Agile drupal tips

Agile Drupal Tips
12 Ways to Help  
Keep Your Project Humming
Chris Urban, Engagement Manager
chris.urban@acquia.com
@_urban_ d.o:urbanlegend


@_urban_

Overview
→ Assumptions
→ Review some common issues
→ Outline how to leverage tools
→ Proﬁt!


@_urban_

The Problems
→ Bursts of unreﬁned requests
→ Unclear ownership
→ Multiple stakeholders with colliding
inputs
→ Foggy longer-term goals


@_urban_

A Solid Foundation

→ Documentation
§ Key knowledge shared
→ Communication
§ Processes shared
§ Expectations managed


@_urban_

Documentation
→ Basic process for workflow
→ RACI – who is responsible for what and when
→ Objective rules and playbooks
→ Definitions, Hotfix criteria and course of action
§  Spike vs Tracer Bullet
§  Candidates for mid-sprint removal
§  Release checklists
§  Bugs & User Stories & Epics


@_urban_

User Stories: Example
→ As a user I want
the site to use
miniﬁed .js


@_urban_

Writing better user stories
→ Who: Using personas instead
of “user”
→ What: Clearly deﬁne stories
→ Why: Use relevant drivers that
everyone can relate to
→ What is the reason for this
story? The core purpose?
As a user,
I want the site
to use miniﬁed js.


@_urban_

Define the goal of the story
→ The WHAT of the story
should define the goal,
not the solution.
→ Clearly understood
definition of done.
As a fan of
customer.com,
I want the site
to use minified js
to load faster.


@_urban_

Define the goal of the story
→ The WHAT of the story
should define the goal,
not the solution.
→ Clearly understood
definition of done.
As a fan of
customer.com,
I want the site
the home page
to use minified js
to load in under 5
seconds.


@_urban_

Writing clear user stories
→ Avoid the use of 
‘and,’ ‘or,’ ‘but’
→ Avoid the use of
limiters: ‘unless,’
‘until,’ ‘without,’ and
‘except’
As a fan of
customer.com,
I want the home page
to load in under 5
seconds unless on
a mobile device.


@_urban_

Explain in simplest terms
→ Learn and understand
the core business
drivers:
§  Revenue
§  Quality
§  Customer Experience
§  Other Business Goals
As a fan of
customer.com,
I want the home page
to load in under 5
seconds so that I’m
not easily distracted
and leave the site.


@_urban_

Acceptance Criteria
→ Easiest format to remember:
→ Given that [someone wants to do
something]
→ When s/he [performs action]
→ Then [something happens that can be
veriﬁed]


@_urban_

So many acronyms
SMART – Acronym #1
→ Speciﬁc?
→ Measureable?
→ Achieveable?
→ Relevant?
→ Time-boxed?
As a user, I want the
site to look like the
attached .psd ﬁle.


@_urban_

So many acronyms
INVEST – Acronym #2
→ Independent
→ Negotiable
→ Valueable
→ Estimable
→ Sizeable
→ Testable
As a user, I want the
site to look like the
attached .psd ﬁle.


@_urban_

Agile Ceremonies to add

→ Assume using:
§ Grooming, daily scrum, sprint end
demo and retro
→ Add: Sprint Planning:
§ Reiterate what’s to be committed in
next sprint
§ Associate to team, or even developer


@_urban_

Agile Ceremonies to add
→ Add: Backlog “Pruning”
§  Establish goal to either close or assign for
immediate review to keep it fresh
→ JQL:
§  project = {project} AND  
status != Closed AND  
Sprint is EMPTY AND  
type = Story AND updated < -14w


@_urban_

Labels for Sprint End Demo
→ Have Product Owners label their tickets with
“demo”
→ Conﬂuence page with Insert JIRA Issue/Filter
§  project = {project} AND  
type != Sub-task AND  
sprint = {Sprint#} AND  
labels = demo  
ORDER BY key ASC, priority DESC


@_urban_

Bonus: using Columns in Jira


@_urban_

Sprint Filters
→ Create a ﬁlter when you Create a Sprint
→ Update to share with all on Project in JIRA
→ Prevent confusion:
§ Use Sprint ID “Sprint 26 (1075)”
§ Use Project “XYZ Sprint 26”


@_urban_

JIRA Components
→ Associate with content types “Content: Article”
→ Organizes tickets to optimize traceability
→ Subset QA Testing
→ Utilize general use cases “Content Editing,” “Image
Editing”
→ Add others based on Epics “Analytics,” “Advertising,”
“Metadata,” “Global Menu,” “Footer”


@_urban_

Bonus: ﬁltered WIP tables
→ Conﬂuence page with JIRA tables
→ project = {project} AND Sprint in
openSprints() and type!= Sub-task
and component = “Content: Article”
→ project = {project} and type!= Sub-
task and component = "Analytics" AND
updated > -8w


@_urban_

Sub-Tasks
→ Useful to help keep track of process or
workﬂow-related issues
§ Tracking external review teams
§ Tracking priorities among tickets
§ Announce need for a check-in meeting
§ Reminder to create QA test script


@_urban_

Grooming Agenda
→ Multiple product owners x multiple tickets
= chaos
→ Timeboxing shifts priority back to product
owner
→ Allocate 30 min per PO per week to start
→ Plan for 5 to 6 minutes per tickets to start


@_urban_

Grooming Worksheets

→ Worksheet Set-up: grid with PO, tickets,
availability
→ Removes blocker of interpretation
→ Timebox tickets and product owner(s)
→ Assumes ﬁxed grooming ceremonies
→ Plan around prioritized tickets and availabilities
→ Establish hard deadline


@_urban_

Pointing Tickets
→ Keep it fair
→ Keep voting time to a minimum
→ Use resource like pointingpoker.com
§  Have TA enter in tickets title and timebox
voting
§  EM monitors grooming backchannel
§  Pre-determine voting {1,2,3,5,8,13,?}


@_urban_

Custom ﬁelds: Teams
→ Developer
→ Team
→ Useful for tracking team
performance
→ Identify primary contributor to ticket


@_urban_

Custom ﬁelds: Branch
→ Multiple environments
→ Dev branches spanning more than
two sprints
→ Minimize QA and UAT confusion


@_urban_

Custom Fields: Time Spent
→ Time Spent fields
→ Add as required field in Screen on
Transitions
→ Add as similar field for QA
§ Identify tickets that were difficult and/
or time-consuming


@_urban_

JIRA Tips & Tricks
→ Backlog view: Color code by JQL 
or Custom Field (Teams)
→ Create “sprints” for backlog organization
§ Manage sprint allocations
→ Multiple boards for diﬀerent audiences


@_urban_

Use JIRA REST API


@_urban_

Use JIRA REST API
→ Google Sheets
→ Script Editor
→ Pass Queries directly
→ Update tickets ?

What You Learned
→ Document Everything!
→ User Stories:  
SMART INVESTING
→ Sprint Planning
→ Backlog Pruning
→ Labels for Demos
→ Filters & Sprint naming
→ Use Components
→ Sub-Tasks
→ Worksheets for grooming
→ Pointing practices
→ Custom ﬁelds
→ Other tips & tricks

Questions ?
Chris Urban, Engagement Manager
@_urban_ d.o: urbanlegend

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