anybody in the company(client) can create task, they own it and are responsive for it. sometimes I ask for more details sometimes don't need to.
we the programmers team estimate time(we use points) on each task on daily.
each Friday I meet with client(everybody in the company can come to meeting), they can see the backlog (currently at 280 tasks and about 800 points)
our task list for next week can take 30 points(3 programmers),
client chooses the tasks for next week filling up 30 points
This has many benefits :
this moves the responsibility of prioritizing tasks from you to the client
they can see how long your backlog is
they get a feeling how long it takes to do stuff
they are no longer unhappy, they become very understanding
if you keep to the weekly list, they start to respect it and don't add features in middle of week
if they insist on adding task, another task from this weeks plan need to be removed
only time YOU choose tasks into next week, are critical operational tasks
since you define how much time they can fill up, make sure to leave time for refactoring, cleanup, learning or what ever stuff that the client doesn't see straight benefit of
when somebody asks, "when will feature X be available", I can say, "show up on Friday and try to get it in", this removes a lot of pressure
Thank you I find that helpful. The first week of December the client flew down and we had a massive discussion talking about the direction the project needs to go, goals for short and long term, and discussing what communication points need to be improved. We have daily stand up meetings and bi weekly steering meetings. Those are incredibly valuable.
I do like the idea of assigning points and having a set amount to tackle per week.
points are also good for the business, this will allow the business to estimate cost of a task
let's say each developer take 10 points per week and each developer costs 1000$,this will help them prioritize, it's now easy for them to calculate the cost of a task
we've had few tasks that take a long time, that would have been pushed through without much thought, but seeing the cost allowed them to see what other tasks are important
we have 1,2,4,8,16 points,
anything that is 8 or 16 points needs to be broken up into multiple smaller tasks.
1 and 2 point tasks are usually good estimation, this can be 1 hour to 1-2 day tasks
4 points are more unknown and they can take 2-4 days
8 points, are to big to really know, 2 devs should sit down and define into multiple tasks
16 points, this can take weeks to do and need very good definition with business, we allow us to take 1 week to define this task, sometimes needing to talk with different departments, it's then put into the plan week after
the points estimation is mostly just a feeling, but with experience comes better guessing
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
We're a place where coders share, stay up-to-date and grow their careers.
this is what we do in our team
This has many benefits :
Thank you I find that helpful. The first week of December the client flew down and we had a massive discussion talking about the direction the project needs to go, goals for short and long term, and discussing what communication points need to be improved. We have daily stand up meetings and bi weekly steering meetings. Those are incredibly valuable.
I do like the idea of assigning points and having a set amount to tackle per week.
points are also good for the business, this will allow the business to estimate cost of a task
let's say each developer take 10 points per week and each developer costs 1000$,this will help them prioritize, it's now easy for them to calculate the cost of a task
we've had few tasks that take a long time, that would have been pushed through without much thought, but seeing the cost allowed them to see what other tasks are important
we have 1,2,4,8,16 points,
anything that is 8 or 16 points needs to be broken up into multiple smaller tasks.
1 and 2 point tasks are usually good estimation, this can be 1 hour to 1-2 day tasks
4 points are more unknown and they can take 2-4 days
8 points, are to big to really know, 2 devs should sit down and define into multiple tasks
16 points, this can take weeks to do and need very good definition with business, we allow us to take 1 week to define this task, sometimes needing to talk with different departments, it's then put into the plan week after
the points estimation is mostly just a feeling, but with experience comes better guessing