Agile Process – Azure Boards

Agile is a software development methodology which is based on iterative development. It is a set of framework and practices based on values and principles mentioned in Agile Manifesto as shown below: 

SCRUM:  

Scrum is a lightweight framework that helps people, teams and organizations generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems. 

PILLARS OF SCRUM: 

Transparency: 

Important decisions are based on perceived and visible state, so as much transparency as possible must be achieved 

Inspection:

Artifacts and progress regarding the Product Goal and Sprint Goal should be inspected frequently for inconsistencies, variations, or undesirable issues. 

Adaptation: 

If any aspect deviates from the acceptable limit or if the result is unacceptable, adjustments are necessary. 

Commitment: 

The Scrum Team is committed to achieve their goals and supporting each other.

Focus: 

The Scrum Team's focus is to make the best possible progress towards its goals. It focuses on one goal at a time. 

Openness: 

The Scrum Team and its stakeholders are open about work and challenges by discussing the same in daily scrum and review meetings.

Courage: 

The Scrum Team members have the courage to do the right thing and work on tough problems.

Respect: 

The Scrum Team members respect each other in terms of being capable and independent people and are respected as such by the people they work with. 

AZURE BOARDS:

One of the best tools which can be used to implement Agile/Scrum is Azure Boards.  Azure Boards is a Microsoft service or an interface which helps Agile Coach/Scrum Masters to track the Kanban boards, task boards, Product backlog, Sprint backlog, Bugs, Test suites, dashboards, and custom reporting. 

Following are components of Azure Boards that help us in managing the project.

Work Items:  

Place to create and maintain different kind of work items such as Epic, Feature, User Story/Product Backlog Item, Task, Issue, Test case. 

Boards: 

Shows the features and User Stories/PBIs in Kanban board format. User can see the items in different states: New, Active, Resolved and Closed.

Backlogs: 

Shows the Epics, features, and User Stories/PBIs of the project in list format. Helps to keep things in prioritized format. User can quickly drag and drop items to adjust the order. 

Sprints: 

Shows the task board and User Stories/PBIs mapped for the current sprint. Each sprint has backlog, task board, burndown chart and capacity planning.

Queries: 

User can use Queries option and retrieve the required KPIs for reporting purposes. 

Dashboards:  

Allows user to add required dashboards to track progress. 

PROS of AZURE BOARDS: 

• Repository – to store all code 
• Pipelines – to deploy the products with End – End testing
• Easy to access 
• Office 365 integration 
• Facilitates easy collaboration between technical members and business or product owners. 
• Full support for Scrum artifacts and processes.