Which field to use ranking Jira issues with multiple filters?

[Jimmy Trivedi]

This is my filter query:

assignee in (currentUser()) AND project = GJP AND issuetype in standardIssueTypes() AND status in ("In Review", Pending, Reopened, TODO, "Work in progress") AND labels in ("Default", Learning, Regular, Support, Transcation, Trending) ORDER BY due ASC, priority DESC

So, according to above query, 10 issues are coming in the list. 5 out of 10, which is coming on top of list and matching with ORDER BY. Because Due date and Priority are same for all 5 issues.

Now, my question: Out of 5 which has everything same [due date and priority], I want one more field, which even give more priority-ranking, and should indicate that that which one to complete first. like for example  for all 5 issues, I want to give number 1,2,3,4,5. So that first I can complete number 1 issue, then 2 and so on...!

Can you please advise what should I do for that?

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Jimmy Trivedi 

You could use Rank ASC?

Rank ASC will order the Issues as they appear in your Board/Backlog, from highest to lowest. If the Issues are already in order on your Board - that could be a simple solution.

So your JQL might look like...

...ORDER BY due ASC, priority DESC, Rank ASC

I'd be careful with using number fields for prioritisation. These can get complicated - for example if you had 100 issues numbered 1-100, and then needed to add an Issue at 62, there's lots of other Issues you'd also need to edit!

To see more information about how Rank works across your wider Jira instance - see this help page: https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/rank-an-issue/

Ste

[Jimmy Trivedi]

Hi Thanks for the reply, but I'm not able to modify it, please check 3 screenshot.

[Jimmy Trivedi]

@Ste Wright  Any update?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

The ranking is used in the backlog to do the click and drag to rearrange the order of the issues in your backlog. 

You can not edit it directly, because Jira can't risk a human entering a duplicate value.  It's generally not even displayed to us because it is not a human-friendly format.

Nevertheless, ranking is the best way to do what you want.  The way I think of it is that "priority is a great piece of information to inform ranking, but it can not dictate it"

[Jimmy Trivedi]

@Nic Brough -Adaptavist- Then why in this example [https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/rank-an-issue/] it is showing 2.5, 1, 3.5 ?

Also, isn't it better to use Jira Custom field? https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/create-a-custom-field/

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

It's not showing the rank in that doc, it's showing the estimates.

The ranking is being shown by the order of the issues in the list.

No, it is not better to use a custom field.  Custom fields don't allow for ranking, unless you add another rank field as a custom field, and it doesn't make sense to do that as you've already got a rank field by default.

[Jimmy Trivedi]

I solved using Custom Jira field.

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/create-a-custom-field/

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

That's not a "solution", that's creating an unneccessary botch

[Jimmy Trivedi]

@Nic Brough -Adaptavist- As per my requirement, your solution is not working.

1. You're saying that to use backlog, but I want to edit it from my issue itself, which I'm able to do it using custom field.
2. You're saying that I can not do human entering duplicate value, but for custom field I'm able to do it and give whatever number I want whether it's 1.5 or 2.5.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Your solution can not work.  Rank needs to be a unique identifier that places an issue between two others in an ordered list.

You can, of course, order issues by priority and (for want of a better word) sub-priority, but this will not work in your backlog, it misinforms people about the actual order, and it is of little use in reporting.

[Jimmy Trivedi]

@Nic Brough -Adaptavist- As per my expectation, I'm not using any backlog. I want to do this in my filters and issue edit.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

In a filter, use "order by rank" to sort the issues. (Or order by custom field if you choose to create a second ranking field)

Note that if you try to use a field of any other type, you will fail.  A number field for example will not allow you to order things easily (Think through what you would have to do if you had 10,000 issues ordered 1 to 10,000 and you decided an issue needed to be moved from 10,000 to place 7 - that's 9,993 issue edits.  Even if you went to a text field so you could be a bit more clever, you'd have the same problem).  A select list won't let you sort either - if you have five issues with the same value, which ones are at the top or bottom of the list?   

[Jimmy Trivedi]

I suggest you to tryout all the permutations and combinations. If I've 10,000 issues and decided issue I want to move then I can give simply 7.

Existing 7 and this 7 will show one below one. FYI, Internally it uses time. Hence custom field is a perfect solution.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

I don't think you've understood the problem.

So what would you do with the issue that was #7 on the list?

In an ordered list, the old #7 can't be #7 any more, you've decided that something else is in position 7.  The normal, and instinctive, thing to do, is push it into place #8.  Which means you now need to push current #8 into #9, which means you have to push current #9 into #10, and so-on.

Now imagine that you have to repeat that 9,993 times.

If you don't see why you have to do that, then can you explain how you can have two issues in position 7 when it's supposed to be a unique position?