Help needed - Enable Kanban View on Existing Backlog

[Jing Gu]

I need some help.

My team has created a Backlog for our project.

Now, we would like to create Kanban for the project.

Can someone enlighten us on the steps we will take to complete this task? 

We should have started with Kanban but somehow, we found Backlog more familiar and started there. And we hope to find a way to "import" all our entries into the Kanban.

Many thanks.

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Jing Gu 

Given that the project is of type "Team Managed Software"

1. Navigate to the project (click the project link shown in your image)

2. Check if you see a Board tab in the display. Check if you also have a Backlog tab.

3. Board should be present already. But if it isn't then click on the ... button next to the project name and select Project Settings.

4. Select Features on the left.

5. On the right you'll see features that can be enabled and disabled for your project. Board should be enabled with no option to disable it. But if it is not enabled, enable it.

6. If you want a Kanban style board, not a Scrum board, scroll down and make sure that Sprints is disabled.

7. If you want to also have a Backlog list where you can keep some issues "in the backlog" and not displayed on the Board. scroll up and enable the Backlog feature.

[Jing Gu]

Trudy,

I appreciate it.

My question is if my team already created a backlog,  to add Kanban,  can they import / sync their Backlog entries without having to enter everything again in Kanban?

If this is possible, what are the steps to follow.

Jing

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Jing Gu 

I am unclear about what you have actually done and what additional thing you are trying to accomplish.

When you say your team "already created a backlog", what exactly do you mean? What steps did your team execute to create the "backlog"?

Can you provide a screen image showing us your "backlog"? 

The term "backlog" might be used to refer to a collection of work that needs to be prioritized and scheduled. Is that how you are using the term?

If so, where does that collection of work currently exist? Did you create it within Jira? Do you now have a collection of issues (work items) in Jira that you are referring to as your "backlog"?

Within Jira work items exist in a Project. Work items that exist in a Software Project may be viewed on a tab labeled "Backlog" as I showed in the image I provided. 

In Jira "Kanban" refers to a style of Agile board for displaying work items. In a Team Managed Software project you can have a "Kanban" style board or a "Scrum" style board. Like the Backlog tab, the Board is just another view of the same issues within the project.

So, if you have created issues/work items in the Project that you showed us in your image, there is no need to recreate them to see them in a Kanban style board. You just need to ensure the correct features are enabled in the project. You can do that with the steps I previously provided.

If you collection of work items exists in some other application, like an Excel file, Jira does provide functionality for import content to create issues/work items. You don't have to retype everything if you have the text available in other forms. You can learn about importing data to create issue by using a CSV file here:

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/create-issues-using-the-csv-importer/

[Jing Gu]

Trudy,

Thanks a lot.

My team has created a backlog, like this:

And in each item,  the team has entered a lot of detail. Like this:

My question is to show this on Board as Kanban,  do we need to re-enter all the entries?

Jing

[Trudy Claspill]

No, you do not need to re-enter anything.

Notice that there is a tab labeled "Board" at the top of the screen to the right of the tab labeled Backlog. So you do have the Board feature activated.

Notice also that there are buttons labeled "Start Sprint" above the list of work items. That means that you have enabled the Sprints feature for your project, which means the Board is a Scrum style board.

In a Team Managed software project you can have a scrum board or a kanban board. If you disable the Sprints feature on Project Settings > Features then the Backlog and Board will change to Kanban style.

[Varsha Joshi]

Hi @Jing Gu 

One way I know is to click into the Search text box on the Jira landing page and you would see "Boards" at the bottom of the window. Click on "Boards". There is a "Create Board" blue button on top left corner. Follow the instructions that follow to create your board.

Hope this helps.

[Jing Gu]

Varsha,

I appreciate it.

My question is if my team already created a backlog,  to add Kanban,  can they import / sync their Backlog entries without having to enter everything again in Kanban?

If this is possible, what are the steps to follow.

Jing