Boards and the backlog

The Board shows the project’s items as cards in columns, one column per stage of the work. The Backlog is where Scrum teams order upcoming work and plan it into sprints.

The Board#

Each column shows one or more statuses, such as To do, In progress, In review and Done. Project admins choose the columns and the statuses in each one in Settings → Board.

What the Board shows depends on how the project works:

With sprints (Scrum), the Board shows the active sprint’s items. When no sprint is active, it says No sprint is active and offers Open Backlog.
Without sprints (Kanban and the other templates), the Board shows every open item, and done items stay for a while before they leave it: 14 days, unless project admins change it in Settings → General.

If some items are in a status that no column shows, a line at the top of the Board says how many.

Cards#

A card shows only what the item has:

its type, key and, for a subtask or an item in an epic, the parent’s key;
its priority, and its title on up to two lines;
its labels, and a progress bar for its subtasks or the epic’s items;
its due date (red when it’s late), and its GitHub state, such as PR #12 open;
its estimate, its comment count (with a dot when there are comments you haven’t read), and its assignee.

Select a card to open the item. See The item view.

Move a card#

To another column: drag the card there to change its status. On phones, press and hold the card, then drag. If the column holds more than one status the item could move to, the app asks Move to which status? If the workflow doesn’t allow the move, the card goes back and the app says why. If the move needs fields, a form asks for them first. Status changes work offline.
Within a column: drag the card up or down to change its order. Reordering needs a connection.

People who use a screen reader get a Move to action on each card for each column.

Add an item#

Select Add item at the end of a column. The new item starts in that column’s status, and on a Scrum board in the active sprint. You can also use New item in the view bar or press C.

Swimlanes#

Swimlanes split the Board into rows. Open the Swimlanes menu in the view bar and choose:

Assignee: you first, then everyone else by name, and unassigned last.
Epic: one lane per epic (when the project uses epics), and No epic last.
Priority: urgent first.

Select a lane’s heading to collapse or expand it. Cards move between columns within their lane.

Work-in-progress limits#

A column can have a work-in-progress limit, set by project admins in Settings → Board. The column’s heading then shows its count against the limit, such as 4/3, and turns red when it’s over. The limit is a signal for the team: it doesn’t stop anyone from adding cards.

The Backlog#

Projects that use sprints have a Backlog tab. Projects without sprints have a List tab in its place (see Views, filters and saved views).

The Backlog shows, from top to bottom:

the active sprint;
the planned sprints;
the Backlog itself, where new items land.

Each section shows how many items and points it holds. Once sprints have been completed, the Backlog also shows the team’s average velocity (how much it completed per sprint), to help you plan how much fits in the next one. Velocity needs a connection to update.

Plan items into sprints#

Drag an item into a sprint, between sprints, or back to the backlog. On phones, press and hold an item, then drag it. Moving items between sprints works offline.
Move to on an item’s row (wider windows) sends it to a sprint or the backlog without dragging.
Several at once: Shift-click or Ctrl/Cmd-click items, or select Select items, then drag them or use Move to. Select Stop selecting when you’re done.

Order the backlog#

Drag items up and down to put the most important work first. Changing the order needs a connection; offline, the items keep their place.

Sprints from the Backlog#

Create sprint adds a planned sprint (any member who isn’t a guest).
Start sprint and Complete sprint are for project admins.

See Sprints for what each step does.