I have created a new project in VSTS (Visual Studio Online) using the Agile Template.
I have created a sprint, and added a user-story. Within the user-story I have some tasks.
On the sprint Kanban board there are 4 columns;
New
Active
Resolved
Closed
I can move tasks from New to Active, but cannot move them from Active to Resolved.
How do I do this?
This confusing behavior is because the Agile Template shows both Bugs and Tasks on the same board view. While Tasks have a New -> Active -> Closed workflow, bugs have an additional Resolved step.
Your task should transition directly from Active to Closed.
You bugs will be able to rest a bit in the Resolved column before being dragged all the way to Closed.
To recall your question:
I can move tasks from New to Active, but cannot move them from Active to Resolved.
This is also not a problem in Azure DevOps but the standard process (Agile workflow states). The following are the steps that can be used for the workflow in the standard process:
User Story (New, Active, Removed, Resolved, Closed)
Bug (New, Active, Resolved, Closed)
Task (New, Active, Removed, Closed)
In Azure DevOps, however, this workflow can be adapted. For this the process must be modified. Here you can also add Resolved for a task within the workflow. Role "Collection administrator" is needed.
via Organization settings / Boards / Process / Agile (default) ... Create inherited process
Further information and picture source under https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/boards/work-items/guidance/agile-process-workflow?view=vsts
and https://learn.microsoft.com/de-de/azure/devops/organizations/settings/work/manage-process?view=vsts&tabs=new-nav#create-inherited-process
You need to first create an inherited Process from Agile template as explained here:
https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/docs/work/process/manage-process#create-inherited-process
Then , you can simple Hide the "Resolved" state for Bugs from your workflow as shown here:
https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/docs/work/process/customize-process-workflow
That's it! the column is gone from your Task Board!
Moreover: you can now add your own States and Columns.
Good luck!
Michael
Related
My team is just now starting to use TFS 2015 Update 1 on premise to manage their development process. I have set up the server and defined some custom states and transitions for work items to better map to our process. To start with, we will only be taking advantage of the Kanban board and are not attempting to use iterations for a variety of reasons I won't get into here.
My problem currently is using TFS to plan releases. Specifically, I don't see any way to group Features and User Stories into a specific release. All of my googling has turned up many articles involving Microsoft Release Management, so I installed and configured it, but it is absolutely overkill for what my team is trying to do right now. I'm not trying to automate deployments to different environments at the moment, I just need a way to group work items into a something that encapsulates the concept of a release in TFS. Is there no way to do this? The best I can come up with right now is to further modify the work item templates to either provide a simple "Release" field with a pick list, or define another type of work item that I can group the others into. This seems like a glaring oversight by MS from my perspective, so I'm hoping I'm just missing something.
Grouping work into releases can be done in a couple of ways, just remember that the concept of a "Release Plan" doesn't explicitly exist in TFS. Release management covers the "Release to Production", but doesn't cover any planning.
Ways to plan releases:
One way is to create a Release Iteration, this works when you're not working on multiple releases in parallel and truly finish one release before working on the next. The Release iteration used to be default, but has been removed from the product in favor of teams delivering sprints and teams doing continuous delivery.
Project Root
+ Release 1.2
+ Sprint 1
+ Sprint 2
Another option is to use Tags. You could tag work items with a tag that signifies it's targeted for a specific sprint.
Use a Marker workitem, on the backlog place one work item which clearly stands out ### END OF RELEASE 1 ### Any workitem below it is not part of that release. This technique fits a more agile way of working and more clearly shows that the contents of a release are a floating thing.
Create a custom Release Workitem, link your other workitems to this work item to target it for that release.
And your option to create a picklist on a *Custom workitem field** is another option.
Alternatively you could also use the Area Path in much the same way as Iteration Path. By using the Area Path you have the benefit of not having a sprint tied to one specific release.
It is not the best solution but could be the solution in some cases.
Answering solely based on your question around planning releases, then:
Create a custom work item template, called 'Deployment'.
