Moving unfinished stories prior to Sprint Closure - Can I Use JIRA Automation?

[Bob Hunt]

I'm aware of the constraint that issues need to be moved from an active sprint prior to closing the sprint. The unfinished work could be moved to a future sprint or to the backlog.

Within JIRA, if we select 'Complete Sprint' with unfinished stories a dialog pops-up asking how you'd like to manage the incomplete stories (Backlog or select a sprint).

My question is:
Is the action above (responding to the dialog) a replacement for physically/manually moving unfinished stories to future sprints / backlog?

OR

must the Scrum Master manually move this work to future sprints PRIOR to selecting 'Complete Sprint' (thereby avoiding ever seeing this dialog box)?

My teams have become accustom to simply responding to the dialog to push unfinished work forward and I want to better understand if this is now a no-no for them.

Thanks for the help!

[Steve Sauser · Accepted solution]

@Bob Hunt Great Question!  

If you were operating ONLY in Jira, then your teams pattern of using the "Complete Sprint" and then choosing where those unfinished items land (Future Sprint or Backlog) is perfect.  

However, you are not operating ONLY in Jira and that sometimes means altering behavior.  

• Jira Align currently can only understand a Single Sprint value on a given Story/Task/Bug (anything you put in a Sprint). 
• Due to this and functionality in Jira, the appropriate method is to move the unfinished work items directly to the Backlog (not a Future Sprint). 
  • When moved to a Future Sprint before being placed in the Backlog the current Sprint value will not be removed and the issue will have multiple sprints. 

Scrum Master Process (Manual)

• Identify the work that has not been completed (this can be done through JQL or it could be done by selecting the Complete Sprint (but not actually completing it). 
• Move all unfinished work to the Backlog (absence of a Sprint Value).
• Complete the Sprint. 

Automation Opportunity

• One would need to do a little work to create an automation rule.  
• You would need some key processes to exist in order to fully automate this, unless you are just looking for a way to have a Manual Rule trigger (probably at the Global Level) that can be triggered by the SM. 
  • This pattern would not require as much rigor in the processes (as an example, if it is fully automated then you would need everyone to agree as to when Sprints Stop (Date AND Time). 
  • Here you could simply create a rule that identifies the active sprint, identifies the work that is not "Done" (or whatever status you use) and then move those items to the backlog.  

Please let us know if you have additional questions. 

[Bob Hunt]

Thank you, Steve, for such a complete answer!

[Alexey Pavlenko _App Developer_]

Hi @Bob Hunt ,

The way your team does it is the right way (via dialogue); otherwise, your JIRA reports will be constructed wrongly. For example, in the Sprint Report, uncompleted issues will be shown as removed issues from the sprint.

Best regards,
Alexey