6. 6
Getting Started
Installation
ScrumDesk is available as following editions:
On-Demand Edition that supports to host the project database on ScrumDesk servers. In this case
only the installation of ScrumDesk client application is necessary. Users are informed via emails
about credentials to login to hosted database.
On-Site Edition provides a possibility to install the database in company environment. In this case is
necessary to install the database and client application as well. To learn more how to install On-Site
edition read Administrator manual.
Licensing
The company license is provided upon registration on Download page. Company license must be used and
must be the same in every ScrumDesk database installed by the customer.
The company license includes user’s licenses that are possible to assign to team members. The user license
is shared in all databases and it is automatically recognized by the name of team member.
Company license
User User User
...
license license license
ScrumDesk Company provides 5 free user licenses for commercial and 20 free licenses for non-profit or
academy organization.
ScrumDesk Administrator (someone who registered for ScrumDesk on our site) receives the company key
for further usage. This license must be entered into database via ScrumDesk Administration Mode. Read
more about the configuration in Administrator manual.
7. 7
Scrum Fundamentals
Scrum is an agile project management framework. As framework, it does not prescribe all parts of a
process, but suggests fundamental roles and ceremonies good to be implemented.
Roles
Scrum is simple framework that suggests three roles only.
Product Owner
Product Owner is responsible for providing product vision, defining key features (in form of epics or user
stories), prioritizing them in product backlog. She also communicates with clients, stakeholders to fulfill
their needs. Product owner answers what, why, for whom and when is will be functionality delivered.
Scrum Master
The role of Scrum Master is to help a team to achieve results without disturbance. Scrum Master typically
maintains process. She is responsible for removing problems to help team to deliver working software.
She is also coach at the same time encouraging teams to be more agile.
Team
Team in Scrum is multi-disciplined, self-organized, collaborative and productive group of people who
implement working product. Team answers how product will be developed.
Ceremonies
Instead of activities Scrum suggests ceremonies to describe what is important to develop and deliver
working product.
Ceremonies are:
Planning
Sprint execution
Sprint review (demo)
Retrospective
Planning
During planning meeting team, together with product owner, plans which features will be developed in
upcoming release or sprint (time box of 2-4 weeks).
8. 8
The goal of planning is:
Have product vision break down into epics (less detailed, top hierarchy feature)
Have releases broken into sprints
Have epics slotted into releases and the next one/two sprints.
Have common understanding of what, for whom and why is feature necessary
Identify acceptance criteria for stories planned for the next one or two sprints
Planning is typically done onsite, all team sitting together. Especially release planning is suggested to be
done by all team members. Sprint planning can be done online, for example using ScrumDesk.
Estimation
Estimation in agile project consists of two parts:
1. Rough estimation of complexity of epics/stories in story points in release planning meeting
2. More precise estimation of tasks in days or hours in sprint planning meeting.
The first time the estimation is necessary is once epics or stories are slotted to a sprint. The team should
provide the estimation in story points.
Story point is unit less number that reflects relative size comparing to reference size of 1. It is based on
principle that people are better in relative comparison than in absolute sizing. Teams use Planning Poker ™
game to compare complexity. Poker game is integrated in ScrumDesk.
Estimation using story points is precise enough to recognize in early stages if team is able to complete
release backlog in given timeframe comparing to previous history.
In sprint planning team is able to break down stories into tasks. This leads to concrete tasks therefore team
is able to better estimate a duration of tasks in time units.
Summarizing story points of only completed stories in a sprint team can recognize velocity. Velocity is an
indicator how much is team able to complete and is suggested to be used as a capacity of next sprints.
Sprint execution
Once sprint has been started, team develops planned stories.
In addition, team meets every day at the same time in daily meeting. In this meeting all team members
should answer three questions:
a) What did me since the last daily meeting?
b) What am I going to do today?
c) I have these problems….
During the sprint all team members make progress visible by updating status of tasks, updating remaining
time and updating burn down and other charts. ScrumDesk makes these activities easier as many of them
are done automatically.
Sprint review
The goal of this ceremony is to demonstrate working product to product owner, clients and stakeholders to
get approval of the implementation. Sprint review typically takes one hour. It should be a show, not deep
9. 9
demonstration, however product must works. This session is facilitated and organized by scrum master.
Team can demonstrate functionality.
Retrospective
This ceremony is unique possibility to identify improvements of processes, tools, organization and product
features by all team members. There are different techniques to be used. The simplest is to gather ideas
about:
What was good in the current sprint?
What could be better in the next sprint?
Team members then vote for ideas they wish to be implemented. Scrum Master should, with help of
management, to implement them and provide feedback about implementation status back to team.
10. 10
Quick start
ScrumDesk is Windows application that stores all data in data repository (SQL Server or ScrumDesk Web
API).
To start to use ScrumDesk project database must be installed in repository using ScrumDesk Database
Manager.
Repository/database installation
As a first step ScrumDesk administrator must install the database (On-Site edition) or register to receive
credentials to hosted database (On-Demand edition).
To read how to install database read Administrator manual.
Connect to a repository
Projects are stored in repositories/databases installed in the previous step. As there can be more
databases installed in the company, the team member must connect to appropriate database.
The Login dialog is displayed upon ScrumDesk start. Click Database link to configure the connection to
repository:
Fig. 1 Login dialog
This will displays the dialog Server and Database in which a connection to database can be configured.
Fig. 2 Server and Database dialog
Field Comment
Authentication Identification which system will validate credentials.
For hosted database use always SQL Server
User Account used to connect to SQL Server
Password Password for the account
Server Server URL or IP address of SQL Server.
Enter ServerInstance in case there are more instances installed.
