Introduction
The following topics are prerequisite reading before you start with this
tool mentor:
This tool mentor assumes that you have administrative privileges in Rational
Team Concert and that you have created a project by using the scrum process
template. All steps in the sections that follow are performed in the Work
Items view.
This tool mentor includes the following sections:
For more information on the topics covered here, see [ELL08] and [SMI09].
Creating an epic
Epics are large-scope stories that represent complex requirements.
In later iterations of the development lifecycle, you can partition epics into
more granular stories. Then you set priorities and add details. To create epics
in Rational Team Concert, repeat these steps for each epic:
- Within the Team Artifacts tab, expand you project area and right-click
on Work Items.
- From the drop-down menu, select New > Work Item.
- In the Create Work Item window, select Epic.
- In the epic editor, add information to the epic in these fields: Summary,
Filed Against, and Planned For.
- Click Save.
Creating a user story
User stories can be created, refined, detailed, and prioritized in Rational
Team Concert. To create user stories, repeat these steps for each story:
- Within the Team Artifacts tab, expand you project area and right-click
on Work Items.
- From the drop-down menu, select New > Work Item.
- In the Create Work Item window, select User Story.
- In the user story editor, add information to these fields: Summary
and Filed Against.
- Click Save.
Breaking down a user story
Epics and other large user stories are broken down to prioritize them and
to add details. After creating the epics and finer-grained user stories as described
previously, define the relationships to show which epics originated which user
stories. Follow these steps:
- Find an epic (for example, by running a query that returns all work items
of type epic), and open the epic editor.
- Click the Links tab.
- In the Links section of the tab, click the Add button and
select Add Children.
- Within the Select Work Items tab, type text in the Containing
id or text field.
- In the Matching work items of type list, select fine-grained user
stories that are related to this epic, and click OK.
Prioritizing user stories
User stories are prioritized so that they can be assigned, refined, and detailed.
To prioritize user stories in Rational Team Concert, follow these steps:
- Run a query that returns all work items of type user story.
- In the Work Items tab, right-click on the P (Priority) cell
of a user story.
- From the drop-down menu, select Change Priority.
- Select the appropriate priority for the user story (for example: Low, Medium,
or High).
- Repeat Steps 2 through 4 for each user story for which you want to change
the priority.
- Stories start in the backlog, which is identified in the Filed Against field.
When they are ready for implementation, move the stories to a Sprint Backlog
or Iteration Plan in the Planned For field.
Note:
As an alternative to those steps, you can open the user story editor and change
the priority field one story at the time.
Capturing user story details
Fine-grained, prioritized user stories are detailed through conversations
with stakeholders, so that development can begin and the level of completeness
can be defined and agreed to by stakeholders. To capture user story details,
you can use one or a combination of these Rational Team Concert features in
the user story editor:
- Within the Overview tab, add details (for example, data exchanged
by users with the system) in the Description field.
- Click Save.
- In the Acceptance tab, add acceptance conditions (for example exceptions,
error conditions, and constraints) in the Criteria of Acceptance tab.
- Click Save.
Given that capturing user story details is an interactive process between
stakeholders and team members, it helps to use these collaboration mechanisms
provided by Rational Team Concert to enhance communication and capture information:
- Within the Overview tab, expand the Discussion section, and
then click Add Comment to capture the decisions and the rationale for
those decisions so that stakeholders and all team members have a history of
all discussions related to a user story.
- Within the Links tab, in the Subscribers section, click the
Add button to add team members and stakeholders who are interested
in receiving notification when the user story is updated.
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