Agile on the Fly! Mastering Real-Time Sprint Operations with MS Project Agile (2)

In the first part of this article (read here), we understood the following:

• Our Current Sprint State
• Performing Activate/Inactive Operation
• Performing Delete Operation
• Performing Add Operation

In this part, we will check certain additional operations, which are crucial as you manage your Sprint hands-on. There are many other operations, which you - the Scrum Master or Product Owner - have to perform in your Scrum project. Detailed, hands-on videos are part of the Mastering MS Project Agile course. See here.

We will start with the modify operation. 

Performing Modify Operation

As you proceed with your Sprint, you are also likely to perform several edit or modify operations, such as duration, resources, start date, and end date, among others. This can be done by simply double-clicking on the Card (work item) in the Current Sprint Planning Board view and changing the necessary fields. 

As shown for the featured item of Create a new user, I first double-clicked on the corresponding card, and then I can change the resources in the popped-up Task Information dialog box. You can change multiple fields with this option. 

You can also select the card, right-click and choose the Information option from the drop-down list to see the Task Information dialog box. 

Performing Move Operation

Not every work item included in the Current Sprint will be completed. It’s highly possible that some of the items are not started or are partially complete. In such a case, the items are to be moved into the next Sprint. This is one of the rules in the Scrum framework (see here). Note that the incomplete feature items don’t count toward velocity (see here). 

To move a work item into the next Sprint, again you can use the Current Sprint Board view. Select the work item (Card) and use the Move to Next Sprint command from the list. 

When you use this command, the item will be moved into the immediate next Sprint, not any other! To be sure, you can verify it in the Sprint Planning Sheet view, which is for all the Sprints in the project. Keep in mind that once a work item is complete, it won’t be visible in the Current Sprint Board or Current Sprint Sheet view. This is because of the Sprint Planning Filter (see here).  

As shown in the above figure, the feature Edit an existing user is now part of Sprint 2. Earlier, it was part of Sprint 1.

As it’s moved into the next immediate Sprint, the board status is maintained as Next up. The % Complete value for this work item will also be preserved. Your team can work on this item in the next Sprint. 

Performing % Complete Change Operation

While the % Complete mapping is done for the various workflow states in the Board, it’s not written on stone. For example, in our case the % Complete Mapping is %, 10%, 50%, and 100% for Sprint Backlog, Next up, In progress and Done, respectively. 

It’s possible that you may want to change this % Complete for a particular work item. This can be done by opening the Task Information dialog box and changing the % Complete value in the General tab. This is shown below. 

As shown, for the work item, I’ve changed the % Complete to 20%, in place of the default 10%. You can cross-check this % complete update in the Current Sprint Sheet view.  

While you changed the % Complete value to 20%, notice that the Board Status is not changed, and it still remains in the Next up workflow state.

Demonstration and Key Points

Now, let’s demonstrate what we have learned so far, along with some key points to remember while adjusting a Sprint in progress. I’ve prepared the below video [duration: 5m: 29s] for this purpose. For the best experience, you may want to go full screen in HD mode and plug in your earphones.

Conclusion

In some of the cases, it’s possible that while performing these operations, resources may be overallocated. You can quickly solve overallocation using the Team Planner view available with MS Project Online Desktop client, which has the Agile features.

Projects, like human beings, are living entities. Just as every human being changes, so does a project. If the environment is high-churn, then humans must rapidly adapt and adopt, and so does a Sprint project.

This article outlines certain key operations to adjust a Sprint project. I hope it gives you the understanding to perform various operations within a Sprint, the confidence to conduct any operation in a Scrum project, and brings value to your work.

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This article was first published by MPUG on March 14, 2023. This an updated version. 

References

[1] Online Course: Practical Scrum using MS Project Agile, by MPUG.com

[2] Online Course: Mastering MS Project 2019 Agile (Scrum and Kanban), by ManagementYogi.com

[3] Certification Course: Certified Hybrid-Agile Master Professional (CHAMP), by ManagementYogi.com 

[4] Certification Course: Certified In Practical Scaled Agile (CIPSA), by ManagementYogi.com