11. 11
Port can be specified in URL as <URL,PORT>
Database Name of the database that stores ScrumDesk projects.
The details must be the same as connection used for database installation in Repository/Database
installation step.
ScrumDesk administrator can send the connection in a file that is possible to load by click on Load button.
The connection details can be saved by click on Save button. To test details click Test button.
If your details are correct, click Ok button and continue with the login procedure.
In case of a problem Error dialog will appear.
Fig. 3 Error dialog
Login
If connection to database is configured user can continue with login procedure.
ScrumDesk administrator creates accounts for all team members in Administration mode.
To change password click Change password. To start ScrumDesk quickly click Save password and password
will be crypted and saved in a user profile.
Fig. 4 Login dialog
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Choose project
Logged user can choose a project to work with. ScrumDesk displays in a list:
private projects that are accessible by team members only
or public projects available to everyone able to connect to database/repository
Fig. 5 Selection of the project
Projects are displayed in a list with the icon and short description displayed as a tooltip. Project is chosen by
click on the name.
Click Create New Project to create a new, empty, project that is automatically assigned to currently logged
user who will become Scrum Master in it.
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User interface basics
ScrumDesk user interface simulates the simplicity of wall board with a possibility to display the backlog in
different styles therefore allows to better manage backlog.
The user interface display more views in separated tabs. This way can user works with more backlogs at the
same time.
The top row displays menu, the current project, logged user identification and his online status.
The second row displays Infoline with information about the current view and filter applied. The filter can
be defined by click on this line or Filter button. In case there were some changes recognized in the
database, the Infoline will be displayed in an orange color and information text.
Timeline brings time perspective. The timeline can be scrolled and dragged by the mouse and also zoomed
in or out. It displays events like sprints, releases and demo events.
Tab switch provides an access to all displayed backlogs. In advance the first button displays all boards in
preview mode.
The board, preview, zoom and story pane are displayed according the current view.
Online status.
Display SideView Click to change.
Impediments Planning poker Change the current
backlog/sprint
Infoline Menu The current Project.
display style
Pomodoro timer Click to choose other.
Overall status
Logged user.
Click to logout
Absences Filter
Timeline
Progress line
Tab switch
Preview
Board Story pane Zoom
Fig. 6 Main screen
Legend
14. 14
Backlog Display styles
Backlog can be displayed in several styles which are the following:
Board
Board simulates physical wall board. It displays stories as cards and allows manipulate with them. The size
of the board is dynamically changed to accommodate all cards on the board.
To scroll the board user can click scroll bars or use mouse wheel. Another option is to click on gray area
with the left button and wait 1 second. The cursor will be changed as an indication of dragging mode. This
way user can easy scroll board similar to thumb scrolling.
The board can be zoomed using Zoom slider or using Ctrl + Mouse Wheel.
Preview pane is updated and indicates displayed view as red rectangle that can be moved around. This
movement will scroll the board as well.
Selection of cards for further processing can be started by left mouse click and dragging the mouse.
Grid
Grid displays the backlog as a table with more columns. Grid allows operation with data similar to Microsoft
Excel® as sorting, filtering, grouping, selection and inline editing.
Columns order can be changed by drag and drop. Columns can be also fixed dragging the handler
displayed in the left top corner of the grid.
15. 15
Data can be filtered by selection from combo box displayed by click on the arrow in column header.
To group data user should drag column name into Grouping area at the top of the grid. In advance,
ScrumDesk calculates summary overview for every group of data hence user can have better overview of
data distribution. Group can be expanded and collapsed by click on button.
Group summary
Task board
Task board displays stories and tasks as a Kanban board. Kanban board is split into more swim lines
according the status. ScrumDesk task board allows change the status of task by drag and drop.
It displays statistic information for a story and for status as well.
Task board can be zoomed using zoom slider. Zoom allows display even big number of tasks.
Sorting
Story
Task
Detail of a story or a task is displayed by double-click on an index card.
Task board allows add and delete tasks. Cards can be maximized or minimized hence provide more space
to display more cards. What is displayed in task card layout you can read here.
To change status of the task user should drag the card into given column representing status. Some
transitions are not possible due to scrum principles and in this case user is informed about that.
16. 16
The correct workflow is:
To Do->Checked Out
Check Out -> Solved or Completed
Completed -> Checked Out or Solved or To Do
Treemap
An unique feature of ScrumDesk helps to manage large backlogs. Treemap display style displays all stories
in the view as rectangle. The size of the rectangle depends on one selected story’s attribute while color
depends on another. In advance, stories can be grouped together. This brings three dimensions to work
with a backlog.
Treemap is the best way for product owner and scrum master to analyze backlog and find answers for
questions like:
Are stories developed according to priority?
Are developers getting things done correctly?
Are stories slotted into sprints and releases correctly?
17. 17
Project
Project details are available by click on Project menu item.
Fig. 7 Project page
User can enter project’s details and to configure project variables, ScrumDesk options and to integrate
project with 3rd party systems.
Project details
The first page describes details of the project
Field Comments
Project The name of the project. It is displayed in a project list in Choose project dialog
Started The date when the project has been created
Private Private project are available only to team members specified in Teams Manager
page.
Public projects are available to all users able to connect to database.
Description The description of the project.
Icon Click button to assign an icon to project. The icon is displayed in Choose project
dialog
Default sprint length Every new sprint will be created with this default duration. The duration of the
sprint can be changed later.
The duration is the number of working days for the iteration.
Homepage URL to access project web homepage that many systems provide (wiki,
Microsoft SharePoint, etc.) Homepage is available to all team members by click
on Homepage menu item.
Bugtrack URL to access project web based bug tracking system (Mantis, Jira, Bugzilla, etc.)
