Tip #27: Zoho Sprints integrates with Zoho Desk
We are happy to announce that Zoho Sprints now integrates with Zoho Desk. Wondering how a customer service product works with an agile tool? Let's see how Helen solves her customer service problem using this integration. Helen works as the customer support manager and operates Zoho Desk to manage all customer queries by creating and organizing tickets. She runs a team of 20, who manage all the support tickets using Zoho Desk. Helen's problem As new requests pile up and features increase,
Ask the experts - Live Q and A on the latest releases from Jan-Apr 2019
Hello all, We are excited to kick-start the 'Ask the experts' community series for Zoho Sprints. This series is user-centric and we will focus more on the latest releases and queries that are frequently discussed in our customer support tickets. The first version will cover all the features released in the first quarter of 2019. What's in the first half? The first half of this year has been successful with some feature releases and enhancements. Take a look at the list below: Custom layouts
Increase user story title/name length.
We have been using Zoho Sprints for a few projects, and it is a great tool. There is a simple improvement that would really help us and make the tool better : to expand the work items title/name max length. For most of our work items, we type the typical user story pattern, for example : "As a User, I want to click the submit button in order to create a new entry". But as we are french and our language is not very concise, we often have to rewrite our stories and/or omit important words to make them
How Developers will update their daily tasks
Hi, Following is my concern: Our Developers want to do update their daily tasks. - like : task a - completed task b - completed task c - in-progress task d - completed task e - in-progress How? Can you explain .? or can u send a mail to me Regards Nrusingha nath Acharya Myaccounts.in
Tip 26 - Item reminders in Zoho Sprints
Managing your tasks and delivering them on time is a challenging process. What if you are overloaded with tasks? You cannot remember every single task assigned to you. The easiest way to effortlessly remember and track everything is by setting reminders. Whether it's a new feature plan or a bug fix, just set a reminder and go ahead with your day. When it's time, Zoho Sprints will notify about your work item so you never miss out anything. We offer six different reminder types: Remind Daily
Tip 25 - Strict scrum settings in Zoho Sprints
We recently introduced the strict scrum settings for teams that follow a rigid scrum process. Based on your project requirements, you can choose to follow a strict or flexible scrum method. If you are from a software team bound to client's deadlines you can follow a strict scrum process. This means they can enable 'Strict Scrum' settings and complete the work based on the predefined settings. In case, if your work is flexible to the timeline, then you can opt for a standard scrum process. Navigate
Viewing Sub-Tasks on the board!
Problem: Currently, you can only view Stories and top-level tasks/bugs on the board. If an task or bug is a sub-item of a story, you can see it on the board. If a task/bug is a sub-item of another task or bug... you don't see it on the board. I'd like to see this changed, and I have specific ideas on the best way to do it. What I LOVE about current features: If a task/bug is a sub-item of a story, you can move it across statuses WITHOUT moving the story itself. Even better - that task/bug, which
Adapt Sprints for non-programmers and individuals
Agile & Scrum are great tools and methods to get more done in the same amount of time, but right now Sprints feels like it's built specifically to serve programmers and developers. What if I want to use it for Content Marketing? I'm going to manage the creation of blogs, podcasts, social media posts, online courses and more using Sprints. Right now, though, there's features that have no relevance to me (like github integration) that I'd love to hide, and other features I'd really love to have (like
Tip 24 - Zoho Sprints integrates with source code management tools
Are you an agile team that manages all your code repositories in GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket tools? Now you can manage your code repositories the agile way right at one point. Zoho Sprints now offers a suite of integrations with GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket. Integrating both the applications We have all the three applications listed in our Integrations section under Settings. You have to Authorize your third-party tool with Zoho Sprints to initiate the integration process. Mapping repositories
Tip 23 - Global view in Zoho Sprints
