Jira and Jira Align Integration: Switching Between Scrum and Kanban Teams

[#1]

When switching from Agile type teams to Kanban Type teams:

1. Existing sprints associated to the team will persist in the Jira Align sprint grid.
2. Stories assigned to sprints from the team will maintain their sprint assignment
3. Newly created stories associated to the team and stories that were not assigned to a sprint but were associated to the team will lose their sprint field.
4. The team Room will change to Kanban views for all Team data being driven by throughout and PIs as opposed to sprints

When switching from Kanban type teams to Agile Teams:
1. The Team Room will change from a Kanban view back to the traditional scrum sprint view.
2. Stories associated to the team that did not have a sprint field will gain a sprint field.
3. Stories that maintained a sprint field if they were previously Agile will maintain their sprint field.
4. Stories without sprints (legacy stories) will be in the unassigned team backlog

Notes:
1. Kanban Teams are driven by PI. So it will be important to ensure PI's are assigned for the Kanban team's associated work.
2. If you flip from Agile to Kanban the stories that were in an active sprint will still be associated to that active sprint.
3. If you flip from Kanban to Agile then assign stories to an active sprint it would be reflected as scope change
4. There is an open bug tied to being unable to flip Kanban Teams back to Agile if there are multiple teams with the same Sprint Prefix which can be tracked here: https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JIRAALIGN-809

Please let us know if there are any additional questions on specifics in the comments below!

Cheers!
Tim

[Shane Manke]

Is this scenario for changing from Scrum to Kanban / Kanban to Scrum where the teams live only in Jira Align?  Or, is this also true when at team in JIRA, that is synced to Jira Align, switches from Scrum to Kanban or Kanban to Scrum?

[Tim Keyes]

Hi @Shane Manke

Thank you for the question.  This scenario would be true whether or not the board (team) was integrated in Jira and whether or not the board was Kanban or Scrum type in Jira.  The Team type in Jira Align is the determining factor immaterial of the board type in Jira.

Cheers!
Tim

[Tracy Walton]

Hi Tim, 

Thanks for the article, its super helpful. I'm curious if when a team is changed from Agile to Kanban or vice versa, is there any impact/changes on historical data or forecasting? I suppose for forecasting that would depend on the team's velocity/throughput, but do you know how that is impacted when changing team type?

I'm also happy to see that the bug you mentioned is no longer open, but Closed - Fixed. Nice. 

Thanks!

[Tim Keyes]

Hi @Tracy Walton 

Thank you for the question.  I would reference the notes section of the article to look into specific scenarios and whether you are changing scrum to kanban or vice versa.

2. If you flip from Agile to Kanban the stories that were in an active sprint will still be associated to that active sprint.
3. If you flip from Kanban to Agile then assign stories to an active sprint it would be reflected as scope change

The historic data will persist on the backend it just might not be relevant to how forecasting is conducted for scrum/ kanban teams or how the data is rendered within the product.  For Dependency/ Objective delivery on the Program Board Stories associated to Scrum teams will have target completion dates based on the end date of their Scrum sprint while Stories associated to Kanban teams will have target completion dates based on the end date of the week of their expected completion based on backlog prioritization and the team's throughput. Referenced. This could lead to a delta between the target completion date for stories after changing the team type.

Outside of that there would be scope change for sprints that receive Stories mid sprint that were historically associated to a Kanban team.

Cheers!
Tim

[Tracy Walton]

Thanks @Tim Keyes , 

Follow up question on throughput.  If a team is configured to "Use calculated throughput", which is calculated based on the team's previous five weeks, does it matter if the previous five weeks they were an Agile team and not a Kanban team? Or will I need to use the Override Value when switching? 

[Tim Keyes]

Hi @Tracy Walton,

Changing from an Agile team to a Kanban team will factor in stories that were historically accepted into the throughput calculations.  I have verified the functionality in one of our test sites.

Cheers!
Tim

[Tracy Walton]

@Tim Keyes Fantastic, thanks so much for verifying! 