Bugtracking system is available to all team members by click on BugTrack menu
item
18. 18
Attachments
Project is typically described by many documents or pictures. ScrumDesk allows user to keep this
documentation shared to team via Attachments section.
Add file Delete Save attachment
from folder attachment to disc
Open
Number of attachment
attachments
Attachment
Fig. 8 Project Attachments
Attachment can be opened by double-click on the item. Click on a name to rename an attachment.
ScrumDesk supports to keep and share links to files or to upload files into database. This allows to access
documents in distributed teams as well even they are geographically distributed.
User is asked to decide if file should be uploaded into database every time attachment is added.
Fig. 9 Uploading the file to database
Attachments auto-synchronization
ScrumDesk supports synchronization of attachments back to repository once they are opened and edited.
User needs to just open the attachment, edit it and save it. ScrumDesk will update it automatically.
19. 19
Team Manager
It is suggested to have agile teams not bigger than 7-9 people. In case of big project this leads to having
more teams that needs to be synchronized.
ScrumDesk keep teams hierarchically organized in Team Manager page.
In this page Scrum Master can:
manage teams
add/remove team members from the database
define a role of team members
assign team members to team
create organization hierarchy by drag and drop
search for team members and teams
Team Manager displays the hierarchy as a chart or in a grid.
Add team member
from database or
remove it from the
team
Add a new team or remove the
team. Team members will be
assigned to parent team.
Search
Drag a card to
add it to team Team is defined by the name
and icon. The details can be
edited by double-click.
Team member contact card
contains name, picture,
Team members with
online status indicated by
an access to project,
circle in the bottom corners
but not assigned to
and role.
any team
20. 20
Contact card
Team member details are displayed in a card that can be easily manipulated. To change details double-click
on it and detail window will appear.
Name Picture of the
team member Click to send email,
visit page or call via
Skype
Role in the
project. Click
to change it.
Online status
Skype account
21. 21
Activities
ScrumDesk tracks all changes done by any team member. These changes are sent as an online notification
to all team members and, at the same time, they are available in Activities page. The page is history
browser displaying who, when and what has changed. Changes are grouped by item’s id and date of the
change.
Filter
Daily
changes Change details
Task
changes
User who
changed an item
Fig. 10 Activities page
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Customization
Scrum is a framework typically adopted by every company. ScrumDesk allows customizing it according to
needs.
Customization page
Release types allows to define how important is the release and where will be deployed
Release statuses. Companies track the status of the releases therefore they need to define statuses
to be used.
Story types. A story in Scrum is used to describe different artifacts from feature requests to
defects.
Story templates simplify backlog management. Team can predefine templates that can be used to
create a new stories with some attributes predefined already. Template can be named and
described. Color of selected template can be chosen by click on Color link.
Fig. 11 Customization page
Options page
Colors section enables to change default colors of stories and retrospective ideas statuses. This
setting is project specific.
Default priority – the setting used when new story is created. Some teams prefer to have all new
stories with the priority 1, some with the highest priority so product owner can check them.
Working calendar – charts are not calculated for non-working days. These days depend on regional
settings, but must be set manually as teams can be distributed in different countries.
Roles names – not every ScrumDesk user works in an IT area. Non-IT areas use different
terminology that can be configured here.
Time unit – all time fields are tracked using the time unit chosen in this field. Changing the value of
this field will recalculate all the backlog and progress of all items to a new time unit. User has to
configure ratio between units before the conversion.
Allow multiple instances – ScrumDesk runs as one instance even user start it more times. If you
would like to have more instances running with different projects displayed, check this checkbox to
allow that.
Re-assign story to logged user – if story is changed, it is automatically re-assigned to team member
who changed an entity. If you would like to keep the original assignee, check this option and item
will be not reassigned.
23. 23
Use spellchecker – details of stories and tasks are checked for type and grammar errors. Users are
allowed to choose the language for spell checker and enable/disable it.
Notify me about changes – the information about any change is sent to all team members that are
informed about it in small popup window. Changes are checked every 10 minutes therefore team is
informed about them even teams are distributed.
Display community news – we keep our customers updated via this page with more details about
changes and agile events in the world.
SMPT email server – to propagate changes via email as well, the email server must be configured.
Click Test button to send test email and validate settings. Email notification can be disabled.
Restore
default values
Test email
settings
Fig. 12 Options page
Synchronization
ScrumDesk project can be synchronized with 3rd party tools. The synchronization is done using
Synchronization Hub that reads the configuration from project’s Synchronization tab.
24. 24
Backlog management
Task card
Card displaying task is different as it can provide less information necessary to work with it. Task cards are
available only if Task Board view is used.
Assignee Minimize or maximize card
Title Delete task
Remaining vs. Estimated
Story card
The concept of story written on an index card has been adopted since Extreme Programming defined
principle of 3C (Cards, Conversation, and Confirmation). Scrum has incorporated the concept of the story
written on the card. Card is easy to manipulate with and provides only necessary level of the information.
Card displays three views:
- Detail displays basic information
- Tasks allows managing tasks
- Chart displays progress of the story once it is checked out. The view can be changed by click on the
label. The view is changed for all selected stories Detail view
Personal story Internal story
Progress chart Call story team
Change color
Tasks management
Edit details
Display details
Delete story
Story ID
Flagged story
Status
Title
Description
Assignee
Estimated duration
to complete story
Importance
Theme/Category Effort Remaining time Resize card
(story points) to complete story
25. 25
Tasks
This view allows breaking down a story into tasks and manages them.
Tasks in ScrumDesk have an order that can be changed. User can estimate, track time spent and remaining
time. The status of the task can be changed by click on small colored rectangle on the left side of the row.
An Assignee can be chosen by click on the name and by selection from the combo box.
