Comments on: Jira and GreenHopper for agile project management http://properosolutions.com/2009/12/jira-and-greenhopper-for-agile-project-management/ Helping organizations succeed with agile software development Wed, 21 Mar 2012 09:29:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Brad http://properosolutions.com/2009/12/jira-and-greenhopper-for-agile-project-management/comment-page-1/#comment-680 Brad Tue, 28 Dec 2010 21:05:35 +0000 http://accelerateagile.com/2009/12/jira-and-greenhopper-for-agile-project-management/#comment-680 Jira/GH 4.2 (and I think also 4.0 and 4.1) has an "epic" field that is of type "label". You may need an administrator to enable this field and make it visible for your project. Once it's there, you can assign the same label name, in the "epic" field, to all stories that are included in that epic - and to the Epic Jira item itself. Now if you include the "epic" field in the Jira/GH cards layout, you can click on the "epic" label for one card and Jira will show all other items with the same "epic" label. See here for more info: http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/GH/Working+with+Epics Jira/GH 4.2 (and I think also 4.0 and 4.1) has an “epic” field that is of type “label”. You may need an administrator to enable this field and make it visible for your project. Once it’s there, you can assign the same label name, in the “epic” field, to all stories that are included in that epic – and to the Epic Jira item itself. Now if you include the “epic” field in the Jira/GH cards layout, you can click on the “epic” label for one card and Jira will show all other items with the same “epic” label.
See here for more info: http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/GH/Working+with+Epics

]]> By: Janis Workman http://properosolutions.com/2009/12/jira-and-greenhopper-for-agile-project-management/comment-page-1/#comment-670 Janis Workman Fri, 24 Dec 2010 00:10:17 +0000 http://accelerateagile.com/2009/12/jira-and-greenhopper-for-agile-project-management/#comment-670 JIRA, EPIC and Story-point: Hi Brad, I am again knocking your door for answer to my next question of agile development with JIRA. I am currently working on large epic. I can't estimate it. I am planning to have 5-6 User Stories linked to this epic. Each user-story is further divided into tasks ( which I can estimate in hours). My question is regarding linking User- Stories to epic in JIRA. I am unable to find any way to link epic with user-story. I am using JIRA version 4.0. Thanks in advance for your help. Regards, Arun Sharma JIRA, EPIC and Story-point: Hi Brad, I am again knocking your door for answer to my next question of agile development with JIRA. I am currently working on large epic. I can’t estimate it. I am planning to have 5-6 User Stories linked to this epic. Each user-story is further divided into tasks ( which I can estimate in hours). My question is regarding linking User- Stories to epic in JIRA. I am unable to find any way to link epic with user-story. I am using JIRA version 4.0. Thanks in advance for your help. Regards, Arun Sharma

]]> By: Brad http://properosolutions.com/2009/12/jira-and-greenhopper-for-agile-project-management/comment-page-1/#comment-313 Brad Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:54:28 +0000 http://accelerateagile.com/2009/12/jira-and-greenhopper-for-agile-project-management/#comment-313 Lawrence, Confluence is a great tool to supplement Jira. If you have tasks that really don't fit into the same workflow as development items, then tracking those in confluence might be a good solution. However, if writing the "pre-release document" is work to be done by the team, then it might be better to track it in Jira along with all the rest of the team's work - their _single_ backlog. And yes, a document might not be "resolved", but at some point it needs to be "done", so you can agree as a team that for documents, the "resolved" workflow state means that the doc is completed, and perhaps also reviewed or approved. Lawrence,
Confluence is a great tool to supplement Jira. If you have tasks that really don’t fit into the same workflow as development items, then tracking those in confluence might be a good solution. However, if writing the “pre-release document” is work to be done by the team, then it might be better to track it in Jira along with all the rest of the team’s work – their _single_ backlog. And yes, a document might not be “resolved”, but at some point it needs to be “done”, so you can agree as a team that for documents, the “resolved” workflow state means that the doc is completed, and perhaps also reviewed or approved.

