Manage the release backlog

Before a release begins, create a backlog of the user stories that you plan to handle in the release.

Prerequisite: Set up and configure a new release. For details, see Configure releases.

  1. Plan a release from the product backlog. On the Product Backlog > Backlog page, drag backlog items into the release bucket, based on your planning strategy. For more details, see Plan a release.
  2. Open the Release Management > Release Backlog page.
  3. Make sure the correct release is selected.

  4. Perform the following actions:

    You can define user stories and defects in a file and import them directly to a release in Agile Manager. This is useful if you are migrating your backlog from another tool. For more details, see Import backlog items.

    In addition to the backlog items you assign to the release from the product backlog, you can add user stories directly to the release backlog:

    1. Click Add Item, and select User Story in the Type dropdown list.
    2. If you work with templates, select a template to use. The user story will be created with built-in details, such as pre-defined tasks. Templates are managed by workspace administrators.
    3. Estimate story points for each story. This helps you plan release and sprint backlogs according to their capacity. For more details, see Balancing release and sprint workloads.
    4. Define details for the user story, such as feature or application, team, or priority. This enables you to group and filter backlog items, and track the progress of the product at various levels.

    Backlog items you add to a release backlog are included in the product backlog.

    1. Click Add Item, and select Defect in the Type dropdown list.
    2. If you work with templates, select a template to use. The defect will be created with built-in details, such as pre-defined tasks.

    Tip:  

    • You can create a defect and link it directly to a user story or to another defect. Select an item, and click More Actions > Create Linked Defect.
    • Use the Defects Management page to take advantage of defect tracking and management tools.

    A key factor in planning release and sprint backlogs effectively is arranging the backlog by rank. After items in the backlog are ranked, you can plan the highest ranking items to the next release or sprint backlog.

    For details, see Rank the backlog.

    If a backlog item has dependencies, an icon is displayed in the Linked Items column.

    • Filter by the Linked Items column to display items with dependencies.
    • Hover over the icon. A summary of the dependencies is displayed in the Linked Items section. Click View All to open a diagram of the item's dependencies.

    Breaking a user story is useful if you need to divide a large user story into two or more smaller parts. You can postpone some of the new stories to later sprints or releases, and even assign them to other features.

    For details, see Create a group story.

    Select user stories or defects that you want to watch, and click More Actions > Add to My Watch List.

    • You will receive mail notifications upon status changes, or if the backlog item exceeds a storyboard time limit.
    • View a summary of your watched items in the My Watched User Stories and My Watched Defects widgets.

    After development begins, use progress bars to track the progress of user stories and defects.

    Make sure the Progress column is displayed in the grid.

    • The amount of work done on a backlog item is measured by the time spent on the backlog item's tasks.
    • The progress bar represents the hours invested in the backlog item's tasks compared with the remaining hours.

    Before each sprint, drag backlog items into sprint buckets in the planning pane. For details, see Plan team sprints.

For a complete list of actions you can perform on backlog items, see Backlog item actions.

Next steps: