Plan and track themes

Define product themes and track their development progress.

Configure WSJF settings and set up your grid

  1. If you want to use WSJF to prioritize your features:

    In the Workspace > Settings configuration page, configure WSJF settings. For details, see Prioritize themes and features.

  2. Select the Product Backlog > Themes tab.

  3. Add the Initial Estimate, Theme Type, and WSJF columns to the grid.

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Add themes

  1. Select the Product Backlog > Themes tab.

  2. Click Add Item and define your product themes.

  3. In the grid, select the Theme Type: Architectural or Business

  4. Assign the theme an Initial Estimate. The initial estimate is measured in 'shirt sizes' (XL, L, M, S, XS). This provides you with a recorded theme size early on in the product planning, before you need or are able to provide more details.

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Prioritize themes

Prioritizing themes can assist you in planning the associated features and backlog items.

You can prioritize by rank, or by the various Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) components: Business Value, the Cost of Delay (CoD) sum, or the overall WSJF score.

For details, see Prioritize themes and features.

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Set story points

Estimate a theme in story points. This should be a rough estimate taking into account the theme's overall size. The theme's story point estimation is independent of the aggregated story points of the theme's features and backlog items.

Example:  

You might initially estimate a theme at 40 story points. After the theme is broken down into features and backlog items, you will estimate story points for each feature and backlog item. These story points may amount to 50 aggregated feature story points and 60 aggregated BLI story points. Agile Manager stores each value separately.

Estimating story points at the theme level is useful for planning theme development timelines, and tracking the development.

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Attach a document to a theme

To upload documents related to a theme, right-click a theme and select View Details. On the right side of the details view, in the Attachments box, paste new images or URLs from the clipboard, or drag and drop files from your file system.

Click Attachments on the left sidebar to view additional details or modify attachments.

Tip: In the details view, you can also add comments on the item, and view the item's change history.

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Associate a theme with applications

Specify which of your applications a theme relates to.

Select a theme, and click Set Applications.

Note:  

  • A theme automatically inherits the applications that its features and backlog items are associated with. You cannot remove these applications from the theme.

    Applications inherited from its features and backlog items are listed in the Applications column in the Themes grid.

  • Features and backlog items are not automatically associated with a theme's applications.

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Drill down to a theme's features

The Features column displays the number of features associated with each theme.

To display the features associated with a theme, click a value in the Features column. The Features page opens, and displays the features that belong to the theme you selected.

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Track theme progress

You can track the progress of a theme on the Themes page, or in a widget on the Dashboard.

Themes page

  • Follow the progress bar for each of the themes. The progress bar represents the amount of completed and remaining backlog items story points, in comparison to the amount of planned Theme story points.

    Hover over the progress bar for a detailed list of completed, total, and planned story points, as well the number of user stories and defects assigned to this theme.

  • To track the progress of a theme in a particular release or application, filter the Applications or Releases columns. The progress bars aggregate only those backlog items that are assigned to the selected applications or releases.

Dashboard page

Track the development of a theme in a specified release or application. Use one of the following:

  • In the widget gallery, under the Releases category, select the Theme Status widget.
  • Select an out-of-the-box release or application widget, or create a custom widget, and configure it to display data by theme.

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