Azure Devops picking "wrong" sprint to display in Sprint board with SAFe

Question

I have an issue with Azure Devops.

We've fairly recently switched to using SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework for Enterprises), and so now we're doing all our planning in 3-month increments, with 6 iterations of 2 weeks each in each increment.

This now means our project structure in terms of iterations is hierarchical, and looks something like this:

Iteration          Runs from/to

----------------------------------------

PI 5                   May 5 - Jul 25

        IT 5.1     May 5 - May 16

	IT 5.2     May 19 - May 30

	IT 5.3     Jun 2 - Jun 13

	IT 5.4     Jun 16 - Jun 27

	IT 5.5     Jun 30 - Jul 11

	IT 5.6     Jul 14 - Jul 25

	

The problem arises when trying to show the Sprint overview in Azure Devops. Earlier, when we had a "flat" list of our sprints / iterations, Azure Devops would also jump to the "correct" sprint as the "current" sprint and display it - based on the "from" and "to" dates of that sprint.

Now, with this hierarchical setup, unfortunately, Azure Devops always just jumps to "PI 5" - the whole 3-month increment - but it doesn't actually jump to the correct current sprint, which would be "IT 5.4" (Jun 16-30).

Is there any way we can tell Azure Devops to ignore the top-level PI entries, and just find the correct sprint in the list of "child iterations" for a PI entry?

Answer 1

Hi Marc Scheuner

In Azure DevOps, when using a hierarchical iteration structure like the one you've described for SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework for Enterprises), the default behavior is to focus on the top-level iterations (in your case, PIs).

Unfortunately, Azure DevOps does not currently provide a built-in way to automatically jump to the current child iteration (sprint) when viewing the sprint overview.

Azure DevOps determines the current sprint based on the iterations assigned to the team. If your team is assigned to both PI 5 and its children (IT 5.1 to IT 5.6), it will default to the top-level one.

However, you can try the below steps:

1. Go to Azure DevOps -> Select your Project -> Project Settings -> Team Configuration -> Iterations -> Create the Iteration IT 5.4 Jun 16 - Jun 27 and IT 5.5 Jun 30 - Jul 11
2. Now Go to Boards -> Sprints -> Verify it.

Additional References:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/56110222/how-to-set-the-iteration-field-automatically-to-latest-iteration?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Hope this helps!

Please Let me know if you have any queries.

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Answer 2

I saw your response - but quite honestly, I don't understand what you're trying to tell me. I already have iterations on my team level, which includes both the top-level "PI 5" node, as well as each of the child nodes, "IT 5.1" through "IT 5.6" - and that's exactly the challenge - we need to be able to use "PI 5" as a "sprint", too, so we can store work items in that "pseudo-sprint" until planning - but we don't want Azure Devops to pick the top-level PI-node as the "current" sprint when we're viewing the sprint board

Answer 3

Hi Scheuner Marc

Thanks for clarifying.

Azure DevOps doesn’t currently support prioritizing child iterations over parent ones when determining the “current sprint” on the sprint board. If both the parent (PI 5) and its children (IT 5.1–IT 5.6) are assigned to the team, Azure DevOps will default to the top-level iteration that matches the current date range—even if a more granular child iteration is a better fit

Temporarily Unassign the Parent Iteration:

During active sprint execution, you could:

Remove PI 5 from the team’s assigned iterations.

Keep only the active child iterations (IT 5.x) assigned.

Re-add PI 5 later when you need to use it for planning or backlog grooming.

This forces Azure DevOps to evaluate only the child iterations for “current sprint” logic.

Hope this helps!

Please Let me know if you have any queries.

If you found the information helpful, please click "Upvote" on the post to let us know and consider accepting the answer as the token of appreciation. Thank You.

Answer 4

I don't consider this a practical solution - we need both the parent-level PI nodes for planning, as well as the child nodes for each sprint / iteration. Fiddling around with assignments all the time is not feasible - Azure Devops needs to have a functionality to tell it to ignore the top-level parent nodes when determining the "current sprint" to be displayed in the Sprint board - THAT would be the solution, really

Answer 5

Hi Scheuner Marc

You’re absolutely right to call that out. It would be beneficial to submit a feature request to Microsoft by navigating to https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/, you can create new request with title “Allow teams to ignore parent iterations when determining current sprint”. Highlighting the challenges faced by teams using hierarchical iterations can help prioritize this enhancement in future updates.

Feel free to reach out if you have any further queries.