Review with Downstream / Upstream

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[Deleted User]
[Deleted User] Posts: 2
edited November 2018 in

Hi,

Having links to downstream items in Review Center was a big help.  But we need an option to show the content of those downstream items, without having to click a link ( especially for at least one level downstream ) to really make the feature useful.

Consider a not unusual case where you have an item type called Features, which has a downstream item called Requirements.

It would not be unusual to have 2 or 3 dozen requirements attached to a single feature.  Approving the Feature is really about approving both the Feature and its Requirements.  Clicking through all of those requirements is not tenable, plus you can't highlight and comment on the text of those Requirements.  

If you include the Requirements in the review as another item type for review ( or do them separately in their own review ) then they are divorced from their parent Features, and impossible to understand out of context.

If you don't break out Requirements as its own item type, but instead bundle them up as a list inside a field of Feature, then you lose the power of Jama's trace analysis.

So ultimately, it would be great if review center could do a review like this:

Feature1
This is the description of Feature 1
- Requirement 1
  - Feature 1 shall have widgets
- Requirement 2
  - Feature 1 shall have knobs
....

Comments

  • Justin Sterkel
    Justin Sterkel Member Posts: 18
    edited November 2018
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    I strongly agree with this!

    We have a very similar use case.  In my mind, this is the single biggest shortcoming of Jama.

    Because of this shortcoming, we have had to design our business process around the tool limitations. This has caused a lot of user frustration.  After our pilot we had to entirely redesign our implementation, in large parts due to this limitation.

    Our current work-around for this limitation is to create a single review for each feature, and it's downstream requirements.  The unfortunate side effect is that the reviewers receive a VERY high number of reviews each sprint.  It also means that the teams have to create a very high number of reviews, which is inefficient.

    The benefit of this approach is that it focuses the reviewers attention on a single feature.
  • Andersen Kohl
    Andersen Kohl Member Posts: 3
    edited February 7
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    Hey Alex E,

     

    I totally get your frustration with navigating through a bunch of downstream items in Review Center, especially when they're crucial for understanding and approving a feature. Your suggestion about showing the content of those downstream items directly in the review makes total sense.

     

    In my experience, I've found that maintaining the context of requirements within their parent features is key for efficient reviews. Your idea of including requirements as another item type for review or separately in their own review is spot on. It keeps everything cohesive and prevents them from being divorced from their parent features. Look for a little more information here: https://andersenlab.de/find-developers/android

     

    I'd suggest discussing this with the team and considering how downstream items can be integrated better into the review process. Maybe a layout where features and their related requirements are displayed together could solve this issue effectively.


    ------------------------------
    Andersen Kohl
    HI
    ------------------------------
    -------------------------------------------
    Original Message:
    Sent: 11-05-2018 15:47
    From: Alex E
    Subject: Review with Downstream / Upstream

    Hi,

    Having links to downstream items in Review Center was a big help.  But we need an option to show the content of those downstream items, without having to click a link ( especially for at least one level downstream ) to really make the feature useful.

    Consider a not unusual case where you have an item type called Features, which has a downstream item called Requirements.

    It would not be unusual to have 2 or 3 dozen requirements attached to a single feature.  Approving the Feature is really about approving both the Feature and its Requirements.  Clicking through all of those requirements is not tenable, plus you can't highlight and comment on the text of those Requirements.  

    If you include the Requirements in the review as another item type for review ( or do them separately in their own review ) then they are divorced from their parent Features, and impossible to understand out of context.

    If you don't break out Requirements as its own item type, but instead bundle them up as a list inside a field of Feature, then you lose the power of Jama's trace analysis.

    So ultimately, it would be great if review center could do a review like this:

    Feature1
    This is the description of Feature 1
    - Requirement 1
      - Feature 1 shall have widgets
    - Requirement 2
      - Feature 1 shall have knobs
    ....

    ------------------------------
    Alex E
    American Innovations
    Austin TX
    ------------------------------

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