Kanban Board Workflow with "beta stage"

[Johannes Rieger]

Dear Jira Experts :)

in our agile project (with classical components) we got a long workflow and I don't know the ideal way to represent it in the kanban board. 
I will describe the workflow and give you my thoughts.  Maybe you could help me with a solution.

We got tasks with some of them being linked together and some being a MVP of their own.
So the outcome is never a final big product like a truck but more like an iteration of single components being releasable in small packages or on their own.

Workflow
1.) The task is described by the product owner ( = specification book for that kind of component)
2.) The development team checks the task if it is "ready" (full description, no apparent flaws)
3.) The product specialist writes a technical concept
4.) The product owner accepts it
5.) The developers develop
6.) Development test
7.) Integration test
8.) Acceptance test
9.) Beta release

if successfull

10.) update of the technical concept
11.) integration of the beta branch in the main branch
12.) regression test by developer
13.) regression test by product specialist
14.) regression test by product owner

15.) release in the main branch

As steps 10-15 are close to steps 5.) - 9.)  the question implied was if one could realize these steps (1-9 and 10-15) as seperate swimlanes.
Because 15. columns are too much to display.
However if I do a release in the final column. Can I then get the task back in the second swimlane and 3rd column automatically? How?
Can I also decide for which task I do the release?
How Do I cope the best with tasks relying on each other so that is easily visible?

Thank you very much for your help in advance.

[Antoine Berry]

Hi @Johannes Rieger ,

Why don't you use two separate kanban boards for 5-9 and 10-15 ? 

Otherwise you could map two statuses in the same columns, and use one swimlane for statuses 5-9 and one for statuses 10-15.

You do not have to go through all the statuses, you need to edit your workflow and add a transition from 9 to 15.

Antoine

[Johannes Rieger]

Thank you @Antoine Berry  for your reply.

Your first proposal is to use two boards.
Is there a way if I click on "release" in the last colum of the first board to bring that task automatically to the second board?

Your second proposal is to use two swimlanes:
Presuming my first lane is the one for beta release.
If I hit release in the last column: will it then also release tasks from the second swimlange that are in the last column?

[Antoine Berry]

Sorry, I did not fully realise you were using the "Release" feature.

• Yes, you can do that by adding "fixVersion in releasedVersions()" in your second Kanban filter in addition to filtering the appropriate statuses.
• Yes, it will release all issues in the last column.

[Johannes Rieger]

@Antoine Berry 

Thank you again for your reply!

I think with the last remark regarding the release button it is clear for me, that we can only realise it with 2 kanban boards and not by using 2 swimlanes because we could not choose different releases for specific packages. 

Is there another option instead of the release button?

Thank you very much for your endurance in helping me

[Antoine Berry]

No worries, that is what this community is all about ! 

The "Release" button releases the versions of issues in the last column. It seems very convenient in your use case. 

Additionally, you could use : 

- Two different workflows (one with statuses 1-9 and the other one with 1-15 maybe simplified) for two different issue types.

- Though if you do not know at creation which to choose you could use a custom field (a checkbox for example). 

The idea is to have an element to discriminate against in the two board filters. I would advise in any case to have a "Done" status (or similar) used across all your workflows as the last status, and map it to the last column of your boards. And make sure you are setting the resolution when transitioning to that status.

Antoine