Scrum board is filtering out issues in our "Ready to Test" column - why?

Question

Hi all,

We're using the following JQL for our scrum board:

project = ZZZ AND (sprint in (openSprints()) OR sprint in (closedSprints()) OR sprint in (futureSprints()) OR sprint is EMPTY) AND status != Rejected ORDER BY Rank ASC

I have discovered by chance that we have 10 Jira issues in our 'Ready to test' column, but they do not appear on our Jira scrum board!

I found that these Jira issues have this in common:

* Sprint field IS EMPTY or
* Sprint field = Backlog
* They all have Status = "Ready to test"

However, the above JQL factors in `Sprint is EMPTY` and futureSprints. Using the above JQL I can find these issues, but as I mentioned they do not display on our board.

So while the scrum board is displaying only issues in openSprints() how can we avoid missing such cases and force the board to show Jira issues that are in a 'Ready To Test' status regardless of the Sprint field value?

Bill Sheboy · Answer

Thanks for that info.

If the Ready to Test status/step is on your scrum board, but you want to show items that are not in the active sprint, perhaps you shouldn't be using a scrum board.  Please recall that the scrum board shows what is in the active sprint based upon the filter.

When you want to also show items on that board that are not in the sprint, well... that is isn't really a scrum board. That is why I was suggesting considering you entire workflow and *why* items in Ready to Test are not in the current sprint and yet somehow in progress of work.

Gil_2dvf2c · Answer

those steps are on my scrum board.

Bill Sheboy · Answer

Hi @Gil

Thank you for providing more information.

In the simplest case of one active Scrum Sprint at a time:

* You would just have the selected and active work in the sprint on the scrum board
* Other issues would be in the backlog; quick filters can help manage that
* For items not completed in a sprint, they would carry forward, potentially to the next sprint

However, if instead there are other process steps happening, such as Ready to Test, perhaps you also need a Kanban board to make visible open or in progress work that is not in the current sprint and its process steps.  Or instead, add those steps you your scrum board so all the work from start to finish is visible during the sprint.