Additional task attributes like attachments, links, comments and history can be accessed by double-click or
pressing the Detail button in the right top corner.
Move task up
Delete task
Create task Move task down
Open details
Spent time
Status
Assignee
Task title Estimated duration Remaining time
Story progress chart
A progress of the story can be checked on the story burn down chart. Even it is not typical agile approach
to check a progress of a story; such chart helps to analyze which story is late or ahead. In addition to typical
Burn Down chart (ideal and real progress) ScrumDesk displays Impediments and total Effort. This provides
more visibility and possibility to analyze reasons of the late progress.
Project Backlog Click label to
Estimated duration
display/hide
Date
26. 26
How to manipulate with cards
Index card in ScrumDesk is resizable, editable by one click, supports automatic save, colors selection and
simple access to team involved in story implementation.
New stories can be added by double click on Backlog board or click New menu item. The new story will be
created in center of the screen.
To create story based on template, expand New menu item and custom story templates will be displayed.
Story template
Scrum Master is able to prepare stories templates that can be reused by the team to create a new story.
To create the new story template switch to ProjectCustomization tab. New template can be added by click
on New link there.
ScrumDesk story template allows defining:
Name – the name is used for recognition of the template
Description – the more detailed description of the template displayed in tooltip later
Definition time
Story default description – the default text entered into newly created story. If might be used to
keep the definition of stories solid.
Story type – the type of the newly created story (user story, technical, epic, etc.)
Effort – predefined size of the effort. Some teams prefer to have epics bigger than 40 or 100.
(Fibonacci scale or manually entered value)
Default duration – predefined duration expected for selected type of stories.
Predefined tasks – definition of tasks allows to implement principle of Definition of Done. By
definition of tasks team is asked to apply the structure of DoD consistently.
To create new story based on predefined story template click on selected template from templates list
available from New menu item.
Story templates are the way how to keep backlog structured, to differentiate projects and to make efficient
new stories creation.
Relations of stories
ScrumDesk supports simple relations tracking functionality – possibility to track, see and print out it in
Documents.
27. 27
Story in ScrumDesk
A user story is one or more sentences in the business language of the end user that captures what the user
wants to achieve.
Story should explain Why, for Who needs to be What implemented. It does not describe how to implement
the story.
It is suggested to write the story in a form
As <a user>
I would like to <achieve what>
because of <value>
A good story in agile is written to fulfill INVEST principle:
Independent – good story has to be self-contained. Management of dependencies is adding huge
complexity into daily life therefore agile prefers independent requirements. This requires learning
how to slice requirements differently. Dependencies are then set by priority (importance).
Negotiable - story captures the essence, not the details. Over time, stories can be changed and
rewritten (may acquire notes, test ideas) but we don't need these to prioritize or schedule stories
up until they are part of a Sprint.
Valuable - story needs to deliver a value to the customer.
Estimable - it's hard to estimate a story we don't understand the requirement. Or if story is too
complex. What is easy to estimate will also vary depending on the team's experience.
Sizable - stories tend to be small to get more accurate estimates.
Testable - The user story must provide the necessary information to make test development
possible. Writing the tests early helps team/customer know whether this goal is met and makes the
team is more productive.
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Planning
The goal of planning is to slot epics and stories into appropriate releases and sprints.
Planning is in ScrumDesk accessible by menu item Planning. Two virtual electronic boards are displayed for
easy planning by drag and drop. User should choose appropriate release and sprint. Backlog of stories that
are related to selected release/sprint will be displayed. Stories are represented by small index cards that
can be dropped to board on opposite side. Dropping a story into board will assign the story to selected
sprint and release.
Backlog is represented by special option in sprint selector <Backlog unassigned>. Stories not assigned to
any sprint can be filtered by selection of <unassigned> option in release selector.
Releases bar
Sprints bar
Sprint Details
Click to sort stories
Click to filter stories
Fill a board automatically based on statistics
Virtual backlog board
Story card
Statistics for better planning
Release
Release backlog contains all stories defining functionality developed in mid-term. Any story can be related
to release and to sprint.
To display release stories click the release in Release bar .
Double click on Release bar item displays Release details window in which all release
details might be changed.
29. 29
Sprint
Stories should be planned and slotted into selected sprint before a sprint is started. This might be done by
selection of appropriate sprint in sprint selector . Board then displays stories from given
sprint. Stories can be assigned to selected sprint by drag and drop.
Details of selected sprint are displayed and possible to change just below the sprints bar.
Double click on sprint selector displays Sprint statistics window where might be changed all sprint details,
notes and attachments.
Progress indicators
A line representing a progress of release/sprint is displayed at the bottom of the Releases bar
or the Sprints bar item .
Progress line in release/sprint bar consists of parts colored according to status of assigned stories.
Selection of sprint indicator updates the progress line according to current status.
Sprint details
All details of selected sprint are displayed in Sprint details pane of planning window.
Sprint in ScrumDesk is defined by:
Name is name to be used for easier orientation in plans
Goal is common team’s goal to be achieved in sprint
Start date is a date when sprint should be started
Finish date is a date when sprint will finish
Demo date is a date when sprint results will be demonstrated
Duration is automatically calculated from start and finish date. Changing it finish date will be
recalculated automatically. It represents a number of work days.
Status represents status of the sprint. Changing the status tracking will be started
o Planning - Sprint is not started yet. Team is planning it.
o Running – tracking of progress is started. ScrumDesk will support tracking and start to draw
charts.
o Done – all stories are completed. It will not be possible to change them so they are
archived this way.
Capacity is estimation of effort (in story points) that team is able to finish. It is suggested to keep it
less or equal to Last 8 Mean value displayed in statistic pane of Planning view
Available displays how many story points are possible to slot into sprint.
