In this blog, we look at key reports and dashboards at the program level in Jira Align that are essential information radiators (a visual display of information that is openly shared and easily accessible). These program level reports and dashboards will help you visualize progress and identify potential roadblocks.
This blog is the first of a series where our top consultants share their expertise and top tips on tools like Jira Align so you can make the most out of them.
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If you're using a scaled agile framework, the program level in Jira Align is packed with helpful information and insights. This information not only supports the portfolio and strategy levels on the progress of committed work and objectives, it also provides insight to your development teams on how the work they're doing directly relates to those objectives.
Jira Align helps all levels of the organization (from executives to teams) visualize progress and any potential issues or roadblocks, thus enhancing communication across your organization.
Here, we take a look at the program level's information radiators – some key dashboards and reports available:
The Program Room is a one-stop dashboard for everything related to the program and a specific program increment (PI). Let's take a look at the dashboard's key cards.
Sprints show the PI's sprint progress and link to the Program Board (see next section). The center section is dedicated to feature and story progress, where you can see each feature and its associated stories.
The Program Room is where you see a progress chart of the overall PI health, indicating the number of days left, the progress of PI objectives, and the progress of associated stories and story points.
There's also a link to a PI burndown chart at the program level, which gives you information on Jira epics or features and stories. There's the ability to drill down into the program's different teams, so everyone can understand how their stories are burning down in a given PI.
Team Load lets you see how work is distributed between all of the program's teams. This feature lets you know when people are overloaded so you can have conversations to redistribute work.
Meanwhile, Team Progress gives you a sense of how those teams are getting on.
You can also view other work items associated with the PI, including Objectives, Dependencies, Impediments, Risks, and either Releases or Fix Versions, depending on what your organization calls them.
Within each of these cards is the opportunity to get a list or grid view of the information, which opens in a new tab, so you can quickly add a new item. You can also access reports associated with them. For example, with Dependencies, there are several reports (maps) you can see.
A couple of my favorites are:
The Risk ROAM Report is great for reviewing all of the risks within the program so you can have conversations about their status and what's happening to resolve, mitigate, or escalate them. It also gives you a sense of the risk and impact of occurrence.
The Program Board is beneficial both during the execution of a PI and a PI planning event. During execution, it can be used to identify any issues or problems. It will show you, for example, where there are work items with certain issues that need to be looked at and potentially resolved for them to be completed.
The Program Board is organized by team. Each team has its own swim lane, with features it's committed to and dependencies it owns. This means team members can see, at a glance, how their work is progressing and ensure that the work they're committed to is visible and up to date with the appropriate statuses.
There are also several columns based on the sprints identified for the PI so that you can see which features are dependencies and when they're targeted for completion.
The Objective swim lane houses all of the team and program objectives for the PI. As you hover over any work item, it shows all associated work items together, so you can understand why they're all together and keep them organized and together for completion.
The product management team can use the Roadmap for many functions within Jira Align. Here are a couple of commonly used ones:
There are several different ways that you can view the Work Tree, including:
With this last option, you can view initiatives in a list with an indication of the progress and other information. The dial at the top of the dashboard also gives you a quick view of time left in the PI, the percentage of story points accepted, and the progress of each of the associated work items.
The Objectives Tree offers a similar view to the Work Tree, but in this case, it's focused on strategic goals. You can drill down into the various levels of objectives from that strategy view to see the status and work progress and if there are key results associated with these objectives. It means you can see how both those key results and objectives are progressing within the organization.
These key reports in Jira Align provide excellent information radiation into the program level, helping the portfolio, strategy, and development team levels. They give everyone, at any time, a clear indication of the progress, status, and health of a PI.
Want to make the most of Jira Align or get help with your agile transformation? Get in touch.
If you're using a scaled agile framework, the program level in Jira Align is packed with helpful information and insights. This information not only supports the portfolio and strategy levels on the progress of committed work and objectives, it also provides insight to your development teams on how the work they're doing directly relates to those objectives.
Jira Align helps all levels of the organization (from executives to teams) visualize progress and any potential issues or roadblocks, thus enhancing communication across your organization.
Here, we take a look at the program level's information radiators – some key dashboards and reports available:
The Program Room is a one-stop dashboard for everything related to the program and a specific program increment (PI). Let's take a look at the dashboard's key cards.
Sprints show the PI's sprint progress and link to the Program Board (see next section). The center section is dedicated to feature and story progress, where you can see each feature and its associated stories.
The Program Room is where you see a progress chart of the overall PI health, indicating the number of days left, the progress of PI objectives, and the progress of associated stories and story points.
There's also a link to a PI burndown chart at the program level, which gives you information on Jira epics or features and stories. There's the ability to drill down into the program's different teams, so everyone can understand how their stories are burning down in a given PI.
Team Load lets you see how work is distributed between all of the program's teams. This feature lets you know when people are overloaded so you can have conversations to redistribute work.
Meanwhile, Team Progress gives you a sense of how those teams are getting on.
You can also view other work items associated with the PI, including Objectives, Dependencies, Impediments, Risks, and either Releases or Fix Versions, depending on what your organization calls them.
Within each of these cards is the opportunity to get a list or grid view of the information, which opens in a new tab, so you can quickly add a new item. You can also access reports associated with them. For example, with Dependencies, there are several reports (maps) you can see.
A couple of my favorites are:
The Risk ROAM Report is great for reviewing all of the risks within the program so you can have conversations about their status and what's happening to resolve, mitigate, or escalate them. It also gives you a sense of the risk and impact of occurrence.
The Program Board is beneficial both during the execution of a PI and a PI planning event. During execution, it can be used to identify any issues or problems. It will show you, for example, where there are work items with certain issues that need to be looked at and potentially resolved for them to be completed.
The Program Board is organized by team. Each team has its own swim lane, with features it's committed to and dependencies it owns. This means team members can see, at a glance, how their work is progressing and ensure that the work they're committed to is visible and up to date with the appropriate statuses.
There are also several columns based on the sprints identified for the PI so that you can see which features are dependencies and when they're targeted for completion.
The Objective swim lane houses all of the team and program objectives for the PI. As you hover over any work item, it shows all associated work items together, so you can understand why they're all together and keep them organized and together for completion.
The product management team can use the Roadmap for many functions within Jira Align. Here are a couple of commonly used ones:
There are several different ways that you can view the Work Tree, including:
With this last option, you can view initiatives in a list with an indication of the progress and other information. The dial at the top of the dashboard also gives you a quick view of time left in the PI, the percentage of story points accepted, and the progress of each of the associated work items.
The Objectives Tree offers a similar view to the Work Tree, but in this case, it's focused on strategic goals. You can drill down into the various levels of objectives from that strategy view to see the status and work progress and if there are key results associated with these objectives. It means you can see how both those key results and objectives are progressing within the organization.
These key reports in Jira Align provide excellent information radiation into the program level, helping the portfolio, strategy, and development team levels. They give everyone, at any time, a clear indication of the progress, status, and health of a PI.
Want to make the most of Jira Align or get help with your agile transformation? Get in touch.
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