Does Jira have an Icebox feature?

[barbarat]

Does JIRA have something similar to a Pivotal Icebox feature - unprioritized issues list for use in planning sprints in the scrum board? Or a way to create my own icebox list that's not part of the backlog list?

[Tom Kotecki]

Hey Barbara,

There is no explicit icebox "feature", but you can simulate this fairly easily with a combination of labels and quickfilters. For example, you can mark all "triaged" issues as such using a label, and then use a quickfilter to hide any issues without that label from view when planning. You can also create two separate boards to enforce this a bit more.

Hope this helps!

Tom

[barbarat]

Hi Tom, How would I get an Icebox list similar to how the Backlog list shows up in the "Plan" view of the scrum board? Thanks!

[Tom Kotecki]

Hey Barbara, If you're asking for a dedicated view like "Plan" view, this is not possible at the moment I'm afraid. I would suggest using the approach I mentioned earlier. Btw one extra alternative is to create a filter which only shows issues from the backlog, then go through it via Issue Navigator - it has been designed with the triage use case in mind, and is exactly how we deal with this issue here at Atlassian. Cheers Tom

[Assaf Broitman]

+1 on Barbara's request. It is common practice to use an IceBox as part of the planing flow. 1) Create new stories which go to the IceBox 2) Review with the team to make sure there is alignment 3) Only after alignment, move to backlog Since the alternatives to the IceBox you suggest make them invisible in the planning mode, this is not intuitive and limits the usage of the IceBox

[George Hiley]

Any update on this?

What about creating a Sprint called Icebox? Would this work / what are the issues with this approach?

My understanding of an Icebox is where we dump issues from the Backlog that we are wanting to put on hold or "freeze" for whatever reasons. Stuff we want to do and keep on the table, but not perhaps not in the scope for the coming months.

It seems JIRA does need another method for prioritising the Backlog. A backlog of work should be completely scalable and enable the tracking of everything which means it becomes too large to handle. There needs to be another method of segmenting out items that are simply not within the current scope of the Backlog (ie. work that needs to get done in immediate planning).

[Alice Cathcart]

WHY is there not an "Icebox" feature in JIRA?  Feels like based on the traffic & volume of questions online & frustration with this missing piece vis a vis Pivotal that you'd WANT to add it....

[JohnDobson]

Yes, please! Go, Icebox for Jira!

[Dan Ballance]

We could do with this as well. Our backlog is too large and we're keeping tasks in our "selected for development" state for too long. Icebox would be helpful.

[Loic Argelies]

+1

[George Mogilevsky]

+1 for Icebox feature

Aside from that, it can be easily achieved by using a separate Kanban project

The thing is, if you use filters etc, it can become hard to manage, and the workflow has to be the same as the main project. Not saying it's impossible to set up. But often time creating a separate project for icebox is a better practice. Especially when you want to use one Icebox to manage multiple project requirements and keep it out of main projects backlogs.

[Neeraj Bhatia]

I agree. Managing an independent Kanban project is a preferred approach with a simple workflow.

[Dave Lewis]

The best place to "+1" for this feature is to vote for the JIRA suggestion.  If you are a JIRA user, you can get an account and make suggestions in the Attlassian JIRA queue for JIRA Server or JIRA Cloud... Here's one to vote for: 

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSWSERVER-15740 

[Henk Schoute]

The easiest way to create an Icebox within one project is to introduce the Icebox status in the project workflow. Then create two boards. One Icebox board with "status = Icebox" in the board filter, and one (the normal kanban or scrum board) with "status =! Icebox" in the board filter. This is simple, and works fine for my team.
The workflow "decides" on which board the ticket is shown, and can be adjusted to your wishes. 

[aswoodward]

+1 for an icebox feature! 

[aswoodward]

Is this answer from 2014 still the recommended workaround? 

"There is no explicit icebox "feature", but you can simulate this fairly easily with a combination of labels and quickfilters. For example, you can mark all "triaged" issues as such using a label, and then use a quickfilter to hide any issues without that label from view when planning. You can also create two separate boards to enforce this a bit more."

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Yes, it's not changed, and Atlassian have no plans to add an icebox as you can do it the way Tom suggests and there are only a few votes on the feature request.