal state transitions they go through
- Form Layout – very simple tabular layout for defining where the fields should be placed on the form.
Scrum is a very light-weight framework (Ken Schwaber states that it's not a methodology - because it doesn't tell you what to do - it is most analogous to the rules of a game) and thus in the current build of our Scrum plug-in for Visual Studio Team System - “Agile Software Development with Scrum for Team System” - we only have three different Work Item Types:
- A Sprint
- A Product Backlog Item
- A Sprint Backlog Item (represents Tasks, Bugs and Impediments)
I'll describe them in more depth in the following sections:
Sprint:
The Sprint WIT represents the iteration in which the development team is going to deliver working software. It is very light-weight WIT but should let you capture all the information you need. The complete list of fields for this WIT are listed below:
Fields:
Title - Name of Sprint
Sprint Number - The number of the Sprint
Capacity - The number of available hours the team can work during the Sprint
Sprint Start Date - The date the Sprint starts
Sprint End Date - The date the Sprint ends
Current Status - This is the status of the sprints as selected by the user. The choices are:
- Done – Sprint completed
- Not Done- Sprint to be completed
- Cancelled –Sprint was cancelled part way through
Description - Field that can be used to record any relevant sprint information such as general goal, team holidays etc
History - This field shows any changes made to the Sprint item and by whom
File Attachments - allows you to attach any related documents to the Sprint
Product Backlog Item:
The Product Backlog WIT represents a requirement made by "The Business". It is defined using business terminology (not technical), assigned a value of importance to the business, and the effort required to complete the requirement is given in days. The complete list of fields for this WIT are listed below:
Fields:
Title - This is the name and/or number of the product backlog item
Estimated Effort - This is the estimated time that it will take for this item to be completed - usually measures in days.
Relative Value - This is the defined business value of this product backlog item.
Sprint Number - The Sprint Number that the Product Backlog Item will be developed in. This does not have to assigned as soon as the item is created - it can be assigned as the project progresses
Work Remaining - This field is automatically populated once Sprint Backlog Items have been associated to their parent Product Backlog Item. It shows the work remaining (in hours) - aggregated from all child Sprint Backlog Items.
Current Status - This is the status of the product backlog item as selected by the user. The choices are:
- Not Done - no work has been started on this product backlog item
- In Progress - work is currently underway on this product backlog item
- Deferred - work was started on this product backlog item but has been halted. The item is deferred and will be worked on again in the future
- Done – product backlog item is complete and production quality
Description - This is the full description of the product backlog item
History - This field shows any changes made to the Product backlog item and by whom
Relative Value - This is the priority of this product backlog item, as defined by the business
Links - Allows you to create relationships between work items, for example you can link a Sprint Backlog item to it’s parent Product Backlog item.
File Attachments - Area you can upload associated documents (i.e. wire frames, user stories etc…) to.
Sprint Backlog Item:
The Sprint Backlog Item WIT represents the tasks involved in completing a Product Backlog Item. The Sprint Backlog Item WIT can represent a task, a bug or an impediment - they are defined using technical terminology, the estimated effort and work remaining values are both given in hours - because the task is now granular enough to be assigned a more accurate estimate. The complete list of fields for this WIT are listed below:
Fields:
Title - Title of the Sprint Backlog Item
Estimated Effort - This is the initial estimate of the effort required to complete the sprint backlog item – usually measured in hours.
Work Remaining - Amount of estimated work left to be completed on the backlog item – usually measured in hours.
Sprint Number- This is the number of the Sprint that this Sprint Backlog will be completed in
Backlog Item Type - This drop down list defines whether the Sprint Backlog Item is a Task, a Bug or an Impediment.
Owned By - Person who has chosen to carry out this task
Current Status - Defines the current state of the Sprint Backlog item. The choices are:
- Not Done - no work has been started on this Sprint Backlog Item
- In Progress - work is currently underway on this Sprint Backlog Item
- Deferred -work was started on this Sprint Backlog Item but has been halted. The item is deferred and will be worked on again in the future (most likely the next Sprint)
- Done - Sprint Backlog Item is complete and production quality
Description - Description of the Sprint Backlog Item
History - This field shows any changes made to the Sprint Backlog item and by whom
Links - The Sprint Backlog item can be linked to the Product Backlog item. The linkage is two-way - links the Sprint Backlog item to the Product Backlog item and vice versa
File Attachments - Area you can upload associated documents (i.e. wire frames, user stories etc…) to.
So what do you think? Are these the fields you'd expect? Are we missing anything? I'd love to hear your feedback.