Our agile sprint lasts three weeks. Say 40*3 = 120 hours. Our boss requires us must to log at least 8 hours every day. We use JIRA to record time. However my current story in the sprint estimated time is about 15 hours, of course it is not enough. Because I have to search online, discuss with team members and watch training videos etc. But even so I still can't log the whole time 120 hours. Be honestly, I am a quick problem solver, maybe I can use 40 hours to finish the project. After I finish my job, I can learn new technology related to the sprint project by myself.
The thing is if I logged more time on the agile project, the burn down chart would be ugly. If I logged less time to the project, my boss would be angry too, why do you spend much time on training rather than direct sprint work?
The terrible thing is that I heard that the performance would be related the time tracking.
So please advise me a right direction for time tracking.
Best Answer
Your company isn't following standard agile practices.
Ideally, you shouldn't be estimating in hours. You should consider estimating in Story Points, which is a measure of how complex the work is. You can then plan your Sprints based on these Story Points and the Velocity (number of completed Story Points) from a few of your most recent previous Sprints. If you happen to finish the work you started, you should be working on the next thing.
The next part is mandatory: the Development Team should be the one estimating, in whatever units you use (hours or Story Points or something else). If you are the one doing the work, you should be involved in estimating it. In fact, everyone who is required to complete the Story needs to be involved in estimating to make sure that the size is appropriate for the estimated amount of work.
As someone who works for a contractor, I do understand the need for tracking time. However, as I mentioned above, you typically estimate in Story Points rather than hours. Typically, a Story that is worth more Story Points will take longer to complete due to the various factors. However, there isn't a direct relationship between Story Points and hours. You should look at logging time against a project or activity, not necessarily a particular Story.
In order to fix these problems, you should first work on getting realistic estimates in place and using those estimates, along with historical data from previous Sprints, to plan future Sprints. The next step is to look at the overall process to make sure that the Development Team is able to commit to a reasonable amount of work for a Sprint and that, if the work is completed ahead of schedule, that additional work can be brought in. Finally, your Sprint Retrospectives should be used to talk about these problems and come up with methods to fix them.