Jira. Let’s Get the Tasks Done
How to Describe Tasks in Jira? An Interesting Approach.
In this article, I want to demonstrate to you an interesting approach to describing tasks in Jira. But hold on, let me tell this in order.
As many of you might know, Jira is used for issue tracking and project management. And who’d disagree that it is a great tool for such purposes? I guess, not a lot of people would. But that’s not the point.
Working with one of my clients as a project manager, I’ve discovered a new way of describing tasks in Jira which is different from the one we use in our company. Moreover, being a Senior QA and having years of experience in this field, this client should be trusted. Well, see it for yourself!
The names of tasks are much simpler and their description is clearer when the “<” sign is used as an arrow.
#1 Screen name > section name
Eg. Side menu > Sign In
Side Menu > Address Book > Carry Out only addresses styling
#2 Full sentence — What to do
Eg. Remove the title from the “registration or login” screen
In comparison, we’ve got used to starting the description of tasks with a phrase:
As a user I want to be able to…
Which is much longer, so it takes more time to read it. Also, it is always the same.
Moreover, in the case of our client, his approach is more flexible. He uses different types of descriptions according to the situation.
To describe tasks and bugs he writes down the steps to reproduce, the expected and actual results.
Alternatively, the client replaces these titles with simply “steps”, “current behavior” and “new behavior”, as you can see in the example below:
The description of scenarios is also quite interesting. You won’t get confused!
Scenario: User clicks “Add” button
• If user is not logged in
◦ Open Address Picker page/modal to ask for an address, before adding to cart. Ask “Enter your address to see if we deliver in your area.” Show Address Picker in new page (modal popup for desktop).
• If user is already logged in
◦ Then do not display address modal.
◦ Add item to cart
To display the issue we use screenshots, but I always thought that it is only appropriate to put them in the “Attachment” section. However, when you zoom the screenshot in, there is no way to see the text of the description. Therefore, you need to zoom it in/out several times to understand the issue.
Our client suggests putting the screenshot not only in the “Attachment” section but also below the text in the “Description” section.
If one task comes from the other, we can just put references to the connected tasks in the description. This way, it doesn’t need to have extra explanation and anybody can check what was going on before with this issue.
I always tried not to puzzle developers with the examples. But, you know what? It is very convenient! As in these examples, a developer can see the strict numbers, clear dependences and make sure that everything works just as it is supposed to work.
Example 1:
• Current time is 5:00pm
• ASAP variable is set to 45 minutes
• Since 5:00pm + 45 minutes is 5:45pm, the next available notch is 6:00–6:20 PM.
Example 2:
• Current time is 5:40pm
• ASAP variable is set to 30 minutes
• Since 5:40pm + 30 minutes is 6:10pm, the next available notch is 6:20–6:40 PM.
Ensure this change applies separately to both Delivery and Carry Out
Finally, the last but not the least is communication in Jira. There is an opportunity to add a comment to the described task and certain words can be even highlighted with a different color. It is also convenient because there is no need to waste time additionally on explaining the problems that appeared (what exactly, where, how, after what action, etc.) in a private conversation with a client.
By adding comments, you can have a real conversation with the client about the decisions that have to be made during the development of the project. As you can see, it is stored in the “Comments” tab, so you can easily look through it anytime you need.
To sum up I want to emphasize the advantages of such approach once again. So, different types of descriptions according to the situation, screenshots duplicated in the “Description” section, references to the connected tasks, and examples in the description and, finally, communication through comments simplifies understanding between the client and the whole development team.
Conclusion
Everything listed above can save some time, improve your work results and make it easier to understand the client’s needs. What can be more important?
Well, it’s not an instruction to be executed. It is more likely a recommendation. So it’s up to you to follow it or not.
Another way is to experience this approach while working with us!
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