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Timeboxes
- Magdalena Żaczek
- Anna Ciepłota
Introduction
Timeboxes define consecutive timeframes used for work planning. In BigPicture, they represent sprints, iterations, increments, and stages.
There are two types of timeboxes:
Automatic (timeboxes synchronized with Jira sprints)
Manual (timeboxes added manually. The timeboxes you can add depend on the box type settings)
Set box type sequentiality
To prevent the period of consecutive timeboxes from overlapping, set the box type's sequentiality to Sequential on the box type configuration page (Administration > Box types > click the box type name > General > Advanced > Sequentiality).
Automatic timeboxes (synced with Jira sprints)
Before you start working with the Board module, you need to configure timeboxes first. Here’s a short video showing you the process.
To create timeboxes based on Jira sprints from a selected Jira board:
Open the Board module.
Click Synchronize Jira Sprints.
Select the Jira board to synchronize and the box type (default: Iteration).
Click Create.
The Jira board is now synchronized with the Board module, and timeboxes have been created.
Important: If consecutive sprints overlap, the start date of the second sprint in the sequence will be postponed. If there are no sprint dates, they will be filled in based on the previous sprint in the sequence.
Add missing sprint dates in Jira
When Jira sprints do not have dates, timeboxes cannot be created. In this case, you will see the message in the screenshot below.
You can fix it by adding the dates for the first Jira sprint and running the synchronization again.
Use Jira boards to create automatic timeboxes
You can choose a Jira board to create timeboxes automatically. The board you choose will be then automatically added to the scope of the box.
Thanks to this, you can be sure that all the tasks from the Jira board are in the box. This approach is especially helpful if your Jira boards are connected to different projects, and, for that reason, they have complex task structures.
Switch from automatically to manually added timeboxes
If you set synchronization of timeboxes based on Jira sprints, timeboxes are created automatically.
You cannot create the next timeboxes manually unless you change the settings (Box configuration > Tasks > Scope definition > Timeboxes).
To switch from automatically to manually added timeboxes:
IMPORTANT: This action will turn off the synchronization of newly created Jira sprints to BigPicture, and enable the creation of iterations in the Board module.
You can adjust synchronization settings based on the field mapping, including specific rules for teams. After the change, existing timeboxes will remain unaffected - sprints changes won't result in timebox creation/deletion.
Go to Box configuration > Tasks > Scope definition > Timeboxes.
Select Manually created timeboxes.
Click Save.
After switching from automatically to manually added timeboxes, you can create timeboxes manually from the Scope definition page or directly in the Board module. Learn more in the Manually added timeboxes section.
Manually added timeboxes
To start working with the Board module, you need to configure timeboxes.
Create first timeboxes
To create first timeboxes manually:
Open the Board module.
Click Create new timeboxes and select the template.
The drop-down menu displays possible options based on the box type settings. To change the box type settings, click Manage templates.Add as many timeboxes as you need.
Click Create.
Timeboxes are visible in the Board module.
Create next timeboxes
If you already have timeboxes and want to create next timeboxes, you can:
Create next timeboxes on the Scope definition page
Create next timeboxes directly in the Board module
Method 1 (Scope definition page):
Go to Box configuration > Tasks > Scope definition > Timeboxes.
Use the right arrow to find the most recent timebox.
Click on the + icon next to the most recent timebox.
Add as many timeboxes as you need.
Click Create.
New timeboxes are visible.
Method 2 (the Board module):
Go to the Board module.
Use the right arrow to find the most recent timebox.
Click on the + icon next to the most recent timebox.
Add as many timeboxes as you need.
Click Create.
New timeboxes are visible.
Next timebox template
If you want a new subsequent timebox to have its scope definition set based on the selected timebox:
Enable the Next timebox template toggle switch.
Click on the cog button and define if the value name convention will be based on:
Values of this timebox - sprint names will be generated based on the setup of this timebox
New box name - sprint names will be generated based on the newly created box
Project teams with separate sprints
If project teams have separate sprints:
Go to the Scope definition page.
Tick Each team has a different mapping with value.
Enter the sprint name and data for each team.
Click Save.
Actions on timeboxes
You can perform the following actions on timeboxes (available on the Scope definition page and in the Board module):
Action | Screenshot |
|---|---|
Navigate the timeline | Use the arrows to navigate the timeline:  |
Zoom in/out | 
|
Go to today’s date | 
|
More actions
| Click on the More actions menu to:
|