When looking at backlog items, or defects, there is an implicit ranking that is built into the tool. You can override this by sorting on priority, or some other column, but you can't explicitly set the ranking. You can move specific items up and down. Good functionality, but it obfuscates the actual ordering and from what I can tell, you can never see the datum that is forcing the ordering.
What I would like V1 to implement is the ability to see the absolute rank of an item (defect or backlog) and be able to easily modify it. The up one, or up to top arrow metaphor is clumsy, and when you re-sort based on some other criteria, it just falls apart as a useful model.
Ever used Netflix? That may be a reasonable operational model to copy. You can bump to top, but what you can do that is really useful is reorder everything by just typing in numbers into text boxes. There is logic in place to make it come out in an unambiguous ordering. You could do the same.
When teams get together and discuss priorities, they usually want a ranked list, from 1 to N, the current interface is clumsy at best and actually never shows you the absolute rank.
by: Craig R. | over a year ago | Product Planning
Comments
I like the Netflix reference... exactly what I was thinking when reading the first paragraph!
(NetFlix) As a VersionOne Product Owner I want sequence planning improvements, such as being able to move an item from the end of page 20 to the middle of page 2, by changing its order value so that I can manage my backlog more effectively. See the NetFlix queue ordering functionality (www.netflix.com). I also need to be able to set the order of a new imported item so that I don't have to move it after import (or a batch of imported items). These issues are usability problems for backlog management.
This is easy enough to do. Add a custom numeric field. As long as you can sort / filter on it, your problem is solved... ;)
The is a problem with adding a custom numeric field - defects and backlog items cannot be sorted together on that field since they don't truly share that field even if the column is shared visually.
I agree with the Netflix comparison
This is very much related to the request:
"Ability to drag multiple items at the same time"
https://ideaspace.versionone.com/default/Idea/Detail/74
Ranking backlog items would be a great feature for us !!!
Ranking backlog items is a necessary feature to simplify the project management of items. Please add it.
Jacqueline N.
I can't believe this isn't already done. How can a ranking system not already be in place for prioritization?
This would be tremendously helpful for cross functional teams to review and understand the relative ranking of a particular item. In addition would show the net impact on all items if the ranking status for another item is changed.
Please do this already!!! This is my single biggest gripe about using V1. Ranking stories is such a hassle!
Obviously there is a persistent hidden ranking concept between logins and so that "Reset Sort" can return to it. We want that to be a Displayable and Editable column within Customize. In fact Display and Edit should probably be default checked on for it. Xplanner offered this in that you could bump to top or bottom by using the number 1 or a very large number. VersionOne offers the "Order" customizable column (perhaps added after this thread started) but which only offers "move op" and "move to top" arrows. We also need a "move to bottom" arrow. A coworker showed me that VersionOne offers some ranking features within some view (can't remember which one - it might have required Filtering to be on) by which you could move BLIs around within the order based on what was in the view, but that seemed to over-complicate a simple need - to just be able to quickly update the order by #.
Found it. Checking at least one BLI, you activate the drop-down arrow next to "Move to Project", from which you can select "Rank" options of
Top of selected project,
Top of list,
Move to page,
Bottom of list,
Bottom of selected project,
But we would still like to be able to directly edit the order value to any arbitrary number (e.g. 39) because we have a sense of where we want it. In fact we might want to do this for many BLIs displayed on a page, before hitting Apply. Those items would go to those numbers, pushing everything below them down in the order, obviously absorbing any minor offsets themselves by nature of multiple entries.
You might argue that "Move to Page" would be close enough, if one had something like 10 items per page, but usually the first thing I customize is items per page to get them all on a page.
I think at this point I've probably spent more characters posting to this than the actual coding would take so I'll stop. :-)
I dont necessarilty need to edit the numeric rank, just displaying it would be fantastic. I am tired of having to export to excel just to view a "row number".
Making an editable rank column available would be a big benefit. The other posts are dead on about managing the back log more effectively and efficiently. But I would like to state one more point. Not being able to view the overall rank and put it on a report is an actual hinderance to customer support. We have hundreds of requsters and many of them don't have Version One accounts. They rely on us to produce a report for them (Spreadhseets mostly) showing backlog meta data including rank which shows them how far down (or high) on the priority list their requested changes are. I would urge the Version One developers to take the "Editable Rank" issue and use "Move to Top" in the backlog!
Definitely allow for an editable ranking number.
Yes this is a much needed feature - drag and drop works if the team is working on few capabilities. But with multiple product owners and multiple capabilities - having a hard ranked stories list is important
editable column rank field would be huge - NOT JUST TO SORT ON - i want a field I can enter numbers, "submit", and have that become the new primary sort order (subsequently clearing those fields).
There are TWO (yes, TWO) custom "order" fields that you can add to the backlog that turn on what appear to be editable numeric fields (the third custom "order" item is the "Up Arrow" column), but I cannot for the life of me figure out (A) what these fields do, or (B) how to use them. Haven't found anything in the help doc that even explains what they do!
I'm new to Version One, but not new to agile. I'm really surprised (and a little bummed) the tool doesn't support explicit ranking with a visible and editable rank number. That's such a basic function for managing a backlog. I came from shop that used Rally Software's tools and we used the story ranking feature heavily to keep our roadmap in order.
