Frequently Asked Questions

<p> </p> <h1>Need help with Zen? Check out our top FAQs.</h1> <p> </p> <h2>Lean Ideas</h2> <h3>What is lean?</h3> <p>Lean thinking originated with Taiichi Ohno, known as the father of the Toyota Production System, who thought that anything that consumed resources but did not create value for the customer was waste. At the heart of lean thinking is a fundamental idea: eliminating waste. Lean thinking is a way to specify value by creating actions in a sequence that leads to continuous improvement (see "what is a value stream?"). You can do more with less and give customers exactly what they want (Womack & Jones, 2003).</p> <p>When applying this principle to software, eliminating waste means getting rid of partially done work, extra processes and features, minimizing task switching and waiting, limiting motion, and removing defects (Poppendieck & Poppendieck, 2003).</p> <h3>How does Zen fit with the principles of lean?</h3> <p>To get the full understanding of this see our<a href="http://agilezen.com/tour" target="_blank"> feature tour</a>. In essence, Zen allows teams to map their value stream, create a pull system using kanban cards, increase visibility of the development process, and receive feedback about efficiency. This reduces waste and leads to "kaizen", incremental and continuous improvement.</p> <h3>What is a value stream?</h3> <p>A value stream is the specific activities required for the creation of product (Womack & Jones, 2003). This value stream can be mapped into sequential phases to show all the activities necessary to create the product. It is a good way to look for waste in your process (Poppendieck & Poppendieck, 2003). Zen allows you to create a value stream map using our process page. You can customize the number and names of the phases in your process. By determining the value stream that works best for you, your team can eliminate unnecessary steps and increase flow.</p> <h3>What is a kanban card? What is a kanban board?</h3> <p>In the Toyota Production System, a kanban is a card that is used to signal action in your process (Womack & Jones, 2003) and was typically used as a piece of paper that gave information about production (Ohno, 1988). In Zen, the kanban cards represent some unit of work such as a task that needs to be completed, but the card can be tailored to fit your needs. A kanban board is the board where the cards are attached. It is broken down into several columns that represent all the phases a card must go through before it can be considered done.</p> <h3>What is a pull system?</h3> <p>Pull is a process by which activities in the earlier stages of the value stream signal the need for activity later in the process. When work is completed it moves downstream to the next stage, and when someone needs work, they pull a card from an early phase of the value stream (Womack & Jones, 2003). There are generally limits to how many cards can be in a particular phase (though Zen allows you to customize and change this feature) so that work is continuously flowing through your process.</p> <h3>What are work-in-progress (WIP) limits?</h3> <p>Because we want a flow of work through the system, you can limit the work in each phase of your value stream. These WIP limits help you focus on the task at hand. Zen alerts you when you reach or exceed your limit.</p> <h3>What is a bottleneck?</h3> <p>A bottleneck shows up anytime flow is disturbed in your process. It might be created when things are not moving or stalled or when there are vacant spots in your value stream.</p> <p> </p> <h2>Payments</h2> <h3>What form of payment do you accept?</h3> <p>We accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express for monthly or yearly subscriptions.  We do not accept checks, purchase orders, or other forms of payment for monthly service. However, we accept purchase orders (net 30) for year subscriptions of pro, plus, or unlimited plans. If you would like to pay by purchase order please contact us at sales@agilezen.com and we will set up the account for you.</p> <h3>Can I pay for a year of service in advance?</h3> <p>Yes. If you pay for a year of service on any of our plans, you get one month free if you are paying via credit card. All you have to do is specify that you would like to pay for a year of service when buying the product or upgrading your plan. You can also pay for a year of our pro, plus, or unlimited plans via purchase order, though there is no discount for this. Please contact sales@agilezen.com to pay via purchase order.</p> <h3>How much does Zen cost per month?</h3> <p>The cost per month depends on the plan you select. You can check out our different plans on the <a href="http://agilezen.com/pricing" target="_blank">pricing</a> page.</p> <h3>How often will I be billed?</h3> <p>If you pay for a year in advance, you will be billed for a year of your selected plan on the day you sign up, less the price of one month of service if you are paying by credit card. If you would like to be billed each month, your credit card will be charged for one month on the day you sign up, and it will be billed every 30 days following unless you cancel the account.</p> <h3>How do I update or change my credit card information?</h3> <p>On your dashboard, just click on change billing and you can edit your credit card information.</p> <h3>How do I check when my next payment is due?