how to move something from not started column to in progress automatically when in progress is empty

Question

I would like to create an automation so that when I move all the tasks that are in the "In progress" column to "Completed" and it becomes empty, it detects the task in the "Not started" column that has the highest priority and automatically moves it to "In progress"

Bill Sheboy · Answer

Hi @Conan Torres -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

That is possible to do with an automation rule, however...

What problem are you trying to solve by doing this?  That is, "why do this?"

That seems like a "push" rather than a "pull" approach to delivery, where the team will grab the next thing to work on when they have capacity.  Having a team member move the item also accurately records in the issue history when they selected / transitioned it...rather than when the rule ran.

Kind regards,
Bill

Trudy P Claspill · Answer

Hello @Conan Torres

Welcome to the Atlassian community.

What type of project are you using? Get that information from the Type column on the View All Issues page under the Projects menu.

What type of board are you using; Scrum or Kanban?

If you are not working with a Team Managed project of any type and not working with a Business project of any type, what is the filter that is being used for the board?

I believe it is possible to set up an Automation Rule for this, but the above details are needed to determine the exact steps.