Use your scrum backlog

Add work items to the backlog

Select Create in the navigation bar.

Fill in the work item details in the Create work item dialog, then select Create. The work item will be added to the backlog under the currently selected work item, or at the top of the backlog if no work item is selected.

Check the Create another work item checkbox in the Create work item dialog to keep it open if you're creating multiple work items.

Prioritize the backlog

Drag and drop a work item to rank it. You can also right-click the work item to open a menu that allows you to send it to the top or the bottom of the Backlog.

View and edit a work item’s fields

Select a work item on the board to view the work item detail view and edit work item fields.

To open the work item in a separate tab or window, right-click on the work item key.

You can edit the following work item details directly on the backlog:

• Summary

• Assignee

• Estimate

• Parent

• Priority

Select the relevant field on a work item card to edit it.

Estimate stories

Use the 'J' and 'K' keys to move through work item in the backlog and show the details on the right-hand side of the screen. Use the 'E' key to edit a work item, then update estimates or story points as you go.

By default, the Story Points field is only available to work items of type 'story' or 'epic'. Learn more about estimation

Identify the workload for users

The avatars for users who have work assigned to them in a sprint are shown at the top of a sprint. Select to view the sprint workload for assignees, or hover over a single avatar to view a summary for that person.

Create subtasks

Select a work item, then select

Subtasks are useful for breaking a story down into implementable chunks.

Transition a work item

Drag and drop a work item from the Backlog section to the relevant sprint section, to move the work item from the backlog to the relevant sprint.

Split a work item

Right-click a work item and select Split work item. You can split a work item in the Backlog or sprint sections, including any future sprints and any active sprint.

Splitting a work item is useful when a work item is so big that it's better to divide it into two or more work items to make work more manageable.

What happens when I split a work item?

• If you split a work item in the Scrum backlog, the new work item will be sent to the Backlog section.

• If you split a work item in one of the sprints (future or active), you can choose to send the new work item to either the Backlog, or a future or active sprint.

What happens to the work item details?

• The new work item will be of the same work type as the original work item. For example, if you split a story into two or more work items, the new work items will also be stories.

• The new work item will have most of the same details stored in the original work item, including priority, component, and label.

• The work item details that won't be copied over include work log, comments, work item history, and links, though the original work item will be linked to the new work item.

• The new work item will have the summary that you entered upon splitting the work item.

• If the original work item has estimates, you'll be able to enter estimates for the new work items as well. You can also update the estimate of the original work item as necessary.

• The work item status also returns to the first step of the corresponding workflow, and the resolutions are cleared.

Flag a work item

Select a work item and select > Add flag.

You can also add a comment with your flag, perhaps to indicate your reason for adding the flag.

Delete a work item

Select a work item and select > Delete.

Find work items

Create your own quick filters to view only the work items you want. See Configure quick filters for details.

Organize work items into epics

An epic is essentially a large user story, used for grouping smaller stories. For example, you may have a 'Performance' theme for your release, which you could capture as an epic.

You can create epics, drag and drop work items into epics, and filter by epics using the epic panel.

To open and close the panel, use the toggle in the epic filter dropdown.

Plan versions

You can create and edit versions, assign work items to versions via drag-and-drop, and filter by versions using the version panel.

To open and close the panel, use the toggle in the version filter dropdown.

Plan sprints

Select Create sprint, then drag and drop work items into your new sprint. You can also drag and drop the horizontal divider to add or remove multiple work items.

When you're happy with the work items for the sprint, select Start sprint, and the stories will move into the Active sprints view.

While a sprint is active in the Active sprints view, you can still plan subsequent sprints in the backlog, but you won't be able to start them until the active sprint is completed. (You can, however, drag and drop a work item in the backlog onto the active sprint.) If you’d like to use multiple active sprints, enable parallel sprints.