User stories -> issue tracking
James Kennedy
I think I may be repeating myself here - but I was wondering what
people are using for tracking their user stories through
specification, development and user acceptance. I've used a variety
of bug tracking solutions from bugzilla (ugh) to Jira (ahhh) but
haven't come across anything that would allow me to link original user
stories through the development process. It would be nice to have a
tool that allowed techies and domain experts to write their stories in
together. The chosen features could then be assigned to a milestone
and we could all chug off on our merry way towards
UserAcceptanceVille.
I'm sure you can do this in Jira but thats a bit intimidating for non-
techies. I was thinking of something that looked a little cuddlier.
Thoughts?
cheers
James
Simon McCartney
> I'm sure you can do this in Jira but thats a bit intimidating for non-
> techies. I was thinking of something that looked a little cuddlier.
> Thoughts?
We're using Redmine, http://www.redmine.org/, although it doesn't
explicitly support user stories, it allows you to define multiple issue
types (Risk, Issue, Action Point, Bug, Feature etc) and associated
workflow (who can do what with them, create, edit, valid states etc)
It also groups everything into projects, so you independent issues,
wikis, road maps etc per project.
It's also a Rails app, so extending it where required at least fits with
the other technology your using :-)
HTH,
Simon.
--
Simon McCartney
E: si...@mccartney.ie IM/MSN: simo...@hotmail.com
M: +44 7710 836 915 IM/Y!: simon_mcc
Wesley
the past 6 months, for technical and some non-technical staff (users &
customer representatives). There have been some minor issues with it
but overall it's been very good.
Regards,
Wesley
On Jun 29, 10:20 am, Simon McCartney <si...@mccartney.ie> wrote:
> James Kennedy wrote:
> > I'm sure you can do this in Jira but thats a bit intimidating for non-
> > techies. I was thinking of something that looked a little cuddlier.
> > Thoughts?
>
> types (Risk, Issue, Action Point, Bug, Feature etc) and associated
> workflow (who can do what with them, create, edit, valid states etc)
>
> It also groups everything into projects, so you independent issues,
> wikis, road maps etc per project.
>
> It's also a Rails app, so extending it where required at least fits with
> the other technology your using :-)
>
> HTH,
>
> Simon.
>
> --
> Simon McCartney
John Ward
but it is commercial.
John
joshea
On Jun 29, 7:09 am, James Kennedy <jamesindub...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I'm sure you can do this in Jira but thats a bit intimidating for non-
> techies. I was thinking of something that looked a little cuddlier.
> Thoughts?
Not sure if you've tried this, but by setting up different group
permission schemes to remove many of the more advanced options/fields
and pre-defining custom reports (appear on users dashboards) you can
make JIRA a lot less threatening for non-techie users. I've worked
with a good few other tracking systems too (not to mention some
horrible in-house tools!) but for ruby/java dev in a scrum/xp dev team
JIRA seems to be the most flexible when it comes to accomodating
different users (customers, project managers, developers, analysts)
view of projects. You need to be prepared to invest a little effort
in setting it up for your process though.
Alternatively, if you are looking for a more casual hosted tool, have
you looked at Basecamp? And hey, there's nothing terribly wrong with
paper for user stories if everyone is colocated.
Of course, the main priority when introducing a new tool like this is
to get buy-in from everyone in advance and train them on how to use it
- not matter how good the tracking tool, if it isn't used or if it's
used incorrectly it'll cause more confusion and frustration than
anything else.
Regards,
John.
James Kennedy
Thanks for all the feedback. I got a hold of redmine but just found
it a little more than I needed. Mingle looks really good but failed
to run on my mac and there was no love from their support on it.
Maybe next time I should tick the 'more than 500 employees' box.
Jira is sweet. I really like the screen capture function on it. I
guess I just thought there would be something to do this out of the
box.
James
Ger Hartnett
coClarity should solve the problem. For non-technical users it'll be
cuddlier than other systems. It's developed in Rails and it's an Irish
company. However, we're still in development mode.
When do you need a solution?
Besides
- screen capture and
- coordination around original user stories through the development
process
Did you have any other key requirements?
/ger.
Denis Hennessy
> I think I may be repeating myself here - but I was wondering what
> people are using for tracking their user stories through
> specification, development and user acceptance.
Have you considered using the rspec user stories directly. They're
definitely readable by
non-techie users (see below) and by keeping them in source control
they're automagically
up-to-date and tested as the software evolves.
For people not familiar with them, these files are actually executed
and validated against
your application.
/dh
Sample (signup_story):
Story: signing up to mynewapp
As a user
I want to sign up to mynewapp
So that I can use the service
Scenario: a new user signs up
Given no existing user with email a...@test.dom
When I sign up with email a...@test.dom and password test
Then a user with email a...@test.dom should exist
And I will receive an invitation email
.... more scenario (and other stories) ...