In this lesson, we are going to learn about Release Tracking.
To tell like, when will be done or are we on track for a particular release.
There are three methods that we can use to get a sense of are we on track or not.
The first one is Release Burn Up,
Storyboard and Cumulative Flow.
Let's look at Release Burn Up.
In the Release Burn Up,
you see two lines here, one,
the red line showing the total work needed for the release.
So, it's basically the total of all the stories that need to be done for this release.
And the blue line showing the total
of estimate of all the stories that are completed on a given date.
So for example, in this diagram on four,
one about five story points work was done,
whereas on seven, one all the story total up to be 20 points.
So the Y axis is the story point or whatever unit you're
using for measuring your stories or estimating your stories.
And the X axis is the time.
And where you can put either the sprints or you can put week by week.
So, as you can see the red line if it goes up it may mean two things,
either we have added something to the release
or we learn something and they have increased the estimate.
And similarly, if it goes down then either
the work was taken out or the estimate went down.
And the blue line basically shows you the trend and you can extrapolate it and see
where it will hit the burn up or the total line,
the red line, to say whether you are on track or not.
So, the release burn up can give you some idea of whether you're on track or not.
Now, this should be just a trigger for the conversation.
Next thing is the Storyboard.
Where you have these yellow things are basically showing the story,
and the column in which they are shows the status.
So, F and D are in development,
C is in testing, A and B are not,
and rest of the stories are in backlog.
So let's say you are one week from the release,
then you can definitely say that you are not going to make it,
there are so many stories in the backlog.
So, this tool basically gives you a gut sense of whether you are on track or not.
The third is the Cumulative Flow Diagram.
It's basically an extension to the release burn up.
So, in addition to the total work and the stories completed,
it also shows the cumulative of different status of the story.
So, the green line is showing all the stories where analysis is done.
The blue line is showing all the stories where development is done.
The orange line is showing all the stories where the testing is done,
and the red line is showing all the stories that you have deployed.
So, if you just use the gray line,
the black and the red line,
it basically is your release burn up and you can see the expected finish date,
you can predict the expected finish date.
But then, in this diagram you can also say, "Hey,
I have lots of stories between development and testing or lots of stories in the testing,
a lot of stories in different states."
So it gives you some additional tool to say,
"What is it that is stopping us from staying on track?"
And then it also gives you two other measurement,
the work in progress and the cycle time.
So, the distance between the red line which is the deployment and the analysis,
is the work in progress because those stories are in progress.
So, the distance between those two,
shows how many stories worth is in progress.
And if you measure the distance between green and the red horizontally,
it tells you the cycle time.
Cycle time is the time it takes when you start the story all the way to finish.
So, that is the additional thing that you get from the cumulative flow diagram.
So, three methods, one is the Release Burn Up,
which is the most common,
then the Storyboard, and the Cumulative Flow Diagram.
Praveen MittalAdjunct Professor
