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Agile Project Management with GreenHopper 6 Blueprints
Agile Project Management with GreenHopper 6 Blueprints

Agile Project Management with GreenHopper 6 Blueprints: Written by an Agile enthusiast, this comprehensive guide to GreenHopper will help you track and manage your projects in a way that achieves the best value for your team. Excellent reading for everybody from stakeholders to scrum masters.

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Agile Project Management with GreenHopper 6 Blueprints

Chapter 2. Planning Your Sprints with GreenHopper

The project backlog is a list of work accumulated over a period that needs to be done or that is already done. GreenHopper allows you to maintain your backlog and gives you a clear view of items for which work still needs to be done. To work in the Scrum way, you adopt an incremental pattern of completing your work.

In this chapter, we will cover creating boards to manage your backlog, analyzing the project backlog, planning the backlog in an incremental way, and grooming the backlog over a period of time. Based on ranked backlog, we will be creating a Sprint backlog and starting a sprint. To achieve this, we will be covering the following GreenHopper functionalities:

  • Creating a Jira project to store backlog items in different issues type forms.

  • Creating a board to visualize the backlog to be able to plan, work, and report on the backlog.

  • Creating Epic to be able to break the backlog into multiple top-level functionalities, referred to as...

Creating a project


GreenHopper is built on top of the Jira application. If you are already working with Jira and already have a project backlog in place, you can directly start creating a board for the existing projects, which we will be covering in the next section.

To get started with using GreenHopper, click on the Getting Started selection under the Agile tab in the top navigation of Jira.

As shown in the preceding screenshot, you have presets available to choose from, based on well-suited processes your team is currently working on, as follows:

  • Scrum Board is for Agile teams following Agile Scrum methodology delivering in time-boxed iterations. The board created will provide you with Scrum terminology available on the board mapping with typical Scrum terms like Sprint, user story, Story points, Burndown chart, and so on.

  • Kanban is for teams working in a controlled work flow manner that limits concurrent work in progress in a continuous flow of work. It allows you to prioritize work and...

Creating a board


A board in GreenHopper is a place to display issues from single or multiple projects. If you already have created a board in the last section, you may skip down to the next Plan mode section.

You can create a board by clicking on create a new Scrum board link as shown in the first screenshot on the Getting started page:

As shown in the preceding screenshot, enter the following values for new board:

  • Board Name: The name of the board. You will also be able to edit the name of the board later.

  • Projects: Allows you to select a single project or multiple projects based on your team configurations. GreenHopper also allows you to create a board based on multiple Jira projects. Based on your team configurations, if you are using an individual Jira project for each team, you can still create a single board to visualize and manage multiple teams.

A typical Scrum board, displayed in the preceding screenshot, is the representation of three main phases; which are Planning, Tracking, and...

Creating an Epic


An Epic is a large functionality of a product which needs to be delivered and which can further be divided into user stories. An Epic can span over multiple Sprints, until it is all finished.

As shown in the following screenshot, click on the + icon in the Epics panel to create an Epic:

Create an Epic using the Epic issue type and enter the relevant details for your Epic. In the Epics panel, the Epic name you entered while creating the Epic is displayed along with issue details representing the Epic.

The panel also displays total issues (Story, improvements, bugs, and so on) assigned to an Epic along with the total estimates (here, Story points in our case for the Epic). For Epics created with no Epic name or missing Epic name, unlabelled Epic text is displayed.

Use drag-and-drop functionality on the Epics panel to rank the Epic within your backlog. Keep the high-priority Epic, which you will be working on first, on top.

To edit an Epic name, click on Edit name, which allows...

Creating a Story


A user Story in Scrum is a user/actor conversation/requirement or a small functionality which can easily be unit tested and delivered in a limited time of a single Sprint. The Story belongs to an Epic.

To create a Story for an Epic, click on the create issue in epic link on Epics panel.

As shown in the preceding screenshot, to create a Story, select the relevant issue type and enter Story details. The newly created Story will be listed under an Epic and will also be visible in the Plan mode. If you select an Epic in the Epics panel, all the issues related to that Epic will be displayed on backlog panel. If you select one of the newly created stories, the Story panel is displayed on the right-hand side.

As shown in the preceding screenshot, the issue details panel is opened. You can perform all the relevant operations available to the issue on the same panel. The tag panel on the left-hand side allows you to do corresponding operations on the selected Story.

The Story details...

Creating subtasks


The technical tasks are deliverable tasks performed by the developers to deliver a Story in a Sprint.

To add subtasks to a Story in the Plan mode, select a Story to add subtasks to, and the details panel of the Story will be visible.

As shown in the preceding screenshot, click on the Create Sub-Task button on the issue details panel to add a subtask to an issue. The same panel also displays the list of existing subtasks for an issue. Based on time tracking enabled for the Jira system, you will be able to add hour estimations for the technical tasks. If time tracking is enabled, the Story details panel also displays the total efforts required for all the subtasks, as shown at the bottom in the previous screenshot.

Ranking the backlog


By now you have your backlog ready with most of the required Epics which are further divided into different user stories to be delivered.

One of the important tasks in managing and grooming backlog is the ranking or ordering of different backlog items. From a business value perspective, not all functionality is of the same business value. Some functionalities are must have and some are good to have, having less business value.

As stated in the earlier section, you can rank Epics by drag-and-drop in the Epics panel and Epics will be relatively ranked in the panel. You will be able to focus on the Epic in the backlog which you are currently working upon.

