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| rmc:version="7.5.0" xmi:id="-G1Oxlk6F0R09vClqy1EzOw" |
| name="managing_work_items,_7vEXEMA4EdqSgKaj2SZBmg" guid="-G1Oxlk6F0R09vClqy1EzOw" |
| changeDate="2010-05-25T16:50:17.264-0700" version="7.2.0"> |
| <mainDescription><h3>
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| Overview
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| </h3>
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| <p>
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| The <a class="elementLinkWithType"
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| href="./../../../core.mgmt.common.extend_supp/workproducts/work_items_list_39D03CC8.html"
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| guid="_rGNWsCbSEdqh1LYUOGRh2A">Artifact: Work Items List</a>&nbsp;captures all scheduled work to be done within the
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| project, as well as proposed work that may affect the product. Some of the work items may be implemented in this
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| project, some of them may be implemented in a future project, and some of them may never be implemented.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| Some of the work items may still be poorly defined; therefore, it could represent a big chunk of work, requiring
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| potentially several staff months of effort. As the priority of these work items increases, they are typically
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| decomposed into smaller work items that represent specific and well-defined tasks that may take hours or days to
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| address, see <a class="elementLink"
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| href="./../../../practice.mgmt.iterative_dev.base/guidances/concepts/micro_increments_C8773066.html"
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| guid="_S80VwCNbEdyCq8v2ZO4QcA">Micro-Increments</a>. In other cases, specific and well-defined work items are created
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| directly, representing, for example, a defect to be addressed, as Figure 1illustrates.
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| </p>
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| <p align="left">
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| <strong><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><strong><font
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| face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Figure 1. Work Items List provides one prioritized list of
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| scheduled and proposed work</font></strong></font></strong>
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| </p>
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| <div align="left">
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| <strong><br />
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| <img alt="" src="./resources/work_item_prioritization_diagram.jpg" /></strong>
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| </div>
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| <p>
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| A work item may represent work associated with a defect, enhancement request, change request, use case, scenario, user
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| story, supporting requirement, stakeholder request, or anything else that captures a potential requirement or
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| improvement to your system. A work item may reference any type of requirement or other useful information that guides
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| you in what needs to be done.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| A big advantage with the <a class="elementLinkWithType"
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| href="./../../../core.mgmt.common.extend_supp/workproducts/work_items_list_39D03CC8.html"
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| guid="_rGNWsCbSEdqh1LYUOGRh2A">Artifact: Work Items List</a>&nbsp;is that it enables you to prioritize only one list
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| containing all of the things that may need to be addressed, whether the work item represents work related to a
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| requirement, enhancement, or defect. The one exception is that you should prioritize the risk list separately.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| Nothing in the project will get done if it is not represented or mapped to a work item. This means that all
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| requirements, defect reports, and change requests have to be mapped to a work item at some stage. Also, a developer
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| will not take on work that is not represented in a work item. Only work items need to be prioritized. This also means
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| that tracking work items is a primary means of understanding the status of the project.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| There are two major types of work items:
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| </p>
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| <ul>
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| <li>
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| <strong>Unscheduled work items:</strong> These work items have not yet been assigned to an iteration, and there is
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| no detailed effort estimate for the work item yet.<br />
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <strong>Scheduled work items:</strong> These work items are assigned to an iteration, and they typically have an
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| additional set of attributes filled in, such as detailed effort estimates.
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| </li>
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| </ul>
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| <h3>
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| Unscheduled work items
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| </h3>
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| <p>
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| Most work items are initially unscheduled, meaning that it has not yet been decided whether to do them and when to do
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| them. Unscheduled work items should always represent something meaningful to deliver to stakeholders, such as a
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| scenario to be detailed, designed, implemented, and tested. You may consider capturing the following data for such work
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| items:
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| </p>
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| <ul>
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| <li>
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| Name
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Description
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Priority
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Size estimate, such as a point estimate (see <a class="elementLinkWithType"
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| href="./../../../core.mgmt.common.extend_supp/guidances/guidelines/agile_estimation_A4EF42B3.html"
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| guid="_CGHskBEdEdqY7JB6N6CW2w">Guideline: Agile Estimation</a>)
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| State, such as New, Assigned, Resolved, Verified, Closed (see work items states section below)
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Links to other reference material, such as requirements or detailed specifications of what needs to be done
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| </li>
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| </ul>
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| <h3>
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| Scheduled work items
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| </h3>
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| <p>
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| After a work item has been assigned to an iteration, it becomes <i>scheduled</i>. You assign work items only to the
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| current or next iteration. There is no point in assigning work items to a specific future iteration, because you cannot
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| predict what a meaningful schedule will be more than an iteration in advance (see <a class="elementLinkWithType"
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| href="./../../../practice.mgmt.iterative_dev.base/guidances/guidelines/iteration_planning_C77F13CE.html"
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| guid="_0auiMMlgEdmt3adZL5Dmdw">Guideline: Iteration Planning</a>).
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| The following additional attributes are useful for Scheduled work items:
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| </p>
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| <ul>
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| <li>
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| Target iteration
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Responsible team member
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Effort estimate left, such as actual hours of work (see <a class="elementLinkWithType"
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| href="./../../../core.mgmt.common.extend_supp/guidances/guidelines/agile_estimation_A4EF42B3.html"
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| guid="_CGHskBEdEdqY7JB6N6CW2w">Guideline: Agile Estimation</a>)
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Hours worked
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| </li>
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| </ul>
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| <p>
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| This provides the information required to plan and manage an iteration. You can plan iterations by understanding effort
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| involved, and you can manage iterations by tracking how much work is left to do (see <a class="elementLinkWithType"
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| href="./../../../practice.mgmt.iterative_dev.base/guidances/reports/iteration_burndown_9C1C96F5.html"
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| guid="_uAzgkDg3Edu4E8ZdmlYjtA">Report: Iteration Burndown</a>).
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| </p>
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| <h3>
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| Work item states
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| </h3>
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| <p>
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| The following states are useful for tracking work items:
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| </p>
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| <ul>
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| <li>
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| <b>New:</b> The work item has been created, but not yet assigned to a team member.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <b>Assigned:</b> A team member has been identified as responsible for the work item.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <b>Resolved:</b> The team member responsible for the work items has implemented and tested the work item.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <b>Verified:</b> The work item has been independently tested.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <b>Closed:</b> The work item is no longer active.
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| </li>
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| </ul>
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| <p>
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| You may choose another set of states, based on your needs.
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| </p></mainDescription> |
| </org.eclipse.epf.uma:ContentDescription> |
