How do you indiate readiness to transition to the next workflow state without intermediate states?

Question

Hi folks,

I'm seeking ideas on how to keep my workflow more concise while also bringing additional clarity.

In this case, let's say my workflow is ToDo => Doing => Done. Before moving from ToDo to Doing, there's a lot of prep work that goes into being "ready to Do". I want to avoid a workflow with states like ToDo => Ready to Do => Doing => Ready for Done => Done. In other tools I've used before, this was a simple indicator or checkbox, but Jira doesn't offer that functionality and the ticket I found recommending a "ready to pull" feature was closed.

How have you taken this use case and provided an indicator of readiness for transition without creating a state for it?

Allan Maxwell · Answer

Great question!  In order to understand the flow of value through your system, you need to understand the underlying processes and bottlenecks.  Jira Align's native "states" are typically an insufficient representation of your processes to achieve this.  For this reason, we offer the ability to create custom Process Flows.  If you are interested in flow-based metrics, you should consider modelly your actual processes as Jira Align Process Flows.

Notice each work item will have both a State and a Process Step.

Additionally, you will have a Process-base Kanban board in your various backlogs.

Check out the Atlassian Community How Jira Align Supports Flow Metrics article for more information

Hitesh_ym5avq · Answer

One approach you could consider is using labels or tags to indicate the readiness of a task to move from ToDo to Doing. For example, you could create a "Ready" or "Prepared" label and apply it to tasks that have completed the necessary prep work and are ready to be moved to the Doing column.

Another option is to use a checklist within the task itself to track the completion of the necessary prep work. Once all the items on the checklist are completed, you can then move the task to the Doing column.

Additionally, you could use a custom field in Jira to track the readiness status of a task. For example, you could create a dropdown field with options like "Ready" and "Not Ready", and update the field as needed to reflect the status of the task.

Regardless of the approach you choose, it's important to communicate the criteria for readiness clearly to your team so that everyone is on the same page and tasks are consistently moved through the workflow in a timely manner.

Hope this helps