Post by Zigmister on Feb 23, 2014 12:33:51 GMT -6
Tech GL > Project Management > Pivotal Tracker
Pivotal Tracker
Take a look at their wonderful support documentation. Read the entirety of that page. Taking 15-20 minutes to read and understand what it is and what it can do if very useful. Also good secondary reading can be found in the FAQ. Within this guideline, we also lay out some specifics to our League's use of this tool.
The management of the League has grown beyond the capabilities of personal management by one person. We have many things going on and a simple list doesn't organize time efficiently. We are using a Project Management Tool called Pivotal Tracker. We are using it because the software is amazing, it just requires people to sign up, and as a non-profit we have the ability to use it for free. Even if we are denied the application, we can easily use Projects in a publicly viewable state, which wouldn't change our operation.
How it works
Tracker is split up into different Projects which are the sectors of League Administration. Stories are individual components within a Project, recording and organizing the todo list.
Tasks are individual actions within a Story, steps that detail how to complete the Story.
Projects
*Must be logged in to view projects. As these are public projects, you can view stories within them but not the entire project. That's a constraint of the software.
NCDA Promotions & Web Presence: Website Content, AJP, Video, Social, Recruitment
NCDA Administrative: Executive Board, Nationals, Policy & Regulations (including Rulebook), Alumni Relations, Officiating
NCDA Officiating App
NCDA RPI
Stories
"Stories are small, actionable components of work. The building blocks of every project. They’re easy to create, share, discuss and react to. A good story is understood by everyone on your team and describes something that can be verified and accepted by the customer.
There are four types of stories in Tracker: Features, Chores, Bugs, and Releases.
-Pivotal"
Difference between Story Types:
A Feature is something worthwhile, that will help the NCDA expand as an organization. they provide verifiable value to the League and are something totally worth the time put into it. Features are worth points and therefore must be estimated.
Chores are stories that are necessary, but provide no direct, obvious value to the League. They might help keep our operation up to date, like for example upgrading our website software. Chores are barriers that soak up time that could be spent on other valuable stories like Features or Bugs.
Bugs represent unintended behavior that can be related to features. Mostly this could relate to website and software problems, but could extend to policy quibbles as well.
Releases are milestone markers, and allow your team to track progress towards concrete goals, for example stakeholder demos, software launches, etc. It's possible to specify target dates for releases. We can also use Releases to schedule meetings, placing items on the agenda as Tasks.
Epics allow us to keep track of progress of coarse-grained features or themes, at a level higher than individual stories. Epics are groups of stories; think of an epic as a giant feature, but each task is very complicated.
For example, developing the Officiating App is an Epic, in terms of the NCDA. It contains stories about writing the code, designing the interface, testing it, gathering data, and refining it.
Wonderful FAQ from the site.
Using Tracker
Each member of the Staff should sign up for an account; it only requires an email. Because of update reasons, it should be an actively checked account. The Member then gives their email address to the Project Manager, who invites that email to a specific Project.
Pivotal Tracker is only as good as the Stories put into it, and only as effective as people actively checking up on it. So please use an email you check regularly or keep the Project History window open to keep track of notifications.
My windows in Projects usually are: Backlog, Icebox, Project History. (In my settings I roll the Current stories into the Backlog) (You can display whatever way works for you)
Pivotal Tracker
Pivotal Tracker said:
Tracker is a simple, story-based project planning tool that allows teams to collaborate and react instantly to real-world changes. It's based on agile software development methods, but it can be used on a variety of types of projects. Tracker frees you up to focus on getting things done, without getting bogged down keeping your plans in sync with reality.Take a look at their wonderful support documentation. Read the entirety of that page. Taking 15-20 minutes to read and understand what it is and what it can do if very useful. Also good secondary reading can be found in the FAQ. Within this guideline, we also lay out some specifics to our League's use of this tool.
The management of the League has grown beyond the capabilities of personal management by one person. We have many things going on and a simple list doesn't organize time efficiently. We are using a Project Management Tool called Pivotal Tracker. We are using it because the software is amazing, it just requires people to sign up, and as a non-profit we have the ability to use it for free. Even if we are denied the application, we can easily use Projects in a publicly viewable state, which wouldn't change our operation.
How it works
Tracker is split up into different Projects which are the sectors of League Administration. Stories are individual components within a Project, recording and organizing the todo list.
Tasks are individual actions within a Story, steps that detail how to complete the Story.
Projects
*Must be logged in to view projects. As these are public projects, you can view stories within them but not the entire project. That's a constraint of the software.
NCDA Promotions & Web Presence: Website Content, AJP, Video, Social, Recruitment
NCDA Administrative: Executive Board, Nationals, Policy & Regulations (including Rulebook), Alumni Relations, Officiating
NCDA Officiating App
NCDA RPI
Stories
"Stories are small, actionable components of work. The building blocks of every project. They’re easy to create, share, discuss and react to. A good story is understood by everyone on your team and describes something that can be verified and accepted by the customer.
There are four types of stories in Tracker: Features, Chores, Bugs, and Releases.
-Pivotal"
Difference between Story Types:
A Feature is something worthwhile, that will help the NCDA expand as an organization. they provide verifiable value to the League and are something totally worth the time put into it. Features are worth points and therefore must be estimated.
Chores are stories that are necessary, but provide no direct, obvious value to the League. They might help keep our operation up to date, like for example upgrading our website software. Chores are barriers that soak up time that could be spent on other valuable stories like Features or Bugs.
Bugs represent unintended behavior that can be related to features. Mostly this could relate to website and software problems, but could extend to policy quibbles as well.
Releases are milestone markers, and allow your team to track progress towards concrete goals, for example stakeholder demos, software launches, etc. It's possible to specify target dates for releases. We can also use Releases to schedule meetings, placing items on the agenda as Tasks.
Epics allow us to keep track of progress of coarse-grained features or themes, at a level higher than individual stories. Epics are groups of stories; think of an epic as a giant feature, but each task is very complicated.
For example, developing the Officiating App is an Epic, in terms of the NCDA. It contains stories about writing the code, designing the interface, testing it, gathering data, and refining it.
Wonderful FAQ from the site.
Using Tracker
Each member of the Staff should sign up for an account; it only requires an email. Because of update reasons, it should be an actively checked account. The Member then gives their email address to the Project Manager, who invites that email to a specific Project.
Pivotal Tracker is only as good as the Stories put into it, and only as effective as people actively checking up on it. So please use an email you check regularly or keep the Project History window open to keep track of notifications.
My windows in Projects usually are: Backlog, Icebox, Project History. (In my settings I roll the Current stories into the Backlog) (You can display whatever way works for you)