There is an acronym for creating effective goals: “SMART” –
- S – Specific
- M – Measurable
- A – Achievable
- R – Relevant
- T – Time-boxed
(There are a lot of variations in what the letters stand for.) These are good characteristics for tasks as well.
Specific
A task needs to be specific enough that everyone can understand what’s involved in it. This helps keep other tasks from overlapping, and helps people understand whether the tasks add up to the full story.
Measurable
The key measure is, “can we mark it as done?” The team needs to agree on what that means, but it should include “does what it is intended to,” “tests are included,” and “the code has been refactored.”
Achievable
The task owner should expect to be able to achieve a task. XP teams have a rule that anybody can ask for help whenever they need it; this certainly includes ensuring that task owners are up to the job.
Relevant
Every task should be relevant, contributing to the story at hand. Stories are broken into tasks for the benefit of developers, but a customer should still be able to expect that every task can be explained and justified.
Time-Boxed
A task should be time-boxed: limited to a specific duration. This doesn’t need to be a formal estimate in hours or days, but there should be an expectation so people know when they should seek help. If a task is harder than expected, the team needs to know it must split the task, change players, or do something to help the task (and story) get done.
Conclusion
As you discuss stories, write cards, and split stories, the INVEST acronym can help remind you of characteristics of good stories. When creating a task plan, applying the SMART acronym can improve your tasks.
