Professional Scrum with Team Foundation Server 2010

5

Work Items, Queries, and Reports

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Understanding how to use work items in the Scrum template.
• Using the queries in the Scrum template.
• How to use the reports in the Scrum template.

In Chapter 3, you saw how to store project data in Team Foundation Server (TFS) and how the Scrum framework works in the context of a team project. In this chapter, you will examine the specifics of each artifact in the Microsoft Visual Studio Scrum 1.0 process template and see how each one contributes to tracking a project. This chapter focuses on three aspects of the Scrum process template:

• Work items
• Work item queries
• Reports

Together, these artifacts provide the tools needed to successfully manage and track a Scrum project. The following sections discuss them in detail.

WORK ITEMS

Project data in TFS is stored in artifacts known as work items. As noted in Chapter 3, work items are database records that track the definition, assignment, priority, and state of work for your team. The Microsoft Visual Studio Scrum 1.0 process template includes seven work item types:

• Product backlog items
• Tasks
• Sprints
• Impediments
• Bugs
• Test cases
• Shared steps

To create a new work item, you right-click the Work Items node in your team project and select a work item type from the New Work Item menu. A blank work item form appears. After you enter all the necessary data, you click the Save Work Item button on the form. Then you can query the work item and its data by using a work item query, ...