Add existing items to backlog in Kanplan on Teams Managed Project

Question

Hello,

We would like to use Kanplan functionality on a Team Managed project. We have our current list of backlog items in a status called Wishlist. This does not appear on our board as a column. When we are ready to start working on something, we move from Wishlist to Planning state (which is on our board). I would like to utilize the Backlog Kanplan functionality to rank what will be going to planning next.

I cannot figure out how to move all my existing Wishlist items to the backlog though. In a Company Managed project it seems simple as you map that status within  the board config to Backlog. However, in teams managed, I can't sort it out.

Anyone know how to do this?

Bill Sheboy · Answer

Thanks for that information, Jeremy.

Please post an image of your board configuration showing the status mapping to the columns.  I suspect it looks similar to what I described, with the differences of...

* your "Wishlist" takes the place of "To Do" and
* is mapped to the first board column in order to display on the backlog when not moved to the board explicitly

Jeremy Freeman_7la5od · Answer

HI Bill, thank you for the detailed reply! I'll try and clear up some of our use-case along with some questions.

BY Kanplan, I am wanting the UI functionality of Backlog (Allowing me to drag and rank work within that interface).. And then as capacity for the team frees up, I move it to the board where we have statuses Planning -> In Progress -> Testing -> Done. There is another issue status called Wishlist that is our "To Do" (We no longer have the To Do Status)/

What I want is for all the items in "Wishlist" status to appear on the Backlog list. From there I will work with business stakeholders to rank them on a regular cadence and when we have capacity to begin evaluating the next item/s, we drag from the top of the list to the Board where they enter the planning phase.

Main reason we are wanting to operate this way, is I haven't found a better UI in a Team Managed project to drag and stack rank backlog work. If the Backlog/Board interface worked as above, it would be seemingly perfect.

Hope this clears up anything!

Thanks again!

Bill Sheboy · Answer

Hi @Jeremy Freeman -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

First thing: what do you mean by "Kanplan"?

I have seen articles on that word where people believe adding another status in the workflow (or using the backlog feature with a Jira Kanban board) is somehow a new agile method.  To me, that is just a workflow step in the team's process, regardless of any tooling like Jira.  What do you mean by that word?

Until we know that...

For company-managed projects, you are correct: the Status mapping determines when a work item appears on a backlog versus a Kanban board versus neither (for unmapped Status values).

For team-managed projects, Atlassian curiously decided an extra step is required: work items must be explicitly moved to the board from the backlog view (or back).  But this only works when the Status value is mapped in a way it is visible.

What does your board configuration look like?  I suspect it is something like this:

Unassigned StatusesTo Do In Progress Done  Wishlist To Do In ProgressDone

And as a result, your Wishlist items display nowhere: backlog or board.

To have them appear in the backlog, move the Wishlist status to the To Do column, and then you may select work items to change their Status to backlog...eventually moving them to the board.

Another option is to use a JQL search to find the Wishlist items, and then bulk transition them to the To Do status...and they will appear on the backlog.

Kind regards,
Bill