</h3> <p>When you sign in to Zen, your dashboard page will tell you how many days you have left in your current month and when your next payment will be automatically withdrawn from your credit card account.</p> <h3>What is your refund policy?</h3> <p>We offer a money back guarantee for the first 30 days of service if you pay for service via credit card. If you buy a plan and are not satisfied, we will fully refund your money.  After the first 30 days, we no longer offer refunds for partial months of service. There are no refunds for accounts purchased via purchase order. For further details of our refund policy, please refer to our <a href="http://agilezen.com/policies/billing" target="_blank">billing policy</a>. </p> <p> </p> <h2>Account/Dashboard</h2> <h3>How do I add my picture to my account?</h3> <p>We integrate with <a href="http://gravatar.com" target="_blank">Gravatar</a>. If you would like your picture to show up at the top of your board, just sign up to their service using the same email you use for Zen. You can then upload your picture and it will appear on your board and stories.</p> <h3>What is shown in the dashboard?</h3> <p>It's your personal homepage with Zen, where you can manage your accounts. This page lists your account information including your plan, your next billing cycle, and the total number of projects and collaborators you currently have and how many are allowed under your current plan. You can add a new project by clicking on "new project" and typing in the name and description of that project. </p> <p>Each project that you have access to is listed on this page. The project name is listed along with the number of collaborators, the number of stories, and who owns the project. In order to begin work in a particular project, click on the name of that project. You will be directed to the board of that project.</p> <p>You can also add a new account by clicking "new account." With Zen you can have more than one account with a maximum of one free account. Zen allows you to have separate accounts to fit your needs. For example, you can manage a personal account with your credit card information for side projects, open source work, or anything else and a company account with the company's credit card information.</p> <p>If you would like to delete your account, you can also do so from this page. You can also upgrade or downgrade your account at anytime by clicking on "change plan" from this page.</p> <h3>Where can I find the terms of service, billing policy, and privacy policy for Zen?</h3> <p>Click on the names of the policies to view them: <a href="http://agilezen.com/policies/terms-of-service" target="_blank">Terms of Service</a>, <a href="http://agilezen.com/policies/billing" target="_blank">Billing Policy</a>, or <a href="http://agilezen.com/policies/privacy" target="_blank">Privacy Policy</a>. There are links to these policies at the bottom of each page. You can also find these policies on the signup page, and you must agree to them before buying the service.</p> <h3>What is the difference between levels of accounts?</h3> <p>Different accounts have different features, so that you can pick the plan that works best for you and your team. The free account allows you to create one project, so you can get started using Zen with no obligation. The personal account allows you to collaborate with 3 others, have up to 3 projects, and upload 3 GB of attachments. Our pro plan has 10 collaborators, 10 projects, 10 GB of file storage, and SSL. The plus plan has 20 collaborators, 20 projects, and 20 GB of storage, as well as SSL.  The unlimited plan has an unlimited amount of projects, collaborators, and file storage, as well as SSL. To compare plans directly, check out the <a href="http://agilezen.com/pricing" target="_blank">pricing</a> page.</p> <h3>How do I update my profile?</h3> <p>You can edit any information in your profile by going to the settings page, updating the necessary information, and saving your changes.</p> <h3>How do I cancel my account?</h3> <p>You can cancel your account anytime by visiting your dashboard page and clicking on "delete account." An email or phone call is not sufficient for canceling an account.</p> <h3>How do I upgrade/downgrade my account?</h3> <p>You can do this by going into your dashboard and clicking on "change plan." You can upgrade to any plan and will be able to use the additional features of that plan right away. If you want to downgrade your account and a plan is highlighted in red on this screen, you must delete projects or collaborators before you will be able to downgrade to the highlighted plan. Be sure that you also delete pending invitations to collaborators when trying to downgrade your account.</p> <h3>How do I change my password?</h3> <p>You can change your password by going to the dashboard of your account and clicking on settings. The change password button will be found in the upper right corner.</p> <h3>How do I hide hints in my project? How do I display hints?</h3> <p>You can go to the settings page from your dashboard and disable hints from there or when the hints are displayed at the bottom of the screen, just click on "hide hints." If you would like to display the hints again, click on settings and preferences and check the box for "show hints."</p> <p> </p> <h2>People</h2> <h3>What information is found on the people page of a project?