Plan and track work in Azure Boards

TFS 2017 | TFS 2015 | TFS 2013

You track your work by creating work items. This article walks you through creating issues and tasks using a Kanban board. You can learn the Basic process or the Agile process for creating these items.

Choose one of the following four system processes—Agile, Basic, Scrum, or Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)—for guidance depending on what process was selected for your project. For an overview of each of these processes, see Choose a process.

Note

The Basic process is available when you add a project to Azure DevOps Services or Azure DevOps Server 2019 Update 1. For earlier on-premises deployments, choose Agile, Scrum, or CMMI process.

Agile process

The Agile process provides several work item types—for example, user stories, tasks, bugs, features, and epics among others—to plan and track work. We recommend you start by adding user stories. If you need to group them into a hierarchy, you can define features. To track other details of work, you can add tasks to a user story.

Work item types	Backlog hierarchy

Within each work item form, you can describe the work to be done, assign work to project contributors, track status, and collaborate with others through the Discussion section.

Here we show how to add user stories and child tasks from the web portal and add details to those work items.

Basic process

The Basic process provides three work item types—epics, issues, and tasks—to plan and track work. We recommend you start by adding issues to track your user stories, bugs, or feature items. If you need to group them into a hierarchy, you can define epics. To track more work details, you can add tasks to an issue.

Work item types	Backlog hierarchy

Within each work item form, you can describe the work to be done, assign work to project contributors, track status, and collaborate with others through the Discussion section.

Here we show how to add issues and child tasks from the web portal and add details to those work items.

Scrum process

The Scrum process provides several work item types—for example, product backlog items, tasks, bugs, features, and epics among others—to plan and track work. We recommend you start by adding product backlog items. If you need to group them into a hierarchy, you can define features. To track more details of work, you can add tasks child items to a product backlog item.

Work item types	Backlog hierarchy

Within each work item form, you can describe the work to be done, assign work to project contributors, track status, and collaborate with others through the Discussion section.

Here we show how to add product backlog items and child tasks from the web portal and add details to those work items.

CMMI process

The CMMI process provides several work item types—for example, requirements, tasks, bugs, features, and epics among others—to plan and track work. We recommend you start by adding requirements. If you need to group them into a hierarchy, you can define features and epics. To track more details of work, you can add tasks child items to a requirement.

Work item types	Backlog hierarchy

Within each work item form, you can describe the work to be done, assign work to project contributors, track status, and collaborate with others through the Discussion section.

Here we show how to add user stories and child tasks from the web portal and add details to those work items.

Prerequisites

• After you connect to a project, you can add work items. If you don't have a project yet, create one in Azure DevOps.
• To add work items to a board, and use all other board features, you must be granted Basic access and have been added as a member of the Contributors or Project Administrators group.
• If you have been granted Stakeholder access for a private project and have been added as a member of the Contributors or Project Administrators group, you can view boards, open and modify work items, and add child tasks to a checklist. However, you can't update the status of a backlog item or reorder or reparent a backlog item using drag-and-drop, nor update a field on a card.
• If you have been granted Stakeholder access for a public project, and have been added as a member of the Contributors or Project Administrators group, you have full access to all Boards features.

For details, see Default permissions and access for Azure Boards

Note

The images shown in this article correspond to the latest version of Azure Boards. While they may differ from those shown in earlier, on-premises versions of Azure DevOps, they are similar in the functions described unless otherwise noted.

Open your Kanban board

A Kanban board is provisioned with the addition of each project and each team. You can only create or add Kanban boards to a project by adding another team. To learn more, see About teams and Agile tools.

Agile process

The User Stories Kanban board is the best tool for quickly adding user stories and child tasks. To open, choose Boards>Boards.

The Features Kanban board is the best tool for quickly adding features and user stories that are children of those features. To open the Features board from the Stories board, choose Features from the board selector.

Basic process

The Issues Kanban board is the best tool for quickly adding issues and child tasks. To open, choose Boards>Boards.

The Epics Kanban board is the best tool for quickly adding epics and issues that are children of those epics. To open the Epics board from the Issues board, choose Epics from the board selector.

