Team Skill Configuration

Skill Types in LYNX 

Within LYNX multiple Skill Types can be defined: 

• Standard Skills (Normal or Virtual) 
• Team Skills

See also this section Configuration - The Basics!

Through the use of a Team Skill it is possible to automatically update the (remaining) duration of a workpackage (Ettc), from a Team Productivity estimate and the size of a workpackage (expressed in hours, points, etc.). 

Before continuing in this article we recommend to first read the following article in this section: Get Started with LYNX TameFlow.

Add a Team Skill

A Team Skill is added through the Skill Editor, which can be opened via the "Configuration tab":

Configure Team Skill Scheduling Parameters

In this example the Team Skill "Design Team" is added. The next step is to configure the new skill as a Team Skill, as is done in the picture below via the "Scheduling" Tab. 

Explanation:

• As a Team Skill can be assigned to multiple workpackages simultaneously it is recommended to set the availability to more than one, also to allow that:
• Within a project multiple "Design Teams" can exist, with the same or a different set of selected team members

Configure (default) Team Output

Through the Team Output setting the standard output or productivity can be defined as a default for a "Design Team".  In this example we have selected the "Output" field from the Unit-of-Measure table, holding the output unit of measure, which is in this case expressed in "hours". 

For the Team Skill the default output value is also set at 40 hours per week: by default a Design Team is assumed it can produce 40 hours per week. 

Note: any default value can be set: if a Design Team is typically a 2 member team, the output may be set to for example 80 hours per week, which doubles the "speed". 

 

 

Please note that the default conversion rate was defined already earlier via the Unit-of-Measure table. The Unit-of-Measure "Estimate" has is using an "Output" value to convert sizes into durations. See the picture below and this article: Get Started with LYNX TameFlow

 

 

Create a Workpackage with Team Skill Behavior

Add another Workpackage (size = 80 hours)

In this example we we have added "This is a Team Skill workpackage" with an expected size of 80 hours. You can enter the size in the size column, and also add or update via the Worpackage tab. A size of 80 hours translates to a duration 10 days, as a result of the default output conversion rate of 40 hours per week, which was defined in the Unit-of-Measure table, mentioned above.  

Assign the Team Skill "Design Team" to the Workpackage (see picture below). The duration of the workpackage is in this case calculated based on the default output value, configured in the Skill Table Output tab (see above). 

As the default output in the Skill table is also set to 40 hours per week (see Configure (default) Team Output), the duration of the Workpackage remains 10 days (80 hours @ 40 hours per week --> 10 days).

Add Team Members (Optional)

Team members can be added from the "Resource" side window, into the Team member box through drag-and-drop.

Note that working with Team Members is optional. Workpackages can also be managed by Task Managers and/or Team Managers. 

Increase (or decrease) the Team Output - Modify Units %

In the picture above Mike is assigned for 75 % and Robin for 50 %, resulting in a total of 125 %  availability given these two Team Members. It also means that this 2 member team would produce 25 % more per week, which is 50 hours per week (or 10 Hours per day).

This 25 % more output can be added through changing the unit % from 100 % to 125 %. As a result LYNX will automatically recalculate the duration assuming 50 hours per week and therefore reduce the duration from 10 days to 8 days. 

 

Add some cards

In our example 4 cards have been added through the cards view, with a total size of 64 hours: 

The Workpackage size information is also communicated in the "Gantt view" again, under the Workpackage tab: 

 

Get cards done with Team Skills 

Change status Project and Workpackage to "Started" 

The first step is to change the status of the project from Not Started to "Released", via the project properties:

Starting the Project ("Released") published the Workpackage to the "My activity" task list of both team members (Mike and Robin):

As a Team Member, Mike can now decide to start the "Workpackage". This actions sets the initial Ettc, given a total size of 80 hours (64 hours from cards + 16 hours remaing flexibilit for the team):

The initial Ettc is still 8 days, as the size of the workpackage is set at 80 hours. The Ettc considers however the 64 known hours and 16 hours Team  flexibility in the form of a "Scope buffer".  See more information about the Scope Buffer mechanism in this article: "Progress Management with Scope Buffers".

Through starting the Workpackage also the cards are published to Mike's Taskboard:

 

Ettc automatically updated

As 20 hours are completed (see above), the Ettc for the workpackage is automatically updated as follows:

The same result is shown in the Project View, in which the Ettc is also reduced to 6 days, still required to "produce" the remaining 60 hours at a spead of 10 hours per day (50 hours per week):