Use TFS to create feature and bugs backlogs
Where do you usually store all the new features suggestions and enhancements people are throwing at you? If you are like most of us, some are buried in your mailbox, some are even less fortunate and are scribbled on a post-it or in an old notebook. The result is that valuable ideas are lost.
The solution I came up with is so simple it is almost embarrassing to blog about it, but since most of the TFS implementations I see lack that option I would like to share it anyway.
What I do is add a new node to the iteration path tree – I call it ‘backlog’ but ‘pool’ or ‘repository’ will work just fine
Benefits of using a pool:
for enhancements:
- nothing gets lost
- improved collaboration atmosphere – everybody can contribute their ideas. (make sure that people realize that adding a new enhancement to the pool does not mean that it will automatically will be part of the new version, this is yet the product manager and the dev manger responsibility to decide on that!)
- better planning capabilities – when planning a new version consult your team about the effort they estimate before deciding if and in which version to include it
for bugs:
- Not all bugs should be solved in the current or even next version (lets face it: some will never be solved, but this a subject for a completely different post…) – but all bugs should be documented. Use the pool collect all the helpdesk issues, tickets and bugs openned by dev and QA. Now you can sit down calmly, evalute their affect on your application (or product) and assign them to the most appropriate version.