CREATING TASKS FOR TESTERS
In a Sprint, testers have tests to plan, design, and execute – but these are just a few of the many tasks they do within the time-box. This article will help guide testers in a Scrum project when they are creating their tasks during Sprint Planning.
Tasks in Scrum
Tasks are the smallest units of work that are used to distinguish the different components of a goal or project. In the context of Scrum, they are the activities that need to completed in order to finish their corresponding user stories. These activities are discussed during Sprint Planning, which the Scrum Guide describes this Sprint ceremony in the following excerpt:
“The work to be performed in the Sprint is planned at the Sprint Planning. This plan is created by the collaborative work of the entire Scrum Team. Sprint Planning is time-boxed to a maximum of eight hours for a one-month Sprint. For shorter Sprints, the event is shorter. The Scrum Master ensures that the event takes place and that attendants understand its purpose. The Scrum Master teaches the Scrum Team to keep it within the time-box.
“Sprint Planning answers the following:
- What can be delivered in the Increment resulting from the upcoming Sprint?
- How will the work needed to deliver the Increment be achieved?”
This simply means that a Sprint Planning session is divided into two parts: scoping and committing user stories, and planning the tasks and capacity for the Sprint. Even though the Scrum Guide does not explicitly suggest that tasks are required to be listed during Sprint Planning, it does prescribe teams to plan how to deliver the increment as well as to continuously refine the product backlog with details and estimates.
Teams new to Agile might find it difficult to rely solely on user stories when implementing them, so they will need more organised ways to work with those. Tasks help in organising by letting the team track what needs to be done and what their progress is for each user story.
Recommended Further Reading
The following materials may assist you in order to get the most out of this course: