Set default issue status when using Jira simplified workflow

Question

I have a Simplified Workflow configured for my project. By configuring the project board, I've ended up with the following workflow:

As you can see from the workflow, when I create an issue in this project at the moment, it sets the status to "TO DO" by default.

I want to change this so that the Backlog is the default status. I had hoped that rearranging the columns so that Backlog was at the top would solve this issue but this hasn't seemed to work.

I've had a search on a few pages (e.g., Using the Simplified Workflow and Configuring columns) and can't see anything obvious about how to change this.

Please see my board column configuration below in case that's of any use.

Mikael Sandberg · Answer

If it is a company-managed project then you have to make the change from the workflow, and you can ignore the description of the workflow. That description is autogenerated and you can always make a copy of the workflow and associated that with your project.

Richard Innocent · Answer

Hi Mikael,

Thanks for your response. Unfortunately, the project is company-managed not team-managed. Hitting the three dots on the board only gives me the following options:

* Configure board
* Create board

I'm still pretty stuck as to how I can achieve this since I'm discouraged from editing the workflow manually since, as you say, it's updated automatically depending on changes to the board, and has the following description on it:

Software Simplified Workflow for Project {ID}
Generated by JIRA Software version 1001.0.0-SNAPSHOT. This workflow is managed internally by Jira. Do not manually modify this workflow.

Many thanks,
Richard

Richard Innocent · Answer

Hi Ana,

While I could do this, the workflow has the following description on it:

Software Simplified Workflow for Project {ID}
Generated by JIRA Software version 1001.0.0-SNAPSHOT. This workflow is managed internally by Jira. Do not manually modify this workflow.

Making changes to the Jira board will update the workflow automatically so I'm concerned that editing the board manually like this will be overwritten in future.

Thanks,
Richard