Frequently asked questions

Getting Started

• What should I do if I want to evaluate Jile?

  Jile provides a free trial subscription valid for 30 days for up to 20 users. You can visit our website https://www.jile.io and register for a trial subscription using the Try Now option.

• Should each team member create a new subscription for evaluation?

  Each team member need not create an individual subscription to evaluate Jile. With one subscription you on-board up to 20 users during evaluation.

• Why can't I add more than 20 users in my workspace ?

  Jile trial subscription allows you to add up to 20 users during evaluation. You need to convert your trial to a paid subscription if you want to add more users.

• What should I do if I have any questions or issues during my evaluation ?

  If you have any queries or issues during your evaluation you can contact our support team either through e-mail - support@jile.io or by phone 1-833-872-7466.

Function Catalog

• Why can't I see all available functions in my function catalog ?

  The list of functions available in each workspace is based on the selected module and the planning model in your way working settings. E.g If you planning model is flow based you will not see any time-box based functions. Similarly if release module is not enabled then you will not be able to see and include any release functions.

• Can I include a Function that is specific to a user in a workspace ?

  Any Function or report that is included in a workspace by any user is visible and accessible to all users in that workspace irrespective of which user added that Function or report.

• What happens when I delete a Function from my workspace ?

  When you delete a Function from the workspace it will be removed from your main menu and no other users in your workspace will be able to access the Function. However the data associated with the Function will remain intact.

Ways of working

• My organization has multiple ways of working. Can a domain support multiple wow's ?

  Yes. Most organizations have teams which follow different frameworks or methodologies. In order to support this model you can create multiple workspace each following a specific wow. However please note that data cannot be shared across workspace and roll-up and aggregation is possible only within a workspace.

• My framework is not provided in the default ways of working. What should I do ?

  Jile provides 6 out of the box wow's to support the popular frameworks and methodologies. If you don't find your specific framework or methodology then choose the one which closely matches your framework or methodology and then subsequently customize the wow to model your way of working. To know more about wow configuration please access our admin guide.

• Why can't I disable a specific module in my way of working settings ?

  You will not be allowed to disable a module if any associated data has been created. E.g. If you have features created in your workspace then you cannot disable the feature module. In order to disable feature you need to delete all associated data. Note : Features, Stories, Tasks are mandatory modules and cannot be disabled. Similarly Iteration schedule is a mandatory module for Time-box planning models.

• Why can't I change my planning model from time-box to flow and vice-versa ?

  Each way of working has a default planning model viz-a-viz time-box or flow. Based on the selected wow this value gets pre-populated. You are not allowed to change this settings once the workspace is created. If you want a different planning model then you need to choose a different way of working. However you can change this setting to support both the models by choosing the both option.

Workspace

• What is the difference between a workspace and a work-area ?

  A workspace is a logical container for one or more work-areas. Each workspace contains one root work-area and an optional hierarchy of sub work-areas. Each tenant or domain can contain multiple workspace.

• Can a workspace be configured to have multiple ways of working ?

  Each workspace can have one way of working only. When you create a workspace you will be provided with an option to choose your wow based on which the wow settings and the default functions are pre-configured. You can subsequently modify the wow and add / remove functions from your workspace based on your needs.

• Why can't I see data from other workspace in my workspace ?

  Workspace is a logical container where product teams can manage the software development and delivery processes. Data and artifacts are specific to each workspace and cannot be shared or accessed from other workspace. This provides a logical separation between multiple product teams and acts as a security mechanism.

• Why can't I create multiple root work-areas in my workspace ?

  Each workspace has a hierarchy of work-areas with one root work-area. The root work-area is typically used to aggregate and roll-up data across all sub work-areas.

Team

• What is a team type in Jile ?

  Jile supports 2 types of teams viz-a-viz scrum and kanban. Scrum teams plan and deliver work in short time-boxes while kanban teams use a visual board to plan and deliver work continuously

• Why should I define the velocity while creating a scrum team ?

  Team velocity defines the average story points delivered by the teams in the past iterations. This value is used during the release and iteration planning to arrive at the potential capacity of the release or iteration time-box based on the participating teams.

• Why should I define the throughput while creating a kanban team ?

