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Azure DevOps Services | Azure DevOps Server | Azure DevOps Server 2022 | Azure DevOps Server 2020
Portfolio backlogs let product owners track the work of multiple agile feature teams, monitor progress across projects, and manage risks and dependencies. Product owners create their vision and roadmap for each release and define high-level goals as Epics or Features. Feature teams break down the Epics or Features into Stories for prioritization and development. This structure gives each feature team its own backlog for planning, prioritizing, and tracking its work.
A hierarchical team and backlog structure:
- Lets autonomous feature teams organize and manage their own backlogs.
- Uses portfolio management views to plan Epics and Features and monitor the progress of feature teams.
- Allows assigning backlog items to feature teams from a common backlog.
Note
For more information, see the following articles:
Prerequisites
| Category | Requirements |
|---|---|
| Access levels | At least Basic access. |
| Permissions | To configure team settings: Member of the Project Administrators security group or Team Administrator role. For more information, see Change project-level permissions. |
Note
The images in your web portal might differ from those in this article due to updates made to Azure DevOps Services. However, unless explicitly mentioned, the basic functionality remains the same.
Note
The images in your web portal might differ from those in this article due to updates made to Azure DevOps Server. However, unless explicitly mentioned, the basic functionality remains the same.
View management portfolio
The following example shows the Stories portfolio backlog for a Management team. The backlog shows all items for the Web, Test, and Production Planning feature teams.
Note
You can establish child links with work items from different projects, but if the processes differ between projects, the child item's backlog doesn't show the hierarchy. You can still view all associated child items on each work item's form.
View team backlog ownership and progress
The hierarchical team and backlog structure lets autonomous teams take ownership of their backlogs. Each feature team has its own home page or dashboards, product and portfolio backlogs, and boards. These pages show work relevant only to that team, based on assignments made to the work item area and iteration paths. For more information, see About teams and Agile tools.
To visualize ownership and progress involving other feature teams:
- Configure your backlog to show parent epics or features owned by other teams.
- Create queries to include work items from other teams. Add these queries to your team's dashboard for better visibility.
- Use the Delivery Plans feature in Azure Boards to get cross-team visibility into work items across multiple teams. You can see all backlog items and features, even if they belong to different teams.
Tip
Node Name in the Column options shows the team name assigned to each work item.
For example, the Fabrikam Fiber Team backlog view includes work items assigned to their area path, Fabrikam Fiber, and the parent Epic, which is assigned to the Fabrikam team. Items assigned to other teams appear with an information icon you can hover over to see more details.
Assign work from a common backlog
The hierarchical team and backlog structure allows assigning work to teams from a common backlog. During sprint or product planning meetings, product owners and development leads can review the backlog and assign specific items to various teams by setting the feature team Area path.
In the following view of the Production Planning backlog, all items are assigned to the Production Planning team.
During the planning meeting, participants open each item, make notes, and assign the item to the appropriate team for action. They can select multiple work items and bulk modify the area path.
In the following example, all backlog Stories, Tasks, and Bugs are now assigned to feature teams, while the Features remain assigned to Production Planning.
Add portfolio backlog levels
If you need more than three backlog levels, add them. For more information, see Customize backlogs and boards (Inheritance process).
Track dependencies across teams
The simplest way to track dependencies across teams is to link work items using the Related link type. For time-based dependencies, use the Predecessor or Successor link types. You can then create queries to find work items with these relationships. For more information, see Link work items to objects.
You can use Delivery Plans to track dependencies across projects within an organization. For more information, see Track dependencies in Delivery Plans.
View portfolio feature progress
To view feature progress based on linked requirements, add a rollup column or view a delivery plan. For more information, see Display rollup progress or totals and Review team delivery plans.
To view feature progress based on linked requirements, use the Feature Timeline. For more information, see View portfolio progress with the Feature Timeline.