Time Remaining in query and plans - anyone broken the code on this one?
Where does this request stand in the enhancement queue? In our current configuration, team mates enter "Time Remaining" in the work item (based on the text label for the field). RTC stores that information in a field "TimeSpent" (field name not visible to end user, but visible in Manage this Project > Work Items > Editor Presentations).
In searching the forum, it appears to still be the case that the time remaining value can not be displayed in queries, plan views or hover presentations , instead a calculated "Time Spent" value is available, apparently based on a calculation that compares that subtracts the "time remaining" from the available estimate value.
If a team has made the determination that they want to work using time remaining as the default value, it makes little sense to not allow the team to retrieve and display that value, and force them to do off line calculations to generate a value that has been directly entered into the system and should be visible from a simple query.
As a project manager, time spent is interesting for historic purposes and maybe for helping the team improve their estimating capabilities, but what I really care about is how much longer is it going to take to get to "done", i.e., time remaining. Not being able to easily have this in queries and plans seems a bit, well, odd.
Help please.
One answer
Time remaining and time spent mode are essentially using the same attributes. Only the display is done differently if you change the mode. Here what I think I have found:
RTC uses three attributes on work items to allow effort tracking as time spent or time remaining: Estimated Effort, Corrected Estimate and Time Spent
The attributes contain the same data (time spent in milliseconds), Time Remaining mode changes how they are displayed and calculated for display, Estimated Effort becomes read-only when entering a Corrected Estimate
Comments
There is an enhancement request to use different attributes and have the correct time remaining in queries, but it never made it on to the implementation list as far as I can tell.
@Ralph - thanks - your response is helpful. Based on it, I'm now assuming that the impact of setting the mode to "Time Remaining" is to establish what value the end user enters into the work item.
If the mode is set to "Time Remaining", then the user enters their estimate of how much time is remaining and (I assume on "Save") RTC uses that value to calculate "Time Spent" and only stores Time Spent in the field.
Since only Time Spent is saved, it's the value that is available in Plans and Queries (RTC doesn't reverse the calculation based on the mode set).
That helps understand more clearly what's going on...but (you knew there was a but)...
Use case: Task is estimated for 5 days. On day 2, user realizes that it's only going to take 8 more hours to finish and enters 8h in the time remaining field. Does RTC calculate (and save) that Time Spent to that point was 4 days?
(Yes, engineer should update the estimate, but getting one value updated is tough enough, and they find time remaining easier).
Sorry for two points, but I'm going to indulge here.
How can I (and others) influence the importance of this change? I've commented in the enhancement request, but it feels like there should be an additional way to advocate for it. Any suggestions?
It simply seems logical that if the team selected Time Remaining mode, it's because that's what the team finds to be the most useful world view and that should reasonably expect it would be implemented consistently across the product. The value entered would be the value saved and available in queries and plans. If Time Spent was needed it would be the calculated value (when in Time Remaining mode).
Alternately - if the value is being calculate and then entered in a field (currently replacing the value in entered into the field), why can't it be calculated and entered into a different field? Has to be saved someplace, right?
In fact, it occurs to me that since Time Remaining is visible when I open the individual work item, it is, in fact being saved somewhere - so why can't the field it's stored in be made available to queries and plans?
> so why can't the field it's stored in be made available to queries and plans?
that is an enhancement request
This is how this works (as far as I know)
Comments
sam detweiler
Feb 12 '14, 7:36 a.m.two things
Keith Attenborough
Feb 12 '14, 8:55 a.m.@Sam
1. Configured to use Time Remaining. Scrum Template
2. Understand the theory of Agile in this regard, however, in the world I work in, it is not unusual for stories not to complete in the iteration originally planned. This is frequently not due to bad estimates, but due to other work (customer PMRs, crit sits, executive actions, etc.) coming in. Having easy access to "time remaining" helps accommodate these situations.
Time remaining, during an iteration, is also valuable piece of info that team finds helpful in assessing where they are. Time spent is good for looking back, time remaining is good for looking forward.
so - question is still open - anyone figured out how to get time remaining to display in plan or query?