Question

I am using the TFS 2010 SCRUM template and was wondering if you can modify the task work item’s workflow to not allow modifications in case a processor task is not yet done. Another option is to automatically set the state of a successor task to something so it cannot be changed until the processor tasks have been set to a specific state. Not sure if you can get this granular with the workflow.

Answer 1

While there is a parent/child relationship you can build in 2010- I don’t see anything in WorkFlow that would allow you to modify the Scrum WI templates to support this.

An alternative solution would be to make the WI only editable by the person who it is assigned to. You can keep all your WIs assigned to a lead or PjM etc until the processor task is done and then assign it to the person in charge of the task.

<FieldDefinition reportable="dimension" refname="System.ChangedBy" name="Changed By" syncnamechanges="true" type="String">
  <COPY from="currentuser" />
  <FROZEN />
</FieldDefinition>

Aside from that, you may also consider a model where you cannot edit a WI until it is at a specific state. For example, when X WI turns Active make everything editable and if it is still Proposed then make everything read-only using the WHENNOT clause.

And finally, why not consider just discussing these things in the daily scrum? Team members should be on the same page about WIs. Impediments are always going to come up and sometimes what you think the order of tasking will be at the beginning of the sprint planning is not how it turns out during the sprint. A team task board can be very helpful to in order to discuss order etcetera.

Blocking devs or team members from modifying X item until Y item is complete where both X and Y are sprint backlog items assigned to a sprint may lead to more harm than good and ultimately detract from the ideals behind scrum (namely agility). All that to say, before making this type of a modification make sure you absolutely need to.