Comprehensive Guide to New Features and Enhancements

Comprehensive Guide to New Features and Enhancements

We are thrilled to announce the launch of one of the most significant updates in DevStride. This update introduces transformative changes aimed at enhancing your experience and improving your workflow. Below is an overview of the new features and enhancements included in this release, along with detailed instructions on how to navigate and utilize these updates effectively.

Introduction to the Update

Major Changes Overview

• Unified Navigation for Cycles and Boards: The traditional separate navigation items for cycles and boards have been merged into a streamlined folder structure. This change allows for more flexible organization of Kanban boards within arbitrary folders.
• Cadences Introduction: A new feature called "cadences" has been introduced to manage time boxes for cyclical planning and execution, replacing the previous cycles and boards setup.
• Enhanced Organizational Structure: Teams can now be organized more intuitively within the new folder structure, allowing for clear hierarchies and relationships between different planning and execution levels.

Navigating the New Structure

1. Accessing New Boards: The main navigation now includes a "New Boards" item, showcasing a folder-based view. Initial folders are pre-populated based on your teams, which can be reorganized to fit your planning hierarchy.
2. Utilizing Cadences: Cadences are now where you will manage your time boxes for all cyclical planning and execution, offering a centralized way to align team activities with organizational cadences.

Organizational Improvements

• Data Migration and Reorganization: Your existing team structure has been migrated into the new folder system. Depending on your organizational needs, you may wish to reorganize these folders to better reflect your planning and execution hierarchy.
• Program and Sprint Planning Integration: The update facilitates a more integrated approach to program and sprint planning, allowing for a clearer understanding of the relationship between high-level commitments and sprint-level activities.
• Enhanced Kanban Board Functionality: Kanban boards now support more granular control over statuses and lanes at the folder level, enabling customization that reflects the diverse needs of different teams.

New Features and Functionalities

• Two-Dimensional View for Planning: A new two-dimensional view has been introduced, allowing for dynamic representation of work items across different dimensions, such as assignee and priority.
• Dependency Visualization: The update includes the ability to visualize dependencies directly on the Kanban board, including external dependencies, enhancing the clarity of inter-team and intra-team dependencies.
• Improved Navigation and Editing: Enhancements to the user interface include the ability to navigate and edit items using keyboard shortcuts, offering an experience similar to spreadsheet navigation.

How to Get Started

1. Explore the New Board Navigation: Familiarize yourself with the new folder-based structure and cadences through the "New Boards" main navigation item.
2. Reorganize Your Teams and Boards: Consider how your teams and boards can be reorganized to take full advantage of the new hierarchical structure.
3. Adjust to New Cadences: Set up and adjust your cadences to align with your cyclical planning and execution processes.
4. Utilize New Views and Dependency Visualization: Experiment with the two-dimensional view and dependency visualization features to enhance your planning and execution visibility.

Support and Feedback

• Direct Support: For any questions or support needs, you can reach out directly to us at phil@devstride.com or our general support at info@devstride.com.
• Report Issues or Contact Us: For the fastest response, use the in-app question mark icon to report an issue or contact us. This method ensures that your query reaches our entire team promptly.

We hope you enjoy the new capabilities and features this update brings to your DevStride experience. Your feedback is invaluable to us, so please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions, suggestions, or feedback. Let's stride forward together with these exciting new enhancements!