agile drupal tips

Agile Drupal Tips 12 Ways to Help Keep Your Project Humming

Chris Urban, Engagement Manager [email protected] @_urban_ d.o:urbanlegend

[email protected] @_urban_

Overview → Assumptions → Review some common issues → Outline how to leverage tools → Profit!


The Problems → Bursts of unrefined requests → Unclear ownership → Multiple stakeholders with colliding

inputs → Foggy longer-term goals

FOUNDATION


A Solid Foundation → Documentation § Key knowledge shared

→ Communication § Processes shared § Expectations managed


Documentation → Basic process for workflow → RACI – who is responsible for what and when → Objective rules and playbooks → Definitions, Hotfix criteria and course of action

§  Spike vs Tracer Bullet §  Candidates for mid-sprint removal §  Release checklists §  Bugs & User Stories & Epics


User Stories: Example → As a user I want

the site to use minified .js


Writing better user stories → Who: Using personas instead

of “user” → What: Clearly define stories → Why: Use relevant drivers that

everyone can relate to → What is the reason for this

story? The core purpose?

As a user, I want the site

to use minified js.


Define the goal of the story → The WHAT of the story

should define the goal, not the solution.

→ Clearly understood definition of done.

As a fan of customer.com, I want the site

to use minified js to load faster.


Define the goal of the story → The WHAT of the story

should define the goal, not the solution.

→ Clearly understood definition of done.

As a fan of customer.com, I want the site the home page

to use minified js to load in under 5

seconds.


Writing clear user stories → Avoid the use of

‘and,’ ‘or,’ ‘but’ → Avoid the use of

limiters: ‘unless,’ ‘until,’ ‘without,’ and ‘except’

As a fan of customer.com,

I want the home page to load in under 5 seconds unless on a mobile device.


Explain in simplest terms → Learn and understand

the core business drivers: §  Revenue § Quality § Customer Experience § Other Business Goals

As a fan of customer.com,

I want the home page to load in under 5

seconds so that I’m not easily distracted and leave the site.


Acceptance Criteria → Easiest format to remember: → Given that [someone wants to do

something] → When s/he [performs action] → Then [something happens that can be

verified]


So many acronyms SMART – Acronym #1 → Specific? → Measureable? → Achieveable? → Relevant? → Time-boxed?

As a user, I want the site to look like the attached .psd file.


So many acronyms INVEST – Acronym #2 → Independent → Negotiable → Valueable → Estimable → Sizeable → Testable

As a user, I want the site to look like the attached .psd file.


Agile Ceremonies to add → Assume using:

§ Grooming, daily scrum, sprint end demo and retro

→ Add: Sprint Planning: § Reiterate what’s to be committed in

next sprint § Associate to team, or even developer

PRUNING


Agile Ceremonies to add → Add: Backlog “Pruning”

§  Establish goal to either close or assign for immediate review to keep it fresh

→ JQL: §  project = {project} AND status != Closed AND Sprint is EMPTY AND type = Story AND updated < -14w

LABELS


Labels for Sprint End Demo → Have Product Owners label their tickets with

“demo” → Confluence page with Insert JIRA Issue/Filter

§  project = {project} AND type != Sub-task AND sprint = {Sprint#} AND labels = demo ORDER BY key ASC, priority DESC


Bonus: using Columns in Jira

FILTERS


Sprint Filters → Create a filter when you Create a Sprint → Update to share with all on Project in JIRA → Prevent confusion:

§ Use Sprint ID “Sprint 26 (1075)” § Use Project “XYZ Sprint 26”


JIRA Components → Associate with content types “Content: Article” → Organizes tickets to optimize traceability → Subset QA Testing → Utilize general use cases “Content Editing,” “Image

Editing” → Add others based on Epics “Analytics,” “Advertising,”

“Metadata,” “Global Menu,” “Footer”

TABLES


Bonus: filtered WIP tables → Confluence page with JIRA tables → project = {project} AND Sprint in openSprints() and type!= Sub-task and component = “Content: Article”

→ project = {project} and type!= Sub-task and component = "Analytics" AND updated > -8w

SUB-TASKS


Sub-Tasks → Useful to help keep track of process or

workflow-related issues § Tracking external review teams § Tracking priorities among tickets § Announce need for a check-in meeting § Reminder to create QA test script

GROOMING


Grooming Agenda → Multiple product owners x multiple tickets

= chaos → Timeboxing shifts priority back to product

owner → Allocate 30 min per PO per week to start → Plan for 5 to 6 minutes per tickets to start


Grooming Worksheets → Worksheet Set-up: grid with PO, tickets,

availability → Removes blocker of interpretation → Timebox tickets and product owner(s) → Assumes fixed grooming ceremonies → Plan around prioritized tickets and availabilities → Establish hard deadline

POINTING


Pointing Tickets → Keep it fair → Keep voting time to a minimum → Use resource like pointingpoker.com

§ Have TA enter in tickets title and timebox voting

§  EM monitors grooming backchannel §  Pre-determine voting {1,2,3,5,8,13,?}

CUSTOM FIELDS


Custom fields: Teams → Developer → Team → Useful for tracking team

performance → Identify primary contributor to ticket


Custom fields: Branch → Multiple environments → Dev branches spanning more than

two sprints → Minimize QA and UAT confusion


Custom Fields: Time Spent → Time Spent fields → Add as required field in Screen on

Transitions → Add as similar field for QA

§  Identify tickets that were difficult and/or time-consuming


JIRA Tips & Tricks → Backlog view: Color code by JQL

or Custom Field (Teams) → Create “sprints” for backlog organization

§ Manage sprint allocations → Multiple boards for different audiences

ONE MORE THING


Use JIRA REST API


Use JIRA REST API → Google Sheets → Script Editor → Pass Queries directly → Update tickets ?


Use JIRA REST API

What You Learned → Document Everything! → User Stories:

SMART INVESTING → Sprint Planning → Backlog Pruning → Labels for Demos → Filters & Sprint naming

→ Use Components → Sub-Tasks → Worksheets for grooming → Pointing practices → Custom fields → Other tips & tricks

Questions ?

Chris Urban, Engagement Manager [email protected] @_urban_ d.o: urbanlegend

agile drupal tips

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