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Total displays number of story points that are slotted into sprint currently.
Occupation informs in graphical way how much sprint is filled up.
o 0-70% (green color) represent good health of planned sprint
o 70-90% orange color warns user about capacity near limit
o 100% and more are indicated by red color
Completed displays percentage of work completed currently.
Sprint notes
Sprint Notes pane of planning window might contains additional information related to selected sprint.
Sprint notes might be edited only by Scrum Master or Product Owner. For example, Scrum Master might
write here meeting notes if team needs them.
Attachments
Sprint attachments pane might contains files related to selected sprint, i.e. prototypes, analyzes, design
materials etc.
Add attachment
Delete attachment
attachment Number of attachment
attachment attachment
Download attachment
attachment
Open attachment
attachment
Attachment might be saved to database thus shared even team is distributed. Another option is to save just
a link to file. User is asked which way attachment should be stored in the repository.
Attachments might be added/removed only by Scrum Master or Product Owner.
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How to plan a release
In release planning meeting a team define the content of release that stands for shippable product
increment. Release plans don’t go into too much detail. They provide just enough information to achieve
the goal by the release date.
Release planning meeting takes these steps:
Define the goal for the release. The release goal expresses customer requirements and status
when does customer gets value. The release goal is explained by Product owner to rest of team. It
has to clearly describe what the team is creating and when it produces the value.
Prioritize and estimate backlog. Product owner establish stories in backlog that contribute to the
goals and prioritize them by business value. For prioritization we suggest to use MoSCow rule. She
or he also does rough estimations and sets iteration key dates.
Calculate team velocity. The developers provide their team’s velocity (how much it can get done)
based on previous experiences and iterations in the release. The velocity is the number of iterations
in the release multiplied by the velocity of the last iteration.
Make up release plan and communicate it. Product owner introduce set of stories that will be
developed in the release to the developers. It is a time for developers to investigate each story
details and to consider its technical dependencies. After developers have enough information they
can confirm or precise given estimations. This interaction may require the Product owner to split
some stories.
After the team members understand what they are building, have calculated the team's velocity,
considered dependencies on developer’s availability and have estimated stories in the backlog -
Product owner creates the release plan.
Revise the release plan. Product Owner inspects and adapts the release plan with each new
iteration planning meeting, as things move forward.
Product backlog content maintenance in ScrumDesk is available through Backlog menu item. New stories
can be added by double click on Backlog board or via New menu item if custom template cards are
predefined. For more details about templates see Customization page chapter.
Show stories
templates
Custom story
template
32. 32
Story card might be simply deleted clicking on button. User is asked to confirm story deletion from
Product backlog. Story can also be deleted after selecting it and clicking Del button.
Product backlog is open and editable by anyone and contains rough estimates of both importance and
development effort.
How to plan a sprint
Sprint itself is preceded by a Sprint planning meeting which results in a detailed plan for the iteration.
Whole team, Scrum master and Product owner attend this meeting and participate on planning. The result
of planning is set of the stories/tasks which have to be done to reach the sprint goal. During Sprint, the
team creates a product increment.
Sprint is followed by review (the demo) and/or Sprint retrospective meeting.
Sprint planning meeting usually goes like this:
Maintain and prioritize the Product backlog. Product owner prioritizes stories by high level
requirements in product backlog. If possible, stories should be accompanied by relevant
acceptance criteria and tests.
Decide sprint duration. Product owner defines sprint goal, sprint key dates and sprint length. The
optimum sprint duration depends on many factors:
o How many story points team delivered in the last iteration?
o Are there any holidays planned?
o Are there any milestones that may affect team velocity?
Usually sprint length takes between 7 to 30 days.
Prepare the Sprint backlog. Entire team selects the Product backlog items they will work on during
the sprint and estimates them. Sprint backlog should be frozen during sprint lifetime. If not all
requirements are completed for any reason, relevant stories are returned back to Product backlog.
Stories/tasks on the Sprint backlog are not assigned. Team members select them according to set priority
and their skills.
ScrumDesk offers rich set of velocity and capacity statistics for more accurate planning and backlog
prioritization. Basic information (such as Importance or Effort) can be set on story card or in Details pane.
Effort value might be chosen from predefined Fibonacci values available in combo. Smaller stories are more
precisely estimable, so can be done sooner.
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Predefined Effort
values
Effort
(story points)
Show Effort
values
Importance
Effort
(story points)
Importance
More information related to story business value (importance) can be set on the Prioritization pane in
Detail window.
Importance
Effort
Positive value MoSCow priority
Negative value
Risk
Customer satisfaction
Dependencies
index
Set rank to
Calculated rank Importance
The priority of stories is suggested to be based on:
Positive value – the benefits of business value we get when story is delivered. Min, Max values
represent interval borders of value and are taken from all stories in sprint.
Negative value – the loose of business value if story is not delivered
Risk – it is up to Product owner to consider risk of the story. The more risky story means the higher
priority.
Dependencies Index – represents number of relationships to other stories (see Relations pane).
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Taking these values into account, priority is calculated as the following:
Calculated priority might be accepted and transferred to importance field by clicking Set to Importance
button.
MoSCow rule is used especially during release planning. It allows to focus on priorities from high level
perspective therefore helps focus on really needed requirements instead of all of them. MoSCow changes
the way of thinking in terms of prioritization.
MoSCow priority values are:
Must – the story is essential. If it is not delivered, the customer will not be satisfied
Should – this is an important story. If it is not delivered within current iteration, it is acceptable to
deliver it during subsequent iteration.
Could – it is nice to have this story. The story is possible to deliver until current iteration is not
underestimated. If so, this story will not be delivered.
