Request for Themes (labels/tags)

[Kevin S.]

I've been struggling with something in VersionOne. My users have a
need to 'tag' a grouping of stories for easy retrieval.

Methods I've tried to stretch for this use-
- custom fields: can't easily report or filter on them
- goals: not hierarchical, can't be filtered on
- feature groups: hierarchical and can be filtered on, but only a 1
story to 1 group mapping
- project buckets: a story can only live in one project
- priority: can be filtered on, can customize, but a story can only
have one priority

I'm finding a desire for tags/labels/attributes as you would typically
find on a blog. On a blog, a post can be 'tagged' with several labels
and you can look at all posts on a blog with a given label.

Example uses for this:
- all stories marked as a "top 5" priority for the week
- all stories marked as "billable" (we need to bill an external
customer for this work)
- epics (currently not a filter selection in a listing grid)
- strategy groupings like goals, but hierarchical

The problem is that there are quite a few options in VersionOne, but
each option is built for a specific use and with restrictions.

My requested requirements-
- a list of labels or tags could be administered globally like
projects
- team members could mark a backlog item with 1-N tags
- any listing screen could be filtered on 1-N tags
- nice to have: tags can be hierarchical (if not, then multiple tags
would be applied)
- stretch requirement: individual users could create their own tags
invisible to others

The cheapest solution based on the application today... generalize
feature groups... rename them as tags or labels and modify them to
allow stories to be mapped to N feature groups. You can already
filter and report on feature groups. You can already track progress
against a feature group. Voila! My problem is solved.

If I had this, I wouldn't need goals, feature groups, maybe even
projects. It's a simple abstracted version of all those things.

What do others think? Would you like to see this in one of the next
releases?

[Kevin S.]

Oh yeah... I forgot to include the trigger for the word "theme"

Saw this blog post today-
http://www.agile-software-development.com/2009/03/user-story-themes-in-agile-software.html

[Stout, Michael]

I've brought this topic up a couple of times but it hasn't gotten any
traction.

One of my biggest pet peeves with the V1 application is with how Themes
(feature groups) & goals currently work (or don't work :)).

It is extremely important to be able to prioritize stories AND it is
also important to be able to group stories. Many tools provide "tags"
as a way to accomplish this. Goals and Themes (feature groups) are the
closest thing VersionOne has to tags. However, as you mention below,
the current functionality of these two features has a few drawbacks that
keep them from being viable solution for tagging.

Goals are great because you can associate a backlog item to multiple
goals however, filtering and reporting on goals is next to impossible.

Themes have great filtering and reporting but a backlog item can only
belong to one theme.

It seems like the easiest fix to this problem would be to allow Backlog
items to be associated to 1-N Themes. If there is some big technical
reason why this can't be done then goals need to have their filtering
and reporting enhanced.

--Mike

[Rene Rosendahl]

I agree that having tags for backlog items and defects would be helpful.
Since feature groups and goals have fairly specific uses and purposes, I
think implementing tags as a new, independent feature would be
preferable over merging it into feature groups or goals.

Just my 2 cents.
Rene

-----Original Message-----
From: versiono...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:versiono...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Kevin S.
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 10:45 AM
To: VersionOne-users
Subject: Request for Themes (labels/tags)

[Melzer, Steve]

I believe the real issue here is that custom fields do not have proper filtering and searching capabilities. If these functions were improved for custom fields this should address the issue.

Additionally custom fields need to be shared across workitems.

I have already requested this functionality, as others have as well. This needs to be a priority for V1.

Steve

[Stout, Michael]

I don't think adding *another* feature to the tool that does pretty much
the same thing as goals and themes is the right thing to do.

I already have a tough time explaining why there are goals AND themes
(they pretty much accomplish the same goal). I wouldn't want to have 3
features (goals, themes, & now tags) in the tool that all do the same
thing. I would rather just see one feature that can accomplish what is
needed.

--Mike

[Joel]

Kevin,

Would a multi-select dropdown custom field that you could filter on
work? I don't believe V1 currently allows for multi-select custom
fields, but our organization could use that feature provided we have
the ability to filter on them. Just thought it might work for you as
well.

Joel

[Kevin S.]

well... yes... that is what I'm asking for...

The problem with using a custom field is that they are not reportable
in the UI today. Making them multi-select would only work if this
functionality was limited to fixed options custom fields (as opposed
to custom text).

I'm guessing this is one of the more expensive approaches.

[V. Lee Henson CST]

The request for labels/tagging has been a hot topic recently. The
request for this enhancement has been noted and will be brought to the
attention of the Product team at VersionOne. The concept of labels and
tags is a great idea, the challenge comes in figuring out the best way
to implement this type of functionality inside the VersionOne
Application. Nonetheless, I will pass this request along!

V. Lee Henson CST
Agile Professional / VersionOne Product Expert