Understanding and Creating Dashboards
Dashboards in Azure Boards are powerful tools for visualizing your team's progress, tracking key metrics, and sharing insights. They offer a flexible way to present information from work items, test results, and other project data.
Why Use Dashboards?
- Visibility: Gain a clear overview of project health, sprint progress, and team performance.
- Collaboration: Share real-time data with stakeholders and team members.
- Customization: Tailor dashboards to meet specific team needs and reporting requirements.
- Data-Driven Decisions: Use insights from charts and widgets to make informed choices.
Key Concepts
- Widgets: The building blocks of dashboards. Azure Boards offers a variety of built-in widgets for charts, queries, and taskboards.
- Team Dashboards: Dashboards shared by all members of a team.
- Personal Dashboards: Dashboards visible only to you.
- Queries: The foundation for many widgets, allowing you to filter and retrieve specific work items.
Creating Your First Dashboard
Step 1: Navigate to Dashboards
From your Azure DevOps project, select Dashboards from the left-hand navigation pane.
Step 2: Add a New Dashboard
Click the New Dashboard button. You'll be prompted to provide a name and description for your dashboard. Choose whether it will be a Team Dashboard or a Personal Dashboard.
Step 3: Add Widgets
Once your dashboard is created, click the Add widget button. A gallery of available widgets will appear. Common widgets include:
- Chart for work items: Visualize data from query results (e.g., burndown charts, velocity charts).
- Query Results: Display a list of work items based on a saved query.
- Taskboard: Show the current state of tasks for a sprint.
- Lead Time and Cycle Time: Track the time it takes for work items to progress.
- Markdown: Add custom text, links, and images.
Select the widgets you need and click Add. You can configure each widget after adding it.
Step 4: Customize and Arrange
Drag and drop widgets to rearrange them on your dashboard. You can resize widgets to fit your layout. Click the cog icon on a widget to configure its settings, such as selecting a specific query or chart type.
Step 4: Save and Share
Your dashboard will automatically save as you make changes. Team dashboards are automatically shared with your team members.
Popular Dashboard Widgets and Examples
Sprint Burndown
Tracks remaining work in a sprint. Essential for monitoring progress towards sprint goals.
Velocity Chart
Shows the amount of work completed by the team over several sprints. Helps in capacity planning.
Work Item Count
Displays the number of work items in a query, categorized by state, assignment, or other fields.
Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD)
Visualizes work in progress, lead time, and throughput. Great for identifying bottlenecks.
Markdown Widget
Use this for project information, links to important resources, or team agreements.
Tips for Effective Dashboards
- Keep it focused: Avoid clutter. Create different dashboards for different purposes (e.g., sprint tracking, release overview, team health).
- Use clear titles: Label widgets and dashboards descriptively.
- Leverage queries: Well-defined queries are the backbone of insightful charts.
- Involve your team: Ask your team what information they find most valuable and incorporate their feedback.
- Regularly review: Update your dashboards as your project evolves.
By mastering dashboards in Azure Boards, you can significantly enhance your team's visibility, communication, and overall efficiency. Explore the available widgets and customize them to fit your unique workflow.