Want – the story will not be delivered in current iteration (in the other words - would like to have,
but won’t have within this iteration)
Different concept of prioritization takes customer’s satisfaction into an account. KANO method challenges
product owner to wear customer hat and think about priorities
Customer satisfaction represents how much customer will be satisfied when the story is delivered:
Mandatory – self-evident or must be features which have to be developed as soon as possible to
satisfy basic customer requirements. These features are required for product to enter the market.
If these are not developed, customer is dissatisfied.
Excitement - ”wow” or attractive features. Customer won’t be disappointed too much if they are
not developed, but couple of them can contribute to considerable customer satisfaction.
Performance –features which improve the performance of product. Customer does not expect
these, but his satisfaction increases linearly with each of developed feature of this kind.
Indifferent –features unexpected by customer. If these solve some customer’s problem, customer
satisfaction raises. If these features are not offered, customer satisfaction won’t be influenced.
These features, developed or not, have low impact on customer satisfaction.
Questionable – ambiguous features. It is unclear if these features are expected by customer or not.
Reverse – features not wanted by customer but even he expects the reverse features.
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Acceptance and/or testing rules for the story can be declared on Acceptance Criteria pane.
Sprint duration and other sprint details are available in Planning view. Details might be changed on Sprint
details pane (see above) or on Sprint pane in SideView.
Sprint backlog in ScrumDesk is maintained on Planning view. Story cards might be dragged from Product
Backlog board and dropped to Sprint backlog board and vice versa.
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Planning Poker
Sprint backlog board
Product backlog board
Fill a board automatically based on statistics
Team might precise stories estimation by using Planning Poker ® game. In ScrumDesk it is possible by
Planning Poker®. Planning Poker is available in Backlog, Planning and Sprint windows.
To make planning easier ScrumDesk has the option to automatically fill the sprint. For more details see
Auto fill chapter.
Statistics pane
Planning in Scrum is based on statistics of completed work from previous sprints. ScrumDesk calculates
these statistics from backlog hence giving suggestion to achieve more accurate planning.
Team member card Number of days/hours assigned
to team member
Relative workload
comparing to other Statistics value from previous sprints
team memebers
How to sort & filter stories in Planning
Stories in ScrumDesk backlog might be sorted by:
Importance – priority given by product owner
Estimated effort – total effort estimated by the team
State – current status of a story
Rank – rank value suggested by ScrumDesk based on value, risk and effort
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Click to sort
stories Click to filter stories
Click on Sort by pane in ScrumDesk displays Filter window.
Auto fill
An option to automatically fill out the sprint is available on Planning window.
Stories are taken from the Product backlog by importance and are gradually moved into selected sprint
backlog up to sprint’s capacity based on story effort.
Automated filling of the Sprint requires the capacity of the sprint configured and all stories must have
estimated effort. To start filing process, press Fill button.
38. 38
Planning Poker
Planning Poker® technique is team estimation technique developed by Mike Cohn. This technique allows
efficiently estimate complexity of stories with great discussion about details. It is based on relative
comparison of complexity of stories. One story is typically marked as reference story of size 1. All other
stories are compared then to this relative story. ScrumDesk, in addition to basic poker technique, supports
triangulation – comparing estimated story to all other stories using three sizes: small, equal and medium.
Estimation is done in more rounds. Every round is time-boxed typically.
Planning poker in ScrumDesk provides an access to all unplanned stories with support for:
Choose not estimated story from the backlog stories.
Run shared timer for poker round.
Fibonacci numbers + customer effort value are supported.
Relative comparison to other backlog stories, view on smaller, equal and bigger stories.
ScrumDesk supports onsite planning session in which all participants share the same screen
(presented on a wall) or distributed planning sessions in which participants are geographically
distributed and they have they own view on poker board.
Planning Poker® can be used during the estimation meeting. Scrum master selects the story to estimate.
Scrum master then set time for poker round and press Start button. Timer starts running and clock will be
displayed.
While counter is running, every team member estimates size of the story. After clock hides, the team shall
starts to talk about estimations.
Result on which they agreed might be entered by click on appropriate planning card button or entered
directly.
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Sprint execution
Sprint backlog is accessible by click on Sprint menu item or rectangle representing sprint in a timeline.
Sprint backlog is displayed in a form of virtual desk (board), however current view might be changed by
click on a toolbar . See more about style how a backlog is displayed in Backlog display styles
chapter.
ScrumDesk advises about status of a sprint in Dash board view. Tasks that are not updated for more than
one day are displayed with red border. Tasks that have been updated are displayed with green colored
border.
Sprint can be started by button in Side View or in Sprint detail window.
Sprint progress
Progress of sprint is displayed in top of a board by progress line that consists of parts colored according to
status.
41. 41
Impediments tracking
During the story development impediments can appear. The impediment is anything that blocks the team
from performing to the best of its abilities.
It’s team responsibility to communicate with Scrum Master everything which obstruct team. Scrum
Master’s responsibility is to eliminate impediments to get optimal team’s performance.
ScrumDesk supports tracking of impediments related to project or to concrete story or task.
Impediments in ScrumDesk might be managed on story’s card Impediments view.
Add impediment Delete impediment Count of story’s impediments
Click on circle to
change impediment Date and time when
status impediment was
solved
Person responsible for
Impediment status Impediment Author of impediment
description impediment
Fig. 13 Story’s Impediments view
After adding new impediment into the story, date, time and author are automatically filled.
Scrum master or any team member can as other team member by assign the impediment to him.
A member responsible for impediment can change impediment status by clicking on impediment’s circle
indicator. Available impediment’s statuses are:
- new
- processing or
- solved
Once the impediment is solved, Solved at date is filled automatically.
