Demo JIRA Agile like a Guru

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We have put together this script to help people who want to demo JIRA Agile to their colleagues. This is a fun and rewarding demo – fun because JIRA Agile is brilliant, and rewarding as every team can benefit from JIRA Agile and you can help them adopt Agile practices!

If you can master this demo script you are a JIRA Agile Guru!

JIRA Agile Overview Video

Want to give a quick demo, or use a background video at an event? Use this.

GreenHopper 6 Customer Demo

For a look at how we demo JIRA Agile watch this recording of the GreenHopper 6 customer webinar.

Getting Ready

First and foremost you need to have your demo environment set up. Here's what we do:

  • Use the Atlassian Plugin SDK to start a local instance of JIRA
    • atlas-run-standalone --version 5.1.7 --product jira
    • Change the version number above to get the latest version of JIRA.
  • Log in
  • Install the latest versions of JIRA Agile and the Script Runner
    • Administration -> Manage Add-ons -> Install
    • Insert your JIRA Agile license from My Atlassian
  • Download the latest LoadSampleData.groovy to your desktop
  • Run LoadSampleData.groovy to import sample data for the demo script
    • Administration -> Script Runner
    • Script file path: \[Your download of LoadSampleData.groovy\]
    • Run now
    • See "Import Completed"
    • Note: If you are importing into a localised/translated JIRA instance the Custom Field names may differ.
      In this case you will need to edit the .groovy file to accommodate this.
  • Confirm that you have two projects
    • Pomodoro Web Client (PWC)
    • Pomodoro Support Issues (PSP)
  • Create boards
    • Agile -> Getting Started
    • Create a Scrum board for PWC
    • Create a Kanban board for PSP

Demo Script

You'll put your own spin and flair on the demo based on what your audience is looking for. Some things to keep in mind:

  • JIRA is the industry standard, everyone uses it
  • JIRA Agile is in use by over half of the JIRA customers, some ~6,300 customers as at August 22nd 2012
  • Shipping a product is more than just Developers, it requires collaboration with Marketers, QA, Technical Writers, Support Engineers and many more
  • Teams beyond Software Development have seen the benefits that Agile provides, and they want in
    • JIRA Agile helps all of these teams start their Agile transformation, and we support them so they are successful
  • JIRA Agile is an Agile product, developed in an Agile way, by an Agile team
    • Frequent releases, lots of customer feedback (Issue Collector), customer interviews and validation, etc
    • Public backlog gives the customer transparency
  • JIRA Agile is great for 'new to Agile teams' and also the experienced Agile experts
  • Agile used to be hard; but with JIRA Agile, being Agile is easy

Here is what I run through when I demo:

GETTING STARTED

  • Start on the JIRA Agile Getting Started page
    • This is the Getting Started page, here you will find resources for those new to Agile
    • You can get back here any time via the Agile dropdown, then Getting Started
  • Scrum and Kanban presets are included
    • These presets are based on our customer surveys and represent the most common configuration
    • Scrum is generally used by software development teams, both maintenance and feature development teams. I've also see Scrum used in marketing, finance and legal teams.
    • Kanban is used by software development, customer service, marketing, sales, DevOps, build engineering and more - all flow based teams.

