Assign resources to Tasks and User Stories
If it is necessary resources can be assigned to tasks. This can be done in ‘General’ tab on Task level in combo-boxes ‘Assigned To’.
Because pair programming is often used in Agile projects up to 2 persons can be assigned and in this case application assumes equal distribution of work between them.
Content of combo-boxes for resources assignment is defined by list of resources in ‘Resources & Budget’ tab on Sprint/Iteration level.
Sometimes it is reasonable to assign resources to the whole User Story. This can be done in ‘General’ tab on User Story level in combo-boxes ‘Assign ALL coding’ and ‘Assign ALL testing’ for coding and testing work accordingly. Similar to task assignment up to 2 persons can be assigned to each work type. Actually assignment of person on the level of User Story is completely the same as assignment of this person made in ‘General’ tab on Task level for all User Story child Tasks of correspondent type. Thus GUI for assignment on User Story level is just for convenience and quick assignment of resources to child tasks.
If all User Story child tasks of the same task type have the same person assigned then this person will be auto-selected in assignment combo-box on User Story level. Otherwise combo-box ‘Assign ALL coding’ or ‘Assign ALL testing’ will contain text ‘- DIFFERENT -’.
After assignment of persons to Tasks and User Stories user can track personnel workload in ‘Workload Report’ tab on Sprint/Iteration level where not-assigned time will be presented in a separate line. However you should be careful with measuring of personnel input because such reporting can cause tension inside team and reduce common team spirit very important for Agile projects.