Agile hybrid template (2.1)
Introduction
The Agile hybrid template illustrates advanced tracking across multiple iterations and releases. It is currently set-up to illustrate Iteration 4 in Release 1 of 3 releases.
There are:
- 99 cards created
- 9 different cards types
- 38 different cards properties which includes 4 hidden properties
- 13 cards transitions
- 2 different cards trees
- charts and tables on the project overview page that have been created to illustrate the status of the project
Card and property set-up
There are nine different cards types in the project:
- Release
- Iteration
- Story
- Defect
- Feature
- Task
- Scenario
- Test Case
- Risk
The most numerous cards in this project are the 'Story' cards and the 'Defect' cards. The 'Story' cards have 13 properties and 'Defect' cards have 17 properties.
To understand the relationships between different card types see the card trees section below.
Card properties
| Property name | Property type and description |
|---|---|
| Accepted in Iteration | Card |
| Accepted On | Date that the story was accepted by the customer. Date |
| Action Due By | Date |
| Actual Effort | Formula |
| Added to Scope in Iteration | Card |
| Added to Scope On | Date |
| Analysis Completed in Iteration | Card |
| Build completed | Any number |
| Build reported | Any number |
| Defect Estimate | Any number |
| Defect Fix Completed On | Date |
| Defect Fix Completed in Iteration | Card |
| Defect Fix Started in Iteration | Card |
| Defect Reported in Iteration | Card |
| Defect Reported On | Date that a defect was discovered. Date |
| Defect Status | Managed text list |
| Defect Time-To-Life | Number of days elapsed between reporting a defect and it being fixed. Formula |
| Development Completed in Iteration | Card |
| Development Completed On | Date that development was completed for the story. Date |
| Development Started in Iteration | Card |
| Development Started On | Date |
| End Date | Date |
| Owner | Individual signed up to work on a card. Automatically generated from the team list |
| Planning Estimate | Estimate made for a story in the early phases of the project for planning purposes. Managed number list. |
| Priority | Level of criticality assigned to a card. Common values include critical, essential, non-essential. Managed text list |
| QA Completed in Iteration | Card |
| Reported By | Automatically generated from the team list |
| Risk group | Managed text list |
| Risk Impact | Monetary impact of the risk occurring. Any number |
| Risk Likelihood | Managed text list |
| Risk Status | Managed text list |
| Start Date | Date |
| Story Status | The status of the story or task. Stories and tasks share the same lifecycle state values and state transitions. Managed text list |
| Story Time-To-Life | Number of days elapsed between moving a story into scope and it being accepted by the customer. Formula |
| Task Estimate | Estimate for a task made at the start of an iteration. Any number |
| Task Status | Managed text list |
| Testing Status | Managed text list |
| Type of test | Managed text list |
There are 38 card properties in use in this project. 4 of these properties are hidden.
This template uses formula properties to calculate story card metrics. For example, 'Actual Effort' a property for 'Story' cards and 'Task' cards is calculated from the property 'Development Started On' minus 'Development Completed On'.
This template makes use of the new card relationship properties which are available in Mingle 2.1. For example, 'Analysis Completed in Iteration' and 'Development Started in Iteration' are both card relationship properties and are used to create the burn up e on the project overview page.
Project variables
Of the three project variables in this template one, (Current Iteration) and (Current Release) are selected from a card list and (Project Start Date) is a date property.
Transitions
Like the transitions in the XP template the transitions in the majority of the transitions in this template are used to move 'Story' cards between 'Status' values.
The transitions in this template also demonstrate how automated transitions work on the grid view. Take a look at the 'BA Card Wall', 'Development Card Wall' and 'QA Card Wall' to see these in action.
Trees
There are two card trees in the template. In comparison to the XP template there are many more relationship and aggregate properties in this template.
- Feature breakdown tree - shows the relationship between 'Story' cards and 'Feature' cards. There is a single relationship property of 'Feature'. The three aggregate properties are formula properties to show 'Actuals Per Feature', 'Points Per Feature' and 'Story Count Per Feature'.
- Planning tree - shows the relationship between 'Release' > 'Iteration' > 'Story' > 'Task' > 'Defect'. There are four relationship properties and a large number of aggregate properties including 'Avg Defect Time-To-Life' which uses the Average formula and 'Story Count' which performs a count of all stories per 'Release' card.
Charts
This burn-up chart in the Agile hybrid template is similar to the chart used in the XP template. The burn up chart in this template uses card relationship properties to show story progress over iterations.
For multi project and program level tracking, cross project reporting features were available in Mingle 2.0. Read more here.
Favorites and tabs
This template shows how card trees can be used as tabs and favorites as the tab 'Feature Tree' shows the Feature breakdown tree as a saved view.
'Tasks - Current Iteration' tab is a view that shows the 'Story' cards and their associated 'Task' cards that are related to the current iteration of this project (Iteration 3). This view is useful to any team member who wants a quick reminder of the stories and associated tasks for the iteration they are working on.