Scrum process

The Backlog items Kanban board is the best tool for quickly adding product backlog items and child tasks. To open, choose Boards>Boards.

The Features Kanban board is the best tool for quickly adding features and product backlog items that are children of those features. To open the Features board from the Backlog items board, choose Features from the board selector.

The default Scrum process configuration doesn't enable the Epic backlog level for a team. To enable it, see Select backlog navigation levels for your team.

CMMI process

The Requirements Kanban board is the best tool for quickly adding requirements and child tasks. To open, choose Boards>Boards.

The Features Kanban board is the best tool for quickly adding features and requirements that are children of those features. To open the Features board from the Requirements board, choose Features from the board selector.

Add work items to your board

Work items you add to your board are automatically assigned the default Area Path and Iteration Path assigned to the team. To learn more, see Configure team settings.

Agile process

1. From the Stories board, choose New item and start adding those stories you want to track.

   

2. Enter return and the system assigns a work item ID to the user story.

   

3. To track the work you want to manage, add as many user stories that you need.

Basic process

1. From the Issues board, choose New item and start adding those issues you want to track.

   

2. Enter return and the system assigns a work item ID to the issue.

   

3. To track the work you want to manage, add as many issues that you need.

Scrum process

1. From the Backlog items board, choose New item and start adding those stories you want to track.

   

2. Enter return and the system assigns a work item ID to the user story.

   

3. To track the work you want to manage, add as many backlog items that you need.

CMMI process

1. From the Requirements board, choose New item and start adding those stories you want to track.

   

2. Enter return and the system assigns a work item ID to the user story.

   

3. To track the work you want to manage, add as many requirements that you need.

Add details to a board item

Choose the issue or user story title to open it. Change one or more field values, add a description, or make a note in the Discussion section. You can also choose the Attachments tab and drag-and-drop a file to share the file with others.

Note

The Discussion section is available with TFS 2017.2 and later versions.

Agile process

For example, here we assign the story to Raisa Pokrovskaya and we add a discussion note, at-mentioning Raisa.

Choose Save & Close when done.

Basic process

For example, here we assign the issue to Raisa Pokrovskaya and we add a discussion note, at-mentioning Raisa.

Choose Save & Close when done.

Scrum process

For example, here we assign the product backlog item to Christie Church and set an Effort level of 8.

Choose Save & Close when done.

CMMI process

For example, here we assign the product backlog item to Jamal Hartnett and set Size to 8.

Choose Save & Close when done.

CMMI-specific field descriptions

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Field

Definition

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Impact Assessment

The customer impact of not implementing this requirement. You might include details from the Kano model about whether this requirement is in the surprise, required, or obvious categories. You capture this information in the rich-text HTML field which corresponds to Impact Assessment.

---

Requirement Type(Required)

The kind of requirement to implement. You can specify one of the following values:

• Business Objective
• Feature
• Functional
• Interface
• Operational
• Quality of Service
• Safety
• Scenario
• Security

---

Start Date/Finish Date

The target dates for when the work will start or finish. These fields are filled in by Microsoft Project when you use it for scheduling.
You can specify work in hours or in days. There are no inherent time units associated with this field.

---

Triage (Required)

Indicates the type of triage decision that is pending for the work item. Use this field when the work item is in the Proposed state and specify one of the following values: Pending (default), More Info, Info Received, or Triaged.

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Blocked

Indicates whether a team member is prevented from making progress toward implementing a requirement or task or resolving a bug, change request, or risk. If an issue has been opened to track a blocking problem, you can create a link to the issue. You can specify Yes or No (default).

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Committed (Required)

Indicates whether the requirement is committed in the project or not. You can specify Yes or No (default).

---

Integrated In

Product build number that incorporates the requirement, change request, or fixes a bug.

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User Acceptance Test (Required)

The status of the user acceptance test for a requirement. You can specify one of the following values:

• Pass
• Fail
• Not Ready
• Ready
• Skipped
• Info Received
  Specify Not Ready when the requirement is in the Active state, and you specify Ready when the requirement is in the Resolved state.

---

Subject Matter Experts

The names of team members who are familiar with the customer area that this requirement represents.

---

Field descriptions

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Field

Usage

---

Title

Enter a description of 255 characters or less. You can always modify the title later.

