How exactly should we structure our Scrum?

[José Filipe Silva]

We're in what we call a "level 5" course in Portugal or "Higher Professional Technical Course". It's an Agile Software Development course, that gives the best students access to Engineering in one of the best colleges from where I live. 

The thing is, we keep getting asked to use Jira as our software for project management, and we were taught how the SCRUM proccess works. When it comes down to building it's structure, every Epic, task, sub-task.. every teacher says it should be done differently. 

As for now, this actual teacher says we can do how we want, as long as we have a valid justification for why we did it that way. 

I usually use the first structure I learned:

• EPIC (title name only, must be descriptive (e.g. Authentication);
• Tasks inside the epic (Register, Login, Sessions, Logout ...) and inside each task, we'll have a user story and acceptance criteria, as well as it's sub-tasks so that the developer assigned to it just has to read a sub-task and know exactly what he has to do with that;

Can you please tell me if this is fine, are these considered good-practises? Are we doing something wrong? Would you recommend any other structure? 

Obs.: If anyone actually knows how to fill the SprintPlanningTemplate given by Atlassian, I'd be glad to see an example, because we've never built it before, and we don't want to miss on anything.

Thank you!

[Humashankar VJ · Accepted solution]

Hi @José Filipe Silva 

Your approach to structuring Scrum in Jira is generally sound and follows many good practices. Let's break down your structure and discuss some recommendations:

Epic Structure

Your use of Epics as high-level, descriptive categories (e.g., Authentication) is appropriate. Epics should represent large bodies of work that can be broken down into smaller, manageable pieces.

Task and User Story Structure

Your approach of creating tasks within epics and including user stories and acceptance criteria is a good practice. Here are some refinements:

1. User Stories: Ensure these follow the standard format: "As a [type of user], I want [goal] so that [benefit]."
2. Acceptance Criteria: List specific, testable conditions that must be met for the story to be considered complete.
3. Sub-tasks: Breaking tasks into smaller, actionable sub-tasks is excellent for clarity and task management.

Recommendations

1. Story Points: Consider adding story point estimates to your user stories or tasks for better sprint planning.
2. Definition of Done: Establish a clear Definition of Done for tasks and user stories to ensure consistency.
3. Labels: Use labels to categorize and filter issues easily across epics and sprints.
4. Prioritization: Implement a clear prioritization system within your backlog (e.g., MoSCoW method).
5. Workflows: Customize Jira workflows to match your team's actual development process.

Sprint Planning Template

For the Atlassian Sprint Planning Template, focus on these key elements:

1. Sprint Goal: A clear, concise statement of what the team aims to achieve in the sprint.
2. Sprint Backlog: List of user stories and tasks selected for the sprint.
3. Capacity Planning: Team's available hours for the sprint, considering time off and meetings.
4. Velocity: Use previous sprint velocities to guide how much work to commit to.
5. Risks and Dependencies: Identify potential obstacles and inter-task dependencies.
6. Acceptance Criteria: Ensure each story has clear, testable acceptance criteria.
7. Task Breakdown: Estimate and break down stories into smaller tasks.
8. Team Commitment: Ensure the team agrees on the sprint goal and backlog.

End of day, Scrum is flexible, and the most important aspect is that your structure works effectively for your team. Continuously refine your process based on retrospectives and team feedback.

To learn more about Agile Project Management

 Agile Project Management - What is it and how to get started? (atlassian.com)

Hope this helps - Happy to help further!!
Thank you very much and have a great one!
Warm regards