</h3> <p>From this page you can manage the roles associated with a project. You can add roles, edit the permissions of each role, and add members of your team to a particular role on this page.</p> <h3>What is a collaborator?</h3> <p>A collaborator is someone (other than yourself) that participates in any of your projects. There are limits to the amount of collaborators that you can have based on the plan that you purchase. This limit is shared across all projects.  You can see the total number of collaborators on your account on your dashboard. You can also see the number of collaborators in a particular project from the dashboard page.  </p> <h3>What can a collaborator do in a project?</h3> <p>This depends on the permissions that you create for each role. Once a person accepts an invitation to a project, you should assign them a role and edit the permissions of that role. You can decide whether the collaborator has read-only access or the ability to add stories.</p> <h3>How do I add a collaborator to a project?</h3> <p>You can add a collaborator to a project by going to the people page of the project and clicking on "add member" in the top left corner. This will pull up a box where an invitation can be sent out via email to the person you would like to add to the project. Once that person is part of a project, you can add them to a particular role by dragging their name from the team column on the left to a particular role on the right.</p> <h3>How do I delete a collaborator from a project?</h3> <p>You delete a collaborator on the people screen of that project. There's an option to delete the person by clicking on the "x" by their name in the list of your team members.</p> <h3>How do I add roles to projects?</h3> <p>When you sign in to your account, under the project that you want to add roles to, click on people. This will take you to the page where the roles for the project are listed. You can add roles to a project on the people page by clicking on "add role" in the right top corner. You can then name that role. To edit permissions for that role, click on the "edit permissions" button associated with that role and check the box next to the features you would like that role to be able to see and use.</p> <h3>How do I edit the names of roles?</h3> <p>To edit the name of the role, simply double click on the name and type in a new one.</p> <h3>How do I change the permissions of a particular project role?</h3> <p>Click on the "edit permissions" button associated with that role and check the box next to the features you would like that role to be able to see and use.</p> <h3>How do I remove someone from a role in the project or change their role?</h3> <p>On the people page of your project, you can drag the person's name from a role and place it in the team column on the left to remove a person from that role or you can drag the person's name from the current role to a new role.</p> <h2></h2> <h2>Projects</h2> <h3>What information is on the homepage of a project?</h3> <p>From this page you can reassign or delete a project. There is also space for documentation of information related to the project. You can use this space to make a list of the ways that your team uses the software. For example, you can state what the different colors are used for, what types of estimates you use if any, and any other information that is important to your team. You can also see all the recent activity that took place in that project.</p> <h3>What type of information would I put in the documentation section of a project?</h3> <p>This space can be used to list out information specific to your team such as what the different colors are used for, what types of estimates/sizes you use if any, and any other information that is important to your team. This will help to keep everyone on the same page.</p> <h3>How do I create a project?</h3> <p>When you sign in to your account, you will see your dashboard. You can add a new project from this screen. If you are already in another project, click on the Zen logo at the top to go back to the dashboard and create a new project.</p> <h3>How do I change the name of a project?</h3> <p>You can change the name of a project by going to the homepage of the project, double click on the title, edit the text, and save the changes.</p> <h3>How do I reassign a project?</h3> <p>You can reassign a project by going to that project's homepage and clicking on reassign project.</p> <h3>How do I delete a project?</h3> <p>You can delete a project by going to that project's homepage and clicking on delete project.</p> <h3>What if I want more projects than my plan allows?</h3> <p>If you find that you need more projects than your plan allows, you can upgrade your account at any time. If you upgrade, you will be charged the pro-rated difference between the two plans on your credit card.  You will be able to use the benefits of the new plan immediately.</p> <h3>What information is found on the work screen of a project?</h3> <p>The work screen lets you slice and dice your stories in table format. To sort by a column, click the header. To sort by multiple columns, hold <strong>shift</strong> and click each column in succession. You can also add stories from this page by clicking on "add stories" at the top of the screen.</p> <p> </p> <h2>Kanban/Story Cards and Board</h2> <h3>What is a kanban card? What is a kanban board?