March

 9,  2011  

Virtual  Sticky  Board  for  Agile  Project  Management  

 
Project  Proposal  for  UCLA  CS130  
 
 
Introduction  
 
    Agile   software   development   is   one   of   the   most   used   software   development  
models   at   Cisco.   To   facilitate   the   Agile   process,   teams   who   are   doing   Agile  
development   heavily   rely   on   Rally—a   project   management   tool   for   Agile  
development  (http://www.rallydev.com/).  While  Rally  is  a  very  popular  tool  in  the  
industry,   it   lacks   certain   aspects   of   Agile   development.   One   of   the   most   useful  
features   that   the   teams   need   and   that   Rally   fails   to   provide   is   the   ability   to   visualize  
the  detail  progress  of  user  stories(features).    As  a  quick  workaround,  people  write  
down  their  user  stories  on  sticky  notes  and  post  them  on  physical  corkboards.    They  
draw  lines  on  the  corkboards  to   make  columns  that  represent  the  different  states  of  
the   process   (eg.   Backlog,   In-­‐progress,   Done,   Accepted,   Published).   This   becomes   a  
problem   when   the   team   members   are   spread   across   different   geographical  
locations,  since  people  cannot  see  the  writing  on  the  sticky  notes  clearly  on  cameras.  
Since  it  is  a  physical  corkboard,  it  is  not  accessible  to  the  team  members  all  the  time.  
In   addition,   there   are   some   substates   that   user   stories   are   put   in   on   the   corkboards,  
and  Rally  does  not  have  such  states.  We  need  an  application  that  will  virtualize  the  
process.    
 
The   project   we   would   like   to   propose   is   a   virtual   sticky   board   project.  
Essentially,   it   will   be   a   web   application   that   will   allow   users   to   post   stories   in   the  
corresponding  state  of  the  process,  as  in  this  example  screenshot:  
 

 
 
The   data   should   be   persistent   and   can   be   retrieved   at   anytime.   The   detail  
project   requirements   are   listed   in   the   project   requirements   section   below.     The  

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ultimate   goal   of   the   project   is   to   integrate   with   Rally—getting   data   from   Rally,  
changes   made   on   this   application   will   sync   back   with   Rally—using   Rally   web  
services  API.  However,  given  the  timeline  of  the  class,  we  decided  to  split  the  project  
requirements   into   2   sets.   We   expect   the   students   to   accomplish   only   the   first   set   for  
this  quarter.    
 
Project  Requirements  
 
The  first  set  
 
⇒ To  provide  persistent  storage  for  all  the  following  requirements,  the  app  should  
integrate  with  its  own  database  (via  SOAP  Web  Services  preferably).  
⇒ Login  for  each  user  
⇒ 1  user  belongs  to  multiple  projects  and  1  project  will  have  multiple  users  
⇒ 1  project  will  have  a  workspace  (User  Stories  progress  view)  
⇒ All   team   members   of   the   project   share   the   same   workspace.   Eg:   A,B,C   are   the  
members  of  Project  P.  When  either  A,B  or  C  logs  in,  they  will  see  the  same  view.    
⇒ User  is  able  to  add/edit/delete  the  User  Stories  in  the  workspace  and  save  them  
in  the  database.  
⇒ User  should  be  able  to  categorize  the  User  Stories  into  these  default  states:  
  *  Backlog  
    Substates:    
• Product  backlog  
• Release  backlog  
• Sprint  backlog  
  *  In-­‐Progress  
    Substates:    
• Requirement/Architecture  
• API  review  
• Development/Implementation  of  features  and  tests,  
• Unit  Test  
• Code  review    
• QA  
• Documentation  
*  Completed  
  *  Accepted  
  *  Published  
 
⇒ User  should  be  able  to  categorize  User  Stories  by  color  
⇒ Display  the  User  Stories  that  the  user  entered  on  the  corkboard  
⇒ Display  the  User  Stories  under  each  corresponding  state  
⇒ The   position   of   the   User   Stories   roughly   represents   priority,   and   it   should   be  
persistent.  
⇒ User   should   be   able   to   move/drag   around   the   sticky   note   from   one   state   to  
another  or  from  one  position  to  another  to  change  the  priority.  
⇒ The  app  should  be  compatible  with  Firefox.  

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⇒ Since  this  application  will  be  ultimately  integrated  with  Rally,  it  is  important  for  
the   students   to   get   familiar   with   Rally   to   align   the   database   model   with   the  
states  and  data  model  in  Rally.  There  is  a  30-­‐day  trial  version  of  Rally  Enterprise  
edition   that   students   can   install.  We   can   help   them   understand   the   data   models  
on  Rally.    
 
The  Second  Set  
 
Using   web   services   API   provided   by   Rally,   the   application   will   need   to   pull  
data  from  Rally  and  update  the  local  storage  when  the  user  wants  to.    When  the  user  
wants  to  sync  back,  the  app  should  write  back  to  Rally  keeping  the  states  in  sync,  i.e.,  
some  adjustments  need  to  be  made  to  the  mapping  of  the  states  since  not  all  states  
from  the  app  exist  on  Rally.  
 
Proposed  architecture  
 
Database:         SQLite  or  MySQL  
 
Language:     PHP  or  Python.  (If  the  students  know  Python  very  well,  
they   can   choose   Python.   Otherwise,   we   recommend   to  
use  PHP)  
 
Web  server:         Apache  
 
Development  platform:       Linux/Mac    or  use  a  virtual  machine  on  Windows  
 
Approach:     Separate   the   workflow   into   Presentation   (using   CSS),  
User   Interaction   with   the   site   (Javascript)   and  
Functionality   (Business   logic).     Get   the   functionality  
working  first,  then  work  on  making  things  look  nice.    
 
Version  control  :                  SVN:http://code.google.com/p/support/wiki/SubversionFAQ  
 
 
Prerequisite    
 
At  least  one  student  in  the  group  must  have  database  knowledge  equivalent  
of  CS143.  
 
 
Incentives  for  the  students  
 
After   the   first   set   of   requirements   has   been   accomplished,   students   will   be  
able   to   publish   their   work   as   an   open-­‐source   project   if   they   want   to,   since   the  
project   will   be   self-­‐contained.   After   the   second   set   is   completed,   the   project   can  
certainly   complement   Rally   and   can   be   published   as   an   app   for   Rally.   The   project  

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 March  9,  2011  

also   fits   the   nature   of   the   UCLA   class   very   well   since   the   class   is   about   software  
engineering   principles   and   the   application   they   will   be   building   is   an   application   for  
Agile  software  development.  They  will  definitely  get  exposed  to  how  Agile  principles  
are  being  used  in  the  industry.    
 
Contacts  
 
Ei  Darli  Aung  ([email protected])  
Jonathan  Yang  ([email protected])    

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