Last week saw the release of the Beta 3 version of the Task Board for Team System.
For those
not in the know, the Task Board for Team System is an interactive user
interface created for the Scrum for Team System process template.
So what's
new in beta 3?
Licensing
One of the
main focuses of the [Beta 3] release has been the implementation of a
licensing structure. Licensing has been implemented in preparation for the commercial
release of the Task Board product.
Keyboard Shortcuts
In order to
improve productivity, we have added keyboard shortcuts.
- Open [Ctl]+O
- Find [Ctl]+F
- Save All
[Ctl]+[Shift]+S
- Save [Ctl]+S
- Cancel
[Ctl]+T
- Cancel All
[Ctl]+[Shift]+T
- Filter Work Items
[Ctrl]+U
Improved
Work Item Filtering
Previous beta releases handled work item
filtering by passing a query to the Team Foundation Server application tier.
The work item filtering has been moved to the client in this release. In
addition, the filtering capabilities have been greatly increased.
It is now possible to filter by:
- Backlog Item Team (multiple selections)
- Backlog Item State (multiple selections)
- Backlog Item Type (multiple selections)
- Bug Severity (multiple selections)
- Exclude Empty Backlog Items
- Task Teams (multiple selections)
- Task Assigned To (multiple selections)
- Area Path
The ability to create customised filters
has also been added.
Conditions
Of Acceptance
The product backlog item "conditions of
acceptance" field is now accessible through the task board interface.
In
Build
The Bug work item "In Build" field is now
available through the task board interface.
Area Path
All work items now have access to their
area path via the task board interface.
High
Contrast Mode
The task board now includes an option to
change the display mode. Two display modes currently exist. Rich display and
High Contrast. Rich display shows a multi colour view of the task board swim
lanes with icon indication of states. The High Contrast mode displays the task
board in black and white with icon water marks. The intention of this mode is
to make the task board more compatible with projected displays. This would have
helped my company presentation a little, ahem!
Extended
Edit Panel Functionality
The edit panel dialogs (for Product Backlog
Item, Bug and Sprint Backlog Item) have been updated. The panel can now be
resized to allow for more visible text and includes tab controls to better
arrange the work item properties. Edit panels now also accept keyboard short
cuts; [Ctrl]+S to save, [Ctrl]+T to cancel (terminate).
Allow
Multiple Edit Panels
Several beta testers requested that they
wanted to be able to copy and paste text between work items. To facilitate
this, I have added the ability to open multiple edit panels. Also includes is a
cancel all keyboard shortcut: [Ctrl]+[Shift]+T
Application
Menus and Concealable Toolbars
Menus have been added to the task board. This
offers easier navigation around the applications options and also enables the
ability to toggle the display of tool bars. Toolbars can now be hidden to
reduce wasted screen real estate.
Display
"Assigned To" on the Sprint Backlog Item Object
The assigned to value of the Sprint Backlog
Item is now visible on the task object in the swim lane.
Enforce
Work Item Title Max Length
The maximum length of a work item title
cannot be exceeded in the edit panel.
Backlog
Item Story Points
The Estimated Effort field [in Product
Backlog Items and Bugs] has now been renamed to Story Points. This is to reduce
confusion about the possible relationship and correlation between this and the
Estimated Effort field for the Sprint Backlog Items.
Dialog
Button Layout Updated
The position of the dialog buttons has been
corrected. Now, the positive response to a dialog is on the left.
Auto
Select Title Text
When editing a work item, the title text is
selected by default.
Auto
Update New SBI Work Remaining
When creating a new Sprint Backlog Item,
entering a number into the Estimated Effort field will also update the work
remaining field.
Statistics
Dialog
The task board now includes a statistics
dialog. This window shows the total number of loaded work items broken down by
work item type and work item state. The number of visible (none filtered) work
items are also shown. The sum total of Estimated Effort, Work Remaining and
Story Points is included, broken down by visible and total loaded.
List
of TFS URLs
The sprint selection panel now includes a
dropdown list of the previously selected Team Foundation Server URIs.
Edit
Work Items from Search Dialog
Doubling clicking on work items within the search
dialog result list now launches the work item edit panel.
Reset
Column Layout
A new menu option is included that allows
the user to reset the task board state column widths to their default sizes.
Performance
Enhancements
The previous Beta release suffered from sluggish
/ laggy response whilst typing. This has been fixed. The service level
processes of the application have been streamlined to improve performance. The
task board is now visibly slicker during use.
Bug
Fixes
Many Beta 2 version bug fixes have been
resolved. Including; a memory leak fix, clearing previously loaded work items
on sprint change, and many other minor fixes.
Well that about covers the new features.
If you're interested in joining the Task
Board for Team System beta testers program (it's free!), see the links at the end of this
post.
Regards,
Crispin Parker,
Technical Consultant,
Conchango.
Links:
Scrum for Team System - Home Page
Task Board
for Team System - Home Page
Task Board for
Team System - Beta Testers Forum