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Monday, December 09, 2019

MS Project 2019 Agile: Boards, Views, Tables, Groups and Filters - 1



Microsoft Project Agile supports both Scrum and Kanban and it continues to the latest release of the software – MS Project 2019. To understand and work with the Agile features, you need to have clarity on:
  • Boards 
  • Views
  • Tables
  • Groups
  • Filters
The concepts of Views, Tables, Groups, Filters are foundational in MS Project. Every view in MS Project is based on a screen, table, group and filter. While working with the Agile features, you need to know these concepts and hence the post.

The content of this article are taken from the following courses. They are elaborated with a number of examples, real-world projects and tips:
In this series with two parts, I’ll be taking a few of these boards, views, tables, groups and filters. In part – 1 of this series, we will see some commonly used boards and views in MS Project 2019. We will see the following views/boards.
  • Sprint Planning Board View (Scrum)
  • Sprint Planning Sheet View (Scrum)
  • Backlog Board View (Kanban)
  • Backlog Sheet View (Kanban)
  • Task Board View (Scrum or Kanban)
  • Task Board Sheet View (Scrum or Kanban)

 [ This series: Part - 2 ]

I. Boards and Views for Agile Features

 A board in MS Project 2019 is basically a view with cards. A card is a graphical representation of a task with its attributes. There are many views represented as boards in MS Project 2019 Agile.

 There are a number of views (including board views) for Agile features, i.e., to work with Scrum (Sprints) and Kanban type projects. We will see six of these. As I noted before, for each of this view, there will be associated Screen, Table, Group, and Filter. Hence, we will discuss them as well for the views/boards.

 Also, do note that the usage of these boards/views will vary based on Agile framework chosen. For example, the Sprint Planning Board view is used for Scrum/Sprints project. Hence, next to the name of the view (or board), I’ve noted the Agile framework to be used.

 Now, one can see all the views in MS Project 2019 by going to:

 View tab – Task/Resource Views group – Other Views – More Views...


From there, you can select the view to see and then apply to the project.

As shown above, from the list of views, I've selected Sprint Planning Board view.

 Sprint Planning Board View (Scrum)
The Sprint Planning Board view lists out the Sprints for a project in a graphical manner. The default number of Sprints shown are three. There is also a No Sprints column which is basically for the Backlog items. You can add as many Sprints you need.

 For this view:
  • Screen used: Task Board
  • Table used: None
  • Group used: None
  • Filter used: Sprint Planning
This can be seen by checking the definition of the view, from:
View tab – Task/Resource Views group – More Views – {View Name} – Edit …

 For Sprint Planning Board view, we have the below details.


 As you can see, the screen associated is Task Board, whereas the filter associated is Sprint Planning.

 Sprint Planning Sheet View (Scrum)
The Sprint Planning Sheet view lists out the Sprints for a project in a tabular manner. The default number of Sprints shown are three. You can add as many Sprints you need.

 For this view:
  • Screen used: Task Sheet
  • Table used: Sprint Planning
  • Group used: None
  • Filter used: Sprint Planning



Backlog Board View (Kanban)
The Backlog Board view lists out the items for a project in a graphical manner. The default number of workflow states or columns shown are four – “Not Started”, “Next Up”, “In Progress”, and “Done”. The “Not Started” column is basically for the backlog items, which are not yet to pulled into any workflow state. You can add as many columns as you need.

 There is no concept of Sprints in Kanban and hence this view does not show any Sprints.

For this view:
  • Screen used: Task Board
  • Table used: None
  • Group used: None
  • Filter used: Backlog
Backlog Sheet View (Kanban)
The Backlog Board view lists out the items for a project in a tabular manner. Again, note that there is no concept of Sprints in Kanban and hence this view also does not show any Sprints.

 For this view:
  • Screen used: Task Sheet
  • Table used: Backlog
  • Group used: None
  • Filter used: Backlog
Task Board View (Scrum or Kanban)
This is very similar to the Backlog Board view we saw earlier. It has also four default work flow states – Not Started, Next Up, In Progress, and Done. You can add new workflow states, too.

 For this view:
  • Screen used: Task Board
  • Table used: None
  • Group used: None
  • Filter used: None

 Task Board Sheet View (Scrum or Kanban)
This is very similar to the Backlog Sheet view we saw earlier. However, here you have a column for Sprints! Hence, you can use it for both Kanban and Scrum. If you are using Kanban, then obviously, you will have “No Sprints” status in the “Sprints” column. If you are using Sprints, then the respective Sprint names will be shown.

 For this view:
  • Screen used: Task Sheet
  • Table used: Task Board Tasks
  • Group used: None
  • Filter used: Task Board Tasks
In the next part, we have discussed the tables, groups and filters used in MS Project 2019 Agile.

 [ This series: Part - 2 ]
 
 

Videos Courses on MS Project Agile and Hybrid-Agile:

Videos Courses on MS Project:
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