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Azure Boards - backlog items re-ordering themselves

I inherited a project managed using Scrum in Azure Boards. Backlog hierarchy is set up as Epic > Feature > Product Backlog Item (PBI). Each Feature's set of PBIs were originally created in a specific order. Each time someone views the backlog and drills into any given Feature, the PBIs are shown in a different order than intended.

Is this just the way Azure Boards works? Are there rules to how the backlog is ordered? Is there any way to force an order on a Feature's child work items? I've gone as far as numbering each item in its title (1 Ingest into RAW, 2 Validate RAW data, 3 Document Source to target map, etc.).

Solution

  • There is not available way to force the order of work items.

    Work items on Boards and Backlogs pages of Azure Boards normally will be reordered when users drag-drop a work item to a new location in the list. See the documentation "Organize your backlog".

    There also is not available permission option can restrict all users to drag-drop work items on Azure Boards.

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    If your projects really need this feature, I recommend you try to report a feature request on Developer Community. This will make it more convenient for the engineer teams to receive and understand your ideas. And your feedback also could be helpful for improving the Azure DevOps products.