If I was picking between Version One and Rally for a new agile management system, this would be a deal-breaker for Version One.
Version One looks really nice otherwise. It's a shame that such a basic capability is missing. If you agree - please vote on this item. It's on the Top list in the Version One IdeaSpace.
One of the most important thing I do as a Product Manager is set the order in which to build specific pieces of functionality and fix defects. This tool is so clumsy at this we are actively looking at other tools (see message above...). This should be a very easy thing to fix - simply add a field for a user to enter a number in and then allow them to sort by that field (very basic spreadsheet technology)
How on earth has this taken 3 years? I am using a custom field now, but this should be a default existing field that renumbers itself in response to either drags or direct edits.
There is an order field stored (Assets[0].Attributes.Order.value via API) it looks like its the actual underlying order you guys want. For me its ordering showing values in negative and positive (-2263, 4346). My guess is that when you drag or bump things up/down the UI changes this field and adjusts other stories if need be.
Our product owners continue to complain about this with large product backlogs. Rally and TFS expose the absolute stack rank value for easy edit; VersionOne just expose that absolute index in line for easy editing? This shouldn't be difficult. We use spreadsheets now to manipulate the backlog ranking, that is ridiculous.
Also, If I use Find to locate a specific BL item I have no way to see where it is ranked. Having a visible absolute rank would be a big help.
Trying to add fuel to the fire: We continue to find that the current means of ranking Epics and BL items is very clumsy. We need to view and edit the absolute rank.
Also, DanD mentioned above "Checking at least one BLI, you activate the drop-down arrow next to "Move to Project", from which you can select "Rank" options of.. "
this helps, but is only available for BL items, not Epics.
Another thing that I find clumsy about not being able to see the backlog item rank is when I download to excel I have to add something manually otherwise I loose the rank when I sort.
this will add signficant value. As a PO, i manually use the reference field to achieve this.
We definitely need to see and edit the stack ranking of Epics as a number, in addition to the drag/drop that exists.
What I would like to see is e.g an Excel interface where I could export backlog items and then update a ranking number number for backlog items and then update V1 with to get the ranking acordingly.
I am having a hard time trying to understand why this hasn't been done (within the application). If I wanted to move something to an absolute position today I can set the number of items to show per page to 'n' and then use the rank option to move to page n+1.
The system appears to be perfectly capable of supporting this functionality. Unfortunately, we've got 130 votes and it's still not planned. Please vote this up people!
I agree, it would be great to have the ranking displayed (not editable) so we can select items in the backlogs according to the ranking.
I get several requests each month for this feature. Allow us to type in a number and rank the list according to our entry.
This is especially important for our backlog managers, but could also be applied to many other areas of the product...
Completely agree with all of the comments above - we have 800+ items in the backlog, and our number one complaint is the drag-and-drop when attempting to re-order. Like others have suggested, this is being solved in our case by exporting to Excel and not using the tool for backlog ordering and team/sprint assignment - which significantly reduces the value of the tool to us overall.
As many others have said, the BL ranking tool is exceptionally difficult to use when a BL has hundreds of items. Drag and drop one at a time doesn't work well when the screen has to scroll very far.
It would be nice to select multiple items then have a "move to here" ranking option. From there the BL arrangement can be performed in the exiting manner.
An added benefit of being able to see explicit ranking is I could much more easily see where specific items are ranked even if I have filters or sorts turned on.
How many votes do we need to have this done?
We need to be able to view the rankings in the Portfolio Tree view also. Example, story 1, story 2, story 3, in the backlog view- we need to be able to think of these in terms of Epics (sellable items)
Epic one might consist of the top 2 stories, but the 3rd item on the backlog might be a defect from another Epic. Should be able to see rank in the context of planning. Product owners NEED this!
This is how the Rally Dev product works and it is incredibly helpful to always have a "top of the list" of things to work on.
What is the hold up on this?
More flexibility in Bulk Rank changing is the biggest opportunity for Version One (therefore the biggest pain for Product Owners). Many more options should be available to change multiple items in rank at one time (via a checkbox and then move in bulk after a point in the backlog)
I think like many that have commented on this idea, the new drag and drop approach is missing the mark because ease of the older approach of a Rank column. Drag and drop is good for a single story, but difficult to manage a full backlog in a more bulk fashion.
There should be at least two methods available: Drag and drop works great on a small list. But I should also be able to edit an absolute rank number. If I change the rank for an item, all of the items below get adjusted accordingly.
Not much more I can add to this thread besides one more voice crying out for absolute ranking. It is a must.
It is May 4, 2016 and I am seeing an "ORDER field" that seems to be what we are looking for. Is it going to be released?
Order is a different and not as efflicient as the previous absolutely ranking capability. With order you can only move it one, or move to the top. Try moving a requirement up 10 levels in your priority list. PAINFUL. Try doing it across pages too. PAINFUL.
Btw- we started using spreadsheets again because priority management is so painful.
Please implement this! My PO and I were griping again (regularly) about this missing feature.
You can enter a number in Order in the Spring 2016 release. Be sure you reset sorting and enable editing of Order.
In the Spring 2016 release (16.1.1), we added the ability to numerically rank Portfolio and Backlog Items via the Order column by simply entering a number to designate the ranking order. Thanks for voting!