How can I divide a swimlane in 3 in JIRA?

Question

We currently have 3 swimlanes (To Do, In Progress, Done), but in our first swimlane, we have both issues that are To Do and Ready.

At the beginning of the sprint, this is easy to know, everything in the sprint is Ready, but as the sprint goes on, some issues get moved to To Do, as they might be missing some information.

Is there a way to distinguish from To Do and Ready in the same swimlane? Like a division of some sort?

Answer 1

I assume you're using JIRA Software (or JIRA Agile). The below works for JIRA Agile (and I assume JIRA Software as well).

As mentioned, the most obvious solution is to add another column. Go to Board->Configure->Columns. Click on Add Column, name it 'Ready', and drag the 'Ready' box into it.

If, for whatever reason, you can't/don't want to add another column, then instead go to Board->Configure->Card layout, and then select 'Status' and press Add. This will add the status onto each card on the board.

Answer 2

Is there any reason why you can't add an extra swimlane to cover the 'Ready' items, as the first comment says? If for some reason you can't, depending on the technology/physical kit you're using to record your swimlanes, you could distinguish between To Do/Ready by temporarily changing the colour of your items, or adding a mark to those that are in a particular state, that is then removed/updated once it moves on.

Answer 3

• If an item turns again in a not Ready status, I would remove it from the Sprint, maybe adding something else (same Points) to keep the balance, or maybe not if some time was already spent for something related to the not Ready ticket. The reason is simply that Sprints must include Ready tickets. Consequence is that Velocity might be affected
• If you want to keep it within the Sprint, you can flag the ticket and write a small motivation why the ticket in To Do or Ready status is blocked. Consequence is that you keep in the Sprint a ticket that you can't finish.