Does anyone use the Agile view?

[LindsayAr]

How are you creating your timeline to work best with the Agile view feature? Lindsay Arnold Bulldog Solutions (BDS)

[AnthonyIm]

Hi Lindsay, Do you mean the Agile View in a project or do you mean Agile View in systems? If you are talking about in a project, we recommend that our project managers only go one level down from parent tasks. That way, in the Agile view, you have the parents on the left side and all the subtasks are visible. If you have subtasks in subtasks, there is a visual cue that there are subtasks but you don't see them. If you are talking about Agile View in systems, we currently have Agile teams create bucket projects (Ideally by job numbers, but sometimes it is just bucket for a client). Tasks are then just listed out like a massive to-do list. The teams then go through the backlog (which combines all the projects) and decide what is a priority for the next sprint. We tried the hybrid approach (PM does a typical waterfall project schedule but assigns an agile team on a task) but that doesn't work as the planned completion tasks in an iteration change to the last day of the iteration. This causes huge issues with those project schedules. Hope I answered your question Anthony Imgrund FCB

[VicAl]

There's an Exchange Idea right there. Give us the option to turn OFF the automatic changing of the Planned Completion Date when a Task is moved to a Sprint. Or modify the code to change the COMMIT Date instead, so it doesn't hose up our project plans. That drove us nuts as well. I asked for this 2 years ago and was basically told they won't do it. Vic Alejandro, PMP, CSM | IT | Sr. IT Project Manager Denver Water | t: (303-628-7262) | c: (303-319-6473) "http://www.denverwater.org/"> http://www.denverwater.org INTEGRITY | VISION | PASSION | EXCELLENCE | RESPECT

[BMO-bvs]

Here's the Idea Exchange submission you can vote for @Vic Alejandro (and everyone else)! "https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115006885108-Adjusting-planned-dates-in-an-iteration?page=1#community_comment_115002924568">ADJUSTING PLANNED DATES IN AN ITERATION Barbara Sedlack BMO Financial Group

[Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore]

Hi Vic, About a year ago, we enhanced our "http://store.atappstore.com/product/ubercalc/">UberCalc solution to "http://store.atappstore.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/SynchronizeCommitDates.png">Synchronize Commit Dates back to their Planned Dates, where that is desired (via a Filter). Although Agile wasn't in the equation at the time, I wondered if it might also accomplish what you are after. Regards, Doug Doug Den Hoed - AtAppStore

[VicAl]

Thanks Doug. I'm actually more interested in getting Workfront to stop automatically changing my Planned Completion Dates when a task is moved into a Sprint/Iteration. If it changed the Commit date instead, the PM would be notified and can then do what they want with their Planned Completion Date (have a conversation). Or just allow us the option to turn it off and let us handle our own dates. I actually like the Commit date and Planned Completion date being different. I view it as: the Commit Date is the Assignee's date, the Planned Completion Date is the PM's date. Yes, they SHOULD end up being the same at some point. But WF's notification of a Commit Date change provides the PM with the opportunity to have a conversation about the Commit date change (or just accept it). Then the PM can change the date in their plan accordingly and understand how it impacts any other tasks. Vic Alejandro, PMP, CSM | IT | Sr. IT Project Manager Denver Water | t: (303-628-7262) | c: (303-319-6473) "http://www.denverwater.org/"> http://www.denverwater.org INTEGRITY | VISION | PASSION | EXCELLENCE | RESPECT

[Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore]

Ahh...interesting, Vic. Thanks for elaborating. For the record, I too am a fan of the Commit date vs Planned Completion date "conversation" theory, and view it as an advanced concept for companies who've refined their processes to that level. Where Sync Commit Date comes in (primarily) is for those situations where someone decided to no longer Work On It, but their previous Commit Date then gets "stuck". That said, I wasn't aware of the Sprint/Interation angle. I'll give it some thought. Perhaps there's a way that UberCalc could detect the move to a Sprint/Iteration and then set the Commit Date to that (new) Planned Completion Date, and then also set the Planned Completion date back to its (old) previous value. Regards, Doug Doug Den Hoed - AtAppStore

[VicAl]

Thanks Doug. In that scenario it would also be important to maintain (or return) the Task Constraint setting. If you just change the Planned Completion Date, WF automatically sets that Task Constraint to Must Finish On. This will negate any predecessors that have been set for the task. So if a Task has a Task Constraint of As Soon As Possible with the dates being governed by predecessor tasks, and the Planned Completion Dates changes, it will change the Task Constraint to Must Finish On and ignore the predecessors. Hope that makes sense. Vic Alejandro, PMP, CSM | IT | Sr. IT Project Manager Denver Water | t: (303-628-7262) | c: (303-319-6473) "http://www.denverwater.org/"> http://www.denverwater.org INTEGRITY | VISION | PASSION | EXCELLENCE | RESPECT

[Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore]

Thanks again, Vic, From our "http://store.atappstore.com/product/excel-updater/">Excel Updater and "http://store.atappstore.com/workfront-merge-or-split/">Workfront Merge/Split work, I'm familiar with the repercussions of the various Task Constraints. However -- other than some excellent intros at LEAP -- I haven't delved into the Agile features much yet, so did some homework around what happens when (as you said) "a Task is moved to a Sprint". There's a good primer "https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/articles/216787328-Creating-an-Iteration">here , which highlights the main point of contention: namely, that the "end of the sprint" then drives (back) the (new) Planned Start Date of the Task that's been moved to the Sprint. And although it's possible to "https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/articles/218168448">Manage a Project in an Agile View , because "https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/articles/218168448#backlogs-and-iterations-are-not-used">Backlogs and Iterations are Not Used in such cases, I take it you are using Workfront to "https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/sections/203829917-Working-in-an-Agile-Environment">Work in an Agile Environment . When I think of moving Tasks from a backlog to Sprints, the chosen Tasks are from among a prioritized list of related Tasks that make sense to move as unit. But until your comment, hadn't pictured any (waterfall-ish?) ASAP-with-Predecessor-relationships on such Tasks; let alone that the Planned Start Dates for such items would be important to the Project Manager (and by extension, others). Would you kindly educate me by elaborating on the latter, in your case? Regards, Doug Doug Den Hoed - AtAppStore

[VicAl]

Yeah, we have a hybrid environment. I should mention we're in the IT division. We have Scrum Teams that support applications and small feature updates or configurations. But we also have full projects (Agile (RUP) and Waterfall) when the effort is large or involves many Scrum Teams and thus needs a person to coordinate the effort (for example Office 365 and Windows 10 deployment to the entire organization). And our projects are staffed by some of the same people that are in the Scrum Teams (which I know isn't ideal, but it's what I'm constrained with). To help avoid overallocation, we assume those resources are 50% allocated on Scrum work, and 50% on Project work. Actually, we went down to 40%-40% to account for emails, questions, water cooler breaks, etc. Vic Alejandro, PMP, CSM | IT | Sr. IT Project Manager Denver Water | t: (303-628-7262) | c: (303-319-6473) "http://www.denverwater.org/"> http://www.denverwater.org INTEGRITY | VISION | PASSION | EXCELLENCE | RESPECT