SAFe Issuehierarchie and New Stories

[Erdogan Yildiz]

Hi everyone!

We have a problem with our Issuehierarchy based on Scaled Agile Framework.

We are implementing "Portfolio SAFe" and are using "Epic - Feature - Story" Hierarchie.

How we should handle with a following situation:

A Feature is accepted and closed by the Product Manager due to the acceptance criteria and feature hypotheses.

Assume that this feature is a basic functionality of our software.

Now, new small requirements in size of user stories are created and addresses this new feature.

Should we link this user stories with the closed feature?

Should we implement those user stories as orphans?

Should we try to link those stories with a NEW Feature?

I appreciate any answers to my question.

Have a nice day.

[Stephen Wright _Elabor8_]

Hi @Erdogan Yildiz 

The answer is kind of yes to all 3.

It just depends on the scenario...

• If a Feature is closed as completed, but then it's found to have functionality missing prior to release - you could link new Stories to it and reopen it. It's not ideal to reopen Features, but mistakes happen.
• If a Feature is released, and found to have missing functionality or needs enhancement - then this could be a new Feature.
• But, if the Feature has moved to BAU - then perhaps this is just Tech Debt, and thus belongs to no Feature (eg. sits outside of the Release Train)
• Or, if the missing functionality is a Bug, it could be a Production Bug that just needs fixing.

There's no one answer here, it's based on how you work, how you've implemented SAFe - and what works best for the teams.

Ste