Concepts

Task

  • A task is the basic unit of work.

  • A task is estimated in hours and quarter hours.

  • A task larger than 8 hours should be broken down into smaller tasks.

  • A task with smaller estimate is favored over larger estimates.

  • A task can not be less than a quarter hour.

Story

  • A story is the basic unit of project specification.

  • A story can have an optional estimate in story points.

  • A story has 1 or more tasks.

  • A story with a combined task estimate of more than 24 hours should be broken down into smaller stories.

  • A story has an acceptance criteria for the story.

  • A story has 1 or more test scenarios to validate that acceptance criteria has been met.

  • A story has a current state (e.g. new, active, resolved, closed).

  • A story has a current stage.

Feature

  • A feature is the basic unit of project scope.

  • A feature aggregates story task estimates to feature hour estimate.

  • A feature aggregates story estimates to feature story point estimate.

  • A feature defines risk that is used in calculations to pad estimates.

  • A feature can have 1 or more stories (scenarios).

Project

  • A project is the basic unit of billing.

  • A project aggregates feature hour estimates to project hour estimate.

  • A project aggregates feature story point estimate to project story point estimate.

  • A project can have 1 or more stories.

Release

  • A release is the basic unit of delivery.

  • A release can contain 1 or more completed stories.

Stage

  • A stage can be a work center that represents a value added stage where various actions are taken to deliver a story.

  • A stage can be a queue that represents a non-value added stage where work is held until its down stream stage is ready to pull work.

  • A stage can pull work from multiple upstream stages.

  • A stage can enforce entry requirements for entering the stage.

  • A stage can be split into a doing and done state.

  • A stage doing state represents a value added state where work is being actively done on a story.

  • A stage done state represents a non-value added state were work is queuing before it is pulled to the next stage.

  • A stage can enforce exit requirements for exiting the stage or entering the stage's done state.

  • A stage can enforce a limit on work in progress within the stage.

  • A stage can be split into doing and done states with done being a non-value added state that work flows into after the stage exit requirements are met.

  • A stage can enforce requirements for entering the post-stage.

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