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 –

  1. Issue number
  2. The issue itself
  3. Priority of the issue (high, medium or low)
  4. Assigned to: the owner of the issue
  5. Status of the issue
  6. Resolution: how was the issue resolved (if at all)
  7. 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.

 

Download This Template

Download Project Starter Kit