</h3> <p>In the Toyota Production System, a kanban is a card that is used to signal action in your process (Womack & Jones, 2003) and was typically used as a piece of paper that gave information about production (Ohno, 1988). In Zen, the kanban cards represent some unit of work such as a user story, but the card can be tailored to fit your needs. A kanban board is the board where the cards are attached. It is broken down into several columns that represent all the phases a card must go through before it can be considered done.</p> <h3>How do I create a card?</h3> <p>After signing in to a project, go to the board and click on add stories at the top of your screen. Type in your information and you can choose to add the story to your backlog or hang it on your board. You can also add a story from any of the other screens in your project as well by clicking add stories.</p> <h3>How do I move a card from my backlog? How do I move a card on my board?</h3> <p>After creating a card, if you would like to move it from your backlog and into the first phase of your value stream, click on the board view. On the left side of the screen, click on backlog to view the cards in your backlog. You can drag a card to any place in your value stream that has an open space (based on your work-in-progress limits). You can drag cards between the phases on the board view.</p> <h3>How do I mark a card as ready to be moved from a phase?</h3> <p>When a card is ready to be moved from one phase in your process to another, simply click on that card in your board view and click the box for ready. You can also click on the magnifying glass next to the number of the card to see the story focus page, where you can also mark the card as ready. This will alert other members of your team that this card is ready to be moved via our messaging system. It will also highlight the card with a thicker green border and a checkmark near the card number. If you hover over the checkmark on the card, it will say that it is ready to be moved to the next phase.</p> <h3>What is story size? How do I add a size to a card? Do my estimates have to be numeric?</h3> <p>The story size field can be used as an estimate. When you create a story you can add a size to it. The size can be a numeric value, t-shirt sizing, or other value that distinguished difficulty, such as hours. Adding this value is optional. If you do use sizing for your card, it would be a good idea to keep track of the differences in your documentation on the project's homepage.</p> <h3>How do I change the color of a card?</h3> <p>You can select the color of a card when you create it, but you can also change the color of the card anytime. In your board view, click on the card and options will drop down at the bottom of the card. Click on color to pick the color you would like to use on the card. You can also click on the magnifying glass to go to the story focus screen to perform this action also. Coloring your card can help to distinguish different types of tasks. Zen is flexible, so you can use coloring for whatever purpose works best for your team.</p> <h3>How do I add tags to a card?</h3> <p>You can add tags when a story is created. Simply add as many tags as you like and separate them with commas. You can also add a tag from the board by clicking on the card. The options will drop down at the bottom of the card. Click on tag and a box will appear so you can add your tag to the card. Click OK to save that tag. You can click on any tag to delete that tag from your card. With Zen you can use tagging for whatever purpose works best for your team.</p> <h3>How do I attach a file?</h3> <p>You can attach files from the board view, by clicking on the card and then the paperclip. Click on attach files. You can add as many files to the card as you like and you can upload multiple files at once. This option can also be performed from the story focus screen.</p> <h3>How do I view/download attachments?</h3> <p>You can view attachments by clicking on the story on your board and clicking on the paperclip. You will be able to see the name and type of file attached to the card. Click on the file to download it. You can also view and download attachments from the story focus screen.</p> <h3>How do I examine additional information about one story?</h3> <p>By clicking on the magnifying glass of the story (hover over the number and it will appear next to it) from the board or work screens, you can see this story focus page. This page displays the story text, and you can perform many actions including adding or editing color, tags, size, and attachments. You can also mark a story as ready or blocked. The chart of your phases shows where that story is in your value stream. Other information specific to the story is also on this page including when the story was created, when it was started, and when it was finished. It also gives metrics associated with that story including cycle time, lead time, work time, wait time, and efficiency. The history tab on this page keeps a record of what has happened with this story including when it was moved and by whom.</p> <h3>How do I assign a card to a different person?</h3> <p>Click on the name of the person associated with a card and you will see a dropdown menu with the names of your team members. Click on the team member to assign the card to them.</p> <h3>What is a blocked story? How do I block a story?