When planning of a release begins, create a new 'Deployment', let's say, called 'MyProduct v1.1'.
In your planning meeting, create Features and User Stories appropriately, and create a relation to the 'MyProduct v1.1' Deployment, by opening the User Story and adding a Link (using the Deployment Work Item number) as 'Related'.
To monitor Deployments, create a custom Work Item query targeting the new 'Deployment' Work Item template. You can configure this to display on your dashboard.
Follow whatever release procedure you like based on the 'Deployment' and its' relations.
You should follow a naming convention when creating 'Deployments' for consistency.
p.s. I recommend using the extension 'Work Item Visualization' in this instance. It'll nicely map out the 'Deployment' related Work Items.
If you want to use TFS to actually build an and create a Release, then Release Manager is worth considering.
TFS 2015 Update 2.1 now includes a built-in version of Release Manager. It's much more user-friendly and simple to configure when compared to Release Manager standalone installations.
To group work items into a 'release', you can do the following:
Create a build definition for the repository you're working with - see Build Def creation docs
Create a Release definition - see Release Def creation docs
Once you have these definitions created, the working process would be:
Developers work against work items
Commits are made against the WI number (or tasks)
When it's time to create a release, start a build on the definition you created. In doing so, WIs will then be associated with a Build Number.
When the build succeeds, start a new Release from the definition you created.
You have have a set of work items associated with a release, see screenshot:
Note: You can enable CI builds and releases, although the above is based on manual triggers.
You can also directly call the Release API to locate WIs associated with Releases, however you'll need to obtain the actual Id of the release first.
You are currently limited however to viewing these relationships based on knowing the Release. In a real world scenario, it's more realistic to look at a Work Item to see when it was release. To do that, there's no built-in functionality at present, however my own-answered question will guide you - see here.
Additional to the methods explained by jessehouwing there exists also several 3rd party tools which can integrate with TFS/VSTS and provide advanced planning features. See VSTS Marketplace for an overview.
I installed JIRA 6.4. I also Crerated Project and Issue in it. I assigned Issue to some user. Now If Administrator wants to monitor isssue status, he can see progress. But how does the asignee i.e the person working on issue update issue status. Actually I am very new to JIRA. Or is there any other plugin for it
Depending on the workflow you have configured for the project, the assignee should see action buttons on the issue that they can click to progress status; e.g. "Resolve Issue" or "Close Issue". These are known as "Transitions" in the workflow and configure how issues can move between certain states.
If you're also using the JIRA Agile add-on, you can create a "Rapid Board" that allows assignees to drag and drop issues between states to create a "Work in Progress" board.
This is just a starter, it's best to run through the tutorials from Atlassian, they will take into account the various project setups that may apply to you.
Also, if you're just getting up and running with JIRA, it may be advisable to upgrade to JIRA Core 7 (or JIRA Software if you require the extra features) as it has project templates/workflows that will make getting up and running a lot quicker.
We started using TFS 2013 as bug tracker some time ago (about 3 months). Before this we used TFS only as source control (bug tracking was performed in another software). For now we have developed some processes. We would greatly appreciate any comments, that would help us to understand, whether this processes are right, or not. So, here they are:
General info:
We are developing one big product.
Our team has 5 developers and 2 QA's.
Often we release new versions each 1-2 months.
We have 1-week sprints.
This is how we use TFS:
We have one team project and a number of areas in it. Each area represents some part of the product.
Our team project uses Scrum 2.2 template.
In the team project we create a "big" iteration for each release (e.g. "Release 01.2014", "Release 03.2014"), which starts from the end of previous iteration and lasts 1-2 months.
We use 2 standard work item types: Tasks and Bugs
All bugs and tasks belong to the appropriate "big" iteration and area.
We use tasks in 2 ways: as a standalone work item for any improvements and new features, and as the child of a bug when fixing a bug.
To monitor current situation we created a bunch of queries for TWA. Some of them are shared (Such as "Bugs new","Bugs for testing", "Tasks in progress" and others), and some of them are created by each dev/QA (e.g. "My tasks in progress", "My bugs done" and others).
