[Kanban] Exclude Spike items when creating a Release

Renjith Kandanatt

Hi all,

I'm new to Kanban boards in Jira. Got a question around releases and how we manage work items that are not supposed to go into the release. On the Kanban board, I have a DONE column which lists all issues including Spike types. When you create a Release, Jira pulls everything from DONE column irrespective of the issue type. Is it possible to exclude Spike items from getting added?

Jack Brickey

There are a couple ways to do this. 

1. 2-boards: don't include the Spike items in the 'release' board. manage them independently on another "Spike only" board. and never 'release' on that board. To do this, add "AND issuetype != Spike" to your current boards filter then create a new board "Spike only" to be only Spike issues.
2. 1-board: use a different workflow for Spike issues w/ a different done status for Spike issues, e.g. Closed or whatever you want. Create a "Spike Done" column that is just to the left of the right-most column where all non-spike issues end up. When you release only the right-most issues will be moved into the release. Also, edit the sub-filter of the board to age out the Spike issues from the board after some period of time, e.g. weekly. Alternate: Don't map the spike done status to the board at all but you will not be able to drag to closed if you go this route.
3. Remove from release after the fact. Once you release, go to the releases page and find the current one. Use bulk edit to remove the release from all spike issues.