Global view in Zoho Sprints gives you a complete view of all the work items across the projects in your team. It is comprised of two different views - Default and Custom view. Default view lists all the work items in the open and closed statuses across the projects. Custom view helps you customize the work items based on your requirement. You can categorize them under Public, Private, and Shared views. Default view Default view has two different views: Team View and My View. Both the views display
Tip #11 - File sharing
Here's an interesting feature that simplifies your work. Do you want to upload a file or share a screenshot with your team? Well, there are four things you can do in the attachment section. You can: Drag and drop or upload a file from your desktop. Copy and paste a screenshot. Drag and drop or attach an image and annotate it using the inbuilt drawing tools. Upload files from other cloud services. Wondering how it works? Here's a video that can help you get started. Sharing files and attaching images
Tip #20 - GitHub Integration
Do you find it difficult to manage both your code changes and work items at different places? Well, you can now integrate your team with GitHub and manage everything at one place. Map your GitHub repositories to your Zoho Sprints team. Associate projects to the mapped repository. Attach commits and pull requests from the work item details page. Use quick commands to mention work items in GitHub. Here's a video to help you get started with the GitHub integration. Integrate with GitHub and manage
Tip #22 -Swimlanes in Zoho Sprints (Part 2)
Before we get in to know what's the new enhancement, let us have a quick glance of our previous tip on swimlanes. Zoho Sprints has enhanced this feature by adding two new swimlanes. Viewing swimlanes Navigate to your board, click Swimlane in the right corner, and choose your swimlane. Introducing new swimlanes User Swimlane: Lists all the work items based on particular users in the sprint. Track the users with maximum work items across each status. Track the work items tagged in the 'Unassigned'
Customizable Zoho Sprints
Driving agility has always been a real challenge to teams that are cross-functional. We at Zoho Sprints work towards crafting your agile journey the way you sketch it. You can now create and manage your work details at ease with our all-new customization. Upgrade to the Enterprise plan to access custom fields and custom views. If you're on a free plan switch to a15-day trial of our Enterprise plan. Custom Layouts and Fields Customize your work item form by adding new fields. Custom fields will
Zoho Sprints - A quick recap of 2018
Wish you all a very happy new year! It's been a year since we launched our new agile product, Zoho Sprints, on the market. We are happy to have received positive feedback from our customers with both basic features and enhancements. Here's a quick overview of some of the best new features since the launch. We've been iterating and enhancing Sprints to match the current agile trends. We need your help to make it even better. Keep exploring Sprints and please share your feedback. We greatly appreciate
Importing Trello items into Sprints
L.S. I am trying to incorporate Zoho-Sprints into my workflow. Therefore I am trying to import (task-)lists from Trello into Sprints. Both import options JSON & XLSX are not working at all. JSON file: Spints requires to map all fields. However, whichever name I type in Sprints does not recognize it. Like the name of the: Board, List, Card, Checklist, Item on checklists,etc. Nothing! Xlsx file: Import attempt yields this error message: I don't know how to make this work! Does anyone have experience
Re-use backlogs items and sprints
I would like to try using Sprint to manage the monthly marketing actions. Is it possible to reuse backlogs and sprints?
Tip #19 - Track performance of sprints without estimation points
Wondering how to track the performance of your sprints without using estimation points? Well, this post can help. In Zoho Sprints, the progress of your sprints is evaluated either based on the estimation points or the count of work items. Team's that setup estimation points for calculating the effort of the work items can track the progress using Estimation Points. Team's that do not use estimation points can track the progress using the Count of work items. We've an inbuilt 'View By' option across
Tracking bugs reported for a Story
If I add bugs under a Story, I cannot pick up individual bug for fixing in current or future sprint; when I drag and drop a bug, the Story gets dropped along with all other subitems. . If I add a bug as independent item, there is no way to Tag associated story to it. How do I tag Story to the bugs being added so that I can count which Story had how many bugs?
