One of the key elements of being Agile is empirical assessment and changing directions mid-stream. For me, this means that if I don’t like how I have organized my backlog, I’m going to change it! Unfortunately, not all tools are equally supportive of that activity.
Analog (3×5 cards) method
First I fan out the cards in one group. I see one that I want to move. I pick it up, find the group it belongs in, and I set it there. Or something equally simple.
Usability: Medium-High Downside: may benefit from having more than two hands, and a search feature
Ideal Digtital Tool
While viewing the cards in one group, if I select one or more of them and drag them, I begin either a re-prioritize operation (if I drop them within the same group), or a reparent operation if I move to another group. While dragging, if I hover over a closed grouping, it will auto-open so I can see if that’s really where I want it to go. Moreover, before I drop it, I can drop it in the right position within the group, for ranking purposes. If I drop in a group that is auto-opened, it stays open. If I decide against dropping in that group, it auto-closes when I move off of it, but without disrupting my attempt to find the ideal home for them. NOTE: For accessibility and ease of use reasons, this process can be carried out via the keyboard, as well. Another option for those that have a hard time dragging: Right-click, Reparent (or move to another group), which shows a split screen, the items to be moved, and the group hierarchy to move them to. A single-click on the parent item selects it, click OK to move them.
Usability: High
AgileOnDemand
Find the stories you want to move. One by one, drag them to the new parent object and drop them.
Usability: Medium-High Downside: can only move one at a time. Can’t open a closed epic as you hover.
Excel
Find the name of the group you want to move the cards into. Copy the group name to the clipboard. Find the stories you want to move into that group. Paste the group name into the Group column.
Usability: Medium-High Downside: harder to find the right ones than with a hierarchical view
VersionOne
Check the checkbox next to the stories you want to move. Select the ‘Move to Feature Group’ menu item. Select the target, and click OK.
Usability: Medium-High Downside: can’t look at existing stories before putting the stories into the group
Mingle
Switch to the tree view. One at a time, drag-and-drop the stories to where they need to go.
Usability: Medium-High Downside: can only do it from one, not very compact, view, and can only do it one at a time
Rally
One-by-one, edit the Parent field of each item to be moved.
Usability: Low Downside: Exceedingly tedious, to the point of discouraging experimentation and change
Usability Comparison Summary on a scale of 1 to 10
| Tool | Merge | Group | New | Reparent | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ideal Tool | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | |||||
| 3×5 Cards | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | |||||
| AgileOnDemand | 3 | 9 | 9 | 9 | |||||
| VersionOne | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | |||||
| Excel | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | |||||
| Mingle | 2 | 4 | 5 | 7 | |||||
| Rally | 4 | 2 | 8 | 2 |
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