Why are invalid stories, with resolution set, spilled over when completing the sprint?

Question

my workflow is
todo => developing => ready for test => testing => done

and it's also possible to put a story to invalid anytime.

both invalid and done stories gets a resolution set

however, when I complete the sprint it seems like jira cloud only regards the stories in the rightmost column as done, regardless of the fact that there are other stories on the board with the resolution set.

As a result all stories that are set to invalid, and are in the column left of the done one, are treated as spillover, and moved to the next sprint.

How do I make sure that only stories that are not resolved, are treated as spillover.

Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Answer

There's no simple way around that, you need your developers to be aware that dragging and bypassing the "testing" will always invalidate the story, and that your testers need to be careful to not select it when closing issues from test

If they do insist on getting it wrong, then there's some tricks that could help:

* put a transition screen on the "invalid" with some words to remind them what they're doing.  You could even put an "invalidation explanation" field on it and make it mandatory.  The cognitive dissonance of the break in the flow is usually good enough to make peole think "am I sure I'm doing the right thing here?"

* Drop "invalid" from the board, by adding "and status != invalid" in the board filter.  Messes with your sprint numbers (scope change when an issue is invalided) and forces people to use the transition buttons to do it instead of the more simple "drag on board" (again, hopefully making them think a bit more!)

* Drop "invalid" as a status and instead ask the users to put in a resolution or other field to say it's been killed off

Andreas Hagglund · Answer

thank you for the super quick reply!

can I ask for advice then, if there's a work around for my issue.

I have defined a constraint so that the only possible transition to done, is from testing (ie you have to test it before putting it to done)

on the other hand, it's possible to transition to invalid from any state (ie no contstraints)

To make the constraint explicit and easy to understand, I put the two states in different columns as you will then see what transitions are possible as soon as you pick up the story, and you will never by mistake drop a story on invalid, when you really want to set it to done. If you try to shortcut the system by dragging the story straight from developing to done, it won't be allowed (the column will be grayed out)

now for the problem:

if I put both states in the same column, the column will never be greyed out, as it will always be possible to drag and drop a story to the final column (to invalidate or to put to down), but if you do it from any other state than testing, then dropping the story in the final column will put the story to invalid. Most developers will not realize that they are invalidating stories, by moving them from developing straight to done.

Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Answer

Correct - the "definition of done" for JIRA Software is simply "issue is in the right-hand column".  (Obviously, that depends on the issue status, but it does not look at any other data on the issue)

You need to be aware of that when defining how you use the workflow in the board, making sure all your "done" status are in that one column.