Tip #18 - New enhancements to work items
Did you check out our new enhancements in our work items released last week? Well, those who are looking to convert comments into work items and subitems into parent items, it's now available at the click of a button. For any queries, please contact support@zohosprints.com or reach us through live chat. You can also refer our help article here. Regards, Monica. R
Tip #17 - Replanning a sprint
Welcome back to our tips and tricks series! Your team has already begun the sprint and is half-way through. Suddenly you find a drop in performance. What will you do? You can always replan a sprint and start it again. When should you replan a sprint? You end up replanning a sprint only when there are a lot of work items that you cannot finish within the specified duration. Solution: You can overcome this by conducting proper sprint planning meeting, prioritizing the work items effectively,
Tip #16 - Meetings in Scrum
"What's up for today?" "How's the work going?" "Did you finish the overdue task?" "Why couldn't the deadline be met?" "What's our next set of plans? .......Keeps loading When it comes to work, questions are often raised. Those back-to-back meeting sessions, rushing to complete the target, preparing for the next set of goals etc. - You will not know where to focus. This is why scrum teams are always in a safe zone because they schedule meetings at every
Tip #15 - Predict the end date of your sprint
"I'm half-way through the sprint, how can I predict the end date of my sprint?" - The frequently asked question by the teams that are new to agile. Well, this post will walk you through the basic agile metrics and how Zoho Sprints helps you track the sprint progress. Your team has moved the prioritized work items from the project backlog to the sprint and the sprint has started. What's next? It's time to track its progress on a daily basis. You can track the Ideal, Actual, and Predicted progress
Benefits of upgrading your Zoho Sprints account
Hello, Do you find Zoho Sprints interesting? If yes, then it's time to upgrade your account. Before you choose to upgrade, get to know the perks. Feature availability Apart from these features we offer you enhanced experience in the existing features. Available enhancements Add unlimited projects in your team. Add 25 custom statuses for a single project. Add 5 levels of subitems. Run 5 sprints in parallel. Convert the work item type. (story to task, task to story, story to bug, bug to story,
Tip #14 - Four new enhancements that you shouldn't miss!
Hello all, We have rolled out a few enhancements in Zoho Sprints. Eager to check out what are those? Read on. Global View Lists all the work items across projects in your team. Categorizes work items in two different views: Team View - Lists all the work items across projects irrespective of the assignee. Only Admin has access to this. My View - Lists all the work items assigned to you across projects. Search for work items matching a specific criteria using the filter option. Sort the work
Tip #13 - Project Dashboard
Welcome back to our tips and tricks series! Let's explore an interesting and vibrant module - The Project Dashboard . Track progress of your projects using the widgets displayed on the dashboard. What do the widgets do? Here's an illustration that can help you understand the different types of widgets and their purpose. Take a look at our resource page for more information. Write to support@zohosprints.com if you have any queries.
Tip #12 - Reports view and export
Reports are used to track the progress of your team. They help teams to forecast progress by evaluating the performance of the team members. In Zoho Sprints, you can either view reports by estimation points or by number of work items. Choose 'View by Points' to track the number of estimation points completed. Choose 'View by Count' to track the number of work items completed. Refer our guide for more information on reports. What if you want to export the reports and charts? Yes, you can
Introduce automation to your iterations with Zoho Flow
We are delighted to announce that you can now connect your favorite project management applications and automate your workflows using Zoho Flow. The great news is, you don't have to spend your time or effort in coding complex integrations. Using Zoho Flow's drag and drop builder, you can effortlessly build customized workflows with triggers and actions. What is a Trigger? A trigger is an event that kickstarts the flow. What is an Action? An action is a task that the flow executes automatically. For
Tip #10 - 3 things to track using user profile
Hello, Are you looking for a report that tracks progress by users? Well, here's 'User Profile' that helps you track progress of the user from a single location. Track the total, completed, and pending work items and estimation points assigned to the user. Using this feature, managers can evaluate user work load and allocate resources. Velocity meter helps users evaluate their performance by tracking the progress of the completed sprints. Using this chart, managers can evaluate the performance of
Few enhancement requests for Epic feature in Zoho Sprint
Hi Zoho Team, We have started using new "Epic" feature and found it really useful. If you could plan to add following enhancements to this feature then we think that it will make it more useful. 1). Add search feature for Epics where a user can search for a particular keyword in "Epic Name" or filter Epics based on "Epic Owner". 2). Currently, there is a character limit of 50 characters in "Epic Name". Can you increase it to say 100 or more characters because sometimes it is difficult to fit Epic
We are migrating from Quickscrum, can stories have other stories as parents?
