In this Blog post , I would like to explain

• What is new Task Type “User Story”
• What is the new Task Type “Sub-Task”
• How to use these Task Types

What is a User Story

A User story is a user need that needs to be fulfilled in order to provide a business value. It may or may not have an associated Requirement.

Based on the feedback from customers , who want to implement the projects using agile methodology , we introduce a new Task Type called User Story. Now in your task list you will have an additional option

The user story will have similar attributes as that of a task

there is one additional capability, you can create sub tasks below a user story.

You can assign a user story to any timebox but we recommend that you create a sprint schedule and assign user stories to sprints. We advise that you create user stories in such a way that it can be finished in one sprint.

What is a Sub-Task

A Sub-Task is an optional task type that can be created below a user story. You can just click on create sub task option after you create and save your user story.

The attributes of sub task are slightly different from a user story. A user story can have its own timebox but a sub task only inherits the timebox from its parent, which is a user story in this case.

How and when to use User Stories and Sub-Tasks

We know that SAP Cloud ALM comes preloaded with templates from Activate methodology. That content primarily constitutes of methodology tasks that help you understand the order in which tasks should be conducted in a given project phase.

When you conduct Fit-to-Standard workshops and plan your Project into fine level timeboxes as an example sprints, you may want and slice your work much smaller and also ensure its handled differently as compared to the template or project tasks. You may also want to quickly see work planned in an upcoming sprint.

This is where user stories and sub-tasks help you. This also allows better collaboration and parallel work. As an example you may have a user stories that may need input from multiple people as an example a UI expert , a user assistance expert, a database expert etc. You can create multiple sub-tasks assigned to the same user story that helps people collaborate.

Next steps

User story and sub-task creation is one the first steps in ensuring SAP Cloud ALM enables agile methodology. This capability will be extended with more features in upcoming releases.

Lets start a dialogue , feel free to leave a comment or give feedback.

You can visit the blog post below that is one central place for Project and Task management in SAP Cloud ALM

Project and Task Management capabilities-Master List

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