Long term task (story)

Question

First,  I an a true newbie.   Agile and Jira do not really fit some of the tasks that we do and here in lies the problem.  Here is a typical flow for a story, which I would define as subtasks.

1) Obtain the equipment   Timeframe weeks.

2) Does the written procedure exist for the equipment.  Timeframe days.

3) For any equipment without a procedure create one.   Time frame days.

4) Test the procedure on the equipment to make sure it is correct.  Timeframe days.

5) Submit procedure for approval.  Time frame 9 months or more.

6) Pass on the procedures to the appropriate departments.

With our Sprints being only 2 weeks, we do not want the story to be on the books for a year.

Any ideas on how to handle this?

Thanks in advance.

Mike Virostko

Michael Virostko · Answer

Hi Trudy,

Manages have not given me much room to work this out at the EPIC level.   TWorking with my colleague we will probable look into generating linked stories for this type of task.  each story can not be done till the one before is completed.

1) Obtain the equipment   Timeframe weeks.

2) Does the written procedure exist for the equipment.  Timeframe days.

3) For any equipment without a procedure create one.   Time frame days.

4) Test the procedure on the equipment to make sure it is correct.  Timeframe days.

5) Submit procedure for approval.  Time frame 9 months or more.

5a)  Generate a story for each sprint to monitor the progress (1 story point).

6) Pass on the procedures to the appropriate departments.

Mike Virostko

Michael Virostko · Answer

Thanks for the reply Trudy.  Company has decided to use Agile and Jira as the backbone.  I am just a work-a-bee trying to adhere to company policy and understanding how best to use the tools.

You make a good point about the sprint.  We can just leave the Story in the backlog and work from there.  But then no credit is taken to the very last sprint when the entire story is pulled in.

I do like the idea of using an Epic, but we are using the Epic as one level up in the project chain.  I will bring this up use as an idea.  Using this concept, I would add a Story to monitor on each sprint.   Point count would be 0.5.

Mike Virostko

Trudy P Claspill · Answer

Hello @Michael Virostko

Welcome to the Atlassian community.

Is there a specific reason you are using the scrum methodology with 2 week sprints? Maybe you don't need to use sprints at all when your time frames for completing tasks are so long.

Something you could consider is using an Epic instead of a Story, and then define each of the items you listed as a Story within the Epic, instead of a Sub-task under a Story.