Show items affected by impediment in backlog

Hi John,

if you want to use nesting in the product backlog, you need to use hierarchical or directional links. Related does not qualify as such a link.

You can use 'System.LinkTypes.Dependency-Forward' in the configuration and use 'Predecessor' when creating the link from the PBI to the impediment.

you could adjust your config to contain the following:

<WorkItemType Name="Impediment">
  <Links>
    <Link WorkItemType="Product Backlog Item" LinkType="System.LinkTypes.Dependency-Forward" />
  </Links>
 </WorkItemType>

and keep the querying mode to 'DirectLinks'

Let me know if it works

Regards,

David

Could this be done with Affects and AffectedBy?

Hi John,

It should also work with Affects and AffectedBy.

David

I have an open impediment which affects a blocked task (in progress) in the same iteration. I left Mode="DirectLinks" and added the tags below yet nothing shows in the backlog. I tried both Affects and AffectedBy.

<WorkItemType Name="Impediment">
  <Links>
    <Link WorkItemType="Product Backlog Item" LinkType="Microsoft.VSTS.Common.AffectedBy" />
    <Link WorkItemType="Task" LinkType="Microsoft.VSTS.Common.AffectedBy" />
  </Links>
</WorkItemType>

Hi John,

Did you try by adding the link 'affects' from the impediment to the PBI (such that the impediment affects the PBI and the PBI is affected by the impediment)?

If the PBI has an other hierarchical a link (such as a Parent-Child link), it will appear under its parent if it's currently visible in the product back log.  

With the configuration mentioned above, I get the following

with these links on the PBI

Is it the behaviour you are looking for?

 David.

Hi John,

Here's the images for the previous message. 

David.

Hi John,

We don't have specific documentation on direct links,

but you can get documentation on link types from Microsoft at https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd293527.aspx.

You should not have to redefine the links that you get in the tree mode when using mode "direct links".

Regards,

David.

What exactly does direct links mean?

Hi John,

In Urban Turtle configuration you can specify one of two options for the querying mode: Tree or DirectLinks.

<Features>

        <Querying Mode="DirectLinks" />

The “Tree” querying mode option (the default) allows inclusion of Hierarchy link type in Urban Turtle work item link queries. This is the most restrictive querying mode. It is appropriate for parent-child work item relationship which is the default link type of interest in Urban Turtle.

The “DirectLinks” querying mode option includes link types of the “Tree” option and adds a larger variety of link types. In fact it includes all link types having a direction and that are not circular. These criteria correspond to link types of the Tree or Dependency topology as explained in the Microsoft documentation:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd293527.aspx

“DirectLinks” option is appropriate to include “Story to TestCase” links or “affected by” relationships in the work item queries.

Regards,

Yvon

Ok, it seemed to work by simply switching to DirectLinks so what is the point of also adding those link nodes in the config? Like this:

<WorkItemType Name="Impediment">
  <Links>
    <Link WorkItemType="Product Backlog Item" LinkType="System.LinkTypes.Dependency-Forward" />
  </Links>
 </WorkItemType>

Hi John,

The behavior obtained by modifying the <Links> entry in the Urban Turtle configuration file depends on the TFS process template, which is customizable. You may already have the proper link type in your process template. In this case, the modification is not necessary. If the TFS template does not have the proper link, adding the link configuration in the <Links> would allow Urban Turtle to query the work items accordingly. 

I hope this clarifies the point.

Regards,

Yvon