Work tree (strategy view)

The work tree (strategy view) report provides an overview of progress on all work items in a selected snapshot (a collection of PIs), as well as an expandable hierarchy of progress at each work item level. Release train engineers and portfolio managers can use this report to track progress of all work items in a snapshot. Portfolio and company executives can track what work has been allocated against the strategies and are able to see the progress so that they know that the company is progressing towards the strategic commitments they made to the board of directors. 

To generate the work tree in strategy view:

1. Select Strategy in the top navigation bar.
2. On the sidebar, select Reports in the list of options.
3. Select Work tree; the work tree displays in strategy view.

Note: To access the strategy view, the Portfolio > Work Tree > Show Strategy View permissions toggle must be switched on for your system role. 

• Use and configure the report
  • Expandable list
  • Extra configurations
  • Enter Health status
  • Chart legend
  • Capture
• Values displayed in the report
• How to interpret this report

Use and configure the report

Generate this report by first selecting a target snapshot from the Snapshot dropdown.

If you have not selected a program increment, a Program Increment dropdown also displays. This dropdown is optional, and will filter items in the expandable hierarchy by the selected PI.

You can also change the type of work tree report you’re viewing through the Tree View dropdown:

Expandable list

The lowest-level items in your goal hierarchy that are associated with the selected snapshot are displayed in the expandable hierarchy. Click the plus sign to the left of a goal to expand the list of work items. You can then select plus signs on the left of each work item row to see child work items.

Extra configurations

You can use the Extra Configs button in the top-right corner to filter the work items displayed on the page by fields such as Theme, Epic, or Category. 

With the Show Parent Levels option, you can view items above quarterly goals (or any other level a theme is tied to) to see the full hierarchy of strategy down to stories.

You can also turn on the Bottom-Up option in the Strategy view which builds the hierarchy upwards. The hierarchy is built downwards by default.

Switch on the Show Health toggle to display the Health icons on epics inside the expandable hierarchy section. 

Enter Health status

You can enter notes about an epic's perceived health by selecting the Health icons  from a goal or theme's row in the expandable hierarchy section. This will open a window where you can select from Red, Yellow, or Green color options and enter explanations for status for multiple health categories.

After you select Save & Close, the icons in the row will update their colors according to your selections.  

Chart legend

Select the Legend icon from the upper-right corner of the page to see descriptions for the color displayed as a dot on the icon next to each work item inside the expandable hierarchy section. 

Capture

Data on this report can also be shared by creating a screenshot using the Capture button from the top-right corner of the page. This will create an image in a new browser tab. 

Values displayed in the report 

1. Plus icon: Select to expand the item’s row and display child work items.
2. Work item icon: Indicates the type of work item in the row. Epics, capabilities, features, and stories each have a different icon. A colored dot displays in the top-right corner of each icon, indicating status. Select the Legend button at the top of the report for a description of what each color represents.
3. Other icons: Various icons can be displayed to the left or right of a work item’s name:
1. Plus sign : Indicates that an epic or feature is multi-program.
2. Hierarchy icon : Indicates that the work item is assigned to a program different than the section being viewed.
3. Links icon : Indicates that work item links exist. The icon with a left arrow indicates the item has one or more predecessors, while an icon with a left arrow indicates the item has one or more successors. Select the work item to open its Details panel, and select the View the Predecessors and Successors button from the Links tab to view the relationships between predecessors and successors. A predecessor is a work item that must be completed before the work item it is linked to. A successor is a work item that must be completed after the work item it is linked to.
4. Chat icon : Displays only on stories. Select this icon to launch the Discussion window for a story, where you can enter a new post. 
5. Question mark : Displays when a work item is assigned to a different program increment than the one selected on the sidebar or in the page filters. 
6. Tag icon : Displays on features when tags are present. Hover on the icon to display the tag names.
4. Work Item Name: The name of the work item; select a name to open the item’s Details panel. If an item is blocked, the text will display in red.
5. Health: Goal or theme health; click the group of icons to update the health status. The column is displayed when the Show Health toggle found in Extra Configs is switched on.
6. Points: The sum of effort points from child stories. For each epic, summary points calculated are based on all stories related to this epic or its child capabilities. 
7. Items: A count of direct child items for the work item. 
8. Work item progress: The percentage of story effort points accepted for the work item; the value is a roll-up of all points tied to the work item. Note that if a story does not have child tasks, the progress bar will show a percentage complete based on the status of the story. 
9. Goal/Theme progress roll-ups: Each section displays the progress of accepted story points for the goal or theme's child epics, features, and stories. Displayed to the right of the progress bars is a percentage of completed story points for the entire level.

How to interpret this report

Goal and theme-level progress bars

Compare the Epic, Feature, and Story progress bars for each theme tied to a strategy. Ideally, there should be very little lag between story and feature progress. It is not unusual for epics to lag behind even further, because epics span PIs. Pay particular attention to features, to make sure they are not trailing the stories in progress; when feature progress is too far behind story progress, it indicates a prioritization problem for your stories--most likely working on stories for too many features at once. Minimizing the feature work in process allows you to finish individual features before moving on to more stories. In the backlog, use the Rank Stories by Features option to get a baseline prioritization for stories. A Work in Process Report is also available to help you understand where a bottleneck is impacting feature progress.

Expandable hierarchy of work items

Review the progress of strategies, themes, epics, features, stories, and tasks, using the drill-down function in the report, to gain insight into which work items are lagging behind or being completed on schedule. From here, you can also access the work items directly to edit if needed, such as splitting features, prioritizing work items, or reducing scope.