Scenarios
With Scenarios, you can size new work in minutes, using the power of Socratic's intelligent forecast. You can create as many scenarios as you like, adjusting the teams or scope or both, until you arrive at one that suits your needs. A plan may be optionally created from any scenario, automatically.
Any scenario you create may be based on:
Existing work: you choose from a list of existing objectives/epics, and we deliver the probable total time to complete the objectives/epics you've selected.
New work: you create new objectives/epics, assign an approximate size (personalized to your organization) and choose the project and people who will do the work.
A combination of scenarios (advanced): you sequence previous scenarios to see the total probable time to complete all of them.
You can create as many scenarios as you like, experimenting with scope and resources to find the forecast duration that works for you. Once you're happy with a scenario, you may optionally choose to have Socratic create a plan for you based on that scenario.
For each scenario, there are three tabs at the top of the page:
Definition: where you set the scope and people, as well as a target start date;
Forecast: Socratic's intelligent forecast based on your scenario definition;
Compare: use this tab to create a plan based on your scenario. When you create a plan based on a scenario, you can use the Compare tab to see how your scenario compares to the reality of the plan.
Existing work scenarios
For scenarios based on existing work, you choose from a list of your current active objectives (i.e. Jira epics). An active objective/epic is anything with tasks associated to it. You can select as many objectives as you like by clicking the checkbox next to each objective. Your selections appear in a sub-list under the Selected tab above the table:
Once you've made your choices, click the Generate forecast button. Socratic will create a forecast for the probable time remaining to complete the selected objectives.
The Summary card for the forecast shows the probabilistic range of completion dates (an early, mid, and late case) as well as the duration range in days.
For forecasts based on existing objectives/epics, we automatically detect the number of people and tasks associated to those objectives. Two points to note:
Total people reflects all people who are working or have worked on tasks in the associated objectives, even people who may not have had any tasks assigned to them at the time the forecast was generated.
Total open tasks reflects just that: the remaining unfinished tasks to be completed in the objectives/epics selected.
New work scenarios
In creating a scenario for new work, you create the objectives/epics involved, along with a rough sizing and the associated team and the workstream—i.e. Jira project—for each.
To create an objective to include your scenario:
Enter a name for the objective/epic.
Assign an approximate size. You can choose small, medium, large or extra large. In each case Socratic analyzes your average historical sizes (i.e. number of tasks) for epics, and provides the quantiles from small to extra large.
Assign the workstream / Jira project where the work will be done.
Choose the team of people who will do the work. Teams are created in Socratic.
Click the Add to scenario button.
Repeat the above steps for as many objectives/epics as you'd like to include in your forecast. Then click the Generate forecast button.
You can experiment with any or all of the input variables—what is to be done (and how large it is), where it is to be done (i.e. the workstream/Jira project) and who will do it (the team)—to see how the forecast changes.
Once you're satisfied with the scenario, you may optionally choose to create a plan from that scenario:
Click the Compare tab at the top of the page.
Enter a plan name and click Create.
Socratic will auto-create a plan with the objectives / epics you've identified. Two points to note:
Only when you create a plan from a scenario are new objectives/epics created in their respective workstream / Jira project. Otherwise, the objectives/epics you created for purposes of the scenario exist only within the scenario.
When you create a plan, we auto-create the necessary new objectives/epics, but we do not pre-populate them with any tasks. Task definition is left to the teams.
After creating a plan from a scenario, the Compare tab serves as a living comparison between the initial scenario and the realities of the plan. At the conclusion of any plan, you can revisit the Compare tab to see how things like final scope and actual plan duration compare to what was originally envisioned in the scenario.
Advanced scenarios
With advanced scenarios, you can select multiple previous scenarios—whether based on new or existing work—to see a forecast for the total body of work. For instance, you might have a scenario for a set of existing objectives that must be completed before work can begin on another scenario. With advanced scenarios, you can see the start-to-finish forecast time for each as well as the end-to-end forecast duration.
To create an advanced scenario, simply choose from your previously defined scenarios. Once you've added the scenarios to be included in your advanced scenario, you can use the arrow keys to optionally set the order in which the scenarios must be done.
Because an advanced scenario represents a "scenario of scenarios," the resulting forecast graph is rendered in Gantt-style to show how your scenarios forecast end-to-end:
You can choose the Early, Mid or Late buttons at the top of the page to see how the total forecast looks for each.
If you choose to create a plan from an advanced scenario, we use your scenario names as the objective (epic) groupings on the plan, with the objectives for each scenario grouped underneath.
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