Review of user story best practices, and a dozen tips to help manage your agile Drupal project more efficiently. Presentation focuses on use of JIRA and agile practices.

1. Agile Drupal Tips
12 Ways to Help
Keep Your Project Humming
Chris Urban, Engagement Manager
chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_ d.o:urbanlegend

3. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
Overview
→ Assumptions
→ Review some common issues
→ Outline how to leverage tools
→ Profit!

5. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
The Problems
→ Bursts of unrefined requests
→ Unclear ownership
→ Multiple stakeholders with colliding
inputs
→ Foggy longer-term goals

6. FOUNDATION

7. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
A Solid Foundation
→ Documentation
§ Key knowledge shared
→ Communication
§ Processes shared
§ Expectations managed

9. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
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

11. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
User Stories: Example
→ As a user I want
the site to use
minified .js

12. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
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.

13. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
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.

14. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
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.

15. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
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.

16. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
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.

17. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
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]

18. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
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.

19. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
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.

21. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
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

22. PRUNING

23. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
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

24. LABELS

25. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
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

27. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
Bonus: using Columns in Jira

28. FILTERS

29. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
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”

31. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
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”

32. TABLES

33. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
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

34. SUB-TASKS

35. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
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

36. GROOMING

37. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
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

38. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
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

39. POINTING

40. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
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,?}

41. CUSTOM FIELDS

42. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
Custom fields: Teams
→ Developer
→ Team
→ Useful for tracking team
performance
→ Identify primary contributor to ticket

43. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
Custom fields: Branch
→ Multiple environments
→ Dev branches spanning more than
two sprints
→ Minimize QA and UAT confusion

44. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
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

46. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
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

47. ONE MORE THING

48. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
Use JIRA REST API

49. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
Use JIRA REST API
→ Google Sheets
→ Script Editor
→ Pass Queries directly
→ Update tickets ?

50. chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_
Use JIRA REST API

51. 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

52. Questions ?
Chris Urban, Engagement Manager
chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_ d.o: urbanlegend