Using Templates to Help with Sprint Planning

If you thought templates were only for Product Owners, this post is for you!  Teams can also benefit from templates and the ability to copy tasks and tests from them during sprint planning to cut down on missing tasks and manual entry.  It can sort of be a checklist to make sure you have addressed the key work necessary but will still allow you to add unique tasks when appropriate. Once you set up your template backlog item/story you can add tasks to it (Product Planning //> Templates).   Your tasks should represent characteristics of the work to be completed that is repeatable.  You may need different templates to represent various types of work you are completing.  Each template could represent a common feature type (reports, service, Web page, etc.) and the common tasks that are part of completing that specific work. Once the templates are created, you can use the “Plan Backlog Item” option (available on most views from the Action menu). Use the “Copy Tasks and Tests” feature to list the templates and their tasks/tests with an option to copy all or select individual ones. These tasks can also be there ahead of time if Product Owners generate backlog items from templates that have tasks and tests.   The tasks and tests are also copied to the new item.