Extra tasks in TFS Scrum

Question

When planning a Scrum sprint, I use the concept of extra tasks. Extra tasks are not part of the sprint goals, but are the next priority. If all tasks in the sprint is finished early, the team carries on with the extra tasks until the next sprint planning meeting.

I've just started using TFS with the Scrum template for a new project and not found a good way to handle the extra tasks. Ideally I would like to have them semi-included in the sprint. They should show up on the sprint backlog, but not be accounted for on the burndown graph.

What is the best way to handle the extra tasks with TFS?

Answer 1

There are the following variables in here that make the tasks part of the burndown:

1. It is assigned to the current iteration path
2. It is assigned to the area path of the team
3. It has remaining hours

To make sure the tasks are not accounted for in the burndown, you can modify any of the above variables.

If you want to keep the tasks out of the burndown completely, even if you have time to work on it, to create a new Team (and thus area path). When the team is done with sprint work, they can switch to the work of the other team.

The benefit of doing this, is that the other team (to handle the extra tasks) has its own burndown, product and iteration backlog.