Azure DevOps Board/Backlog items reordering

Question

Folks, I would like to ask for your assistance. First of all, I sincerely apologize for the lengthy description.

Currently, we work with Azure DevOps Boards and are trying to follow Nexus Scrum. We have multiple teams, each with its own inherited space.

For example, we have:

• Root Product Backlog under Area Path "Master"
• Team Sprint Backlog under Area Path "Master/Earth" or "Master/Moon"

The Master view is configured as "Bugs are managed with requirements" because we may find additional bugs after regression or ad-hoc testing and want them under the Feature level (we don't want to reopen closed User Stories).

The Child (Team) view is configured as "Bugs are managed with tasks" since we often find bugs related to current development during User Story development.

Thus, we have two levels of bug presentation:

1. Requirements level (User Story level) where a bug can be added to the Feature.
2. Task level where a bug can be added to the User Story.

Thus, we have a problem. It seems impossible to reorder some of our items in the root Backlog view ("Master"). When I try to reorder any bug that is/was assigned to a specific team (e.g., move a bug assigned to "Master/Earth" higher to sort all bugs by severity), Azure DevOps silently skips this request. There are no errors or issues, but no changes occur, and the backlog remains the same after a page refresh.

Perhaps Azure follows internal policies for specific teams and restricts any modifications made in a root Area Path.

I assume this happens due to a specific ruleset described here: link

Could you please advise whether it's possible to set our own flow in Azure DevOps and correctly work with bugs in a backlog when they are assigned to a User Story or Feature in the context of multiple teams?

As an end result, I would like to have such Product Backlog ordering and still see the same ordering in the Sprint Backlog, while retaining the ability to drag and drop all tasks, bugs, and User Stories.

Answer 1

Based on your description, I can reproduce the issue with the scenarios below.

1. When we have set Bugs are managed with requirements (user stories in my sample below), we can drag and drop the child bug(#2211) under the feature (#1866) on the same level as other user stories; however, this will also result in failure in moving the child bugs under the user story;

   

2. On the other hand, if we set Bugs are managed with tasks, then we cannot move the bug under the feature; however, we are able to move the child bugs under the user story;

In addition, the bug management settings can be different from team to team; that is to say the same user can move the bugs under a feature or a user story according to the Backlogs of which team with this team's bug management settings.

With those being said, you can keep the current management habits and please be advised to switch to different teams to manage your bugs on different levels. You may of course consider changing the management setting every time when you what to move bugs on different levels; but please inform your team members to pay attention when the settings need to be changed, since it might cause the bugs to be invisible on team sprint task boards or be dragged onto an unexpected level.

Kindly see more information on Show bugs on backlogs and boards - Azure DevOps | Microsoft Learn.