V-Base Development Blog

You might have read Olivier’s post on the joy of recruiting for a new developer.

Sofia joined and not long after her we had another addition to the team. Although the recruitment process was less difficult, we had to define a list of criteria and go through loads of websites. After eliminating unsuccessful candidates, we eventually set our eyes on this particular …. White Board! … aka The Tasks Board.

The Tasks Board has been part of the team for a couple of iterations now and its role is to offer an overview of the tasks to be undertaken during the iteration and to follow our progress as we’re going through. How does it work?

We divide the board in 5 columns and although cards in column 1 won’t move (so that we can identify in a glance the theme the iteration is going to focus on), the tasks cards will progress from columns 2 to 5.

1. Story/Area : each user story / area of work we decide to commit to for this iteration
2. Tasks/To do: each user story / area is broken down into all the tasks that need to be done in order for it to be completed. One card is written for each task.
3. In progress: once a developer picks a task and starts to work on it, the task card is moved from “To do” to “In progress”
4. Verify: once the task is completed by the developer it’s moved to “Verify” in order to be QA’d/ tested. If the test is satisfactory, it goes to the next column, Done, otherwise it goes back to “To do”
5. Done: eventually, all the tasks that were in “To do” will end up in “Done” by the end of the iteration.

Tasks Board really is a part of the team as we have to roll it (I forgot to say that the Tasks Board is on wheels) from our main working area to the area we gather in for our daily Stand Up Meetings (SUMs). Occasionally one of us might be not being able to attend the SUM but Tasks Board is always there (annual leave: 0, sicky: 0)

So, what are the benefits of having Task Board on board ???

• Everybody from Developers, to Product Owner, QA person or Tracker can have an idea of what people are talking about when they say what they are doing during the SUM,
• We are working in a more transparent environment as everybody in the office can see what we are up to for an iteration and how we are progressing,
• And most of all there is a huge sense of satisfaction when all (most of) the cards are progressing through the columns to ends up in the “Done” one by the end of the iteration.

Finally, Tasks Board is very versatile and that’s a good thing as you can find one that fits your needs. It can even be an opportunity for some DIY-team building.

For more examples of Tasks Board: http://www.informativeworkspace.org/walls.php