Single-Day Tasks
Single-Day Tasks are a way of decomposing user stories into tasks that can be completed within a single day. This approach emphasises granularity, clarity, and achievability, facilitating more accurate planning and execution.
Goal
The goal of Single-Day Tasks is to align our way of working (quick lead time, short lived branches, small batch sizes) with the way we estimate and plan our work. Rather than estimating work, we actively break down the work until we have tasks that can be completed in a single day.
Context
Estimating requires thinking about how you would go about building a feature. We then have to re-think about implementation when we start to work on the task at some point in the future. Instead, we can break the story down into smaller tasks instead of estimating.
Inputs
| Artifact | Description |
|---|---|
| User Stories | Detailed descriptions of the functionality, performance criteria, and interfaces needed for each component. |
Outputs
| Artifact | Description | Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Tasks | Smaller, more granular tasks that can be completed within a day. | Replaces estimation with the more productive work of breaking down features into smaller tasks. |
Anti-patterns
- Over-Simplification: Breaking down tasks to the extent that they lack meaningful progress.
- Lack of Flexibility: Strictly adhering to the one-day rule even when it's more practical to handle a slightly larger scope as a single entity.