A task work item communicates the need to do some work. Each Team member creates tasks unique to the role: developer tasks, testing tasks, impediment resolution tasks, etc. A task can also be used to suggest that exploratory testing be performed. A task can be used generically to assign work within the project.

Tasks are posted on the Project Team Board and updated in the Daily Stand-up.

Essential attributes of tasks

The essential attributes of a task are:

• Description. A concise overview of the task to be completed. The title should be descriptive enough to allow the team to understand what area of the product is affected and how it is affected.
• Estimate. Tasks must be “right-sized” so that a teamlet or individual team member can complete it in one to several days.
• Exit Criteria. Every task must have an exit criteria so that the developer knows when the task is done.
• Story. Where did the task come from?

Identifying tasks from stories

To identify tasks from stories, ask what it will take to do the following:

• Define the functionality of the story.
• Build the functionality.
• Release the functionality.
• Support the functionality.
• Use the functionality.

Types of tasks

Type	Description
Design Task	Work that applies design patterns and coding principles and practices to specify code requirements.
Dev Task	Work that generates code from analysis tasks.
Testing Task	Work that defines validation and verification tests for stories and code.