Hi all,

Welcome back to a new week at www.implementingscrum.com. The blog and comic strip today came from a user-submitted idea – one that I thought was great and I could expand on more this week for the rest of the readers out there. Thanks to the CCM team (one of my client teams) for submitting the following (edited to protect some of the innocent (smile)):

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Top Ten Reasons to Update Your Task Cards

- The team would know every day where they stand with current sprint.
- Senior leadership could walk in any time and determine if the team is being successful for current sprint.
- It shows your individual progress to the team.
- You will feel confident and good about achieving or doing something as it's documented.
- The rest of the team will feel the pressure to do the same.
- It empowers team to be competitive and successful.
- Mike Vizdos can make a cartoon out of task updating.
- The chickens would know the pigs are getting their work done.
- If David D. or John S. came back in the room, they would know we continue to use Agile processes
- It makes Marty and Venkat VERY happy!

Where Does Task Updating Show Up

- Daily Burn Down Chart.
- Factors into Product Burn Down Chart.
- Weekly Status Report.
- Weekly Updates to the PMO.

Who Sees Task Updating

- Anyone who walks into the room.
- Chickens.
- Senior Leaders like Ken A, Kathy K, & Patricia.
- Pigs.

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So, do I agree with everything written in the list above? No, not really. However, I am thrilled to see people taking the time to help shape the community with submitting new ideas, so I did not edit the list(s) in any way.

In the spirit of "Yes... And...." (this is different than the people who say, "Yes.... But....)... I'd like to add a few more thoughts of my own...

On writing task cards and user stories, check out www.mountaingoatsoftware.com where Mike Cohn has written some incredible books and has some great information about how to use these artifacts more effectively.

One thing that is also good for keeping the tasks updated in a visible location is to make sure it gives context to the also present (we hope) burndown chart. If people see the burndown chart without information to back it, assumptions may possibly be made that are incorrect or invalid altogether.

OK... I'd like to hear more feedback from you if you are interested in providing it...

Gotta run...

Please send comments, questions, criticisms, ideas, or whatever here.

You can also enter The Forum to discuss this cartoon and other Scrum topics. Thank you!