Backlog Status

Question

My team managed Jira board has the following columns:

Current Sprint, Today, In Progress, Blocked, Done

The problem is that in team managed projects, it appears that there's no independent status in the backlog, so anytime you create a new issue in the backlog it takes the status from whatever the very first column is, which in this case is Current Sprint.

This becomes really annoying when you're planning and documenting things in Confluence and you paste the list of issues there and the status says "Current Sprint" which is totally not accurate.

Does anyone know of a way to create a "Backlog" status without creating a backlog column on the board so that issues in my backlog have an accurate status?

Josh Allen_93onke · Answer

Thanks Trudy.

We're using Scrum. And yes I'm aware that you have the two different sections in the backlog (active sprint, future sprints, backlog) and that columns on the board can have any status.

I use Current Sprint to highlight what we're hoping to accomplish during that sprint. Then we move issues from Current Sprint into Today to highlight the plan for the day and move issues to In Progress when being worked on, etc.

But you've nailed down the main issue: "there is no discrete issue Status for items that are in the Backlog vs. on the board."

I was hoping I was missing something maybe in the new workflow editor or elsewhere.

Trudy P Claspill · Answer

Are you working with a Scrum board or a Kanban board?

In Team Managed projects there is no discrete issue Status for items that are in the Backlog vs. on the board.

If you are working with a Kanban board and you have the Backlog feature enabled, then on the Backlog screen you will two sections labeled "Board" and "Backlog". Items in the Board section will show on the board. Items in the Backlog section with not. Note though, that items in the Backlog section can have ANY status. Changing the status will not automatically display it on the board.

If you are working with a Scrum board, then the only issues that display in the board will be the ones in the active sprint. And in the Backlog screen you will have sections for the Active sprint, future sprints that are being planned, and the Backlog. Again note that the items in each of these sections can have ANY status. There is not an automatic Status update when items are moved into or out of sprints unless you create an automation rule for that.

You said your first column is "Current Sprint" and your second column is "Today". Can you provide a bit more detail about why you have columns/statuses for those? Typical columns/statuses would be more like To Do, In Progress, Done. What is the meaning of your two columns?