Deletion of impediment has to be confirmed by user.
Fig. 14 Deletion confirm question
All Sprint impediments are displayed on the burn down charts as a circle indicator with color representing
current impediment’s status.
42. 42
Fig. 15 Impediments on Burn down chart
All sprint impediments might be accessed in Impediments summary dialog. To start this dialog click
Impediments button on Infoline (the second row in ScrumDesk interface).
The number on Impediments button represents count of impediments which are not solved in actually
selected sprint.
Impediments list displays impediment's status, date, which story is related to impediment, subject, author
and other impediment's properties.
Group impediments by dragging
Sort impediments by
column header on this area
column header
Impediment
status
Impediments
list
Filter impediments Close dialog
Fig. 16 Impediments summary dialog
Impediments list might be easy sorted by clicking on column header. This list might also be easy grouped by
dragging a column header on group area.
Impediments list might be filtered to show only impediments of logged user. To reset filter uncheck the
box.
43. 43
Absences
Team member absence, planned or unplanned, can adversely affect the velocity of the team. If the absence
is known before planning the sprint, then the velocity of the team should be reduced proportionately. If an
unplanned absence raise during the sprint and the impact would be considerable, Scrum Master has to
make Product Owner aware of member’s absence and should negotiate a reduction in the scope.
ScrumDesk uses concept of Focus factor. Focus factor is a ratio of story points done to the actual man
hours worked. According to him, the focus factor is tracked over a 3 month average and is used in the sprint
planning meeting. During the planning meeting the team members calculate the number of man days
available and commit to a backlog on the basis of focus factor.
Team absences in ScrumDesk are managed on Absences Manager dialog. The dialog is accessible by
clicking Absences button on Infoline (the second row in ScrumDesk interface). The dialog might be
closed by or button.
The number after colon on Absences button represents count of absences active just today. Absences
will be taken into account when planning sprint capacity in the next ScrumDesk versions. Absences are
tracked for all projects.
Absences list displays which team member absence is, absence’s start date, end date and description.
Sort absences by
column header
Add absence Delete absence(s)
Group absences by dragging
column header on this area
Absences list
Close dialog
Fig. 17 Absences Manager dialog
Logged user is able to add a new absence. He might set planned date when absence is going to start, how
long this absence is going to be and absence’s reason.
44. 44
It is possible to delete logged user’s absences only. Before absence deletion user has to confirm it.
Fig. 18 Delete absence confirmation
Absences list might be easy sorted by clicking on column header. This list might also be easy grouped by
dragging a column header on group area.
Absences grouping
Fig. 19 Absences grouped by Team member
To reset list grouping drag column header from group area back to the list header or close the dialog.
45. 45
Retrospective
Why is retrospective necessary?
Opportunity to see needs from inside
Catalyst for change
Generate actions
Repeated process = continuous improvement
ScrumDesk integrates possibility to track ideas how to make things better gathered in retrospective
meetings. Ideas can be categorized and votes can be kept in ScrumDesk.
Retrospective in ScrumDesk is accessible by menu item Retrospective.
Add new idea
Fig. 20 Retrospective page
Idea is represented by idea card. Ideas can be added by any team member. New idea can be added by
clicking on the New menu item. Or double clicking on board area.
Implementation
status.
Text of idea
Click to change it.
Idea category
Votes of logged user
Author or assigned
Delete idea
Total votes
Clear votes of logged user Fig. 21 Idea card
Some information can be changed by idea author or Scrum master only.
46. 46
Idea can be deleted only by author or Scrum Master. To delete selected idea click button. Before
deleting idea, the confirmation question appears.
Fig. 22 Delete idea confirmation
How to evaluate retrospective
Team members might vote for any ideas in retrospective backlog. Voting can be simply done by clicking on
idea’s circle point indicators . If there is an error in voting, user can reset his vote by clicking
button. Logged user points will be added to total idea’s points.
Every team member is notified about the retrospective idea changes. Upon idea’s total points the team can
easy identify the best ideas. What more, each team member can see his vote for ideas.
How to track ideas implementation
An implementation status of Idea can be tracked.
Idea status can be:
New – a new idea, nobody was assigned to implement it
In progress – the idea is currently solved by team member
Implemented – the idea is solved
Refused – a decision at the meeting was made that this idea will not be implemented
Click to change
idea’s status
Fig. 23 Tracking idea status
47. 47
Reports
Reports in ScrumDesk are created to provide all basic information necessary to know the status of product,
project, releases and sprints.
Reports are categorized according area they describe.
Fig. 24 Report categories
Dashboard – basic information about sprints and releases
Product Overview – information about product status
Prioritization – reports in this category help to better prioritize stories according to value, risk and
other attributes
Sprint Timesheet displays timesheet of team members
Documents access WYSIWIG documents that might be printed, saved or exported
In any chart series can be displayed or hidden by click on a name of it in chart.
Dashboard
Select Sprint
Dashboard describes basic information about sprints and releases.
Select chart
type
Sprints history
Click label to
display/hide
Sprint burn down chart
Release burn down
Releases history chart
Fig. 25 Dashboard page
48. 48
Velocity by sprints
This chart displays status of sprints in column chart.
Fig. 26 Velocity by sprints
Every column is displayed by multiple parts representing stories in given status. Orange dot represents
planned sprint capacity.
Statistics give user historical overview based on all sprints. ScrumDesk uses information based on Mike
Cohn methods of sprint planning.
Worst 3 mean displays mean value of worst here sprints in product history
Max. effort displays the best velocity achieved in sprint
Last 8 Mean is mean value of last eight sprints. This value is suggested as the best value for the next
sprint capacity.
