Automation: Select random minor backlog issue then promote and assign

[Eric Spiegel]

I'm having trouble figuring out how to use automation to select a random issue in the backlog. Here's what I'd like the automation to complete, weekly (say Mondays at 9 am):

Select one random backlog issue with a priority of Minor, then transition that issue to In Progress while assigning it to a specific user. 

Has anyone done something like this? I can't figure out how to accomplish it with the automation rules.

[Dave Mathijs]

Hi @Eric Spiegel welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Why would you want to automate that?

Example: 2 backlog issues with the same priority still can have a very different estimation (hours or story points) or ranking.

Backlog grooming and sprint planning are a team process.

And if you working kanban, then items should be pulled from the backlog, not pushed.

[Eric Spiegel]

This is for a Jira board that only I use. I want to do that to help me chip away at wishlist tasks and helps me avoid decision paralysis when picking what to work on.

[Dave Mathijs]

Just pick the first one on your list if you don't care about the rest 😁

I do better understand your question for automation now 😉

[Eric Spiegel]

It's kind of like the Netflix problem. So many things to do, but nothing to do.

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Eric Spiegel 

Yes, and...I agree with Dave: pick the first one and just do it  :^)

If you really, really...want the item to be a surprise/random one, you could probably write a rule using the Lookup Issues action, the random() and other math functions, select an item with get(), and then start it.  Doing this, you would learn a bit about automation rules, but probably not reduce the size of your backlog any.

Kind regards,
Bill