JIRA Agile Simplified Workflow - canceled state

Andreas Heinzel

We plan on adding an additional state (named: canceled) to the JIRA Agile Simplified Workflow, but before doing so I wanted to check back if any one is aware of any side effects this could have on JIRA Agile and if there is anything special to take care of.

 

Motivation:

we are migrating from our custom scrum tools to JIRA. The JIRA Agile Simplified Workflow suits almost all our needs, however, over time we got accustomed to also having a canceled state for stories/task allowing us to explicitly mark stories(features) that will not be implemented.

 

Realization plan:

• Add additional state (name: canceled, associated with category: done) via the board configuration and map it to the Done column
• Modify workflow to add conditions and post functions for the transition to canceled state (via JIRA Administration -> Workflows)
  • Post functions:
    • Set resolution to Won't do
    • Set original time estimate to no value
    • Set remaining time estimate to no value
  • Conditions:
    • Require all subtasks to also be in canceled state (thereby ensuring that their time estimates have been cleared and can not contribute to sum time estimates)

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-

There's a couple of points here.

First, the simple one.  If you are using the JIRA Agile simplified workflow, then your specification is wrong.  The simplified workflow maps status to columns on a 1:1 basis, and allows your project administrators to change the workflow (it's indirect - they do it by changing the columns on the board).  So, to add the cancelled state, one of them would simply add a new "cancelled" column to the board.  That's it.  No "map to the done column", no conditions and post functions, just a new column.

The second one - as you can't do most of your requirement with simplified workflow, what you need to do is de-simplify the workflow.  I would:

• Add the cancelled column to the board
• Take the workflow that has been generated
• Put it in a new workflow scheme 
• Edit the workflow, adding your post-functions and conditions
• Apply the workflow scheme to the project (which removes the "simplfied workflow" option)
• Go back to the board, move the "cancelled" status into the "Done" column, and remove the "cancelled" column

Additionally, I'd test that your two "set time estimate" functions don't mess with your Agile charts.