Here goes work process description for Bug:
-->QA (or dev) creates a bug (State: New)
-->QA (or dev) assigns this bug to some dev (State: Approved)
-->When dev starts to fix a bug, he does the following:
---->changes state of bug to Committed
---->creates child task and changes its state to InProgress
-->When dev commits some code, that should fix the bug, he bounds checkin to task (created on previous step)
-->QA understands, that bug is fixed and ready for testing, when bug is in Committed state and EACH child task is in Done state
-->QA tests fixing of bug:
---->if bug is not fixed he changes state of bug to Approved
---->if bug is fixed he changes state of bug to Done
This process looks not bad, and somehow works. But there is a problem with standalone tasks, which is created for improvements and new features.
And here goes process description for standalone Task:
-->QA (or dev) creates a task (State: ToDo)
-->QA (or dev) assigns this task to some dev (State: ToDo)
-->When dev starts working on this task, he changes its state to InProgress
-->When dev has finished working on task, he changes its state to Done
-->QA tests this task:
---->if new features work fine ?
---->if new features work with errors ?
Here is the main problem: how can QA mark Task as passed or not passed the tests?
How we resolved it for now: QA's marks tested tasks with tag "Closed", if all is ok, and creates child bugs for task if there are some errors.
But working with tags this way seems not to be good.
EDIT One more question: Which state of Bug/PBI is most suitable for state, when bug was assigned to developer, but he did not started working on this bug yet?
Any comments and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
You are not using the Scrum template as intended.
The typical approach is to use Product Backlog Items to represent features, and child Tasks to represent the work necessary for PBI's or Bugs.
Teams will often have one (or more) tasks that represent the testing work that needs to be performed for each PBI/Bug. Then you can track if testing is done or not by looking at the status of the tasks.
Maybe more work/overhead than you're interested in investing, but have you looked in to using the "Test Case" workitem type? A couple fancy things about Test Cases:
They can be attached to a Task to specify the task is "Tested by" that test case
They can have results, making the definition of the test reusable across iterations
There's a bunch of built-in reporting for showing what the current status of testing is (passed vs failed vs not run, etc)
There's even UI for entering test results and managing test cases in the TFS web interface
Tests don't have to be automated, but it's nice if they are. You'd get all the above benefits even if you're only using "Manual" tests
More info here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd380763.aspx
I defined new work item with tfs power tools on tfs 2012 server.
new work item name is cab. states: new, active, deployed, closed.
I linked (releated) two User Story to cab work item.
I want to automatic state change(closed) which linked user story when cab work item state changed(deployed)
how to? c# coding? tfs event service? workflow action? or any way?
I don't found article for this requrement
You cannot do this with pure WorkItem workflow.
I would use a Server plugin to trigger event. See this design.
Only downside is that you have to remeber adding and configuring this plugin on every AT node and after upgrade/migration of TFS.
We have recently started to use TFS and are using the MSF for Agile v5.0 Template. Tasks that I have created seem to only have 2 states. Active and Closed. In reading the documentation that I have found ... it shows that there should also be a "Resolved" state so that when developers are finished they can mark it Resolved and then once the task is tested it can be marked Closed.
Can somebody help me understand what I'm missing? Is there a step I'm missing in the process?
You didn't use the right Process Template, only MSF Agile for CMMI Improvement has the resolved state, MSF Agile Software Development only has Active and Closed in the version 5.0.
You did have the Resolved state in the version 4.0 though.
Assaf Stone's answer is an accurate solution for part of the question I asked, but I understand now that I really was "Missing" something.
After spending time with TFS, I figured out why they removed the "Resolved" state from Task. A task should be linked to a user story and As a user story is where the testing or next step would be. A task does not need a "Resolved" state.
Now if you wanted to add an additional step for a task such as "Code Review" that would be valid but there is not a need for "Resolved" on the Task itself.
It's true, but you can easily copy the workflow from the user story WIT definition. just export the two with witadmin, and copy the workflow from the user story to the task.