How do I close a sprint with some subtasks that are "Removed"?

[Hugh Guynn]

I'm using Jira Cloud. All my issue types, including sub-tasks, have a "Removed" state. Jira by default knows not to show Removed sub-tasks on the board. But it won't let me complete the sprint because those sub-tasks are not completed.  My understanding is "best practices" are to set issues to Removed, not delete them. So how do I complete the sprint?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Reconfigure your board - add the "removed" status into the "done" column.

[Hugh Guynn]

That did it. Thanks!

[Hugh Guynn]

OK... Yes, this did solve the problem as stated. Unfortunately it had undesirable side effects. People would accidentally drop issues onto the "Removed" box in the Done column and the issue would disappear since we filter out Removed issues.  And the "Move to Done" option moved issues to the Done column, but Removed status (so they disappear).

Any other ideas?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Not really, you need to consider that right hand column as the definition of done.  You shouldn't be filtering it on the board, that gives you broken stats.

Where are you seeing the "move to done" option though?

[Hugh Guynn]

Maybe I'm asking the wrong question... Sometimes devs create sub-tasks that shouldn't have been created (e.g., at sprint planning it seemed like "add a database column" was part of the solution, but later the dev realizes that isn't necessary). So they mark the sub-task as Removed (and possibly put hours remaining to 0).  But then I can't complete the sprint. I don't want the devs deleting the sub-tasks if for no other reason than if they can do that they can also delete other issues (maybe there's some way around that, idk). Also I have read many places "don't delete issues!!".

So maybe the question is... how do I handle this situation?

The Move to Done button appears on the board beside the issue when all its sub-tasks have been completed.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

No, I think you've got it right.  Throwing issues into a "removed" status is right, but the status needs to be in the right-hand column, and it has to be visible there.

This is assuming you care that they're different to "done" - it might be better to just have "done" as an end status, and use the resolution to say "this was not really done, just removed" - "won't fix" is a standard resolution for that.

[Hugh Guynn]

What is the magic about the rightmost column? It seems like completely needless. Since the Status Category is Done, I should be able to have more than one column with that category. 

And I do want to filter Removed so they don't show up in the backlog, reports or board. There are a bunch of removed issues, and they would clutter everything up. If there's really not a workaround for this I will probably give the SMs permission to delete and then have them delete removed sub-tasks before completing the sprint. Definitely not optimum.

[Yevheniy Burshteyn]

It helped me for sure! Thanks so much for the advice.

[Jack Brickey]

@Hugh Guynn, I wanted to add to what Nic has provided here.

There is one other option to consider and IMO, based upon all i have read above is the best option. Have "Removed" be a resolution and stick with DONE. The use case for why removed exists is well aligned w/ Resolution as it indicates why you are marking the issue done - 'we determined this was an unnecessary task'. This is similar to other resolutions: Done, Won't do, Duplicate, etc.

To your question about the magic of the right-most column, there is no magic but rather how the Jira scrum boards have been designed to work. Could it be implemented differently, sure and you can certainly open a suggestion w/ Atlassian to do so if you wish but I wouldn't think it is likely to be implemented anytime soon if ever.

FWIW, giving other delete privileges is a bad idea. As an admin you could always delete at Sprint closure.

[Hugh Guynn]

Thanks for the advice - I definitely do appreciate it.  After getting a little more experience I might see if I can get a script that automatically deletes Removed sub-tasks when the parent issue is moved to Done.  Right now I will take your advice and manually delete them at the end of the sprint. 

[Hugh Guynn]

I think the answer is no, but are you saying in the first paragraph that if I make Removed a resolution (currently it isn't) then I negate the need to have Removed associated with the Done column?

[Jack Brickey]

yes. just get rid of the removed Status and simply add "removed" as a resolution value or just use an existing one e.g. "Won't do". IMO having the extra status of REMOVED is flawed but that is an opinion of course. :-)