Backlog Item Roll/ups to the Portfolio Item

roll/up (noun) / denoting something that can be rolled up. “roll/up panels”

If backlog items are the gears that make agile software delivery work, then portfolio items can be looked at as the gear box, holding the delivery work in just the right place to keep those gears working together.  One huge benefit of using portfolio items is the ability to roll/up information seamlessly to the correct levels within your enterprise.  Portfolio directors need one dashboard or scorecard to see the work of many teams, across projects to get a clear picture of their status and overall health.  Some of the fields that roll/up from the team work items include:

• Blocking Issues
• Estimate Points
• Teams
• Backlog Groups
• Planned Hours
• Done Hours
• Remaining Hours

In addition to the roll/up, portfolio item “links” and “attachments” also cascade down from the portfolio item to the team level backlog items, allowing higher level documents to easily be shared across work items.  For example, any link at the feature portfolio item level will also be linked to the features’ user stories because that link cascades down to the work. Key Benefits and Uses:

• Transparency of  information from the work item level to the portfolio item levels
• Improved decision making for director levels and above
• Better collaboration between product owners and the teams
• Blocker visibility and ability for leaders to help remove impediments sooner
• Cascading links from the portfolio item to the work items