A "spike" is a task focused on resolving uncertainties or gaining information, rather than creating a shippable product. It's a strategy used when we can't confidently estimate a user story without first doing some groundwork.
Here are some reasons why you might need to conduct a spike:
- User stories that are large and defy breakdown, often due to uncertainty.
- Implementational uncertainty surrounding a user story.
- The inability to estimate a user story confidently for some reason.
In these cases, we create a spike ticket in ClickUp. Your spike ticket should contain:
- A description of the spike; what does it involve?
- An owner; who is responsible for conducting the spike?
- Outcomes, typically 'a set of estimated user stories' or 'a decision about which technology to use'.
- A time-box; the maximum time we want to spend on the spike to achieve the outcomes, usually measured in hours.