JIRA Usage and Best Practises
This is a set of personally decided best guidelines for when structuring a project.
Guidelines
| Guideline | Desc |
|---|---|
| Tasks | Keep tasks as high level as possible. Make sure, however, that these high-level tasks are specific enough to target one area. |
| Subtasks | These should break down the high level task into manageable pieces. |
| Time estimate | It is really important to give a time estimate beside each unit. These estimates will be used in future to help decide the best use of time. |
| Time logging | Log actual time against the estimate for future reference. Be as accurate as possible. |
| Priority | If possible, ensure to give an accurate priority to the high level tasks. This will help with defining daily schedules and sprints. |
| Versions | When going through iteration cycles, try as hard as possible to define the version these tasks belong too. |
| Components | For each section of a project, set a component. |
| Labels | Labels are more informal but arguably more important to defining where time allocation has gone. These labels should not change from project to project. |
Component vs Label
Definition of a component and a label:
Components are sub-sections of a project. They are used to group issues within a project into smaller parts. Labeling allows you to categorize an issue(s) in a more informal way than assigning it to a version or component. You can then search for issues that have been given a particular label.
Sprints
- Ensure that each sprint takes into account the appropriate amount of work hours. This means taking into account the hours required for meetings, retrospectives etc.
- Treat each work week as a total of 40 hours per person.
- While things can change, try not to change the scope of the sprint after it has started. The only addition tasks (if possible) to be added should be subtasks.