---

Assigned To

Assign the work item to the team member responsible for performing the work. Depending on the context you are working in, the drop-down menu lists only team members or contributors to the project.

Note

You can only assign work to a single user. If you need to assign work to more than one user, add a work item for each user and distinguish the work to be done by title and description. The Assigned To field only accepts user accounts that have been added to a project or team.

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State

When the work item is created, the State defaults to the first state in the workflow. As work progresses, update it to reflect the current status.

---

Reason

Use the default first. Update it when you change state as need. Each State is associated with a default reason.

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Area (Path)

Choose the area path associated with the product or team, or leave blank until assigned during a planning meeting. To change the dropdown list of areas, see Define area paths and assign to a team.

---

Iteration (Path)

Choose the sprint or iteration in which the work is to be completed, or leave it blank and assign it later during a planning meeting. To change the drop-down list of iterations, see Define iteration paths and configure team iterations.

---

Description

Provide enough detail to create shared understanding of scope and support estimation efforts. Focus on the user, what they want to accomplish, and why. Don't describe how to develop the product. Do provide sufficient details so that your team can write tasks and test cases to implement the item.

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Acceptance Criteria

Provide the criteria to be met before the work item can be closed. Define what "Done" means by describing the criteria for the team to use to verify whether the backlog item or bug fix is fully implemented. Before work begins, describe the criteria for customer acceptance as clearly as possible. Have conversations between the team and customers to determine the acceptance criteria. These criteria help ensure a common understanding within the team to meet customers' expectations. Also, this information provides the basis for acceptance testing.

---

Priority

A subjective rating of the issue or task it relates to the business. You can specify the following values:

• 1: Product cannot ship without the successful resolution of the work item, and it should be addressed as soon as possible.
• 2: Product cannot ship without the successful resolution of the work item, but it does not need to be addressed immediately.
• 3: Resolution of the work item is optional based on resources, time, and risk.
• 4: Resolution of the work item is not required.

---

Value Area

A subjective rating of the issue or task it relates to the business. You can specify the following values:

• Architectural: Technical services to implement business features that deliver solution .
• Business: Services that fulfill customers or stakeholder needs that directly deliver customer value to support the business (Default).

---

Effort, Story Points, Size

Provide a relative estimate of the amount of work required to complete an issue. Most Agile methods recommend that you set estimates for backlog items based on relative size of work. Such methods include powers of 2 (1, 2, 4, 8) and the Fibonacci sequence (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, etc.). Use any numeric unit of measurement your team prefers.
The estimates you set are used to calculate team velocity and forecast sprints.

---

Update work status

The State field tracks the status of a work item. With the Kanban board, you can quickly update the status of backlog items by dragging and dropping them to a different column. This feature requires that you have Basic access or higher.

Agile process

As work starts, drag the user story card from the Backlog column to the Active column. Once work is ready for review, move to the Resolved column. After it's reviewed and accepted, move to the Closed column.

You can add or rename columns as needed, see Customize your board.

Basic process

As work starts, drag the issue from the To Do column to the Doing column. Once completed, move to the Done column.

You can add or rename columns as needed, see Customize your board.

Scrum process

Once a backlog item is approved to start work, drag the backlog item card from the New column to the Approved column. When work actually starts, drag the card to the Committed column. Once work has completed, move to the Done column.

CMMI process

As work starts, drag the requirement card from the Backlog column to the Active column. Once work is ready for review, move to the Resolved column. After it's reviewed and accepted, move to the Closed column.

Tip

You can add or rename columns as needed, see Customize your board.

Add tasks

Task checklists provide a quick and easy way to track elements of work that are important to support completing a backlog item. Also, you can assign individual tasks to different team members.

Tip

Tasks that you create from the Kanban board are automatically assigned the Area Path and Iteration Path of their parent work item.

Tasks that you create from the Kanban board show up on your sprint taskboard. Also, tasks that you create from the sprint backlog or taskboard show up within tasks checklists on the Kanban board.

Note

The Task checklists are available from with TFS 2015.1 and later versions.

Agile process

1. To start adding tasks, choose the actions icon for the story and select the Add Task option.

   

   Enter a title for the task and type Enter when done.