</h3> <p>A blocked story is any story that needs additional attention from your team before it can be moved from a phase. You can block a story by click on it in your board view and checking the blocked page. It will highlight the card with a thick red border. When a story is blocked, a box will appear prompting you to give a reason why the story is blocked. If you click on the card again and click on unblock, you can unblock the card when the issue has been addressed. You can also block a story from the story focus screen.</p> <p> </p> <h2>Process/Value Stream</h2> <h3>What is a value stream?</h3> <p>A value stream is the specific activities required for the creation of product (Womack & Jones, 2003). This value stream can be mapped into sequential phases to show all the activities necessary to create the product. It is a good way to look for waste in your process (Poppendieck & Poppendieck, 2003). Zen allows you to create a value stream map and determine the number and names of the phases in your process. By determining the value stream that works best for you, your team can eliminate unnecessary steps and increase flow.</p> <h3>Where can I examine or edit my value stream?</h3> <p>The process screen allows you to define your <em>value stream</em>, or the phases that a story must travel through to go from concept to completion. Click a phase to edit it, or drag the phases to reorder them. The changes you make here will be reflected on your project's kanban board. Note that you cannot move the phases at the ends of your value stream, but you can rename them if you like. If you reorder the phases, be sure to save your changes by clicking on the "save changes" button at the top of the page.</p> <h3>How do I add a phase to my value stream?</h3> <p>From the process page of a project, click on add a new phase. You can then name your new phase and provide a description and work-in-progress limit if you want to. Be sure to save your changes.</p> <h3>How do I edit or delete a phase from my value stream?</h3> <p>On the process page, click on the phase you would like to edit or delete. You can change the name, description, or phase limit at the bottom of the page. If you would like to delete the project, click on it and hit "delete phase" at the top of the page. Be sure to save your changes.</p> <h3>How do I move phases of my value stream?</h3> <p>On the process page of your project, you can re-order your phases simply by dragging them.</p> <h3>What is work-in-progress? Why would I want to limit it? How do I do it?</h3> <p>Limiting work-in-progress means setting a maximum number of stories allowed in that phase. Limiting work-in-progress helps to create continuous flow of work through your value stream. By clicking on the phase on the process screen, you can add a limit to that phase.</p> <p> </p> <h2>Messaging</h2> <h3>What forms of messaging does Zen offer?</h3> <p>Zen allows you to collaborate more effectively with your team by sending messages whenever something is updated in your project. We offer email notification and IMs.</p> <h3>What IM networks does Zen support?</h3> <p>Zen supports AIM, Google Talk, Jabber/XMPP, Windows Live Messenger, and ICQ.</p> <h3>How do I set my message notifications?</h3> <p>You can add, edit, or delete message notifications by clicking on settings, and then notifications.</p> <p> </p> <h2>Charts/Performance</h2> <h3>Where do I find charts and performance information?</h3> <p>Your project's performance display helps you track key performance indicators illustrating your efficiency and progress over time. You can use these charts to tune your value stream to reduce waste in your process. To examine your performance, click on the performance tab in your project.</p> <h3>What information can be found in the charts generated by Zen?</h3> <p>Zen has several charts that measure key performance indicators including cycle time, lead time, work time, wait time, and efficiency.</p> <h3>What is the phase breakdown?</h3> <p>This is a chart on the performance page of your project that shows the number of stories in each phase of your value stream.</p> <h3>What is cycle time?</h3> <p>Cycle time is the amount of time on average that it takes to go from concept to the deployment of the software. It can show waste in your system. Often, when too many things are in your process at a time, this value is increased. This helps you to determine how fast you can reliably deliver to your customers. (Poppendieck & Poppendieck, 2003).</p> <h3>What is lead time?</h3> <p>The time your customer has to wait from when they request something and when the order or the software is deployed (Womack & Jones, 2003).</p> <h3>What is work time?</h3> <p>Work time is a measure of the amount of time a story is on a board averaged across all stories in a project.</p> <h3>What is wait time?</h3> <p>Wait time is calculated as the cumulative amount of time a story spends marked ready or blocked throughout its time on the board. This number is then averaged across all stories in a project. This is one way to identify waste in your process because it is telling you the time it takes for handoffs in your process.</p> <h3>What is efficiency?</h3> <p>Efficiency is calculated as (work time - wait time)/work time. If you continue to use the same process over several months you can compare efficiency over time and determine whether your process is improving.</p> 2009-11-23T15:34:07-05:00

66994

367 81958

false

true

Nicole Kohari

4143557

Frequently Asked Questions

2010-01-27T11:11:51-05:00