  Throughput defines the amount of work delivered over a certain period in time. While creating a kanban team the average throughput in-terms of stories per week is defined for each team. This value is used during the release planning to arrive at the potential capacity of the release time-box based on the participating kanban teams.

• What happens when I remove or delete a team member from the team ?

  When a team member is removed from a team, all artifacts that are tagged to the member as owner is un-tagged and the artifacts will have no owner. All other data associated with the member will remain as is.

• My workspace has a single team. How can I change it to support multiple teams ( team of teams )

  Most products start with one scrum or kanban team and eventually scale into multiple independent teams. To support multiple teams (team of teams) you need to modify your current way of working settings. Under the work-area settings change the team settings to team of teams. Jile will create one default team with all your current team members. You will be able to add new teams subsequently.

Backlog

• What is the difference between the product backlog and release / iteration backlog ?

  Product backlog is an ordered list of everything that is known to be needed in the product. Release or iteration backlog is a subset of product backlog items that are planned in a release or iteration schedule

• My backlog statuses are different from the ones provided in Jile. What should I do ?

  Jile provides a set of pre-configured backlog status out of the box. However these statuses can be customized based on your specific needs from the setup option.

• Can I create a hierarchy of backlog items in Jile ?

  Jile provides 4 levels of backlog hierarchy starting from initiatives or epics to capabilities, features and stories. Stories and features are mandatory and cannot be turned off. You can enable or disable initiatives and capabilities from the way of working settings.

• My initiatives have child features, however they are not visible in my features backlog why ?

  Child features will be available in the product features backlog only when the parent initiative is moved to the Ready state. Additionally features of initiatives that are ready and planned in future time frame will not be available in the product features backlog

• I have broken down my features into a set of stories, however those stories are not visible in my product stories backlog why ?

  Child stories will be available in the product stories backlog only when the parent feature is moved to the Ready state.

• What is the difference between the Product Stories Function and Product Backlog - Stories Function ?

  The Product Backlog - Stories function is used to identify, elaborate and groom product stories for implementation. Once the stories are planned into a release backlog or an iteration backlog they are no more visible in the product stories backlog function. Product Stories Function helps you to manage the master list of all product stories from the product backlog, release and iteration backlog and all done stories. You can also move done stories into the done pile from the Product Stories Function.

• Can I change the card colors of my backlog items ?

  No. Jile provides a default set of card colors to denote each backlog item type. This helps the teams to easily identify each item type and provide consistent behaviour across the product

Planning

• What is the difference between a time-box and flow planning models ?

  Time-boxes are fixed time schedules where a limited set of work is planned to be delivered by the end of the time-box. Continuous flow is where the work is planned in a continuous fashion based on the available capacity defined in the form of work in process limits.

• Why some of my capabilities and features in the product backlog are not available for planning ?

  Capabilities and features are available for planning only when they are moved to Ready status. The status with Ready flag denotes that the capabilities and features and sufficiently groomed and are ready for planning and implementation.

• What happens to the child backlog items when a parent backlog item is unplanned from release or iteration schedule ?

  If none of the child backlog items are marked as done then the child backlog items will be automatically unplanned. However if one or more items are marked as done then Jile will not allow you to unplan that backlog item. You need to untag those child backlog items from the parent item to unplan the same.

• What happens to the tasks when stories are unplanned from an iteration ?

  All the tasks associated with the story will be automatically unplanned from the iteration when the story is unplanned from an iteration. However any effort that was logged against the tasks during the iteration will reflect in the iteration summary.

• Why cant I close a release or an iteration schedule from my work-area ?

  You will be allowed to close a release or iteration schedule only when your work-area is the owner work-area of the release or iteration schedule. The owner work-area is the one where the release or iteration schedule was created. If your work-area or teams are participating in a release / iteration schedule that was created by a parent work-area then you are not allowed to close the release / iteration schedule.

• The current date is beyond the release / iteration schedule start date, however the release / iteration schedule still says planned ?

  Jile will not automatically start your release or iteration schedule on the start date. You need to manually update the status of the release or iteration schedule to a Ready state to mark it as started

• The current date is beyond the release / iteration end start date, however the release / iteration schedule still says in-progress ?

