User Stories

All stories in Jira need to match the criteria below. Note that the optional ones can be considered compulsory by individual squad - as they see fit

COMPULSORY

• Always add a feature parent link
• Always write the story out in full – As a… I want… so that...
• Use the description field to give Business Outcomes, Technical Description etc.
• Always add acceptance criteria that are aligned to the Business Outcome in the Description and that are evidential - i.e. an attachment, agreement, or output can be attached to the story to Showcase and is auditable
• Always assign the ticket to an individual (even when there are multiple people working on a ticket, it is essential to assign it to the person that could provide details on this if required)
• Always add a ‘Team’ ( - especially if the Jira project is used by multiple squads)
• Use the Fibonacci sequence to story point (ideally). (Reach out to the Agile chapter or Speak to an Agile Coach or Scrum Master if you need guidance on story points)

OPTIONAL (if it applies)

• Add a priority to the story
• Only use Labels if you are confident that they will be used for your squad's purpose and that there is an aligned report/filter - Labels otherwise do not drive any functionality.
• Use ‘linked issues’ to create dependencies visualization, etc.
• Use fix version (Releases) to manage Releases. This is a good practice for Release Management
• Teams Impacted and Additional Assignee fields are for your awareness only - when used - these fields drive no JIRA action and are only visible to those who look at the Story

Jira Query for Stories or Task that do not meet the criteria stated above under Compulsory fields

(project = ###### AND issuetype = Story AND Sprint in openSprints() AND ("Acceptance Criteria" is not EMPTY OR "Parent Link" is EMPTY OR "Story Points" is EMPTY OR "Story Points" = 0 OR priority = "Priority undefined" OR assignee is EMPTY)) OR (project = ##### AND issuetype =  Task AND Sprint in openSprints() AND ("Parent Link" is EMPTY OR "Story Points" is EMPTY OR "Story Points" = 0 OR priority = "Priority undefined" OR assignee is EMPTY))

Disclaimer!: If you are able to recreate the query in a different way that works for you, or even further improve this query please do so, so long as the required information for searching for Jira tickets does not match the compulsory fields is identified. And the need for identifying these tickets is to then provide the required details. 

To use the above query for your Jira Project/Product:

1. Change the project name (which is currently stated as #####) to your own. Please note that this appears twice in the query so be deliberate to change it at both times. 
2. Considering the number of tickets that appear from this search might be much, to simplify the viewing, consider using the query (i.e. after changing the project to your own) in a dashboard view.
3. If you have an existing dashboard, you can add an extra widget for Two Dimension Filter statistics, and then insert the query into that dashboard. Consider using Status for X-Axis, and Team for Y-Axis. This will show a count of tickets for each team within your project and their current status. 
4. To view the tickets from the dashboard, click any of the numbers in the dashboard table, and it will open up a page showing all tickets that makes up the selected number. 

NOTE: If there are more than 1 squad using the Jira Project, start the query by including the project and squad. (project = ##### AND team = ##### AND issuetype = ----Add the rest of the queries----

Current sprint checks:

• Use a Definition of Ready, that aligns with the must-haves of every ticket above, before pulling work into a Sprint
• After initial sprints using points/time matrix encourage the use of Points Poker https://storypoint.poker and similar tools to drive quality elaboration of stories and collective agreement on point estimates.
• Always add an assignee
• Are stories elaborated down to a granular enough level that typically allows assignees to several Stories “DONE” per Sprint?
• Tasks and Sub-Tasks are discouraged unless the action is smaller than a Story with “1” point - i.e. anything longer than a day is a Story. (Speak to your Agile Coach or Scrum Master to understand the context)
• All stories have Actor’s information and Outcomes ( As A, I Want, So That )
• Assignees own and update their Stories. Set To BLOCKED with immediate effect if needed, Get ‘DONE” ASAP and attach / link proof of completion if applicable.
• All Stories have a ‘Parent Link’ to an Epic - and are prioritized using MoSCoW with the team and PO to deliver the Epics agreed from PI Planning (and the QBR (Quarterly Business Review) memo if applicable)

Check by each squad member:

• Go to ‘Issues’, then ‘Reported by me’, and check all your stories have a parent link