Managing the Agile Backlog

This article shows how to manage the Agile project backlog, including adding Features, User Stories, and Bugs.

Overview

The Backlog functionality in ResourceFirst allows you to add Features, User Stories, and Bugs to defined projects.

Backlog View Navigation

To access the Backlog, click the Backlog menu item in the Project Center (the briefcase icon in the main ResourceFirst icon tray in the upper left).

You will be presented with the Backlog view.

The Backlog View contains three collapsible sections, representing:

• Projects
• Features
• Issues (i.e., User Stories and Bugs).

To expand or collapse each section, click the small arrow button to the right of the appropriate section header.

In the third pane (Issues), the small red bug icon indicates a bug, whereas the green book icon represents a user story.

Filtering on Projects and Features

• To see features and issues (bugs and stories) related to a specific project, click on the project in the leftmost pane.
• To see ALL features and issues (bugs and stories), click the “All Projects” button at the top of the Projects pane.
• To see issues related to a specific feature, click the feature in the center “Features” pane. The appropriate issues will appear in the Issues pane.
• To see ALL issues for the selected project(s), click the “All Issues” button at the top of the Features pane.

To reload the data, press the circular refresh icon at the top of the Issues pane.

Deleting Issues

To delete one or more issues, select one or more issues in the Issues pane and click the trach can icon at the top of the Issues pane.

How-To

Adding Features, User Stories and Bugs

Adding Features

Step 1: Click the “+” icon in the Features pane.

Step 2: On the popup dialog (pictured below), specify a name for the feature, select the project the feature is associated with, and specify the key if applicable (the Key is optional and is useful when integrating with or importing from other Agile tools).

Step 3: Click the Add button (which leaves the dialog open if you’ll be adding multiple features) or Add and Close.

Adding Issues (User Stories and Bugs)

Step 1: Click the “+” icon in the Issues pane

Step 2: On the popup dialog (pictured below), specify a name for the story or bug, select the type (User Story or Bug), and choose the project that the story or bug is associated with.

Step 3: Click the + Add button to add the story or bug.

Viewing and Editing Story/Bug Details

Once the story or bug is added, you can edit other details directly on the Issues grid (such as: Team, Priority, Points, and Sprint). The Key is shown if used as part of an import, but cannot be edited.

Alternatively, you can do the following:

Step 1: Click the three dots to the far right of any issue.

Step 2: You’ll be presented with an Issue Details dialog on the right (see image below). There you can enter or revise data as needed.

Step 3: Click the Save button to save the data (or the Cancel button to back out).

[Note: The story data is where you would assign stories or bugs to teams and sprints. Once you’ve done that, to view the Sprint Roadmap, you would click the Roadmap Tab (to the right of the Backlog Tab). For more on that, see the Managing the Sprint Roadmap article.]