Note
Access to this page requires authorization. You can try signing in or changing directories.
Access to this page requires authorization. You can try changing directories.
Azure DevOps Services | Azure DevOps Server | Azure DevOps Server 2022
Boards give your team a visual way to manage projects, track work items, and collaborate. Every project has a board for every team, so you can start using one as soon as you create your project. This quickstart walks through the most common board tasks: adding work items, customizing columns, setting work-in-progress (WIP) limits, filtering, and reviewing flow metrics.
Note
Each team in a project gets one board automatically. To add another board, add another team to the project. For more information, see About teams and Agile tools.
Prerequisites
A board is created when you create a project or add a team. Each team has access to their own product and portfolio boards as described in About teams and Agile tools.
| Category | Requirements |
|---|---|
| Access levels | - Project member. - To add work items and use all board features: At least Basic access. - Users with Stakeholder access: - Public project: Full access to board features, similar to users with Basic access. - Private project: Can add work items and update status through drag-and-drop but can't update fields displayed on cards, and can add tasks and change task status. |
| Permissions | To view or modify work items: View work items in this node and Edit work items in this node permissions set to Allow. By default, the Contributors group has these permissions. For more information, see Set permissions and access for work tracking. |
| Category | Requirements |
|---|---|
| Access levels | - Project member. - To add work items and use all board features: At least Basic access. - Users with Stakeholder access for a private project can add work items and update status through drag-and-drop but can't update fields displayed on cards. They can add tasks and change task status. |
| Permissions | To view or modify work items: View work items in this node and Edit work items in this node permissions set to Allow. By default, the Contributors group has these permissions. For more information, see Set permissions and access for work tracking. |
Enable AI assistance for Azure DevOps
For enhanced productivity across your Azure DevOps workflow, use the Azure DevOps MCP Server to enable AI assistance with your project data. Get intelligent insights for daily standups, sprint planning, code reviews, project reporting, pull request analysis, and work item management—all through natural language queries to your AI assistant. For more information and installation instructions, see the Azure DevOps MCP Server overview.
Note
- Visualize and optimize work flow with both boards and Taskboards.
- Boards: Ideal for tracking requirements, independent of sprints, and equipped with a cumulative flow chart for progress tracking.
- Taskboards: Linked to specific sprints, they facilitate task tracking within the sprint.
- Progress monitoring: Achieved through detailed capacity charts and sprint burndown charts.
For information about Taskboard usage and best practices, see Update and monitor your Taskboard.
Open your board from the web portal
Sign in to your project (
https://dev.azure.com/{Your_Organization}/{Your_Project}).Select Boards > Boards and ensure you select the correct team from the team selector menu.
To select another team's board, open the selector. Then select a different team, or select the
Browse all team boards option. Or, you can enter a keyword to filter the list of team backlogs for the project.
Tip
Select the
star icon to make a team board a favorite. Favorite artifacts (
favorite icon) appear at the top of the team selector list.Check that you selected Backlog items for Scrum, Stories for Agile, or Requirements for CMMI as the backlog level.
To switch to the product backlog, select Stories backlog. To switch to a Taskboard, see Update and monitor your Taskboard.
Select your project, and select Boards > Boards. Then select your team from the team selector menu.
To select another team's board, open the selector. Then select a different team, or select the
Browse all team boards option. Or, you can enter a keyword to filter the list of team backlogs for the project.
Tip
Select the
star icon to make a team board a favorite. Favorite artifacts (
favorite icon) appear at the top of the team selector list.Check that you selected Backlog items for Scrum, Stories for Agile, or Requirements for CMMI as the backlog level.
To switch to the product backlog, select Stories backlog. To switch to a Taskboard, see Update and monitor your Taskboard.
Map the flow of how your team works
When you first open your board, there's one column for each workflow state. Your actual columns vary based on the process used to create your project.
Identify your team's workflow stages - they often don't match the default states. Configure the board so it reflects the true handoffs your team uses.
For example, for user stories, the New, Active, Resolved, and Closed states track progress from idea to completion.
Manage your columns so they match your workflow stages. Keep the number of columns small while still representing the key handoffs for your team.
Set WIP limits
Set work-in-progress (WIP) limits for each workflow stage. When items exceed the limit, the column count appears in red. Teams can use that visual signal to address bottlenecks immediately. For more information, see Set WIP limits.
Track work in progress
The estimated size of work for each item appears at the bottom right of each card. Add items to your backlog in the first column. When priorities change, move items up or down within a column. As work completes in one stage, update the status by moving the card to a downstream stage.
Update your board frequently to keep the team in sync and to make the value stream visible.
Important
Work items that appear on more than one team's board can yield results that don't meet your expectations because each team can customize its board columns and swimlanes. The values assigned to Board Column, Board Column Done, and Board Lane fields might differ from what you expect when another team updates the work item from a different board. For more information, see Add, review, and update work items in Azure Boards.
Add work items
To add a work item, select the add icon ( + ), type a title, and press Enter. The system saves the work item automatically.
You can add as many work items as you want with this method. To add or edit details for any work item, select the title. You can also modify any field that appears on the card directly (for example, change Assigned To). For a description of each field, see Create your backlog, Add details, and estimates. You can also add tasks or child items as checklists on your cards.
Note
You can only assign work to a single user. If you need to assign work to more than one user, add a work item for each user and distinguish the work to be done by title and description. The Assigned To field only accepts user accounts that have been added to a project or team.
Update work item status
As work progresses, update the status of an item by dragging it to a downstream column.
Note
Completed or closed work items don't appear on backlogs and boards after their Changed Date is more than 183 days old (about six months). You can still find these items by using a query. To show them again on a backlog or board, make a minor update to reset the clock.
Note
Completed or closed work items don't appear on backlogs and boards after their Changed Date is more than one year old. You can still find these items by using a query. To show them again on a backlog or board, make a minor update to reset the clock.
Update card fields
Update a field or reassign ownership directly from the board. If the field you want to update isn't on the card, customize the card to display it. You can also show other work item types, such as change requests, incidents, issues, or custom types. For more information, see Customize cards and About configuring and customizing Azure Boards.
Filter your board with keywords, field values, or tags
Apply interactive filters to focus on a subset of work. For example, filter the board to show work assigned to a specific team member during a sprint. To start filtering, select Filter 
. For more information, see Filter your backlogs, boards, and plans.
The following example image shows the board filtered to items assigned to Jamal and Raisa.
Invite others to work on your board
All members of a project can view and contribute to your board. To invite users to contribute, copy the URL of your board and share it with them.
To add users to your project, see Add users to a project.
Monitor metrics
After your team uses the board for several weeks, review key metrics like the Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD) to optimize your process.
Select the Analytics tab, and then select View full report for the CFD.
Use the interactive controls to select the time frame, swimlanes, and workflow states or board columns. Hover over a point on the CFD to see how many items were in a particular state at that time.
In the following example, hovering over a single day shows that 101 items were in the Researching state on that date.
Tip
Your selections persist across sessions until you change them.
By monitoring these metrics, you can find opportunities to reduce lead time. For more information, see Configure a cumulative flow chart.
You can also add Analytics widgets to your dashboard. The Analytics Service provides access to several widgets. For more information, see:
View a board from a query
The Query Based Boards Marketplace extension supports viewing a flat-list query of work items as a board. The query can contain different work item types and work items defined in different projects.