A team using iceScrum can be very flexible in its use of  tasks. The tool allows freedom of expression while still providing guidance according to the chosen practices.

Roles and tasks

A PO, SM or DEV can propose a task for the sprint plan (a SH cannot access the view). The person to propose the task becomes its creator.

Anybody can take a task and that person becomes the owner for that task. If a task has already been taken, the previous owner is replaced by the new one.

A task therefore always has a creator that never changes and can have zero or one owners that can change. The owner is displayed on the task’s post-it.

Option 1

When creating a task, an option in the practices (see Project -> Practices) allows the creator to also become the owner:

The task creator becomes the owner

Actions on tasks

Everybody can:

• Copy

• Enlarge the post-it to get more information (quicklook with a double click)

• Take

State changes

Tasks change state as they move across the columns; the possible moves are:

• From Todo to In Progress

• From In Progress to Done

• From Todo to Done

• From In Progress to Todo

An option in the practices allows the person who first moves an owner-less task to automatically become its owner:

The person moving a task to InProgress becomes that task’s owner if previously it had no owner.

Option 3

A 3rd option will automatically create a task for a story that had none, when the sprint is started or if the story is added during the sprint:

A story with no tasks will automatically have one created when the sprint starts.

In this case, the SM who starts the sprint is considered to be the task’s creator.

Other behaviour

• A finished task can no longer be modified, nor change state; it can however be copied by anyone and deleted by the SM

• An In Progress task, if released, returns to the Todo state

• A task can be moved/blocked/unblocked only if the sprint is In Progress (impossible both before the beginning of the sprint and after its end)

• A task can also move to a different row (therefore to a different story or if it becomes a recurring or urgent task).