Sprint Burn chart
Progress of sprint is in Scrum tracked in burn down or burn up chart. ScrumDesk provides possibility to
display effort (story points) or time (days or hours).
% of progress Sprint to be
Chart switch displayed
Y axis unit
Real progress
Ideal line
Fig. 27 Sprint Burn Down chart
49. 49
Release burn chart
This chart is similar to Sprint burn chart, but it displays progress of release based on sprints. ScrumDesk also
predicts end of release using statistics values based on product development history.
Fig. 28 Release Burn Down chart
Product overview
Reports in this section describe overall information about product developed by team.
It consists of these parts:
Parking Lot
Daily Backlog Trend
Stories by Status
Fig. 29 Parking lot
50. 50
Parking Lot
Parking lot area is a list of themes (story categories) with progress overview. Product owner uses this view
to understand progress of different parts of developed product.
Parking lot card represents status of stories according to categories.
Category
Time progress Number of stories in the category
Effort status overview
Progress of effort
in a category based on stories
Fig. 30 Parking lot card
Stories by Status
This report gives an overview of product development status. Pie chart displays summarized effort or time
(according to choice in combo box).
Fig. 31 Stories by status
Daily Backlog Trend
ScrumDesk gives to teams and product owner possibility to see all history of product development.
This chart displays trends in backlog grooming, completed stories as yellow circles and sprints as red circles.
Fig. 32 Daily Backlog trend
51. 51
SideView
Side View dialog is available only by SideView menu item click. This modeless dialog by default appears on
right side of ScrumDesk board and can be closed by clicking on button.
Side View concentrates all important information about sprint, project, backlog and also logged person in
one place. It also can display news and provides search functionality.
Sprint Page
This page contains sprint overview, details, notes and attachments pages where can be found all important
information about current sprint. Clicking item allows to edit Sprint details.
Sprint Overview page provides statistics, charts, state and interval of current sprint. This page is the only
place in ScrumDesk where is possible to Start Sprint or Finish Sprint.
Displayed type of chart may be selected by clicking on required type. By default is displayed Burn Down
chart. There is also option to select whether time or effort will be displayed on the chart.
Edit sprint button
Sprint name
Sprint goal
Chart type selector
Sprint page tabs
Chart value selector
Sprint chart
Sprint stories
statistics
Sprint effort and
occupation
statistics
Start/Finish sprint Sprint state
button
Sprint time interval
Fig. 33 Overview tab of Sprint page
52. 52
Sprint Details page provides sprint important dates and capacity. Information on this page is editable.
Sprint date
statistics
Sprint duration
Sprint Capacity and
Effort
Fig. 34 Details tab of Sprint page
Additional sprint information can be edited on Sprint Notes page. For more information see Sprint Notes
chapter. Clicking button it is possible to insert timestamp into text.
Sprint attachments are available on Sprint Attachments page. For more details see Attachments chapter.
Time mark insertion
button
Fig. 36 Attachments tab of Sprint page
Fig. 35 Notes tab of Sprint page
53. 53
Project Page
This page contains basic project information and involved team member overview. For more details see
Project, Attachments and Team manager chapters.
This page also provides search members functionality.
There are offered several possibilities how to contact team member. It can be done through: Skype ,
email or web site . Buttons are enabled according selected member contact information
fulfillment.
Dragging member photo on a story is an easy way how to assign the story.
Project name
Search member
Database
Member statistics
Member state
Member
occupation
Contact member Contact member by
by Skype web site
Contact member
Project attachments
by email
Fig. 37 Projects page
Backlog Page
This page offers backlog board for selected Backlog or Sprint. Stories on the board can be sorted by
Importance or Effort. Page supports search story functionality.
54. 54
Select backlog Search story
type to view
Sort backlog
stories
Stories
Fig. 38 Backlog page
Search Page
This page serves as search functionality in ScrumDesk. You can search any type of information here.
Entered text is searched among stories, task, users and sprints.
Searched text
Search result
All stories display
Fig. 39 Backlog page
About me Page
This page holds logged person contact details, time zone (may be important for distributed teams), photo
and also status. Logged person may confirm here if he want to be notified by email.
55. 55
Logged user photo,
name and login
Logged user online
status
Email
Skype account
Fig. 40 About me page
56. 56
Stories filtering
The filter can be defined by click on Infoline which displays information about the current view and filter
applied
(the second row in ScrumDesk interface) or by hitting button. Or by entering filter text on Infoline
and hitting Enter.
Modal Filter bar displays at bottom of wall board and can be closed by button. Or it closes automatically,
if pane does not support it. The filter is available only on backlog panes.
Filter file selector
Highlight condition Save Filter file on disc
My stories condition Delete Filter file Text condition
Color condition
Status Fig. 41 Filter bar
conditions Reset Filter
Member Other Prioritization Modification time
condition conditions conditions condition Apply Filter
Stories in backlog are filtered immediately after each added condition. The Filter can also be applied by
hitting button. Filter is also applied after selecting saved filter. Various filtering conditions might
be combined. To cancel applied Filter hit button.
Stories might be filtered by:
Status – the filter by status is defined by clicking on selected state, e.g. selection of
condition filters only stories with Checked Out state. It is possible to combine several states in filter.
My – clicking on this condition filters backlog to display only stories assigned to logged user.
Highlight – clicking on this condition highlights stories assigned to logged user. Other
stories are displayed in “areo” style.
Team member – clicking on selected team member photo filters only the stories which are
assigned to this member. It is not possible to combine several members at one time.
Color – if stories are differentiated by color, this filter condition might be useful. Clicking on color
box brings up color picker dialog. Stories then are filtered by selected color.
Other – there are several filter conditions available
o Release – stories are filtered by Release e.g.
