TM-04
Story Summary Suggests an Analysis or Research Task
Type Misclassification
Default severity: medium
Product BacklogPrioritizationQualityBusiness Value
What it detects
A Story or Feature has a summary suggesting analysis, investigation, research, or design work that produces no directly deliverable functionality — it is a spike, discovery, or enabler. Tracking analyses as stories conflates planning work with delivery, inflates story count, and distorts velocity. Extends and formalises WD-03 with richer keyword detection.
Detection formula
analysis_keywords = config.tm.analysis_keywords // defaults (EN): \[\'analyse\', \'analyze\', \'analysis\', \'research\', \'investigate\', \'investigation\', \'spike\', \'explore\', \'discovery\', \'design\', \'prototype\', \'proof of concept\', \'PoC\', \'feasibility\', \'workshop\', \'review\', \'audit\', \'assessment\', \'evaluate\', \'evaluation\', \'define\', \'specify\', \'document\'\] // defaults (SK/CZ): \[\'analýza\', \'analyzovať\', \'výskum\', \'preskúmať\', \'špecifikovať\', \'navrhnúť\', \'dizajn\', \'prototyp\', \'posúdiť\', \'zdokumentovať\', \'prieskum\'\] IF issue.type IN config.workflow.story_types AND summary MATCHES any(analysis_keywords) THEN FLAG probable_analysis_or_spikeExamples in practice
- A team shows a story or feature has a summary suggesting analysis, investigation, research, or design work that produces no directly deliverable functionality while analysis keywords is set to see 5l.2.
- Example signal: A Story or Feature has a summary suggesting analysis, investigation, research, or design work that produces no directly deliverable functionality — it is a spike, discovery, or enabler.
Suggested response
Retype or rewrite summaries so issue types match the actual work described.
Coaching playbook
Symptom
A Story or Feature has a summary suggesting analysis, investigation, research, or design work that produces no directly deliverable functionality — it is a spike, discovery, or enabler. Tracking analyses as stories conflates planning work with delivery, inflates story count, and distorts velocity. Extends and formalises WD-03 with richer keyword detection.
Why it matters
When "Story Summary Suggests an Analysis or Research Task" keeps appearing, the team is signalling a repeatable process gap. Left unexamined, the pattern hides where work really stalls and makes improvement metrics harder to trust.
What you can achieve
Retype or rewrite summaries so issue types match the actual work described.
Facilitation questions
- What system change would stop "Story Summary Suggests an Analysis or Research Task" from firing again?
- What do the cited issues have in common — same root cause or same workaround?
- Who owns the two-week experiment and how will we verify on the next import?
Run this rule against your own tracker data with Flow Analyzer.