How do you track stories in a long running feature branch?

[Todd Lawson]

My team ships every 2 weeks and uses sprints via Jira. At the beginning of the sprint we set the "Fix Version" on all stories we expect to complete, to the version we expect to ship at the end of the sprint. We use the "Components" field to assign stories to different functional segments of the product. 

We have several teams working on the same product and not all teams are using sprints. So, we generate a report that shows what's "part of this sprint" by filtering based on "Fix Version." 

The problem is that we have a long running feature branch (product segment) that has functionality that WON'T be shipping in the next version. But, I still want to include/track those stories in the current sprint. 

Do I create a bogus "Fix Version" and add it to the filter or is there a better way?

[Troy Spetz]

I think part of the problem is what you said: Some teams are not using sprints.

Reason: It is very difficult to align a product/feature release if some teams are using sprints (i.e. fixed development periods with real end dates) and other teams are not (i.e. they are done when they feel like it or the developed functionality is considered 'good enough'?)

When we had two separate development teams (contributing to the same product), both teams used sprints. The sprints ended within one day of each other. So, +/-1 day, we knew when the functionality for a specific release would be done.