We have big stories and small stories part of the big stories. Importing our work items there is a parentid. I tried to put there the parent stories id. Still when looking for the small stories inside the big ones there is nothing. I suppose the parent id is only for tasks and bugs? Have you plan to allow to have stories as subitems from other stories?
Tip #9 - Epics in Zoho Sprints
Hello all, It's been a while since we launched 'Epics'. Hope you have explored it already. Here's a short blurb about this new feature that will help you get started with it. In Agile project management, all the requirements from the client are created as user stories and stored in the product backlog. These stories are further broken down into tasks and run across a sprint. What if the user stories are larger and cannot be accomplished in a single iteration? Instead of creating multiple user stories,
Sprint Board
Can you please provide a filter on "Item Type" for Swimlane filter?
Tip #8 - Velocity Chart
Hello all, We are back with an informative tip on - 'How to measure your team's performance?'. Evaluating the performance of your team on a periodic basis will help the team deliver quality outcome at the end of every iteration. Why do you need a velocity chart? In Scrum, the effort of every iteration is measured by the total number of points that the team estimates. This estimation is defined based on the effort that is required to complete the work items in the sprint. The maximum effort
Tip #7 - Scrum settings
In Zoho Sprints, right after you create a project, by default you can start only one sprint at a time and once the sprint starts you will not be able to add or move work items to it. To overcome this limitation, we have introduced "Scrum Settings" to help you with two things: Add new work items or move existing work items from the backlog to your active sprint on board. Start multiple sprints at the same time. (You can start only 5 sprints in parallel). Say, you run a big team and you've got multiple
Focus Group #1 - Epics in Zoho Sprints
Hello, everyone! As a part of our community learning series, we kick-start "Focus Groups" where you'll get a chance to have a look at a feature that's in its beta phase. "Epic" has been one of the most requested features of late. So, our first focus is on epics. Our engineering team has developed a module for Epic in Zoho Sprints and the feature is in its testing phase now. We've planned to show a small demo to the folks who register with us through this post. You can also evaluate this feature
Tip #6 - Five benefits of using export in Zoho Sprints
Hello All, We're back with a cool tip. Exporting the data and taking a backup of the work you do is very important when it comes to any business. In Zoho Sprints, you can schedule an export, view the active schedulers, and track the export history - everything in a single place! Backlog - Exporting all the work items from the backlog will help in prioritizing during the sprint plan meeting. Scrum Board - All the project members can benefit from this export. They can export their work items from
Tip #5 - Create custom work item type and priority
Every business has a bundle of requirements to be targeted and these requirements are categorized into different work item types called 'Stories', 'Tasks', and 'Bugs'. What if your business expands and you get busy handling multiple projects at the same time? Well, your requirements are mounted and you will look out for different work item types to track different types of work. In Zoho Sprints, you can create custom work item types to segregate your requirements based on the type of work you
Tip #4 - Status Timeline
This week let's have a quick understanding of the interesting enhancement in Zoho Sprints. Did you happen to see something called 'Status Timeline' in your work item details section? - Yes? - Then you are ready to know what it actually does. No? - Quickly navigate to your work item details page and click Status Timeline from the top navigation bar. What does it do? Tracks the time taken by a work item to move across statuses on the scrum board. It also helps you know the number of days the
Tip # 3- Working on the Scrum board
Continuing from our Tip #2 on leading to a sprint, let's see how to manage the work items on the Scrum board. Once you start the sprint your work items are automatically displayed on the Scrum board where you will actually manage the work items. It is a snapshot of the backlog items identified for the current sprint. The layout of the Scrum board Simply put, the scrum board is just like a physical board with sticky notes on which the work items of the active sprint are displayed. The scrum board
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