Can you assign statuses to Swimlanes?

[Dow Dodds]

Hi there,

In a board that has:

- 2 swimlanes (representing two streams of work for the same team: Swimlane 1 (SL1) & Swimlane 2 (SL2)) 

- 2 statuses under the same column (e.g column = solution design with 2 different 'solution design' statuses assigned to the column: Status 1 (S1) & status 2 (S2)). 

Is their any way to assign S1 to SL1 and S2 to SL2 within one column? 

I have specified these two streams by creating two branches in the workflow with specific transitions for each workflow. However I am still able to transition tickets assigned to SL2 to S1, is this because I have assigned two statuses under the same column that it is ignoring the workflow for these two streams of work? 

Hope that makes sense! 

[John Funk · Accepted solution]

Hi Dow - Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

In a nutshell, statuses are only assigned to columns. You can control a little bit of what you see in the swimlanes based on the query used for that swimlane. 

In other words, if you don't wand to see S1 status show in SL2, then exclude S1 status from the query for SL2. 

I hope that makes sense. 

[Stephen Wright _Elabor8_]

Hi @Dow Dodds 

John's answer is a great option! Just remember though this could mean that issues within the "wrong" status for their swimlane would not be visible - likely falling instead below the swimlanes themselves separately.

In this instance, some more absolute options would be:

1. Create two separate projects - or two different issue types in one project - for SL1 and SL2, applying a different workflow in either case
2. Create a branch within your workflow, with a unique condition identifier to ensure SL1 and SL2 issues do not cross into each other's statuses.

It sounds like you've made a start at doing Option (2) - if you're still able to transition both types of issue in SL1 and SL2, then you might need to refine the workflow further.

Check the condition you've used is an absolute - i.e it's not possible for SL1 to cross paths in the workflow. Also check the basics, like you published the workflow when you made the modifications!

If these options are of interest, I would suggest Option (1) would be easier to configure and manage :)

Ste