Issues using filtering/archiving issues on backlog

[Bridget O_Hare]

Hi all,

I know this has been asked a fair few times and I feel like I've gone through most of the posts on the community but I'm still having issues applying filtering to my backlog.

For context, my team migrated from Trello to Jira Software. One feature that we did utilise in Trello was the ability to archive cards. I'm aware there is no way to 'archive' a card in Jira. My initial workaround was to add these cards to a sprint and complete the sprint in order to remove them from the backlog. This ultimately impacts my reporting and is a annoying workaround.

We do want to have a record of issues on Jira that we are not considering at this point in time or, issues that we have considered but decided against in our planning/scoping process. 

I tried to create a label called 'not-going-to-do' and applied this to the tasks that I want to filter from the board. Though when creating the filters via JQL I cannot for the life of me get this to work:

project = UPG and issue != "not-going-to-do"

When filtering this way, the issue with the applied label is still appearing in the list.

Am I missing something here? I like Jira but not having the ability to archive or hide issues easily is really turning me off the platform altogether.

[John Funk]

Hi Bridget,

We actually created a couple of statuses to handle things like that. We have a Discard status for cards that never made it out of the Backlog and that we decided not to do. We have an Abort status for cards that got started but then we decided we were not going to finish them. Both of them have a status category of Done (just like Done does) but we set the Resolution field to Obsolete when we transition a card to one of those statuses. Then the filter on the board itself will not show cards in the Discard or Abort statuses.

For your query above you probably need something more like:

project = UPG and and labels != "not-going-to-do"

[Bridget O_Hare]

Hi John,

Thanks so much for your reply. I'm struggling with creating a new status. According to my issue types, the 'Status' field was created by Jira and cannot be edited:

Am I missing a step here?

Also, the filter 'project = UPG and and labels != "not-going-to-do" cannot apply due to the 'and and'.

[John Funk]

sorry, that was a typo - take out one of the "and"s and try it again. 

Is this a next-gen project? 

If you are wanting to add a new status, that is done in the workflow. Edit the workflow and add in the new status and the appropriate transitions. Once that is done, you can add the status to the board. 

You might start here was some guidance:

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/what-are-jira-workflows/

[Bridget O_Hare]

Hi John,

Yes, this is a next-gen project. Are we able to assign new workflows to next-gen projects?

[John Funk]

Oh, for next-gen projects, you simply go to the board and click on add status or click on the Plus button on the far right side to add a column. 

[Bridget O_Hare]

To confirm, the 'board' and the 'backlog' inherit the same statuses? I am wanting my backlog to have a separate workflow than the board.

[John Funk]

Your backlog is simply a status (or step) within the workflow used by the board. The backlog is simply a holding pen more or less for future work that will move across your board. What are you trying to do with the backlog that is different from that process?

[Bridget O_Hare]

Hi John, okay that makes a lot more sense! We basically use the backlog as a way to record all issues. Ideally we would have this workflow:

Backlog:

- Issue created > Status: to be reviewed

- 'To be reviewed' > changes status to either 'awaiting shape up' or 'not going to do'

Those issues that are 'awaiting shape up' will sit in the backlog until we are ready to shape them up. 

Board:

Once the issue is in the shape up process (see https://basecamp.com/shapeup/shape-up.pdf) it will be added to the sprint/board where it will pass through a separate planning stage:

- to do

- in progress/build

- blockers

- done

Do you think the best course of action would be to add the backlog 'workflow' as columns on the board?

[John Funk]

Ah, we use something very similar on some projects. We call it our Triage process.

Here is what the workflow looks like:

We place the Backlog, and the 3 "Reviewed" statuses in the Backlog column on the board. Backlog Pullable is the first column on the board past the Backlog column and it continues from there.  :-)

Let me know if you need further clarification. 

[Bridget O_Hare]

Hi John,

Cool, that looks a lot like something I would need! I'm confused about the limitations with 'next-gen' and classic Jira. From my understanding:

Classic Jira: create workflows > assign to schemes > assign to your project

next gen: create columns on the board to design workflow (no need to create workflows/assign to schemes in the settings).

Is this right? Does this mean that your board has 20+ columns?

[John Funk]

You can't control all of the things you want to do with the workflow in Next-gen. For instance, not sure how you can even get two statuses in the same column - but haven't tried either. :-)

Plus you can't control the transitions in the work flow. 

In my example above, we just have columns for the Blue statuses. We use a pull system following Kanban standards, that's the reason for the gray statuses - but they are both in the same column. 

So, in all of that - classic - you have control and flexibility, next-gen - little control and next to no flexibility