To rank Story and other issue types in the backlog list, drag-and-drop vertically in the list based on the priority.

As shown in the preceding screenshot, you should be able to drag-and-drop each issue to prioritize it relatively. You can select multiple items in the backlog list by using Ctrl + Click or Shift + Click to move...

Creating a Sprint


A Sprint in Scrum is an iteration to deliver a committed set of functionality for a product in a time box of nearly a month or less.

We have our prioritized backlog ready with us in the proper prioritized order. The next step is to estimate and pick a set of backlog items from product backlog to deliver in a particular Sprint. We will be covering the Sprint estimation process and capacity management in detail in the next chapter.

To create a Sprint, click on the Create Sprint button in the Plan mode under Backlog panel, as shown in the following screenshot:

It will create a blank Sprint for you. Click on the Sprint name to edit it with inline editing as per your current Sprint number. To plan the Sprint, click on the date fields for inline editing to set start and end dates for a Sprint.

To add Story items to a Sprint, drag stories based on preset ranking order of Story and drop it in the Sprint panel, the Sprint you are currently planning.

You can also select multiple items...

Summary


In this chapter, we created the team Agile board to get it started with Scrum way of working. We started the Agile team with a new Jira project and also with the existing project.

The board displayed the backlog items which the team will be working on. The team created different types of backlog items on the Plan mode. We created Epic and Story issues as part of the product backlog. We also covered creation of technical task items as part of Sprint planning meeting.

We also moved the items in the Plan mode to rank the items based on business prioritization. We will be covering the backlog items estimations in detail in the next chapter, where the team will learn to assign complexity points to each backlog item as part of backlog grooming and estimating.

Using Plan mode, the team created Sprint and committed on backlog items to be completed in a Sprint. The team started a Sprint and set the Sprint timelines to continue the Sprint. In later chapters, we will cover how to track a Sprint...

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Key benefits

  • Manage multi-project and multi-team backlog items for agile projects
  • Learn how to use GreenHopper's rich interface features to focus on the work at hand and increase productivity
  • Easy agile process adoption with pre-sets for Scrum & Kanban

Description

Agile methodologies like Scrum focus on customer values in an incremental way. Regular planning, tracking, reporting, and improving can become equally challenging from a project management perspective. GreenHopper is a tooling support for JIRA that offers easy adoption of agile practices through rich interfaces for effective team collaboration and project management. Agile Project Management with GreenHopper 6 Blueprints is a step-by-step guide that teaches you how to manage agile projects using the GreenHopper tooling system. With easy adoption using pre-sets for Scrum & Kanban, the rich interface focuses on the work at hand, increasing team productivity. Executing sprints, tracking sprints, and reporting on agile projects has never been so easy. The integration with different development environments helps teams to focus on collaboration, communication, and continuous improvement. This book covers agile project management concepts using GreenHopper. You will learn about backlog management for your agile team, how to create projects and boards for your agile team, and how to create new backlog items, prioritize items, estimate backlog items, create sprints, and update technical task status and report on the same. You will learn everything you need to know about managing an agile project using GreenHopper and how to achieve the best value for your team.

Who is this book for?

This book is of great help for agile teams who are already using or planning to use the GreenHopper tooling system to execute agile projects. It suits all roles in an agile project including system administrators, stakeholders, product owners, scrum masters, and team members. Fundamental knowledge of JIRA is essential.

What you will learn

  • Install GreenHopper and create projects and boards for your team
  • Use GreenHopper s rich interface features
  • Learn about agile concepts and which GreenHopper tools are best suited for each
  • Master backlog creation, prioritization, and estimation of items
  • Understand sprint creation, how to execute sprints, time tracking, and how to manage sprint backlogs
  • Use task boards effectively and create custom workflow status and column and update task status
  • Use JIRA filters effectively, including Quick Filters, Swimlanes, and card colours
  • Analyze burndown charts effectively for sprint tracking
  • Complete a sprint, manage unfinished backlog items, and generate sprint reports
  • Use velocity charts, epic reports, control charts, and cumulative flow diagrams
  • Manage Kanban teams using GreenHopper, create Kanban boards, control work in progress, and find bottlenecks in your system and report them to your Kanban team
  • Understand GreenHopper integration points that support your agile team

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Aug 26, 2013
Length: 140 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781849699747
Vendor :
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Product Details

Publication date : Aug 26, 2013
Length: 140 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781849699747
Vendor :
Atlassian

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Table of Contents

9 Chapters
Getting Started with GreenHopper Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Planning Your Sprints with GreenHopper Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Estimating and Time Tracking Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Using the Work Board to Update Issues Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Using Quick Filters and Highlighting Issues Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Understanding the Burndown Chart Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Ending a Sprint Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Project Reporting Using Charts Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Managing Kanban Team with GreenHopper Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Half star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 1.5
(2 Ratings)
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4 star 0%
3 star 0%
2 star 50%
1 star 50%
Edward T. Smith Nov 22, 2013
Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 2
Pretty shallow. Jira's and Greenhoppers view of Agile is lacking from my perspective. The book shows some things, but the actual product has a long ways to go to be fully agile.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Paulo Soares Dec 08, 2014
Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 1
Um livro que funciona como um help de sistema sobre o Greenhopper e não passa disso. Fala muito pouco sobre como seria um gerenciamento de projetos bem feito com ele. Se espera algo além do que significa, literalmente, cada campo da ferramenta, esse livro não irá te dar.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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