  Jile will not automatically close your release or iteration schedule on the end date. You need to manually close the release or iteration schedule using the close option after marking all backlog items to done. Jile will capture the actual close date which can be manually overridden.

• When do we consider a backlog items as committed in the release or iteration schedule ?

  All backlog items which are planned into the release or iteration schedule before marking the release or iteration schedule as Ready are considered as committed. Any backlog items planned or removed from the release or iteration schedule after this are considered as scope changes.

• What should I do if I cannot complete a story within an iteration schedule ?

  If you cannot complete a story within an iteration schedule you can split the story and move the remaining part of the story back to the product backlog or the next iteration schedule.

• When does the completed story or feature move to the done pile ?

  Stories which are planned and completed in standalone iterations are moved to the done pile when the iteration schedule is closed. Stories and features which are planned in release schedules are moved to the done pile when the release schedule is closed. Teams which follow Kanban way of working have to move the completed backlog items to done pile manually

Testing

• When I plan a story in an iteration the story tests are automatically planned into the iteration. However it does not happen with features Why ?

  Since features are planned and implemented incrementally in a release schedule the tests associated with features cannot be planned automatically into any iteration. You need to manually create a test suite in a specific iteration and import specific tests from the release features to test the same.

• When I create a new test suite I cannot import tests from my teams stories for the current iteration. Why ?

  Tests which belong to a team story are automatically planned in the iteration backlog when the stories are planned in the iteration. You can directly execute those story tests and track results. However teams must manually import tests from previous iteration stories into the current iteration to execute the same.

• Can I test the stories or features which are completed in previous iteraton or release schedules in my current release or iteration schedule ?

  Yes. You need to first import the completed features and story tests from the done pile to the test library. Then subsequently you can create a test suite in a new iteration and import those tests from the test libray

Impediments

• What happens to the iteration impediment if I remove a story from an iteration ?

  When a story is removed or unplanned from the iteration the impediments associated with that story will remain with the iteration. You need to manually update the status of this impediment to mark as resolved.

Dependencies

• What is a planning conflict ?

  A planning conflict is a condition where a dependent story is planned in iterations later than the iterations in which the source story is planned.

• What happens when a dependent story is not planned ?

  When a dependent story is not planned then the source story will have a planning conflict as dependent story not planned.

• When does a dependency get resolved ?

  A dependency between two stories is marked as resolved when a dependent story is completed (marked as done).

Retrospectives

• Who can be assigned as owners for action items

  For release and iteration retrpspectives happening at the product level key members can be assgined as owners. Similarly for iteration retrospectives happening at the team layer any team member can be assigned as owner.

• Where can I see the actions items assigned to me?

  You can see the action items assigned to you in your worklist screen

Kanban

• What is the difference between kanban for devevelopment and kanban for support teams way of working?

  In Jile there are two different sub configurations in the Kanban way of working. Kanban for development teams has features and stories as backlog types and the statuses are pre-configured to reflect a software development workflow. In addition testing module is available in this way of working. Kanban for support teams has a generic work-item type as backlog item and has the standard support workflow pre-configured. This wow is specifically meant for operations and support teams.

Pipeline

• How to configure parallel stages?

  If two deployment stages have the same prerequisite, then these two stages will be executed in parallel

• What is the difference between automatic promotion stage and self-service stage?

  An automatic promotion stage gets auto executed once the pre-requisite stages are successfully completed. However the self-service stages have to be manually triggered to execute.

• Is it possible to trigger a pipeline on code commit in SVN or Git?

  Yes. It is possible to trigger a pipeline on code commit in SVN or Git through a webhook.

• Can I schedule a pipeline to run at a specific time every day?

  Yes. Jile provides an option to schedule a pipeline execution at a specific time each day.

• I want production deployment stage in the pipeline to be triggered only after an manual approval. Can I do that in Jile?

  Yes. You can configure gates for any stage in jile and define the list of approvals required before a stage can be executed

• I cannot find a plugin specific to my automation tool in Jile. What should I do ?

  Jile provides out of the box plugins for popular third party build and automation tools. If you want to integrate any other tool you can invoke a command line script from a task.