Issue Log Template For Agile

by Santoshi Para

What Is An Issue Log?

The issue log is a document which aims at capturing and documenting any issues which were brought forward during the lifecycle of the project. Managing a project is a complex process, which many liken to a tightrope act: the PM (Project Manager) must keep their balance while taking into consideration all the variables, tasks and the influence of all the team members and stakeholders.

Issue Log Template

At the beginning of the project, the log is blank and is usually filled in by the PM (or PMO). Once the log is filled in, it is used to communicate the issues throughout the project.

Issues Log Structure

Of course, there are many different structures and applications used for capturing the issues, while most of them consist of the following –

  • Issue number
  • The issue itself
  • Priority of the issue (high, medium or low)
  • Assigned to: the owner of the issue
  • Status of the issue
  • Resolution: how was the issue resolved (if at all)
  • Date of resolution

    Issue Log Template

    Project Name: PriceX Issue Log Owner: Catharine Ford Updated on 11-Jan 2018

    No.
    Issue
    Priority
    Assigned to
    Status
    Resolution
    Data Resolved
    1
     03-Jan-2018: The workload on the testers is 130% on average. Hence it doesn’t seem feasible to complete the testing phase on time
    High
    Tamara Crawford
    (HR lead)
    In Process
    2 new testers are being recruited
    Planned to be recruited by 17-Jan-2018
    2
    05-Jan-2018: The plotters aren’t aligned properly and prevent the Engineers from publishing their schematic plans
    High
    Sutton Faustino (IT helpdesk)
    Resolved
    A plotter 3rd party vendor was hired to print the schematics
    09-Jan-2018
    3
    08-Jan-2018: The flight budget has been fully used, and no more flights will be approved unless a new budget will be approved
    Medium
    Marion Bryant (CFO)
    In Process
    We are trying to allocate the organizations budget to fund flights until the end of the project (May 2018)
    19-Jan-2018
    4
    08-Jan-2018: The HR department can’t access the LinkedIn site due to the firewall restrictions
    Low
    Sutton Faustino (IT helpdesk)
    Not started
    The firewall parameters will be adjusted
    Planned on 12-Jan-2018
    5
    11-Jan-2018: The lease on the storage facility has expired. This is where we keep our servers
    Medium
    Marion Bryant (CFO)
    Not started
    Extend the lease by one more year
    Planned on 16-Feb-2018
    6
    11-Jan-2018: The water filters on the cooling machines haven’t been replaced in over 6 months. The regulations state that they must be replaced every 5 months
    Medium
    Harry Grant (Maintenance lead)
    Not started
    The company which sold us the machines has been asked to return all of the filters
    Planned by 31-Jan-2018

    .

    Issue vs. Risk

    All issues are basically risks which weren’t mitigated and have materialized, either because they couldn’t have been resolved or because the risk wasn’t recognized on time. A risk is a problem which hasn’t occurred yet and has a good chance of happening in the future. An issue is something which has happened and must be dealt with soon. In other words: Risks are potential problems, while issues are current ones.

    Problem Resolution Template

    Resolving problems is more of an art form than an exact science, but there are methodologies and processes which enable a structured approach to solving a problem in a project (or in the workplace in general). The following template can assist in doing so –

    Basic Details
    Project Name: Data Transfer
    Project Manager: Howard D. Foster
    Problem raised by Debbie Klein
    Problem raised on the 9th of January
    Reference number: KFS-223-709A
    Division: Infrastructure
    Problem Details
    On the 8th of January, the DM (Data Migration) team initiated its transfer pre-check protocol as the first step of the first TL (Transfer Load), which is planned for the 5th of February. The protocol failed because the new environment wasn’t set up by the infrastructure team. The DM team raised the problem to the project manager (Howard Foster) and requested his assistance in prioritizing this task with the infrastructure team. Ideally, they would like to have the new environment up and running by the 19th of January.
    Resolution of the problem
    Step
    Responsible 
    Due Date
    1. Put together a document which will contain the expected number of users and number of data loads, and send to the infrastructure team
    DM (Data Migration) team lead: Henning Dreer
    12th of January
    2. Plan the required testing environment based on the requirements in step #1
    Infrastructure team lead: Naran Shrivastav
    16th of January
    3. Allocate the required server blades
    Infrastructure DBA (Data Base Administrator): Guy Pichette
    16th of January
    4. Set up the new environment on the servers, according to the plan formulated in step #2
    Infrastructure DBA (Data Base Administrator): Toby Longmire
    18th of January
    5. Test the new environment with the data migration team
    Infrastructure team lead: Naran Shrivastav
    18th of January
    6. Transfer the legacy loads to the new environment and make sure the response times are as requested
    Data migration team lead: Henning Dreer
    19th of January

     

    .Issue Log in Agile Projects 

    Agile Issue Log Template

    When managing a project while using an agile methodology, each issue that arises must be attached to a sprint, and the feature which is affected must be detailed in the log. Besides these two columns, the log consists of more or less the same ones as a standard log. The owner of the log is usually the sprint master, who updates it on a weekly basis and follows up during the daily meetings. The attached Excel file presents an example of such a log.

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