[julie.janak]

Hey Tim! I was searching specifically for the "proper" way for Admins to convert teams from Agile to Kanban, and this was the closest I could find.

Several years ago you said in the comments "the Team type in Jira Align is the determining factor immaterial of board type in Jira"- is that still true after all these years? The connector very obviously looks for sprints, so I would think if the board has no sprints, it automagically knows the team is a Kanban team....

That being said: since you can't change the ID of an existing integrated board (you have to delete and add new), is there a sequence you need to make these changes in, in order to prevent a secondary Team/Pod from being created?

[Tim Keyes]

Hi @julie.janak ,

I hope all is well! 

I did a quick test and the below items still hold true:

1. Existing sprints associated to the team will persist in the Jira Align sprint grid.
2. Stories assigned to sprints from the team will maintain their sprint assignment
3. Newly created stories associated to the team and stories that were not assigned to a sprint but were associated to the team will lose their sprint field.
4. The team Room will change to Kanban views for all Team data being driven by throughout and PIs as opposed to sprints

As long as the spelling of the team name is exactly the same the new kanban board should map to the legacy team after the deletion and remapping. You will need to do the switch from Agile to Kanban on that team manually in the UI as the connector will not do it for you. I do not believe the order you switch the team type and redo the mapping matters. 

You could try this in your test environment first if desired!

[julie.janak]

Awesome! Thanks so much for the prompt response! FWIW: when I did this in prod last week, if memory serves me correctly, we:
Deleted Scrum board, Added new Kanban board (with EXACT same Team name), THEN flipped the team from Agile to Kanban- and it created a dupe team (which I was shocked by, since the tool doesn't really allow you to have two teams with the exact same name)

Then in Test yesterday (as I was posting this comment ;-) ) I:
flipped the team from Agile to Kanban, THEN deleted the Scrum board, Added Kanban board- and it worked correctly/did NOT create a dupe team.

Just thought I'd share helpful tips/lessons learned!

[Mike Goitein]

This is extremely helpful, @julie.janak !

Thanks so much. The order matters!

To recap:

1. Flip the team from Agile to Kanban

2. Delete the Scrum board

3. Add Kanban board

[Paula Hidalgo]

@Tim Keyes - my question is on timing.  I have a team that wants to switch from Scrum to Kanban. Should this be done after the Sprint is closed or can this be done prior to the PI planning for the next PI before the Sprint (and PI) is complete?

 Background:  The team is in an Agile Release Train (ART) of 12 teams.  This is the only team in the ART which will be using Kanban methodology -- the other 11 use Scrum methodology.

[Antigoni]

Hi @Tim Keyes , this conversation above has been super useful, and still very relevant. I have been advised by our in-house admin that switching the type of the team is not advised by Atlassian, it is actually advised NOT to do it this way. 

My use case is that I have a Scrum team that has been using a specific scrum board for years, however it has only come to my attention that the team type in Align is Kanban. I have been advised to delete the team and disconnect the board and create a new Agile Team and re-connect their board. Is that the case? and if yes, why does the tool allow me to switch the team type when the team is already live?

Thank you very much!

[Sean Blezard]

Unhelpfully, I question the very existence of Align. Atlassian should have bought Structure instead of Agilecraft. With a proper ability to handle hierarchies and linked issue relationships (Structure), coupled with their newer products like Atlas for goals and strategic reporting, Align looks even less attractive than it did. 

Sorry for the unasked for opinion piece :-)

[Tim Keyes]

Hi @Antigoni

I hope all is well! It may be best to listen your in house admin so we both don't get into trouble!! I wrote this article shortly after Kanban teams were added to Jira Align. I'd suggest asking the admin why they recommend not changing the team type and instead creating a new team in Jira Align.

I'd be cognizant of your historic sprint dates from Jira mapping to the anchor sprint dates in Jira Align +- the buffer day settings (Either method would be impacted by this). Outside of that, I personally believe both alternatives may have similar outcomes.