   

2. If you have many tasks to add, keep typing your task titles and type Enter.

   

3. You can mark a task as done, expand or collapse the task checklist, or reorder and reparent tasks.

   Mark a task as done	Reorder and reparent tasks	Expand or collapse the checklist
   To mark a task as complete, check the task checkbox. The task State changes to Done.	To reorder a task, drag it within the checklist. To reparent a the task, drag it to another issue on the board.	To expand or collapse a task checklist, simply choose the task annotation.

Basic process

1. To start adding tasks, choose the actions icon for the issue and select the Add Task option.

   

   Enter a title for the task and type Enter when done.

   

2. If you have various tasks to add, keep typing your task titles and type Enter.

   

3. You can mark a task as done, expand or collapse the task checklist, or reorder and reparent tasks.

   Mark a task as done	Reorder and reparent tasks	Expand or collapse the checklist
   To mark a task as complete, check the task checkbox. The task State changes to Done.	To reorder a task, drag it within the checklist. To reparent a the task, drag it to another issue on the board.	To expand or collapse a task checklist, simply choose the task annotation.

Scrum process

1. To start adding tasks, choose the actions icon for the story and select the Add Task option.

   

   Enter a title for the task and type Enter when done.

   

2. If you have many tasks to add, just keep typing your task titles and type Enter.

   

3. You can mark a task as done, expand or collapse the task checklist, or reorder and reparent tasks.

   Mark a task as done	Reorder and reparent tasks	Expand or collapse the checklist
   To mark a task as complete, check the task checkbox. The task State changes to Done.	To reorder a task, drag it within the checklist. To reparent a the task, drag it to another issue on the board.	To expand or collapse a task checklist, simply choose the task annotation.

CMMI process

1. To start adding tasks, choose the actions icon for the story and select the Add Task option.

   

   Enter a title for the task and type Enter when done.

   

2. If you have various tasks to add, just keep typing your task titles and type Enter.

   

3. You can mark a task as done, expand or collapse the task checklist, or reorder and reparent tasks.

   Mark a task as done	Reorder and reparent tasks	Expand or collapse the checklist
   To mark a task as complete, check the task checkbox. The task State changes to Done.	To reorder a task, drag it within the checklist. To reparent a the task, drag it to another issue on the board.	To expand or collapse a task checklist, simply choose the task annotation.

Add details to a task

If you have details you want to add about a task, choose the title, to open it. Change one or more field values, add a description, or make a note in the Discussion section. Choose Save & Close when done.

Agile process

Here we assign the task to Christie Church.

Basic process

Here we assign the task to Jamal.

Scrum process

Here we assign the task to Jamal.

CMMI process

Here we assign the task to Jamal.

Field descriptions

In addition to the fields you can define for a backlog item—user story, issue, product backlog item, or requirement—you can specify the following fields for a task to support capacity and time tracking.

Note

There are no inherent time units associated with this field even though the taskboard always shows "h" for hours in relationship to Remaining Work. You can specify work in any unit of measurement your team chooses.

Field

Usage

Activity

The type of activity that's required to do a task.To learn more about how this field is used, see Capacity planning. Allowed values are:

• Deployment
• Design
• Development
• Documentation
• Requirements
• Testing

Discipline (CMMI process)

The type of activity that's required to do a task.To learn more about how this field is used, see Capacity planning. Allowed values are:

• Analysis
• Development
• Test
• User Education
• User Experience

Original Estimate

The amount of estimated work required to complete a task. Typically, this field doesn't change after it is assigned.

Remaining Work

The amount of work that remains to finish a task. You can specify work in hours or in days. As work progresses, update this field. It's used to calculate capacity charts and the sprint burndown chart.
If you divide a task into subtasks, specify Remaining Work for the subtasks only.

Completed Work

The amount of work spent implementing a task. Enter a value for this field when you complete the task.

Task Type (CMMI only)

Select the kind of task to implement from the allowed values:

• Corrective Action
• Mitigation Action
• Planned

Next step

Customize your board

Related articles

• Azure Boards FAQs
• Index to field descriptions
• Add tags to issues or tasks