4.4. Tasks
Last updated
Last updated
Items are next broken down into executable Tasks. Depending on which tool you use to visualize Items and Tasks, Tasks can be a checklist in an Item, sub-Items, or separate cards on a Kanban Board (Chapter 5.1). The Goal of tasks is to make Items easier to handle during a Sprint. A Task usually has a size that allows it to be done within one day.
We have so many Elements described and we’re not yet at the fi nish line, thinks Fiona, wanting to get going on the legal work of the case. Yet, the weeks need to be planned. And plan they do. They find that the description of the tasks was somewhat easier, as they are very near to the actual work to be done. The different sizes of Items trigger questions for our legal team, though: do they need to break down all Items into Tasks or would they leave smaller Items as-is? They initially just seek to avoid doubling the work and therefore only break down tasks that are too big to be addressed at once.
Luckily, they remember that they can start with the fi rst Epics/Items as they occur and do not need to defi ne everything in detail at the start—after all, it wouldn’t be Agile if you knew everything at the start. Phew!
Now that they have arrived at the most detailed Element, they are happy to start their actual work. They quickly agree on who will start with which task. They ask their team’s organizing talent, Oliver, to arrange another meeting with the client’s project manager, Caleb, and ask him if there are key people that need to be involved. Senior associate Fiona will take the task of creating an overview of all involved parties, but she still has mixed feelings about their process. It is an interesting experience, yet they could have started earlier without it, likely with a similar allocation of Tasks. Gabriel will need to do more preparation for their Agile methods—something they certainly need as a fresh team, but which is not part of the core work they need to do for a client.
Tasks:
Item: ...
Title: ...
