Task: A small, specific piece of work, often part of a user story.
Example
For the password reset story, your tasks are "create the reset email template" and "add the reset API endpoint".
Why Task matters for IT interns
Tasks are what you will mostly work on and update as an intern.
Where you will hear it
You will hear this term in team routines such as stand-ups, sprint planning, and retrospectives. If someone uses it and you are not sure what they mean in your project, it is completely fine to ask; every team uses terms a little differently.
Related terms
- Sprint: A short, fixed period — usually one to four weeks — in which the team aims to finish a planned set of work.
- Sprint Backlog: The items the team has committed to in the current sprint, plus the plan for completing them.
- Sprint Planning: A meeting at the start of a sprint where the team decides which work to take on and roughly how to do it.
- Sprint Review: A meeting at the end of a sprint where the team shows the finished work to stakeholders and collects feedback.
- Story Points: A relative number teams use to estimate how much effort or complexity a story involves.
- User Story: A short description of a feature from the user’s point of view, often written as "As a [user], I want…
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Related guides
Frequently asked questions
What is Task?
A small, specific piece of work, often part of a user story.
What is an example of Task?
For the password reset story, your tasks are "create the reset email template" and "add the reset API endpoint".
Why does Task matter for IT interns?
Tasks are what you will mostly work on and update as an intern.
Explore more internship terms
The IT Internship Glossary explains 199 terms you will hear before and during your internship, with simple definitions and real examples.
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About the author
Dhaivat has 16+ years of experience in the IT industry, working on AI and cloud technologies, project delivery, and engineering leadership. He has interviewed and mentored many interns, wrote The Lost Intern, and runs the non-commercial Career Impact Initiative, mentoring students for free.