Azure DevOps Delivery Plans for Agile Teams

Azure DevOps Delivery Plans are a game-changer for Agile teams. They help teams plan, track, and manage work more efficiently.

With a Delivery Plan, teams can visualize their work as a Kanban board, making it easier to identify and prioritize tasks. This leads to better time estimation and more accurate forecasting.

Delivery Plans also enable teams to set policies and rules for their work, such as limiting the number of tasks in progress or setting deadlines. This helps maintain a healthy workflow and prevents overcommitting.

By using a Delivery Plan, teams can reduce complexity and increase transparency, making it easier to collaborate and deliver high-quality work.

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Plan customization options are a crucial part of Azure DevOps Delivery Plans. You can customize your plan by choosing one of the following tabs.

The Overview tab allows you to edit the plan Name or Description. You can also use it to add a brief summary or any relevant details about your project.

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The Teams tab is where you can add or remove a team backlog. You can add up to 20 backlog levels for Azure DevOps Services or 15 backlog levels for Azure DevOps Server 2022.

To add a team backlog, select the Teams tab and click on the "Add team backlog" button. You can then choose the team and backlog level you want to add.

The Field criteria tab allows you to specify field criteria to filter work item types displayed on the plan. All criteria are evaluated as an AND statement.

If no fields are specified, then all work item types that appear on the teams backlog level appear on the plan.

You can also use the Field criteria tab to add a mix of backlog levels and teams from any project defined for the organization.

The Markers tab is where you can add up to 30 milestone markers to the plan. You can specify a label and select a color for each marker.

The Fields tab allows you to add or remove fields from cards to display on the plan. You can't add rich-text (HTML) fields, such as the Description field, to a card even if it appears in the list.

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The Styles tab is where you can add styling rules to change card color based on field criteria.

The Tag colors tab allows you to add tags and specify a tag color. Optionally, you can enable or disable a tag color.

Here's a summary of the customization options available in Azure DevOps Delivery Plans:

Azure Boards Integration is a powerful feature of Azure DevOps Delivery Plans. It allows you to link work items and epics to your delivery plans for tracking.

You can integrate Azure Boards seamlessly with Delivery Plans, making it easy to manage dependencies and track progress. This integration enables you to view work items from multiple teams in a single view, providing a high-level overview of what each team is working on.

Here are some key benefits of Azure Boards Integration:

With Azure Boards Integration, you can define dependencies between work items, which is crucial when multiple teams are working on interrelated features. This ensures that work items are scheduled in the correct order.

Azure Boards Integration also provides rollup dates that automatically calculate when a feature or epic is expected to be completed based on the completion of its child work items. This helps in tracking the progress of larger initiatives.

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You can now filter the cards displayed based on a Boolean field type, which is a game-changer for Delivery Plans. This feature is supported in the Styles and Field criteria sections of Plan settings.

Delivery Plans now supports the Boolean field type, allowing you to filter cards more effectively. This is a significant improvement for users who rely on these field types.

You can apply this filter to cards in various ways, but the key is to understand how Boolean field types work. Boolean fields can have two values: true or false.

By leveraging this new feature, you can streamline your workflow and focus on the tasks that matter most.

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To use Azure DevOps Delivery Plans effectively, you need to understand the prerequisites and basics.

To view a Delivery Plan, you must be a member of the Project Collection Valid Users group. Users granted Stakeholder access for a private project can view plans, while users granted Stakeholder access for a public project can add and view plans.

Consider reading: Azure Devops Access Level

A team product or portfolio backlog must be enabled to select it for a plan. Work items must belong to a team's product backlog or portfolio backlog. Only work items belonging to a category selected for viewing on a team's backlog and meet any field criteria defined for the plan appear on the plan.

To create a plan, you need to select sprints for each team defined in the plan. Start and end dates must be defined for each project iteration. Iteration Paths or Start Date/Target Date must be assigned to each work item.

If you edit a plan and don't see the changes you made appear in the plan, refresh your browser. A browser refresh is needed sometimes to trigger the updates.

For dependency icons and lines to show, work items must be linked using Predecessor-Successor link type. Team or teams must be expanded to view dependency icons and dependency lines.

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