]]> By: Lawrence Ong http://properosolutions.com/2009/12/jira-and-greenhopper-for-agile-project-management/comment-page-1/#comment-311 Lawrence Ong Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:24:49 +0000 http://accelerateagile.com/2009/12/jira-and-greenhopper-for-agile-project-management/#comment-311 Hi Brad, Thanks for your reply -- I looked into JSS which may perform some of the automation tasks - although from what I can tell it looks like a stitch-job. But, I think there's a fundamental issue here -- The tasks which are created for the purpose of managing a project, usually do not follow the standard status/resolution codes set up for Issues/Features. For example, a task called Prepare Pre-Release Document, isn't "resolved" when it's completed -- there doesn't seem to be a way to create a subset of values for status/resolution based on the type of task... I think this should sit outside of Jira/Greenhopper, but I'm not sure which application can work with JIRA in this manner. What I've come up with is confluence -- a wiki which uses a dynamic task list to check for users to check off when the item is completed. However, if the person completing apre-release document is the same person managing the tickets via Jira/Gh (which I think is the function of a product owner), then he or she has to look at 2 lists, further complicating the process. If my use-case(s) is very different from others, perhaps you can shed light on how these are tackled in different organizations. thanks, Lawrence Hi Brad,

Thanks for your reply — I looked into JSS which may perform some of the automation tasks – although from what I can tell it looks like a stitch-job.

But, I think there’s a fundamental issue here — The tasks which are created for the purpose of managing a project, usually do not follow the standard status/resolution codes set up for Issues/Features. For example, a task called Prepare Pre-Release Document, isn’t “resolved” when it’s completed — there doesn’t seem to be a way to create a subset of values for status/resolution based on the type of task…

I think this should sit outside of Jira/Greenhopper, but I’m not sure which application can work with JIRA in this manner.

What I’ve come up with is confluence — a wiki which uses a dynamic task list to check for users to check off when the item is completed. However, if the person completing apre-release document is the same person managing the tickets via Jira/Gh (which I think is the function of a product owner), then he or she has to look at 2 lists, further complicating the process.

If my use-case(s) is very different from others, perhaps you can shed light on how these are tackled in different organizations.

thanks,
Lawrence

]]> By: Brad http://properosolutions.com/2009/12/jira-and-greenhopper-for-agile-project-management/comment-page-1/#comment-310 Brad Thu, 19 Aug 2010 19:40:44 +0000 http://accelerateagile.com/2009/12/jira-and-greenhopper-for-agile-project-management/#comment-310 Lawrence, I'm not aware of a way to do those things in Jira, and a quick search of the the user and admin guides didn't reveal anything either. You certainly can create custom task types (for example a "documentation" task) which can have custom fields and even custom workflows. You might be able to use the Jira APIs, SOAP or XML-RPC interfaces to build something that would create those standard tasks, or maybe clone another project. Sorry I couldn't be more help. Lawrence,
I’m not aware of a way to do those things in Jira, and a quick search of the the user and admin guides didn’t reveal anything either. You certainly can create custom task types (for example a “documentation” task) which can have custom fields and even custom workflows. You might be able to use the Jira APIs, SOAP or XML-RPC interfaces to build something that would create those standard tasks, or maybe clone another project. Sorry I couldn’t be more help.

]]> By: Lawrence Ong http://properosolutions.com/2009/12/jira-and-greenhopper-for-agile-project-management/comment-page-1/#comment-309 Lawrence Ong Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:21:47 +0000 http://accelerateagile.com/2009/12/jira-and-greenhopper-for-agile-project-management/#comment-309 Hi Brad, I have a question regarding Jira+GH. Recently installed it and am working through migration from Mantis. Where would be the best place to set up standard tasks for every project/release, such as prepare deployment document, setting up project charger... in other words, non-developer type tasks but nonetheless important to track? Along that vein, how would I go about creating a PM template, such that for every project or release/version we create, that these tasks simply get created as well? thanks for your time. thanks, Lawrence Hi Brad,

I have a question regarding Jira+GH. Recently installed it and am working through migration from Mantis.

Where would be the best place to set up standard tasks for every project/release, such as prepare deployment document, setting up project charger… in other words, non-developer type tasks but nonetheless important to track?