SCRUM

  • Show creating a Scrum project and board
    • Scrum -> 1 -> create a new project and a board
    • Call this the Angry Nerds
    • Point out the Simplified Workflow - and mention that we'll come back to this later
  • Now, let's jump to a board we created earlier - Pomodoro Web Client Team
    • I like to have multiple tabs open so I can quickly switch between them without the page load.
  • Create some stories on the backlog
    • You've got an existing backlog from the sample data.
    • Create a story then add sub-tasks to it via the detailed view on the right hand side.
    • Also a great way to introduce keyboard shortcuts - "quickly create stories in a planning session with keyboard shortcuts, in this case 'c' for create".
  • Attach a screenshot to an issue on the backlog
    • Go to the attachment tab in the detail view
    • Add attachment
    • Show that attachment
  • Rank some stories in the backlog
  • Estimate the story you added
  • Add a sprint
    • Drag stories into the sprint
  • Drag the sprint marker down to capture more stories
    • Show the estimate and the issue count on the sprint marker
    • Show how it updates automatically as you drag
  • Use the instant filter to find an issue hidden down the backlog
    • Then drag into the sprint
  • Add a future sprint
    • Explain that a product owner can start planning future sprints
  • Talk about the team commitment
    • Use historical velocity to identify team commitment
    • If it is a new team explain that over the course of three to five weeks they will identify their velocity
  • Start the sprint
    • Make the timeframe for the sprint 10 minutes
    • This is for demo purposes, most teams actually have two week sprints
    • It will help you demo the sprint burndown chart and scope change
  • Now you are on the Work mode
    • Explain the different modes (top right) - Plan, Work, Report
    • The team spends most of their time on the Work mode
    • ScrumMasters and Product Owners are in the Plan, Work and Report mode
  • Drag an issue In Progress
    • You can see here we have three columns
    • Simplified Workflow
      • Easy to add / change / remove columns
      • Tools -> Configuration -> Columns
      • Show that this project is using the Simplified Workflow
      • Add Column "Awaiting Acceptance"
      • Back to board
  • Drag issue into Awaiting Acceptance
  • Add a comment
    • 'm' keyboard shortcut makes this quick and easy
  • Drag all issues, except one, into Done
  • Show burndown
    • Report mode now
    • Hover over the burndown to show the issue details
  • Back to Plan mode, add a story to the sprint
    • Drag a story from the backlog to the current sprint
    • Point out Add to Sprint
  • Switch back to burndown
    • Explain scope change
      • That is a story that the team did not commit too - it was added after their sprint planning meeting
      • JIRA Agile provides visibility into this
    • Full history of sprint activity below the burndown chart
      • Initial team commitment
      • Stories as they are completed
      • Scope change
  • Back to work mode, complete sprint
    • Explain that the one story not completed will be moved back to the top of the backlog
    • Switch back to the Plan mode and see that one incomplete story at the top of the backlog, ready for the next sprint planning meeting
  • Sprint report
    • When we complete the sprint we are taken to the sprint report
    • Great way to start the retrospective
    • Show complete / Not Completed issues
  • Switch to the Velocity Report
    • Show team velocity over time
    • Commitment vs delivery
    • Use this for capacity planning future sprints

KANBAN

  • Create a Kanban board called Pomodoro Support Team
    • Use the PSP project
  • Order the backlog
    • The backlog is the To Do column on the board
    • Show 's' + 't' to send to top an issue down the bottom of the backlog
  • Change the priority of an issue to Blocker
    • This issue will now show up in the Expedite swimlane
    • Expedite means the issue needs to be completed before any other work is dragged In Progress from the To Do column
  • Drag an issue across the board to In Progress
  • Switch to the Simplified Workflow
    • Tools -> Configuration
    • See "Simplified Workflow" and click the "Simplify Workflow" button
      • This will switch the existing project workflow over
    • Now you can a Add Column for "Awaiting QA"
  • Drag an issue to done.
  • Switch to the Report mode
  • Show the Control Chart
    • Hover over an issue to show the cycle time
    • Explain how you can Refine the chart (top right) and also change the date range (time in the centre)
    • Kanban teams want to continuously lower their cycle time
    • Teams can also measure their lead time
  • Show the cumulative flow diagram
    • Track the growth in columns (workflow steps) over time to identify bottlenecks
    • Visualise the growth in the backlog, can the team keep up?

ADVANCED

  • Scrum
    • Different estimation techniques
      • Estimate with hours
      • Break stories into tasks and estimate those in hours, then track hours on burndown
    • Quick Filters
    • Column constraints - introduce Scrumban
      • WIP limits to encourage the team to complete one item before starting another
    • Card colours
    • Swimlane for Expedite
      • Highlight the blocker / critical issues or a team SLA
  • Kanban
    • Work Sub-Query
    • Card Colours for SLA's
    • Swimlanes by JQL for SLA's

CLOSE

  • JIRA Agile is great for Scrum and Kanban teams
  • JIRA Agile is so easy there is no excuse for any team not to create a board today
  • We know that every Agile team is on a journey of continuous improvement
    • So we made it quick and easy to get started
    • While providing the power and flexibility to evolve and adapt boards over time to the changing needs of the team

Like this guide? Tweet and let us know.

Questions? Grab @GreenHopperTeam or email tkotecki@atlassian.com.

Last modified on Jul 9, 2014

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