The Agile Projector

All developers are not created equal, yet all Effort Days are – so how do we reflect the different speeds of each developer?

Next to the Builder name in the Projector or in the Builders section of your User page, click on the lightning bolt icon. There, you can set the efficiency of the builder. A builder that gets one effort day done in one day should be 100%. A builder that is 20% slower should be 80%. In this way, each builder’s schedule will reflect their individual efficiency in the schedule.

All teams are not created equal, yet all Effort Days are – so how do we reflect the different speeds of each team?

Click on the Settings button of your Projector configuration. There, you can set the efficiency of the team using the Velocity Modifier. A team that gets one effort day done in one day should be 100%. A team that tends to over-promise and under-deliver should be discounted accordingly.

This setting is like the Builder efficiency setting, but applied across the team. For example 80% will mean the team tends to deliver about 20% late. In this way, the entire team’s actual schedule will reflect their actual velocity as a group.

This effect stacks on the Builder efficiency, so you can still reflect those differences as well.

When a Builder is first imported, by default we give them weekends off (we are so thoughtful). After you have imported a Builder, you can add and remove OOTO days using the calendar widget next to the Builder’s name in the Projector or in the Builders section of your User page.

You can perform a bulk update on any or all of your Builders from your User page by clicking Export to CSV, editing the dates accordingly, and then uploading the edited list of OOTO dates for each builder. It is common for users to map internal OOTO calendars (e.g., Google or Rippling) to work with this CSV import to make it easy to batch changes and stay up to date.

On the Projections page, just click on the date in the calendar ribbon and create the Milestone in the popup.

You can also set milestones by clicking on the Milestones button of your Projector configuration.

Milestones highlight the date in the calendar ribbon bright yellow. Mouse over it to expose the full description, which will stay visible until you dismiss it.

Simply look vertically down the page to see what is happening before and after that date. If you’re feeling especially clever, you can also click on an Epic to filter all of its issues, making it easy to see what is to the left and right of the Milestone (don’t forget the tooltip for the Epic that also gives the delivery date!).

Click on Settings on your Projector configuration and toggle the setting for “Hide Weekends”. Remember, if you want to include a weekend day for a Builder as a work day, you can simply set their OOTO accordingly for that day. Even if it is not displayed, the Projector knows to count it as an available day and adjusts the work projections accordingly.

In Progress Modifier lets you control what the Projector allocates as “time remaining on work items that have the status In Progress“. This simply reflects the reality that when something is In Progress, it’s been started and at least some work has been done on it. This defaults to 50%.

You can access this via the Settings button on your Projector configuration.

First, create a custom field in Jira of type date, and make it available to your Project. Then, in your Projector configuration, you can select the field from the drop down list (The Agile Projector knows how to inspect your Project for you).

Once these are linked, the Projector will block any work on any Issue with that field set from happening until after that date. This is indicated in the Projector by a blue “pause” icon for each day it is blocked.

First, create a custom field in Jira for effort days, and make it available to your Project. Then, in your Projector configuration, you can select the field from the drop down list (The Agile Projector knows how to inspect your Project for you).