Along that vein, how would I go about creating a PM template, such that for every project or release/version we create, that these tasks simply get created as well?

thanks for your time.

thanks,
Lawrence

]]> By: Brad http://properosolutions.com/2009/12/jira-and-greenhopper-for-agile-project-management/comment-page-1/#comment-252 Brad Thu, 06 May 2010 14:31:41 +0000 http://accelerateagile.com/2009/12/jira-and-greenhopper-for-agile-project-management/#comment-252 I'm not aware of a work flow that would solve this. You're right that linking can be used for this, but not very easily. This is one my biggest complaints about Jira + GH. The best solution I've found is described here: http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/GH/Working+with+Epics I’m not aware of a work flow that would solve this. You’re right that linking can be used for this, but not very easily. This is one my biggest complaints about Jira + GH. The best solution I’ve found is described here: http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/GH/Working+with+Epics

]]> By: Jose http://properosolutions.com/2009/12/jira-and-greenhopper-for-agile-project-management/comment-page-1/#comment-251 Jose Thu, 06 May 2010 06:19:27 +0000 http://accelerateagile.com/2009/12/jira-and-greenhopper-for-agile-project-management/#comment-251 Hi, We face the same dilemma, where we have multiple teams working for the same Program, although some are 100% allocated to that Project, others are Support (like my team) or Testing that have some allocation to that particular project (and many others) also require some way to manage their own work, sort-of having the direct clients in Jira in their own project (like defining the top level requirements of features). The way I thought this would be possible would be to have a hierarchy of issues (Epic > Story > [Task > Sub-task]) that would allow to place the top level issues as close as possible in the Client related project, so that it could have visibility over all open sub-issues (and their children). Not having an easy way to create these associations besides linking and labeling really is a show-stopper. Do you know if it is possible to implement a custom work-flow that contemplates this hierarchy of issues ? Regards, José Hi,

We face the same dilemma, where we have multiple teams working for the same Program, although some are 100% allocated to that Project, others are Support (like my team) or Testing that have some allocation to that particular project (and many others) also require some way to manage their own work, sort-of having the direct clients in Jira in their own project (like defining the top level requirements of features).

The way I thought this would be possible would be to have a hierarchy of issues (Epic > Story > [Task > Sub-task]) that would allow to place the top level issues as close as possible in the Client related project, so that it could have visibility over all open sub-issues (and their children).

Not having an easy way to create these associations besides linking and labeling really is a show-stopper.
Do you know if it is possible to implement a custom work-flow that contemplates this hierarchy of issues ?

Regards,
José

]]> By: Brad http://properosolutions.com/2009/12/jira-and-greenhopper-for-agile-project-management/comment-page-1/#comment-237 Brad Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:15:29 +0000 http://accelerateagile.com/2009/12/jira-and-greenhopper-for-agile-project-management/#comment-237 Hi Arun, See my point #3 in the last paragraph in the post. It can be done, but it's not a great solution. Hi Arun,
See my point #3 in the last paragraph in the post. It can be done, but it’s not a great solution.

]]> By: Arun http://properosolutions.com/2009/12/jira-and-greenhopper-for-agile-project-management/comment-page-1/#comment-236 Arun Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:03:31 +0000 http://accelerateagile.com/2009/12/jira-and-greenhopper-for-agile-project-management/#comment-236 JIRA, EPIC and Story-point: Hi Brad, I am again knocking your door for answer to my next question of agile development with JIRA. I am currently working on large epic. I can't estimate it. I am planning to have 5-6 User Stories linked to this epic. Each user-story is further divided into tasks ( which I can estimate in hours). My question is regarding linking User- Stories to epic in JIRA. I am unable to find any way to link epic with user-story. I am using JIRA version 4.0. Thanks in advance for your help. Regards, Arun Sharma JIRA, EPIC and Story-point:

Hi Brad,

I am again knocking your door for answer to my next question of agile development with JIRA. I am currently working on large epic. I can’t estimate it. I am planning to have 5-6 User Stories linked to this epic. Each user-story is further divided into tasks ( which I can estimate in hours).

My question is regarding linking User- Stories to epic in JIRA. I am unable to find any way to link epic with user-story. I am using JIRA version 4.0.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards,

Arun Sharma

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