How to find outdated story estimations?

Question

My team and I decided to re-estimate stories if they haven't been implemented within a certain time after their estimation. Our backlog contains a few hundred stories and I don't want to check them manually.

Is there a way I can leverage JQL to filter those stories which require a new estimation? I tried to use "changed BEFORE" like this:

project = KEY and "Story Points[Number]" changed BEFORE -600m

Which returns:

History searches do not support the 'Story Points[Number]' field.

Mykenna Cepek · Answer

I think Jira Cloud (perhaps Core Jira entirely) only supports time-based queries for certain fields (specifically the Assignee, Fix Version, Priority, Reporter, Resolution, and Status fields only).

source: https://confluence.atlassian.com/jirasoftwareserver/advanced-searching-operators-reference-939938745.html#Advancedsearching-operatorsreference-CHANGEDCHANGED

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You stated you want to focus on stories "if they haven't been implemented...", so I'd recommend excluding completed stories from your query:

... and StatusCategory != Done ...

If that still leaves you with too many stories to review, you can further exclude estimated stories that have been created too recently to have aged out of your timeframe of interest:

... and created < -1w and "Story Points[Number]" is not empty ...

Since there is no way (in core Jira) to use JQL to discover when a story was estimated, using the story creation date is just a guess. It's not great, since Stories can linger in a backlog for months or years after creation. But the other available dates (last edited, and last viewed) are even less helpful for this use case.

This is the easiest thing I could suggest.

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There are Apps for Jira (paid add-ons) that provide further historical field data tracking. They can't "invent that past data", but if this is a long-term strategy for your team/organization, it might be worth that investment. Check out the Atlassian Marketplace.

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Here's an alternate, free approach that I though of:  You could also invent your own "Estimation date" field, and use Jira automation to automatically set it for you whenever the "Story Points[Number]" field is changed.

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I hope you find one of these options helpful. Let us know what ended up working for you! Best wishes.