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What should we call the work/tasks that not contains inside a Product Backlog Item

Last post 04:07 pm December 16, 2022 by Daniel Wilhite
6 replies
07:58 am December 14, 2022

I'm joining a project using Agile/Scrum framework on Azure DevOps tool 

we have Epic / Features / Product Backlog Item / Task & Bug 

in our project, Product Backlog Item == user story 

but, other than Product Backlog Item, we have some more work/tasks need to be completed but not fit as a "task" inside a Product Backlog Item 

eg:

1. collect source code and make a build for this month. 

2. roll out a campaign and get user on facebook group to participate in Christmas Event 

...

So, how should we call the work item type which contains those task? 

I've thought about "issue" (like jira) but in my company, "issue" mean "not good" so I'm looking for a new one. 

is there a "standard term" for these kind of tasks in Scrum? 

 

 

 

 


11:33 pm December 14, 2022

Are these tasks necessary to achieve the Sprint Goal? If so, why not establish transparency over this fact by structuring work accordingly?


03:54 am December 15, 2022

@Ian Mitchell 

Are these tasks necessary to achieve the Sprint Goal? If so, why not establish transparency over this fact by structuring work accordingly?

Yes, these tasks necessary to achive the Sprint Goal, 

We did transfer this with all team, and all team understand that we need to complete these tasks to achive sprint goal, we just don't know what term to call these tasks. 

Currently, we call them "Issue" but this make some troubles in my Company, because in my company "Issue" has been reserved for "something that has bad affectation the project progress / budget" 

I'm thinking about calling these tasks "Other work", but I want to ask community about whether we have a standard term for these tasks first. 

 

 


12:43 pm December 15, 2022

is there a "standard term" for these kind of tasks in Scrum? 

The only term for this in Scrum is Product Backlog item(s). An ordered list of the work to be done in order to create, maintain and sustain a product. You may have a mapping of what Product Backlog item means in your context, but from a Scrum perspective it is all the same.

I believe this is less of a Scrum question, and more of a consideration about what practice/approach supports your situation. I like Ian's tie into transparency as a guide for structuring work.


03:37 pm December 15, 2022

I would question if those even need to be in the Product Backlog.  Organizing a facebook group to participate in a Christmas event does not sound like something that is needed to improve your product. The Scrum Guide states 

The Product Backlog is an emergent, ordered list of what is needed to improve the product. 

The idea of the Product and Sprint Backlog is not to list everything that a person will do during a day of work. They are to capture the work that is done to improve the product (Product Backlog) or to create a valuable increment (Sprint Backlog).  Do you represent lunch, coffee, bathroom breaks in the Azure? Everyone understands that there may be activities a person does that does not related directly to making the product better.  And some of that work may be technical and needed in order to maintain the code base or product environment.  But that does not mean it has to be represented in the Sprint or Product Backlog.  Stop trying to turn them into a to-do/task list to represent everything people do.  Use them as the tool they are meant to be.  A way to bring visibility into the work needed to make your product better and more valuable to the organization.


03:04 pm December 16, 2022

Do you represent lunch, coffee, bathroom breaks in the Azure?

surely no

The idea of the Product and Sprint Backlog is not to list everything that a person will do during a day of work. 

in that case, where should you "record" all the "work" that the employee complete in the whole day (for HR management / hour-based contract report / client report etc..) 

 


04:07 pm December 16, 2022

in that case, where should you "record" all the "work" that the employee complete in the whole day (for HR management / hour-based contract report / client report etc..)

That is one of those things that is outside of the Scrum framework.  If your organization requires that level of detail on tracking of an employee's time, then your organization should decide how and where that is done. 

What all of us have tried to explain is that the Product Backlog and Sprint Backlog are for making the work done to improve the product more transparent.  It is not a place to capture everything a person does during their working hours. As a Scrum Master, you should understand that and help others to understand the same.  You should also protect the sanctity of the backlogs.  Work with your organization to come to some kind of solution that will not sully the backlogs with extraneous clutter.  If I were in your position, I would investigate and suggest something that will allow an export of Azure Devops items to be imported and track all of the non-product related tasks there. 


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