How to avoid a Kanban team's user stories being on the unassigned backlog?

Question

When I view epics for a Kanban team in the right side slide out, child user stories show as though they could be assigned to a sprint and are on the unassigned backlog. This confuses our users. Please see attached screenshot and I would be grateful for any guidance, I realise it could be our configuration not the product itself. Thanks.

shiva kumar Gosul · Answer

Hi Louise Boulten,

I hope you’re doing well. I understand that the data may appear overwhelming, especially since it isn't assigned to the developers yet.

To help clarify things, could you please take the following steps?

1. Go to the Board Configuration (I've attached an image for your reference).
2. Look for the "Columns" option on the right side of the configuration page.
3. You should see "Kanban Backlog" among the columns (please refer to the attached image).
4. If possible, drag and drop the "Open" status into the "Kanban Backlog," and then click "Back to Board."

I appreciate your patience with this process, and I’m here to assist you if you have any questions! Thank you!

Louise Boulton_q3jwd2 · Answer

Hi Allan,

I know that Kanban teams don't use sprints and their Jira boards are set up without sprints. I don't mean to be too direct but I wouldn't have posted here if they were using sprints in Jira. I believe it's to do with how Jira Align treats Kanban teams, and that's what I'm asking about.

Best wishes,

Louise

Allan Maxwell · Answer

A pure Kanban team does not use Sprints or other timeboxes so there is no Sprint in Jira for Jira Align to read from.  Maybe your teams are really ScrumBan ...kanban-like teams who do use Sprints.  In the ScrumBan case, you don't need to do anything different.  In the pure Kanban case, I suppose it is a training issue.