Add a field Stack Rank to the user stories.
The export to html enables to sort user stories by stack rank.
Stack rank is synchronized to TFS.
It will help a lot for planning, providing to customer the backlog in html ranked by stack rank.
Optional: automatic sorting of user stories by stack rank: I select user stories, click X: all user stories piles up according to their stack rank.
p.s.: I know that Speclog is not designed for planning but this stack rank is the only missing feature that enabling me to do all my work in Speclog.
we’ll look into this.
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Will Robertson commented
Having SpecLog lacking feature is preventing us from taking it on, I can see the value in this tool but without the ability to convey priority from SpecFlow the Product Owner is having to use two tools, which is terribly ineffective. In my mind having the PO provide priority isn't planning the development, it is underlying the importance in order to plan better.
I'm not fussed about the automatic sorting in the workspaces, etc. All that I want is a field in which the PO can provide a number for priority that is synced into TFS.
Is there an ETA on when this feature will exist, even in an initial field-only implementation?
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martial commented
Hi,
Sorry for answering so late, I missed the questions you set.
My first comment is that for me, the automatic sorting is a great nice to have but the most important is the stack itself; automatic sorting should not block stack rank.I do a short description you an overview of our current way of using Speclog, I think it will help to understand my answer below:
- We have one workspace per project
- We create one workspace per iteration
- We do a rough pre-selection of user stories and include them to this iteration workspace; total estimate is greater than iteration capacity (20-30% in excess).
- We then define the priorities in this iteration workspace.This 2 steps make things easier for us to define priorities. I need stack rank because:
- We provide the user stories to the customer in html format, and it must be sorted by priorities; currently this is impossible.
- We need it in TFS; currently we do update manuallyTherefore most of the issues you raised in your questions (y-axis, slice, …) were not in my mind when I raised the idea.
I had just in mind to prioritize user stories of my iteration workspace, independtly of axis, slice, …
That s why I m very interested by your idea of workspace position -> stack rank.My answers to the questions:
Stack rank -> workspace position: My preference would be by colum, most important top left, 2nd one below, … ; a new column is created every 5-6 users stories. This is the best to display as many as possible user stories in one screen. But I know other Speclog users work differently (one column for instance).Workspace position -> stack rank :
- You re right, very interesting, much faster than updating each user story one by one.
- Current stack rank of the top left story on the workspace is used as reference, next user stories has stack rank incremented by 1
- How should we rank stories on the same x-level? I don t know the best way to proceed.Working with slices: this is currently not my case, I don t know the best way to proceed.
Rds
Martial -
AdminStephen McCafferty (-, SpecLog) commented
How do you imagine the stack rank being used on the workspace?
The optional automatic sorting of user stories sounds interesting, but I'm not sure I fully understand the scenario:
a) Stack rank -> workspace position:
A group of user stories is selected, that will be rearranged according to tack rank.
+) How should the stories be positioned according to stack rank?
+) If we rank by y-axis (highest prio top, lowest bottom), where should the card with the highest position be placed (under which the lower ranked cards will be placed then)?b) workspace position -> stack rank
The reverse operation would also be interesting, I think:
A group of user stories is selected, and according to their position on the workspace, their stack rank is updated. However, in this case, we should also be able to deal with slices in story maps - so stories on the same y-axis level should be ranked before stories below.
Some questions for this scenario:
+) What should be the initial stack rack, under which all the other stories are assigned? We could use the current stack rank of the top left story on the workspace, and rank all other stories after.
+) How should we rank stories on the same x-level? We could go from left-right, but maybe somebody has a better idea?c) Working with slices
In story maps, there is the notion of slices. These are currently supported through tags in SpecLog (cards with the same tag belong to a slice). Slices are also used for planning and prioritization.
+) How should a slice of stories be stack ranked?
+) How should slices be stack ranked after each other?